I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I really, really do. This year was kind of different, right? Many of us had to skip family gatherings and scale down our celebrations. If you are anything like me, in order to cope with the stress of the pandemic, you might have put your Christmas tree up really, really early. About mid-November, I looked at Rugjen and decided I wanted a new tree. My previous tree was a smaller tree and the lighting was not all that great. We ended up coming home with this beauty. It was my first time adding ribbon to the tree. I am not happy with it, but I’ll get better at it.
The pre-Thanksgiving routine went as planned. This year, I named the turkey Sky Marshal Nathanos. Every year, I post funny things on Facebook chronicling the journey of my turkey from store to oven. Every year, I brine our turkey. If you don’t, you’re missing out. Now, I’m not going to tell you how to prepare your turkey, but brine. It is a game changer. I use the Pioneer Woman’s brine recipe every year. It NEVER disappoints. Salt, brown sugar, orange peel, black peppercorns, fresh herbs, apple cider…it always smells so heavenly.
I forgot to take pictures of the fresh, whole berry cranberry sauce being made, but you can imagine it smelled awesome. There is something magical about the color of whole berry sauce. The night before, I also made the turkey stock from the giblets and turkey neck.
The night before Thanksgiving, we have a pizza tradition. In anticipation of all of the cooking I do on Thanksgiving, we give our praise to the Pizza Gods. This year, we indulged in Home Slice Pizza out of Austin, Texas.
I ended up cooking the normal feast for our family of three. I roasted Sky Marshal Nathanos and served green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, giblet gravy, and cornbread stuffing. It was probably the best Thanksgiving luncheon I ever prepared. Yes. I eat on cafeteria trays. Food touching is unforgiveable. Except for the cranberry sauce. It can do all the touching it wants…
What do you do after such a large lunch? We headed to a local park and threw some discs followed by a round of mini-golf. We absolutely love our local mini-golf course.
It was an absolutely beautiful day and I am very blessed that I got to spend it with family. How was your Thanksgiving? Did you spend some time outdoors? Let me know in the comments!
Filthy Casual for Life 