Thanksgiving 2012

This was our first Thanksgiving in Hawaii, and also the first Thanksgiving I made the turkey! I was a little nervous, but it turned out awesome! I realize I probably need to invest in a roasting pan, a baster and a gravy boat... but we had a really great meal with some wonderful friends!

I had been thawing out the turkey in the fridge for 3 days, and then the day before Thanksgiving, I made Pioneer Woman's Favorite Turkey Brine and put the 23 lb turkey in a big ziplock (like XXL) inside a cylinder igloo cooler (the kind used to dispense liquid!) which turned out to be perfect because the whole bird was surrounded by the brine. Luckily this whole thing fit in our fridge! The next day, we took the bird out and rinsed it off really well. We roasted it, covered in foil, at 275 for about 4 hours.  After that, we took it out and stuffed it with orange and lemon slices, onions, thyme and sage. We then rubbed the butter (that was mixed with rosemary, orange zest and salt and pepper) all over the bird. We had fresh oranges and rosemary in our yard, so we got really lucky to have the freshest brine/butter/stuffing possible! We put the bird back in at 375, uncovered and baked for another couple of hours until the meat temperature reached 170. We let it rest 20 minutes or so before carving it, and while we made gravy. The turkey was SO good!




I put together this little relish plate to look like a turkey- which was pretty fun! I also had pretzels and dill dip out. The other food I made was PW's mashed potatoes (which can be made the day before!), maple glazed carrots, sweet potatoes, corn souffle, stuffing (I want to tweak this recipe- but I had celery and onion sauteed in butter and chicken broth added to a store bought dressing kit), PW's cranberry sauce (yum and easy!), gravy, pumpkin pecan pies and homemade cream! Of course, I made rolls (we took them to Mass that morning and had them blessed!) but I cheat and use the can rolls! We also had each guest tell us what they were thankful for, printed them on strips of paper, sprayed them with cooking spray and rolled them into the rolls before cooking. It turned out really great- they came out super clean and easily, and then we all guessed whose thankful item we got! We also play the "ABC's of Thanks" where we go around the alphabet and every person gets a letter to come up with a word that starts with that letter of something they are thankful for. Our guests brought watercrest salad and the yummiest green bean casserole I've ever had (I have to get her version!) and we had tons of drinks- wine, beer, soda, waters and sparkling juice for a special treat for the kids! It was tricky with only my oven to get everything cooked and ready- but I made a timing list and it all worked out great. If you can make ahead the pies, everything else can be ready to cook as soon as the turkey comes out and it should all work out well!