Thanksgiving. Is. Awesome! And it’s not even really Thanksgiving yet, but that’s no reason not to have your crew over and gorge yourself on TG eats…
We packed 12 people in my place in front of the roaring fire for an awesome afternoon/evening of stuffing our faces full full full. The food prep was easy, since most everyone was bringing the fixings and all I had to take care of was the turkey, gravy, spiked cider, and some snacks. My first turkey went pretty well; all I can say is, thank-you Reynolds Turkey-Sized Oven Bags… those things are awesome. Even a guy soused on some hella spiked cider (recipe here) can roast a perfect turkey in one of these babies.
Everyone brought something awesome… some of it is still sitting in my fridge, waiting for round two of Thanksgiving #1. Firewallender’s stuffing was pure awesome, Joe’s potatoes were superb, M’s green-been casserole (a special midwestern request) was exactly what my stomach needed, Andy’s roles melted in my mouth, Dema’s sweet potatoes were worth the wait, and the pies simply Hammered me. If you like cranberry sauce, I suppose there was even some of that lay’n around for you. And to top it all off, a Andersen/Eubank specialty, spit-roasted ham for desert! It suffices to say that I’m still not hungry.
The best part of the night was going around the table giving thanks for all of the non-cliche things in our lives… we had a lot to be thankful for. My personal favorite from Dustin: “I’m thankful for a standard of living so high that we think nothing of having two thanksgivings during a recession.”
We are so doing this again next year.
Even under the weather, I had an absolute blast. Thank you for hosting! Toasting what we were thankful for was my favourite part as well.
Your turkey was delish, and I’m so glad people liked the stuffing! I have to add a slight critique though: “the pies simply Hammered me” is such a terrible, terrible pun… sounds like you’re spending too much time with Dema! :-)
(Okay, okay… I laughed.)
P.S.
Do you think your lovely girlfriend would share her green bean casserole recipe? That was killer.
I’m sure she would… she’s incredibly midwestern (couldn’t you just _taste_ it!?) which means that she likes to share. :)
Thanks, Cassie! I wish I could say it was a special old family recipe, but honestly, I have no midwestern roots and found it on the Campbell’s website. Luckily it was good! :) Here it is: http://www.campbellkitchen.com/recipedetail.aspx?recipeID=24099.