Friday, November 26, 2010

Food Porn Friday - Thanksgiving Dinner


Hello, all!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to my readers in the U.S.! I would have sent out well wishes yesterday but hosting Thanksgiving dinner even for just the six of us took a lot out of me.

Just to let you know, Fred, our turkey, came out great. I didn't brine. I was freaked a little about even cooking the turkey (could you tell?), and there was just no way that I could even find space to brine Fred. Small NYC apartment kitchens just don't really have the size of refrigerator that allows for a turkey in a bucket. Do you want to see what my refrigerator looked like very late Wednesday night?

No bucket full of turkey and brine is fitting in there!

I was looking forward to the holiday for using our fancy dishes. My very cool mother-in-law passed down to us some of Husband J's grandmother's china. We didn't register for china, and I am glad that we didn't because we got the most fabulous Mid-century Modern pieces the following Christmas. My mother-in-law also gifted us with flatware she found from antique shop in her town last Christmas too.

Our table setting. I guess gold flatware may look a little blingy, but I like it.

Let's talk dinner! Here's the spread we had for Thanksgiving:

Turkey & Tofurky with stuffing (regular old instant stuffing was cooked in the bird)

I still have yet to taste the Tofurky (my Mom said it was good.) I prefer dark meat, and I thought it came out quite well. The stuffing on the right is one of the two I offered. I'll get to to the other one.

Fresh cranberry sauce. I've never had this before, but I enjoyed the taste and it's extremely easy to make. Plus, I finally got to use the sauce boat we got for a wedding present!


Shitake Mushroom Stuffing

My Mom's Mac + Cheese, a personal favorite.

My mother-in-law's quiche-like dish with spinach, ricotta, peppers, olives, etc.

I forgot to take pictures of the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows! :( That went pretty quickly. It wasn't like my godmother's, but I have to admit I think I might like mine better. :)

I didn't forget veggies.

Braised Greens (in this case collards) with Tomatoes. A lot of people seemed to like this.


Roasted vegetables with herbs.

By dessert I was pretty tired, and I didn't get to take pictures of everything. We had a pumpkin pie that I made, which I still have not eaten; my Mom's great sweet potato pie, and her newest creation, pumpkin cheesecake with pecan topping. AMAZING! This might be my new favorite dessert my Mom makes.


So that was our Thanksgiving dinner. I have to say after making my first one I feel this major sense of accomplishment. My Mom really enjoyed it, and I feel like "I arrived" in her eyes when it comes to cooking. She looked kinda proud. Mission accomplished! :)

Welcome to the holiday season, everyone and Happy Weekend!

8 comments:

Heidi said...

Well done you! I've been reading along with you for awhile but I must break out of my reading mode to comment on how great (and well balanced!) your dinner looked and how I can understand how tackling this big feast is both anxiety producing and rewarding. Congrats and to many more fabulous feasts!

Katie said...

Mmm what a great spread! I am loving the look of the quiche dish....I've been meaning to make one for a while now!

Anonymous said...

Yum!!! Everything looks so delicious! We had mac n cheese for the first time at Thanksgiving and it was delicious! We will be having it every year now. Your mom's looks so good!

Tiffany said...

That cheesecake! Yes!

Try Anything Once Terri said...

Thanks, everyone! I appreciate the kind words and congrats! Now we've just got to get through the leftovers :)

Erica said...

This year we had fried turkey and it was SO juicy!

The pictures look amazing. I need to have Thanksgiving at YOUR place (I would love to try tofurkey).

BigAppleNosh said...

Looks SO delish. Mighty impressive! :)

PapayaDog said...

Looks amazing. I love the cranberry sauce dish (the actual dish).

 

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