Thanksgiving for 12
First
time hosting. The Saturday after Thanksgiving. First time Lance's Mom has met
my family. 8 adults and 4 kids. The kids made the place tags. Worked on the
menu and grocery list for weeks. Got my stove fixed just in time for this
feast!
A
few months ago I got a subscription to Food and Wine Magazine. Recipes are from
there, primarily. But adapted.
From Melissa
Clark:
Mustard
and Rosemary Turkey. Didn't happen. Hers were roasted in pieces on a
sheet. For my first go I needed to go whole bird.
Port
and Black Pepper Gravy. Tasted great, looks disgusting. Kind of
grayish-purple. No wonder there wasn't a photo in the magazine.
Mashed
Potato Casserole with Sage and Fontina. This was divine. The buttery
crunchy panko on top gave it some great texture. Couldn't find fontina in my
small town, so I used quesadilla cheese and havarti. Any soft white cheese will
do.
From Anthony
Bourdain:
Roasted
Brussel Sprouts and Carrots with Bacon and Brown Sugar. Genius. Thrown
in a grain and you have a complete meal of sorts.
Cranberry
Relish. The easiest and most delicious thing on the plate, in my
opinion. Bag of cranberries. Whole navel orange. Tons of sugar. Food process it
and let it chill. Yowza.
Sausage
and Mushroom Stuffing. Left the sausage out. Lance's Mom doesn't eat
pork, and I had already baconized the veggies. Left the mushroom out, too. Just
did broth, celery, carrots, onions. The bread was onion rolls and wheat rolls
stale and chopped up. Delightful. Simple.
From Jessica
Koslow:
Dinner
Rolls. Disaster. Had to throw them out and call Mom to pick up some on
the way. I'm not good at bread. I want to be.
Friend: slaw. Didn't
happen. She was ill and couldn't come at the last minute. More leftovers
for me and Lance!
Dad: wine. He
makes it and brought some. My siblings brought more. I had the port open
for the gravy, so I worked on that. Cheers.
Mom: Tippins
pies. A Kansas City favorite. Pecan and pumpkin. Store bought whipped
cream. It was perfect.
Sarah: An
appetizer tray with raspberries, blackberries, peppers, flatbread, and an
onion chutney. Fresh and colorful.
Jeremy and
Amanda: The family cheeseball and caramel bars. We devour this
cheeseball every holiday chance we get. Type of crackers doesn't matter,
as long as they can hold up to busting through chopped pecans and cream
cheese. YES. And Amanda's caramel bars are gooey and buttery and stellar,
and I don't even like dessert.
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| Rookie mistake. Did not cook the birds breast up. So had to flip them and dinner delayed an hour. We were fine. Everything else went well; rubbed with butter, stuffed with lemon and garlic, had them sitting in the roasting pan on top of quartered potatoes and onions with some broth and sage thrown into the pan. |
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| The kids were awesome and patient. They love my board games. They also walked down the street to play soccer in a park in my neighborhood. It was smart that we started gathering at noon. Had good daylight hours. |
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| Lance catching up with his Mom, Mary. Clearly, they can get intense. But it was all good. It was lovely having her meet my family for the first time (in 5 years). Better late than never? |
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| Dad. He showed me the error of my rookie turkey cooking ways. I let him carve them up, putting dark meat on one platter and white meat on another. Carving and the prayer are traditionally his duties. |
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| Sybil was at the table ready to eat. That's my girl! Eclectic decorations courtesy of my Grandmother: table cloths and napkins and china. A bit of Talavera pottery from New Mexico, and IKEA clean design to pull it all together. The kids made the cute woven corn place tags. |
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| Roasted brussel sprouts and carrots with bacon and brown sugar. |
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| Notes of the last steps of cooking morning of. And my critique notes. It was a lovely day. Family was so great to all road trip to my house in Carthage. Can't say I'll do it again, but proud that I did it! |
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