I was excited to have a home large enough to host Thanksgiving this year. I was awesome to be able to take the burden of always having to host off of my mom and invite my aunts and uncles over to join us in celebrating the day!
I was a bit intimidated by the turkey, I admit. I’d never cooked one before, but figured it can’t be harder–only longer–than roasting a chicken.
The Pioneer Woman came to the rescue. On a whim I check out her newest cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays from the library. I don’t actually make many Pioneer Woman recipes. I love her zucchini cakes and cinnamon buns and that’s about all I’ve made. But her turkey sure looked tasty so I made her recipe, which consisted of rubbing the turkey with rosemary orange butter. It turned out perfect! I also used A Year of Holidays to make my mashed potatoes. Now, I know how to make mashed potatoes, but usually they must be done last minute to be warm. But The Pioneer Woman’s make-ahead version was just as tasty and made meal making much less last minute. Another tasty side I made for the first time was Sausage and Apple Stuffing and the baked brie appetizer was delicious! I baked some fig and peach jam on top wrapped in crescent roll dough and wow, I could have made a meal just on that!
I was especially proud–and thankful–for our new farmhouse table that Josh whipped up for the occasion! We needed a bigger table to make hosting easier. Not just for Thanksgiving but in general. Our former table only sat 6. Our new table sits 8-10 comfortably. We didn’t have the funds to buy a new table, so Josh built it. Also, so thankful to our friend who gave us the lumber for the top!
But I have to ask, what’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish? The turkey? Mashed potatoes and gravy?
I have to say this year mine was the stuffing and sweet potato casserole my aunt makes. Yum.
It was a lovely day of thanks and my heart was full of thankfulness for the blessings of this year.
Beautiful! 🙂 I love your table settings.
I was inspired by your post, beautiful table settings and small touches to do the same for my in laws this past Sunday for our Thanksgiving meal with them.My brother in law surprised us by stacking firewood on our porch and setting our very first fire at Montford after our meal. IT was so lovely, and I was enraptured by fire.
I’m learning to value more those “small” gestures of love and spend more time making them happen.
gorgeous, gorgeous! love your new table. and I have been lusting after those turquoise mason jars ever since I first saw them!
I would love to play the hostess, I think (and let’s be honest, have some control over things!) but it isn’t likely to ever happen since we are far away from both sides of family.
I’ve never been a giant mashed potato fan, and it sounds like you did fine, but just FYI for the future – you can make them ahead and crockpot them. That blog where the woman used her crockpot every day for a year has a delicious recipe. I just made them recently.
The menu for our biggest Thanksgiving meal is the exact same every year. It makes me smile to see my boys gobble up Great-Grandma’s cranberries. They are pretty sour, not everyone’s cup of tea, but both boys love them just as much as their dad and his dad do 🙂 Our own little family’s Christmas Eve dinner is my opportunity to be adventurous and gourmet 🙂 Smitten Kitchen just posted a recipe for green bean casserole from scratch, though, and I am dying to try homemade french-fried onions!