A Day of Thanks

     Cayce and I were stuck here in South Carolina (as usual) for Thanksgiving.  Have no fear though, we did what I love most.  We hosted other family deprived shipmates of Cayce's.  Until we faced our first holiday away from home, way back in 2004,  I never realized how much fun slaving away in the kitchen, setting a table, and playing Donna Reed can be.  We were supposed to have four guests, but one backed out, claiming violent illness, mid-morning.  Oh well, more food for us, right?   

Cayce, Tina, Chief, Suarez

The menu:
Martha Stewart's Perfect Roast Turkey (including a 24 hour soak in MS's brine.  A skill  I believe I have mastered.)
The most delicious and fattening mashed potatoes ever made (Definitely a side only to be consumed once or twice a year!)
*Gravy (Canned b/c you're looking at someone who CANNOT make gravy to save her life.  Plus the idea that gravy is just grease and flour makes me wanna throw up a bit.)
Cranberry sauce even cranberry sauce haters will love
*Dressing (I don't do stuffing)
Mac n' Cheese for grown-ups (Anytime you want to class something up, Martha can help)
Layered Salad (Pioneer Woman's recipe.  Another fat and calorie loaded treat from heaven.  I swapped broccoli for peas since Cayce reacts violently at the sight of peas.)
*Green Bean Casserole (Recipe on the back of a French's Fried Onion can ;-) )
Sweet Potato Casserole  (So delicious Cayce had two helpings, and completely ignored the fact it was covered in pecans! He doesn't like nuts.)
*Rolls (Sister Schubert's b/c it wasn't as if I didn't have enough to make without having to worry about made from scratch rolls turning out disastrously)
Apple Pie (To add a little something extra for looks with about 3 minutes left to cook I removed the pie from the oven, used a pastry brush and covered the top crust with thinned corn syrup, and sprinkled sugar over the top.  Returned to oven to finish cooking.)
*Pumpkin Pie (Refer to Libby's for recipe.)

Cayce, Turkey, and what appears to be one annoyed Chief.

     With the exception of the Mac n' Cheese and Sweet Potato Casserole this is my routine menu for the holiday.  I usually do candied yams, but wanted something different this year.  Sometimes I also do a squash casserole or spinach casserole.  It really depends on who's in attendance.  I also ask our guests to make requests.  Hence this year's Mac n' Cheese.  In order to have everything on the table ready to go for a 5:00 supper I start the day before with my prep.  I have a detailed, down to the minute, schedule of what needs to happen when.  The schedule keeps me on track, and even has built in break times. With the addition of Lily this year I relied a lot on help from Cayce.  He was an excellent sous chef, and washed more than his fair share of dishes. 

     Another new treat this year was my Grandmother's dishes.  Cayce and I have had the same dishes since we married.  For some reason this year 3 have bit the dust.  Random droppings, and I think one crazy incident in the kitchen sink left us two plates and one bowl short.  I've had my Grandma's Frankhoma dishes sitting in a couple of boxes in our garage since we moved into this house a year and a half ago.  Since Cayce moved in while I was still in OK (with the Frankhoma) Cayce put our dishes into the cabinets.  I never took the time to correct the arrangement.  Well since we're moving (again), and our dish set is no longer a "set." I decided to take out Grandma's dishes and finally put them back into use.  We did this a couple weeks ago, and our old "set" found a new home at Goodwill.  Grandma's dishes really added something special to our Thanksgiving table.  It's also nice to eat off of them b/c as corny as it sounds it's like Grandma's there with each bowl of cereal, plate of spaghetti, and slice of pumpkin pie. 

     We thoroughly enjoyed our time with friends.  There was lots of laughter at the table, and it made the two days of hard work most definitely worth it.  Lily was so excited to have company, and miss busy body refused to go down for a nap.  She had to be a part of all the action.  She loves company, but to her detriment.  FINALLY after becoming clearly grumpy Cayce was able to lay her down for a short hour long nap... just before supper time.  Poor Lily missed most of supper.   Once she did wake up she ate the ENTIRE sweet potato I saved for her.  ENTIRE.  Those things aren't lacking for size.  I put the whole mashed thing on her plate thinking she'd maybe eat half of it, but in case she wanted more it was all on the plate to keep anyone from having to get more.  Apparently she enjoyed it. 

Where Lily would be if she was awake... see she even has a napkin.

There she is!  Check the sweet potato mash on the plate!  It all ended up in her tummy!

 

 

     We wraped up the day with Tina having the joy of giving Lily a bath (That is not sarcasm.  Lily loves bath time.) while I rested and Cayce worked on the kitchen.  We then had some pie, the guys played video games, and then we decorated the tree.  Yes we have a tree.  I decided I could not spend Lily's first Christmas treeless.  Cayce gave in, and sweetly picked out a beautiful 6' Fraser Fir.  I'll admit it's not as big or as ostentatious as our normal tree, but it's colorful and makes me happy.  But that's a blog for another day. In the end we sent home pretty much all the leftovers, and all that was left was a bit of cranberry sauce and pie.  This Thanksgiving was great, and above all things we are thankful for Cayce and I are most thankful for our sweet baby Lily.  She's brought a whole new wonderful world to us, and each day is something for us to be thankful. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!