Bird is the Word (Part 2)
I know I already posted this picture in Part 1, but holy Jesus H. Christ on a bicycle! That bird is all beauty right there!
Before we knew it, my alarm was going off. It was 6 AM and I had to start seasoning the turkey. I told Ben he could sleep in (you're welcome, hunny!). I pulled out the butter to get that at room temperature as I gathered my spices. I used this recipe for the seasoning, with some minor tweaks. I didn't have any tarragon, but I didn't even know what that was, so I don't think we missed it at all! :)
Unfortunately, I needed Ben's help, because this BIG BERTHA of a turkey was too heavy for me to hold with one hand and season with the other! We worked as a team and got her completely smothered in butter & seasoning, inside & out! We were lucky enough to borrow my mother-in-law's roasting pan! I don't think the bird would have turned out as good if we didn't use it! Ben went back to bed, while I began to prep all of the vegetables for the other dishes.
Here's a look at what our Thanksgiving Menu consisted of:
Turkey (um duhhhhh)
Pretzel Stuffing
Cheesy Cauliflower
Sweet Potato Casserole
Mashed Potatoes
Turkey Gravy (I cheated on this one...)
Homemade Rolls (the star of the show, in my opinion!)
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Pavlova (the BEST dessert of all time!)
I utilized two crockpots for the cheesy cauliflower and the sweet potato casserole, so that made things very easy! I really can't complain about stress, because everything went pretty smoothly. Our timing was great on everything, except the mashed potatoes. We made those a little too early, but honestly, we just threw in a bunch of butter to soften them up and you couldn't even tell!
Vader was ready for our guests too! Everyone showed up, and we got the wine poured. Ben and I calmly worked in the kitchen to get everything ready. I think my family was surprised, because sometimes I get a little bossy when I'm stressed (Ok, a LOT of bossy). But, Ben and I work so well together that I don't think that side of me comes out as often as it used to!
With my newly acquired meat thermometer (which I also asked for for my birthday!), we checked the turkey, but we probably should have been checking it more often than we did. We kinda just let the bird do her thing in the oven. We would baste her with chicken broth to make sure she didn't burn. My mum helped us carve the turkey, because I had no fucking clue how to break one of those down! She kept saying how juicy the turkey was. And you could see all the juices running down her knives too!
Unfortunately, the turkey was a hair on the dry side. But, in all reality, it was still a very good bird for our first time! Next time, we will take the bird out a little bit sooner than 5.5 hours! At least we knew she was cooked and no one was going to shit their pants, right?! Slap some gravy on it and everything will be ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!
Time to eat! SUPER thanks to my in-laws for buying me this beautiful serving plate and gravy boat! At the top of the plate, it says: Be Thankful. I absolutely adore it! Everyone had really good things to say about everything! I am my own worst critic, so I have to admit that I wasn't a big fan of everything. Ben hates when I do this to myself, because I will always say something negative about my cooking, even if it's good.
The pretzel stuffing was a unique idea, but I definitely would have been better off making it out of a box or with regular bread. It was just a little underwhelming. I also wasn't very excited about the sweet potato casserole, but my entire family disagreed. My grandpa loved it so much he had seconds and thirds! The cheesy cauliflower was really good, and my nephew even ate it thinking it was Mac & Cheese!
I cheated with the gravy! I think I was so terrified by the giblets/neck images on YouTube, that I decided to go with store bought gravy. However, we did use some of the pan drippings in the store bought gravy, so that turned out just fine.
THE REAL STAR OF THE SHOW (just ask Ben, I'm still gloating about it...): my homemade rolls! Whoa, baby! They were sooooo freaking good! My mum couldn't believe that I made them from complete scratch! I craved them in my sleep that night! I can't wait to make them again! I'm even thinking that the dough would make excellent breadsticks for the non-existent pizza business Ben and I keep dreaming about! Hah!
All of the desserts tasted heavenly too! We did the American thing to do and ate until our pants didn't fit anymore! Oh man, SO FULL! I asked my sister to bring Mason's Pie Face game for us to play. Mason had his own rules on how to play the game! I think he just liked getting pie in the face! It was definitely fun though! My sister took this video of my turn:
Ben was [AGAIN] the most amazing husband and did almost ALL of the dishes! And that is a major feat, because we don't own a dishwasher. You have no idea how MONSTROUS that pile of dishes, pots, and pans was! I love you so much, Benjamin!
I especially need to thank him for being such a huge part of our Thanksgiving! He gave up attending his own family's lunch in order to help me with mine, and although I pleaded and argued with him about skipping my Thanksgiving, I know that I wouldn't have had as smooth of a day. He was such a big help in more ways than I can list here. I just appreciate his love so, so much!
After my family left, we made the short trek through the country to go see my in-laws. His whole family was still hanging out over there, so it was nice that we still got to spend the night with them. We actually decided to go to Walmart in Clinton, IL to shop with Tommy, Lindsay, & Dom, but we quickly realized that that was HELLISH and we turned around and came back to his parent's house. Nothing was worth standing in lines that long!
Eventually, we came home and relaxed on the couch with our food babies!
WE. WERE. TIRED!
Below is my snapchat capturing the entire day:
Again, we have so much respect for our moms! I don't know how you do this every year, as well as celebrating birthdays and Christmas! It was definitely an experience for us, but I'm glad we did it together! My mum made comments about this being a new tradition from now on. You should have seen my face! Ehh....Erghhh....Ummm...I'm done for the season! I'm hanging up my apron! :)
