Thanksgiving

Hello all!!! So, I don't have a lot of time. I will be traveling back to Hawaii in two days and I have A LOT to do before then. You'll have to wait until later for my copyright rant. For now, some pictures of the first Thanksgiving meal I've ever made.

This is the cranberry apple sauce. It was super easy to make and tasted AMAZING!!! I made it the night before, which I'm grateful for because it needed time to marry the flavors. The recipe was this: a SPLASH of water. Seriously. No more than a couple of tablespoons. One bag of cranberries (fresh or frozen and thawed), two granny smith apples peeled, cored and cubed, the zest of half a large orange (to taste), and 3/4 a cup of superfine sugar to 1-1/2 cup. (to taste.) Bring to a boil and then simmer until it is the consistency you prefer. Mine took about 7 minutes after boiling.

Next was the the turkey, which of course was the star of the show. I found that turkey is really easy to screw up. You have to pay attention to it to make sure it doesn't dry out. Also, I didn't stuff it with stuffing, which I actually think I prefer because the roasted veggies were DELISH!!! :) I started out with 7 stalks of celery, 6-7 carrots, an orange (used the zest for the cranberry sauce), a whole onion and yet another splash of liquid. Keep it to approx. 1/8 a cup. (Any more and your juices could overflow into your oven.) To season I used: season-all (a no salt seasoning), marjoram, pepper, and a stick of butter (cubed). Stuff the turkey with half of all the veggies and the orange. Splash the water or stock in the bottom of your roasting pan. Put all the rest of the veggies in the pan, and rub the turkey with all the seasoning. Put your fingers between the skin and the breast of the turkey and separate them to make a "pocket." Put the seasoning in there too, and put the butter cubes in there too (spaced out of course). This is what it could look like:

So pretty!!!

Cook the turkey at 325 F for at least 3 to 3-1/2 hours depending on the size of your bird. Remember LOW and SLOW is the ticket!!! You also need to baste every half hour or so to keep the meat moist. Here are some other pics:

This is about an hour and a half in

The finished product. :)

I am no genius when it comes to carving... so do your best. This is what mine looked like:

:S

I used the "drippings" to make a gravy. My great-grandma supervised as I cooked it. Here it is:

This was super easy too! I took all the drippings and (was supposed to) separate the fat. (I say supposed to separate because my g-g forgot that part, and we ended up with really greasy gravy. Still good, but pretty gross.) After separating the fat and the drippings, put them in a sauce pan on medium to low heat. Get out your flour. Make a slurry with the flour and some water. It should be about the consistency of a runny glue. Incorporate the slurry into the dripping slowly with a whisk until you get the consistency you want. (it took  about a cup of flour for mine.) You will need to season this after it is all done with A LOT of pepper and I used a no-salt seasoning, but you can definitely use salt to taste.

We also made potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and candied yams, but I am sworn to secrecy regarding the recipes. ;) This was the spread:

Looks good, huh??? :)

This was my plate. Starting clockwise from the 12 o'clock position we have green beans and kielbasa with onions, a whole wheat roll, roasted veggies, turkey with gravy, cranberry apple sauce, and in the middle, mashed potatoes. It was delicious. I know that I cooked it, but honestly, it was one of the greatest meals I've had in a while. The turkey was moist (thanks to the endless basting) and the cranberry sauce was to DIE for. I think I'll go have a turkey sandwich now! It's SO FANTASTIC!!!

Another angle on the food:

Yum!!!

And I'm spent...

ANYWHO...

The rest of the weekend was awesome too. :) My grandma and I took my great grandma back home. Here is a picture of her. She's so cute. She's 98, can you believe it?!

She is so spunky!

Anyway, it was about a 6 hour drive. Pretty long, but we got there safe and sound. My g-g asked me to decorate her door for Christmas while my grandma did her hair.

It was so cute to watch them together. My grandma is so caring when she "tends" to my g-g. They have a really special relationship. It was really cool to hang out with them, and the door ROCKED with it's socks on! :) Here are some pics of the door:

It was really cool. (if I do say so myself!) -->

Here is a picture of my g-g (proud owner of the door) and my co-decorator, my grandma phyl. :)

Aren't they cute?

Anywho... all in all it was a great trip. I had some epiphanies, but those will have to wait until a later time. Here is one more pic of my grandmas for the road. They are amazing women. :)

I leave you with lyrics for a great song...

Very Loud
by: Shout Out Louds

And I wanna build buildings high for you
But the costs, my god, the costs I can't afford you
But I always choose another way
And this is why this love can't stay

But I wanna change, change the way we "always have"
And to make different plans and try not to make this sad
But I always choose another way
And this is why this love can't stay

Little by little
You're gonna hear me cry
Hear me cry "Why?"

But I wanna smell, smell the way you do
And to wear those clothes, the clothes your friends do
But I always choose another way
This is why this love can't stay

Little by little
You're gonna hear me cry
Hear me cry "Why?"
And I know that it started somewhere
And I really like it now, yes, I really like it now
I like it now.

See I got a plan
A plan to get us out of here
If we only can use your money, then we can definitely get out of here
You see I always screw it up some way
But this is why this love can't stay (it can't stay)

Little by little
You're gonna hear me cry
Hear me cry "Why?"
And I know that it started somewhere
And I really like it now, Yes I really like it now
And I like it now

And we know we started, yeah we started from there
And you were very loud, yes, you were very loud
But I really like that, very loud
like that, yeah, you were very loud