Twas the night before Thanksgiving...I baked 4 pies - peeled, cubed and soaked the potatoes - and whipped up the salad. This was genius. I'm sure every woman in America does things the night before, but I felt really proud. I got a jump start on the chaos.
Dinner was good, though I don't want to do it again when I'm this pregnant. I did it all myself, and it was hard when I'm trying not to be dizzy and have to eat to keep my strength up but with no burners are available to make eggs or something good for me and baby.
I roasted a 12 lb. turkey...injected it (thanks to Emeril's tip) with melted butter, chicken broth and sage, and then rubbed it with the same mixture and poured leftover chicken broth in the bottom of the roasting pan. I made Sweet Potato Pudding, a recipe that my friend Karen gave me a long time ago and Chris loves and isn't allergic to...4 pumpkin pies (two with homemade gluten free crust)...a VAT of mashed potatoes "grandma style" with half and half and butter...stuffing (I skimped and made Stove Top, since Chris hates stuffing, gluten free or not)...a pound of asparagus sprinkled with olive oil and a touch of salt and baked in the oven...and then I mixed up another grandma favorite, Marshmallow/Fruit Cocktail/Cool Whip salad. Once the turkey was out of the oven, I threw in the brown and serve rolls for 8 minutes and we ate!
I can see why my mom always wanted the double oven. This was a chore, trying to time everything so nothing was cold (though the potatoes were a tad tepid once served). I do have a small convection oven that is about 10 inches wide, but don't know the rules about convection, or how to time something just right, etc...so I guessed. The asparagus cooked in there, as did the sweet potato pudding, and it worked out fine. I might want to fine the owners' manual if I ever attempt this again.
We had Kelly and Josiah over with us, since it was Kelly's 30th birthday, and added candles to a pie. Joe and Flan got along better than usual, and Kelly bought each of them a velvet coloring thing to keep them busy and it worked!
BTW - I have never liked the turkey part of Thanksgiving - in fact, other than mashed potatoes, it's my least favorite meal of the year. I usually just find some dark meat on the bird and have a few bites, because dark meat is all I can chew usually. Let me tell you. Injecting the bird made the white meat melt in your mouth. I have never eaten so much turkey on thanksgiving. It was so good. My sister said the same thing. Chris said that usually he just eats every bite of the turkey with cranberry sauce so he can choke it down, and this was the best he'd ever had too. Seriously. Leave it to Emeril.
Oh yeah - I also pulled the turkey out from the oven when the thermometer read 155 degrees - A tip I got from some chef that was on Rachael Ray last week...it continues to cook on the counter while it sits for 20 minutes or so before carving. I don't know. I'm just glad I watched for tips since I had never done anything like this before!
Sorry to ramble, but I'm so darn proud of myself! ;)
OH! And the best part...Cowboys smashed the Jets into their own turf 34 - 3. Yippee!
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