Thanksgiving Dinner

Happy Thanksgiving! I love this holiday because there is a lot of great American history attached to this day. It's also a day that features the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and an abundance of football. I planned on filling my day with football and my stomach with turkey and other traditional side dishes, but plans suddenly changed last night.

The original plan was to play flag football with the men from our church. It's a legendary day in the life of Five Oaks Church. Game time was at 9:00am. From there I was going to meet my family at my sister's house in Cottage Grove to watch the Packers-Lions game. Soon after that game, we'd be watching the Cowboys and then the late game. In the meantime, I was going to help myself to at least 6 plates full of food throughout the day. I had been excited for months to highlight premium dishes on Kevin Eats, but when my sister sent an e-mail asking to host Thanksgiving, I changed my focus to football and not cooking.

Well, a sudden change of plans found me cooking Thanksgiving dinner by myself, and it was great! I woke up this morning and rushed to the grocery store to find a fresh turkey (there was no time to thaw a frozen one) and all of the ingredients for other traditional side dishes, such as stuffing, potatoes, squash, green beans and cranberry sauce.

Now, I'm sitting on the sofa watching my Packers waiting for Liz to walk in the door from a holiday work day. She is going to be amazed. I'm not going to lie, I'm very proud of myself for pulling everything together this morning. It helped that Isaiah took two naps this morning and my mom stopped to see him on her way to my sister's house.

I'm very excited to eat this elaborate feast. I know we'll have plenty of food. Aren't the leftovers part of it, though?

The turkey

All we needed was a fresh cut of turkey breast (white meat = healthier). I was just over three pounds. I coated it with melted butter and sprinkled the essentials - rosemary, sage and thyme. Then, I squeezed a lemon over the top and added ground pepper and salt. There was a small cavity under the turkey breast, so I stuck half a lemon and a few carrots in it to cook. I don't even know how long it was in the oven cover with foil, probably over an hour, but I checked the internal temperature until it was just below 180-degrees.

Roasted baby red potatoes

I cut ten baby reds into bite size chunks and placed them in a baking pan. I drizzled olive oil over the top and tossed the potatoes until they were coated in oil. I added the essentials and covered with foil. Again, I'm unsure about how long I cooked them, but I put them next to the turkey in the oven. I was multi-tasking.

Butternut squash

I was lucky to find a squash that was already cut in half. I certainly didn't need a whole squash. I put a cup of water in a baking pan, added salt and pepper to the squash and set it face down in the pan. I baked it for almost an hour. When I took it out of the oven, I scrapped it into a bowl. I held the squash with an ovenmit and discarded the skin. I added a little butter and salt.

Green beans with toasted walnuts

I boiled a pot of water and added 12 ounces of fresh green beans (ends cut off). I cooked them for 5-6 minutes, or until the beans were crisp. I had toasted some walnuts and chopped them. I added some olive oil and fresh squeezed lemon juice to the beans and mixed-in the walnuts. They're very zesty!

Cranberry sauce

I actually made the cranberry sauce last night. Since I made cranberry sorbet a few weeks ago, I love cooking cranberries. I'm still so intrigued by how the "pop." I boiled one cup of sugar and one cup of orange juice and added 12 ounces of cranberries. It took around 15 minutes for all the cranberries to pop. The sauce thickened as it sat in the refrigerator overnight.

Mmmm, the stuffing

When I was at the grocery store, I bought a box of Stove Top stuffing in case I couldn't find the ambition to make my own stuffing. I'm so happy that I found the strength to make my own. The stuffing was the most fun and tastes the best of everything I made. I sauteed one onion and two stalks of celery in two tablespoons of butter. At the same time, I cut half a loaf of wheat bread, fresh from the bakery, into cubes. When the vegetables were cooked, I added them to the bread cubes. I also added the essential seasonings and 3/4 cup of warm chicken stock. I mixed everything together and placed in a casserole dish that had a glass cover. I drizzled 1/4 cup of warm chicken stock over the top and baked alongside the potatoes and chicken at 375-degrees for 25 minutes. Before I took it out of the oven, I took the top off the pan so the top of the stuffing became crispy. Delicious!