THANKSGIVING 2010

This year Chad and I spent our first Thanksgiving together. It semi surprisingly turned out to be a really great day - casual and successful all across the board! 

As everyone knows, Thanksgiving can secretly be one of those holidays that leave you so stressed and tense you just want to rip your hair out before its even time to eat. But amazingly, we made it through calm and collected - one sweet ass little team in the kitchen that turned out a delicious feast of a meal.

Our nice, slow morning sipping coffee and waking up was followed by the most subtle forms of preparation. We tossed around the idea of an oven schedule and talked vaguely of attempting organization, but in the end we just tackled it as a team, took things slowly and steadily and made a beautiful Thanksgiving Meal perfectly fit for two.

Our Floral Centerpiece

One of the first, and most ambitious, recipes we took on was a Pumpkin Pie baked from scratch. We began this one a day prior, almost as though it required our full attention: to its beauty, its taste and its entirely gratifying extensiveness. 

We used a recipe from Alton Brown, so it tied in just the right amount of cuisine and chemistry.

We began by cooking two small pumpkins in the oven, then scooping and pureeing them both until they looked a little more similar to the pumpkin puree cans we're all so used to.

Not only was this my first time baking pumpkin pie from scratch, but it was also my first experience with whole nutmeg! I was super stoked to have the opportunity to grate it up myself and toss it in that pumpkin puree! The whole kitchen was so aromatic at that point.

After finishing our puree blend, we began making our crust - graham cracker crumbs spiced with ginger, baked briefly and then filled to the brim with pumpkin puree. It baked for an hour and filled our apartment with the most delectable aromas.

A wonderful beginning for our Thanksgiving table.

But honestly, this is where I hand over the reins! From here, we got to work on the rest of our dinner with Chad taking over and myself stepping down to the role of sous chef. Chad got down multi-tasking in the kitchen - between juggling the many stages of preparation, the side and main dishes, the proteins and veggies - he pretty much rocked it from there.

We began by baking our own breadcrumbs, the agreed upon foundation to any stuffing.

I definitely got to assist here in the slicing and dicing of our vegetable mirepoix,a traditional stuffing trio: celery, carrots, and onions with our own addition of apples and garlic as well.

Lately, I've also been discovering my dislike for cutting onions. 

Oh, my poor eyes.

Since it was just Chad and I dining together, we decided to go with a stuffed turkey breast as our main dish as opposed to roasting an entire bird. We already had leftovers for days, so I think this was a great decision. 

After butterflying the breast, we crammed all that delicious stuffing in there and then rolled it all into a sliceable log. Once that was in the oven, it was time to get started on those sides!!

I am a die hard sweet potato fan - especially around the holidays when they're topped with fluffy marshmallow deliciousness and baked to a near dessert quality. So, I was definitely ready to rise to the occasion when it came time to address our sweet potato dish.

The recipe I chose called for a pecan and marshmallow streusel atop twice baked sweet potatoes. It was amazing, pretty easy and baked at the same temperature as our turkey, so it was perfect!

My new favorite vegetable is brussels sprouts. Since I think Chad is such an amazing cook, it wasn't long before I asked him to transform those little green veggies into butter drenched goodness. 

This was our second time making Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, so we knew it would be the perfect addition to an already heavy meal - a super healthy veggie with a hint of overindulgence. As it turns out, its such a beautiful vegetable as well - it comes on footlong stocks and the color adds a vibrancy to any meal.

And then this is where it gets naughty. The bacon gets thrown in the mix.

As our sprouts slowly softened, we finished up the last touches of our meal: biscuit baking, gravy reducing, cranberry sauce slicing, and apple cider pouring! Our timing paid off and things came together just right.

Our table spread looked delicious. Sweet potatoes, biscuits, tons of stuffing served two ways, brussels sprouts a la bacon, and a turkey breast served alongside cranberry sauce.

Not to mention a delicious pumpkin pie awaiting us after our meal! It was a great evening - we returned for seconds and thirds, and have been happy and busy ever since. The holidays seem to have started nicely and are ending even better.