Thanksgiving!! We Survived!!

This year for Thanksgiving we had Cliff's entire family (all 22 of us) up to Hume to celebrate, this is a tradition Cliff started about 10+ years ago. But, this is our first time having everyone up since we've been married. The last time they were all up was 5 years ago when we were just dating, we tried to have everyone here 3 years ago, but it didn't work out with the families schedules. So this year we decided to bring back the tradition. Now of course this year is the first year that I've been a part of the family, so there are some different expectations with a single guy hosting and the fairly new sister-in-law & daughter-in-law trying to figure out the family traditions. I think overall we did a pretty good job!

Here is a picture of the whole family out by the lake. Everything was good and most importantly I think the family was impressed, my husband said that I "rocked Thanksgiving Dinner" but what else is he going to say right? I had some great cooking advice from my wise brother-in-law who is king of great Turkey and Stuffing, the two main things you want to be great right? I brined the Turkey and we roasted one and BBQ'd the other. They both came out very good and very moist! And Cliff did a great job carving it (after he told his brother that he could take his judgemental looks into the other room while he carved)!!! Way to go babe!

So here was the menu for the day:

Thanksgiving Breakfast

Egg & Sausage Casserole

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

Cranberry Coffee Cake

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Fresh Fruit

Thanksgiving Dinner

Turkey

Sausage & Apple Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes w/Gravy

Sweet Potato Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Salad w/apples, cranberries & feta

Variety of Rolls

Dessert

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Pecan Pie

The kids table: I made them a Turkey Centerpiece with feathers made out of construction paper so they could write what they were thankful for, I read a few after dinner. One child had written "Barack is my Hero", good to know they are thankful for so many things! I'm not sure that went over very big, but that's okay I'll keep trying.

This is the Adult Table, our camera had been outside so the pictures I took came out blurry, this was the only one of all the cameras. But at least you can see the table.

We have had a good weekend, full of activities and of course plenty of food. I am a little tired and ready to jump into Christmas decorating, shopping and planning. But, I still need another day or two to recover. I had everything listed out to do for the last week or so and tried to make it where I only had a couple of things to do each day, until Wednesday and Thursday of course. For the most part my plan worked well. I said we were going to eat at 4:00pm and I think we sat down about 4:45pm. Not too bad, what can I say it's in my gene's!! I'm not sure we've every had a family meal on time for any Briner family gatherings!

Mac-n-Cheese

I was in the mood for some macaroni and cheese yesterday and I had just bought a cauliflower the other day (not sure why I bought one in the middle of summer) so I wanted something to use with the cauliflower. I have also been trying to find ways to get vegetables into Peter's food, since he's been on more table food I've realized that his vegetable intake has gone down in the last month.

So I made a fairly typical cheese sauce and at the same time steamed the head of cauliflower and then pureed it in the food processor. I added it to the sauce and mixed in the macaroni and you really could not even taste the cauliflower. It was really good! Peter enjoyed it, Cliff enjoyed it and so did I. Here is a link to Jessica Seinfeld's recipe, I didn't really follow this one except for the cauliflower.

Happy 30th Sissy!

Ina's Coconut Cake!

The layers are baked, the frosting is made and a dozen cupcakes are ready to go to make sure we have enough! I can't wait- hope you love it!

Edamame!

They like it! They really liked it! I've been meaning to try Edamame for awhile now- finally last night I needed a quick veggie to go with our dinner and this took 2 minutes to boil so it was fast and easy. I sprinkled on some kosher salt and really thought I would be the only one eating it. In fact, I didn't even put it on the boys' plates...but soon they were reaching for it and the four of us ate a bowlful! I'm so happy to find a veggie that the boys really love (besides carrots, corn and cucumbers)! Here's what you'll find in a half-cup serving of shelled edamame (or 1 1/8 cup edamame in the pods):
120 calories
9 grams fiber
2.5 grams fat
1.5 grams polyunsaturated fat (0.3 grams plant omega-3 fatty acids)
0.5 gram monounsaturated fat
11 grams protein
13 grams carbohydrate
15 mg sodium
10% of the Daily Value for vitamin C
10% Daily Value for iron
8% Daily Value for vitamin A
4% Daily Value for calcium

As you can see, that little serving of edamame gives you a bunch of fiber: 9 grams, about the same amount you'll find in 4 slices of whole-wheat bread or 4 cups of steamed zucchini. It has almost as much protein as it does carbohydrate. It contains around 10% of the Daily Value for two key antioxidants; vitamins C and A. And for a plant food, it's quite high in iron; it has about as much as a 4-ounce roasted chicken breast. (Info from MedicineNet.com )

Roasted Fingerlings and Green Beans

This recipe from the April Southern Living was delicious! With such easy main dishes ready to go in the freezer- it is nice to have a little extra time to spend on a special side dish. The extra tarragon dressing was great on the salad too!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

I know, I had you at the title right? These are amazing! Sissy posted about them a while back and I couldn't get them out of my mind! I made these for our American Idol (YEA, David Cook) Finale party. We topped them with ice cream (vanilla & American Idol mint cookie crunch) and homemade hot fudge -they were amazing! Here is the link to Ina's recipe with the PB, but it's really easy you just swirl the peanut butter and bake. I sprinkled a few peanuts on top for added crunch and flavor! This will solve all your chocolate cravings!

Freezer Cooking

I'm joining two friends to try out freezer cooking. We are all making three (family sized) servings of four different meals plus one side dish. Tonight we are getting together to "swap" meals. These are the four I have in our freezer-

Turkey Taco's

This recipe is my invention- but really yummy! I also use this meat for taco salad and yesterday I even threw it in a basic mac and cheese recipe for a quick pasta dish.

Pulled Pork We already ate our serving of this, and I must say it was really good. This is a great summer slow cooker recipe.

Rub:

boneless pork shoulder (about 4 to 41/2 pounds- I used two roasts for 3 families)

4 tablespoons kosher

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1/4 cup paprika

2 to 3 sprigs thyme, leaves only

4 cloves garlic

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Scant 1 tablespoon cayenne (I used way less)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Cook on low in slow cooker for 10 hours. Chill in fridge, remove fat and shred. Mix in favorite bbq sauce and bag to freeze. To serve: Defrost in fridge overnight, reheat on low in skillet or in microwave and served on buttered, toasted buns. Yum!

Freezer Mashed Potatoes

This is a new recipe I'm going to try- I'll add roasted garlic.

Garlic Lemon Chicken

This is a Karlson family recipe I can make with my eyes closed. It is my go-to summer recipe when entertaining because it always turns out and everyone seems to like it (and it is easy!). This works for any type of chicken but I usually use bone-in or boneless breasts.

Marinade:

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/3 olive oil

3 (or more) cloves of garlic, minced

1 T. soy sauce (gives chicken great color)

Kosher salt and pepper to taste

One Tablespoon fresh (or teaspoon dried) of each:

Basil

Oregano

Thyme

Rosemary

I really like how this turns out with fresh herbs- but I used dried because we are freezing it and herbs turn black in the freezer.

Marinate for a few hours then grill.

Marinated Tri-Tip Steaks

Marinade:

Garlic salt to taste

Pepper to taste

1/4 c. Kikkoman teriyaki sauce

1/4 c. soy sauce

1/4 c. red wine

This is a new recipe- I hope the girls like it!

I have been cooking up a storm this week (and my kitchen now needs a serious deep cleaning!). Next week I'm looking forward to kicking back and just pulling dinner out of the freezer!