What a glorious Thanksgiving. A four-day weekend to eat, play, and relax. Best of all? No long drives from one far off destination to another. For the first Thanksgiving in a few years, we opted to spend it at home. My wife and sister-in-law would host a Thanksgiving lunch at their parents’ house, which is a fabulous 15 min drive from our house. 15 mins and I could be home again, full of turkey.
The cooking and preparation started Wednesday night, but the planning started days earlier. The full menu is below, and it was absolutely tasty. While a few others provided one or two items here and there, and my MIL cooked the turkey, my wife and my SIL did the bulk of the cooking for a grand gourmet feast. We got to the house around 1:30pm, and didn’t leave until sometime after 8pm. The kids ran around so much that they pretty much conked out after we got home. Is there anything truly better than sleeping children?
Appetizers:
- Chutney, apples, and cheese
- Red pepper jelly, cream cheese, crackers
- Stuffed Mushrooms
Entree & Sides:
- Sage Butter Roasted Turkey
- Cider Gravy Gravy
- Carrots and Shallots with sage and thyme
- Brown Sugar Baked Sweet Potatoes and Acorn Squash
- Green beans and lemon vinaigrette
- Thyme Roasted Apples and Onions
- Roasted Potatoes with bacon, onions and sage
- Toasted Sweet Corn Pudding
- Cranberry Orange Relish
- Stuffing
Dessert:
- Flan
- Apple Pie
- Pumpkin Pie
The rest of the weekend (Friday – Sunday) was also relaxing. After I ran a few errands Friday morning, such as getting my 30K mile servicing on the Highlander, we relaxed. On Saturday, we spent most of the day visiting Num’s friend Barb and her handsome newborn son Jack (and being stuck in traffic.) On Sunday, we did a huge autumn cleanup in anticipation of setting up the Christmas tree and all the decorations. We didn’t get the tree up as originally intended, but I hope to have it up my Friday.