Thanksgiving 2011

Thought I would start with pictures...group picture, then a picture with Papa Bill, Papa Ben and the 6 great grandchildren, then family shots and finally 5 of the 6 eating the dessert...cupcakes for the kiddos and lemon merangue pie (compliments of Lacey) and our traditional and most loved dessert that my mom always made:  Marion berry cream cheese pie (made by my DAD!).  We had a good feast...kept it simple, had a small turkey breast, massed potatoes, gravy, broccoli, homemade rolls (from me...that is a tradition that Scott's grandma started...okay, I have to be honest here...I use the bread machine to make the dough...so easy, then I roll it out and shape it and then I get to put it into my warming drawer...oh man, these rolls raised so nicely...and they were so good, hot out of the oven!) and lacey brought the marshmallow topped yams! 

And can I just tell you that I used every appliance in my kitchen to pull together this feast?  Both of my ovens...the top one is a three in one...microwave, convected and traditional...so my 6 pound turkey breast took 45 minutes and it was so moist and juicy!  Then I used my steam oven to cook up the potatoes for mashing...that really helps me from over cooking the potatoes in water and having them be pre-mashed if you know what I mean!  The lower oven had a casserole that Scott made...YES, you read right, SCOTT MADE IT!!  Holy Moly is this the beginning of something great???  He saw this recipe for leftover turkey in the Tuesday Food Day...it was a poblano enchilada casserole...So he had to buy two poblanos...bake them until the skin was black...then take the skin off and all the seeds (that is the HOT part!)...then he put the meat of the pepper into the blender, added spices and other little things...in the meantime I did cook up some mexican style rice for him and then he layered the rice/cheese/turkey mixture with corn tortillas and the green poblano sauce...and it was a BIG hit...usually we have Mac and Cheese for a side dish (I don't know why this is a tradition, but early in our marriage we headed down to Grants Pass where Elsa's sister, Anna May lived with her family and she always had Mac and Cheese...so we continue with that tradition...except for this year!!  I used the warming drawer to put all our dishes in and rolls that I had previously baked, were wrapped in foil and kept warm...and I used the microwave for the broccoli, along with my Demarle...hmmmhmmm, perfect broccoli, just al dente!!

We only had Lacey's family sitting at the table for dinner, Dina's family came later, for dessert...so it was manageable and easier for the older generation.  And can I just add that Papa Bill did really well?  It had only been 10 days since his dear wife passed away and he did NOT cry once all evening...that was a great accomplishment for him.  However, everyone was warned not to say anything about her to him...and don't ask how he is doing...those are no no's...he just gets too choked up quite easily and then has to leave the room to compose himself.  He loved all the children...they can make anyone smile!  So it was a good day.