Thursday, November 28, 2013

Food-filled, family, friend, football day

Thanksgiving is a perfect holiday. Think about it: you get all the great homemade food, time with your family & friends, football in the best season of the year (Autumn!!) and no gifting pressure or crazy social calendar to juggle. It's one perfect food-filled family friend football day.

Last year my husband and I started hosting Thanksgiving at our house, accepting the torch from my parents which they happily passed to me. My Dad got to watch the game and enjoy the wonderful smells of the meal as it cooked rather than slaving over the turkey or (gag) stuffing the bird with my Mom. And Mom enjoyed decorating our feast's table with Lexi, her only grandchild, with pine cones they had collected at the park that afternoon. And my first attempt at the meal? I must admit - it was all very yummy. Don't get me wrong - I fully admit to how much my sister and mother helped me cook. My sister, Heather, made AMAZING gravy. We're talking the best gravy you've ever had. Even gravy haters would have drizzled this deliciousness all over their meal.

This year, we're sharing the cooking again. We divided up the dishes. Mom will do green beans and cranberries. Heather is on gravy (obvs!). Matt will barbecue the turkey. And I'm in charge of stuffing, mashed potatoes and pies. Ah, pies. Yumminess wrapped in butter dough - what's not to like? I'm not the world's biggest pumpkin pie fan, but it's my father's favorite and my husband enjoys it as well, so I make it for them. Plus it smells fantastic when it's baking. I'm a fruit pie girl at heart, and after all my good East Coast apple picking years, my apple pie is pretty rockin'. My house smells like Girls Night In at Better Crocker's right now. Check out these pies!
Notice the moon & stars cut-outs on the double-crusted apple delight. Oh yeah - I made those cute cut-outs! I might have over-cooked the pumpkin by a few minutes, but never fear - Julia Child always advised to NEVER apologize for home cooked food. So I just won't. (YES, I made the crust from scratch too...for those of you who were wondering.)

And the best part for me? No chocolate. Yes people, I'm a chocolate disliker (hater is a very strong word) and I couldn't be more thrilled that there is not an ounce of chocolate that coincides with this, my favorite holiday. No chocolate advent calendars, no chocolate bunnies, not a fun-size chocolate bar in sight. Just stuffing and pie and the game on mute in the background. For this, I am thankful, in addition to the countless blessings in my life this year. I hope there are as many in yours.



1 comment:

  1. Happy Thanksgiving! Props to you and me....cooking at our homes. This year I am making EVERYTHING. I need your sisters recipe tho bc I just googled Easy Turkey a Gravy and it doesn't sound impressive, but it does sound easy and at this point in the game, easy wins. But maybe next year. Oh and the pie is from Costco, haha. I thought about making it and then I thought about all the other stuff I'm making, with mom on assist of course. xoxoxo

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