turkey day (a bit early)!

while my family was in town for the cruise, i took advantage of having them around close to the holidays and we had thanksgiving (we won't be in AZ this year at all for the holidays)- it was fun! :)  it was also my first hosting of thanksgiving all by myself!  of course, i had plenty of kitchen help from mom and cassie :)  here is my menu and planning with links to everything i made -- i pasted in notes as i found them from either the recipes or reviews of the recipes for easy access :)  we liked pretty much everything so i got lucky with the recipes i picked :) nate carved the turkey (i forgot to take a picture before it was carved!).  our turkey's name was 'hurkey.'  hurkey the turkey :)  mom made the pie- it had maple syrup in it and it was really tasty!  i need to get the recipe from her so i can make it next year :)  it even had little pie crust groundhogs on top (in lieu of any more autumn type cookie cutters which we don't own) :) 

• Turkey & Gravy 
• The best way to thaw a frozen turkey is in the refrigerator. A 12-pound turkey takes 2 1/2 to 3 days to thaw. If you run out of time, thaw the bird, wrapped in its original packaging, in cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes. Figure 30 minutes per pound, or 6 hours for a 12-pound bird. 
• It is best to squeeze the oranges as you place them in the cavity Add extra chicken stock to pan as needed 
• Herb & Onion Stuffing 
• Serves 8-10 – probably ½ recipe... 
• Cut the bread into smaller pieces, use 1.5-2 cups more stock than it calls for 
• Double herbs, double egg 
• Noodles (Nate, family recipe) 
• Mashed Potatoes (by Pioneer Woman of course) :) 
• Bread
• From our local bakery 
• Maple Pecan Sweet Potatoes 
• Cranberry Sauce
• Cassie was in charge here and I think she left out some things that weren't to her liking- whatever she did, it turned out great! 
• Citrus Green Beans with Pine Nuts 
• These were good, but I wouldn't make them again with Thanksgiving dinner- the flavors weren't quite right with all of the other yumminess :) 

The day before plan!: 

• Prepare brine, brine turkey for 24 hours in advance 
• Shock green beans and chill
• Buy bread
• Take cranberries out of freezer (it's hard to find fresh cranberries in October!) :)
• Chop everything for the stuffing

The results:

 our groundhog pumpkin pie....                                      sweet potatoes (extra marshmallows!)