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Saturday, November 24, 2018

THANKSGIVING DINNER 2018

OK, I took pictures during the cooking process and then forgot to take some of the food on the plate.  I guess I was too hungry to wait for photos once I got it all plated up, ha.

So here is what I did manage to photograph:

Turkey before
Our turkey.  A 13 1/2 lb all natural fresh (not frozen) turkey.  Two nights before Thanksgiving, we rubbed the turkey with our seasoning blend, put it on a rack over a baking sheet and kept it in the refrigerator.  It allowed it to sort of dry age a bit and the skin tightened up.  Then the morning of Thanksgiving, we took it out of the fridge so it would come to room temperature and we rubbed it all over with olive oil.

Turkey after
We roasted at 350 degrees for about 2 hours or until the internal temperature was 160+.  We think it came out beautifully golden and boy was it delicious!

Homemade yeast rolls
He also made two pans of a homemade yeast rolls.  SO freaking good.  I could eat two at a time. 

French bread stuffing with apples, sausage and cranberries
2nd Man made a pan of dressing (we don't stuff the turkey).  This is French bread, apples, cranberries, sausage, pecans and of course herbs and seasonings all held together with eggs and vegetable broth. 

 Brussels Sprouts with bacon and balsamic 
Here is a pan of Brussels sprouts, cut in half, sautéed in a pan with bacon fat and crumbled bacon.  Then we put it in a dish and pop it into the oven for about 30 minutes.  To serve, we drizzled it with some balsamic vinegar.  This side dish is one of my most favorite things.

Canned cranberry sauce
We also had the good old fashioned cranberry sauce from a can.  What can we say, it's part of our childhood and we like it.  I've made a homemade sauce in years past that we enjoy but this year we just wanted to do something simpler.

O'Leary rosé wine
We had to have some wine so we pulled out a bottle of O'Leary rosé.  Yes, Kevin O'Leary from the TV show Shark Tank.  His wines are really good!  And rosé was a great choice with our turkey.  Sort of a great combination of red and white that balanced nicely with the flavors of all the dishes.  

Homemade pumpkin pie
And for dessert, 2nd Man made a pumpkin pie.  We used one of the bags of pumpkin that we roasted a couple of years ago.  We vacuum sealed them in 2 cup portions and froze them.  It worked out perfectly.

We also had mashed potatoes and gravy.  The plates were too full for anything else, ha. 

We ate too much, we had leftovers Friday and will finish them all off today, but hey, isn't that the point? 

16 comments:

  1. I don't eat turkey, but I will have a roll and pie and wine! 2nd man spoils you!

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    1. I AM spoiled that's for sure. No turkey? Well, we'll always have a glass of wine for you anytime!!

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  2. Replies
    1. It was great for just a small gathering of TWO, ha! I saw your incredible dinner (everyone go to her blog and see, it's like magazine worthY)

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  3. Your turkey looks good. My sister did a great job with hers this year, too. Best turkey I've had in ages. I was responsible for light lunch - pumpkin black bean soup and the pumpkin pies after our feast.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you/! That soup sounds wonderful. Love pumpkin AND black beans, ha. Tis the season!

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  4. Looks yummy! Happy Thanksgiving!

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    Replies
    1. Well thanks you for that!! Happy Thanksgiving back to you!

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  5. That all looks sooo good! Every dish is perfection. What a Thanksgiving feast y'all had!

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  6. Save me a drum stick. :}
    Everything looks so delicious except for the cranberry sauce. I do use cranberry sauce in my Fluff salad, but for some reason I just can't eat the stuff plain like that.
    2nd Man; you done a great job preparing your Thanksgiving Feast.
    You both enjoy the remainder of the weekend.
    Thanks for sharing these amazing photos.
    As for the wine; I Do Need to try that

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    Replies
    1. No canned cranberry sauce!?!?! Sacrilege!! ha. I understand. We do love it though. It was a quiet weekend, kinda hit and miss rain.

      Mr. Wonderful (as he's known on Shark Tank) has wines and they sell them through QVC from time to time. That's where we got ours. We bought a case, 12 bottles, 3 of each of four different kinds.

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  7. We had a good ham I purchased at Safeway. Best we've had in years! Son and wife brought yam souffle and a brussell sprout dish with bacon and some type onion in it! They wer both pretty good! We had sparkling cranberry apple cider...our fav!

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    Replies
    1. We had a ham a couple years ago, we are going to do that this year for Christmas. And LOVE the sides you said you had. I bet that's good. I will have to try sparkling cranberry apple cider that sounds lovely!

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  8. The brussels sprouts and bacon...yum! Well done second man. Our Daughter-in-law, the chef, hosted us for Thanksgiving and we were treated equally well. What she does to mashed potatoes is quite sinful.

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    1. Oh, there is nothing on earth like good mashed potatoes that have been sinned upon, ha. Butter...cream...butter....bacon....whatever it is wonderful! Happy day to you and yours!!!

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