Thursday, November 27, 2008

first time for everything

This was by far the best turkey I've ever done! Well, that's because it was the first turkey I've done... but I think it did turn out well. And I even cooked it with one of the giblet bags still in there. I couldn't find it. :) I need some help with my turkey anatomy. I knew I was looking for 2 bags, but I guess I didn't dig around enough to find the "hidden bag." It was a little disgusting handling a raw bird - it just didn't feel right sticking my hand in there! Ha ha. (I'm just glad I'm not an OB-GYN and I'm glad that we don't have 15 lb. babies.) That sucker was pretty hard to handle...

Anyway, the oven bag seemed to work well. The turkey was done right on time. I knew today was going to be all a matter of timing. Alex was teasing me about planning it all out yesterday, but I had to know exactly how long everything needed to be cooked and when. And it worked out great. I cooked the sweet potato apple casserole first, then the turkey, then the rolls, then the green bean casserole (and warmed the sweet potatoes at the same time.) The mashed potatoes were cooking on the stove and the stuffing and gravy were a quick fix right at the end. Everything was done right at 2:00pm. And I was able to clean-as-you-go, so there wasn't a huge mess at the end.
my first butterball!

Alex doing his one task, carving the turkey (and then getting all the meat off later)

homemade mashed potatoes and Stovetop stuffing


homemade rolls

sweet potato apple casserole, with marshmallows!


my 2 other little butterballs (Dad dressed them today!)

We had Alex's brother Jim and Aunt Jane over to share Thanksgiving meal. Aunt Jane brought the cherry pie and deviled eggs. The boys loved the eggs.
We sure missed the rest of our family...









10 comments:

Pam said...

Annie, you did a great job! Looks yummy! Don't worry about the giblets. We've all done that, say, about a million times. hehe
If you're like me you'll catch on about the time you pass the torch to the rising generation!

Debora said...

Ditto with Pam. We "old" moms must just be waiting around for "new" posts on the blogs. (I can't believe she got here first :) What are we cookin for Christmas?

Mamapierce said...

Wow, Annie. I am impressed! Your Thanksgiving meal looks scrumptious! :o)

Melissa said...

Way to go! I can't believe you had the energy for all that. It looks like a great spread. Glad it all went well.

Mike said...

ah ah ah - I wanted to jump through the screen to get those crescent rolls!!!

Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Melissa said...

OH ANNIE!! Didn't tell you "Don't forget to take out the giblets!" Ha ha- well I guess I didn't know about the hidden one, so sorry. But everything looks absolutely amazing. Way to go- you are not a nerd but are amazing for timing everything right. Way to go!

Chasing Hans said...

I love that you documented it all. I did too! Pics of food soon to come. Good job!

Alabama Apples said...

Happy Thanksgiving! Your turkey looked fabulous as well as the rest of your meal...yummo!

Sharon said...

Impressive....I'm spoiled to have parents in town to cook the thansgiving turkey for me...but the rolls look so yummy!!!