My First Thanksgiving

Well, not literally... but the first one I prepared and cooked completely by myself! Including hubby and myself, we had 9 adults and 4 children over for dinner. For a few of my guests from India, it was their first time having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, so I wanted to include everything I could! Boy was it exhausting, but everything turned out better than I even hoped. Here's the menu:

Clockwise from top left: Sweet Potatoes with Coconut and Pecans (can be found in Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook); Pillsbury crescent rolls, garlic mashed potatoes, Herb Crusted Turkey Breast with Mushroom & Leek Stuffing (Whole Foods Recipe); gravy; Green Beans with Walnuts and Shallot Crisps (Vegetarian Times Recipe); Double Cranberry Chutney (Vegetarian Times Recipe). In the center, for the vegetarians was a Mushroom Tart. There are no leftovers of that! I didn't even get a slice myself! That's OK, I plan on making it for myself very soon! 

Off camera is the pumpkin pie I made with a yummy gingerbread crumble on top. There was a crazy mishap making this, though. I was watching Glee while I was making it, and the pie is in the oven, and I realize I left out HALF of the ingredients! HALF! I hadn't mixed in any of the spices OR the eggs! LOL! I pull the pie out of the oven, stir in the spices right into the pie, and try the same with the eggs. I realize quickly that will not work; egg whites are spilling everywhere. I pour all of the contents back into the mixing bowl, add a couple more egg whites to replace the ones all over my counter, mix, and pour back into shell. Phew! What a save! It worked. The sad thing is, this isn't even my first time making this recipe; it was my third. What is the opposite of "Third time's a charm"?

All the time spent cooking didn't leave my time or attention to holiday decorating, so here is my still-good Halloween pumpkin, made over for Thanksgiving: 

Minimalist Decoration

Anyway, everything was really yummy (that's why I included the recipes, so you can have them!) and I pulled it off! I was pretty exhausted afterwards, and slept somewhere between 10 and 11 hours.

Happy Thanksgiving!