Now that we have officially polished off the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers, it’s time to relive all of the deliciousness in photographic form! Yes. I took pictures of every dish and more than one of the turkey. It all turned out damn delicious and I partly want to show it off and partly want a keepsake of the occasion in case I can’t ever duplicate it. 😆 This year was the biggest I’ve prepared so far and that’s with Mom still bringing the made-from-scratch dressing and rolls. I really got into the holiday this year. Something about an old farmhouse in the country just screamed, “cook lots of food all Betty Homemaker style!” It was a 2 days of preparation, Wednesday being mostly spent on this insane pie and Thursday spent cooking the bird and other sides. Here’s the rundown:

Turkey: I didn’t brine it and even after sitting in the fridge for a full 5 days, the 20lb monster still wasn’t completely thawed on the bottom. Nathan got right to doing the dirty work for me. Slimy, raw bird is just gross. I slathered it up in butter and herbs after he had his way with it and in it went! It finished 2 hrs earlier than my online source said it would with minimal whitemeat dryness. 👍🏻

Sides: Mashed potatoes(not pictured) roasted brussel sprouts with butternut squash.

Sweet potatoe casserole WITH a pecan streusel. Oh boy! Let me tell you how amazing a pecan streusel makes a sweet potatoe casserole! I ate that bad boy for breakfast more than one morning

Mom wouldn’t show up empty handed, so she took 2 days of her own and made an all from scratch dressing unlike any I’ve had before! Organic at that!! You’ll have to ask my kids about her rolls. They ate them all!!! 

Dessert was the INSANE pie. You know when you see the news on Wednesday and they feature the lines outside of the popular pie shops backed up for blocks and scoff at those idiots that would wait that long for a pie? Well that may only take a couple hours. After spending 3/4 of an entire day fussing over one damn pie and its finicky flaky crust…. It all makes sense! I stumbled across the INSANE pie also known as a Chumpcan Pie on Pinterest and was immediately obsessed with the idea of a “three pies in one” pie. Get it? (CH)eesecake, p(UMP)kin, pe(CAN). Hahaha! Honestly, it turned out really good and I’m not as scared of diy flaky crust anymore, but that freezer section looks mighty appealing next year 😜

I hope all y’all had a great Thanksgiving Day!

Two days prior to our feast, Archer turned 3! My youngest is by definition, a preschooler! Of course, he fancies himself a threenager now and like any philosopher that age enjoys daily debates about wearing pants, sitting on his butt at the table and whether he truly HAS to come to the store with us. To be 3 and have it all figured out, right? We managed a great day for him that began with breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, playtime at Brookshires park, a trip to the zoo that Mom joined us and dinner at Chuck E Cheese with Daddy. I only managed 2 decent pictures of him the entire day because he decided memories weren’t important. 😆

Ashlyn, Weston and I managed a picture in front of a really pretty fall tree at the zoo though! 

-Lindsay