So if you didn't know, I like to cook. I like it alot. When I watch TV I watch the Food Network, and that's it besides Friends episodes! I love experimenting with ingredients, and building up my repertoire of cooking techniques and styles. I recently decided that I would not be spending Thanksgiving with my family, but instead would host dinner at my house and invite my in-laws. It was a big undertaking for me because I've never cooked a turkey! Was I out of my mind??? YES! But it's all good. Here are some photos of the day:
So first, the table setting. (You can see my new scrapbook on the chair.. Ignore that. lol)
I purchased the linens to coordinate with my dishes.
I don't like matchy-matchy stuff, so I put some big black plates with small green
and vise versa.
My centerpiece was a bowl of "mixed gourds." I may cook them, I may not..
Tobi's home-made cranberry sauce. Recipe:
2 cups of fresh cranberries
4 tbsp. Orange marmalade
4 tbsp. brown sugar
5 packs of Splenda
pinch of cinnamon
splash of white wine
Combine marmalade and 1 1/2 cups of cranberries in a food processor. Pulse until cranberries
are broken up, but not totally smooth. Transfer to a pot. Add to it the remaining cranberries, sugar, splenda
and cinnamon. (I used Splenda because I felt guilty using so much sugar. They're sour little things!!)
Heat until bubbly and add a splash of white wine if the mixture is too thick.
Remove from heat, put in a canning jar or two, and cool.
Roasted Garlic butter.
The Turkey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I prepared it like Michael Smith did, (with a couple of my own touches) and it really turned
out well.. Actually, it was perfect. I was so pleased.
Here's his recipe. I had a 15 pound turkey so my measurements/changes were as follows:
Brine:
1/2 cup of sea salt
1 cup of brown sugar
2 tbsp peppercorns
2 tbsp. poultry seasoning
4 sage leaves, chopped
I heated these ingredients with approx. 3 cups of water, let it cool completely, then added the
mixture to a 2.5 gallon tub with the turkey in it (breast-side down) and filled to the top
with ice water. I left it in the fridge for 24 hours before cooking.
My dressing was made with sourdough and rye breads, apples, almonds
shallots, onions (3 varieties), raisins, celery, chicken stock, fresh rosemary, sage,
thyme, pepper and salt. It was awesome too!
So that was our dinner. I also crafted a little over the weekend and I actually started on my
wedding scrapbook. I will start showing you some layouts tomorrow. But for now....
I ordered a canvas from Photo-canvas a week ago and I was so impressed with the service I just had to tell you in a blog post!! The company is in England, and don't let the prices scare you. I compared the prices, and including shipping, they're CHEAPER! Wow, right? I got a 16x20 canvas, and on their website including shipping it would be 75 pounds, which works out to $122. Well I looked up a Canadian website that provides the same service, and they sell them for $123 + $25 shipping. Here's the best part: it shipped in 2 days! Well, actually, that's not the best part, the best part is that Ian and I got this amazing canvas and we will enjoy it daily for the rest of our lives. I am so grateful! Thank you Photo-Canvas!!
So thankyou for letting me share my first Thanksgiving and I hope all of you Canadians out there had a special day like we did!! And to all of you Americans: good luck with your turkeys! Now I understand why the day is so stressful for the cooks!! It's great to see everyone chow down though, isn't it??
1 comments
I love cooking too...and watching Friends! LOL DH bought me the complete box set so I usually have it on in my stamp room to craft by. I just wish the messes would clean themselves up, it's such a waste of good time having to clean. Thanks for sharing all your stuff.
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