Gobble Goodness

Josh and I no longer have problems with those dang turkeys that roam around our front yard now that Thanksgiving has come and gone. Did you think I was serious? I mean that last picture I shared earlier in the year had them eating off the road...YUCK! Like we'd eat those turkeys. We did, however, make our first Thanksgiving turkey this year. Okay, it was only part of a turkey, but it was a whomping 6 Ib bone-in turkey breast.

Since I worked everyday during the Thanksgiving weekend with the longest hours on Thursday, we decided to celebrate on Friday instead when I only worked until 2pm. I prepped everything in advance, so Friday went smoothly. I followed a combination of two recipes - Alton Brown and Ina Garten. We decided to brine the turkey (which we've decided that we'll always do from now on since it makes it so delicious). And the herbs from Ina's recipes really added a nice touch. In fact, I would consider doing this same herb rub technique with a chicken or pork too! We did have some troubles with the roasting time since our little thermometer was apparently broken. But not to worry, we just popped it back in the oven and it turned out perfectly. Overall, the turkey came out a success - moist and flavorful.

We didn't just have turkey. I also made a sweet potato casserole I made with rave reviews last Christmas (everyone wanted the recipes). It didn't let me down this year either. Then one of our guests said that it wasn't Thanksgiving without green bean casserole, so I whipped up one of those as well. I'd never made one before so I tried another Alton Brown recipe - another keeper. The other food was brought by our guests - cornbread stuffing,Β creamy cauliflower, roasted carrots, chocolate bourbon cake, pecan bars, and more. A feast indeed!

Since Thanksgiving is full of friends and family, we were excited to be able to see some friends from the Bay Area over the weekend as well. Jeff and Melissa, some very special friends, have family up on Roseburg, OR (about 1.25 hours south of Eugene). They were up seeing family for the holiday, so Josh and I drove down to Roseburg on Saturday to have brunch. It was incredibly great to see them - it had been since early summer when I left the bay area! For all you friends that are reading this...we miss you!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's on to Christmas. Bring out the music, the movies, the decorations!! And a movie review post is in the works too.

Thanksgiving Feasting Thanksgiving Feasting