Thursday, November 22, 2012

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  This was our first year on our own for the holiday and even though we missed all of our friends and family this year, we had a great day.  Since Andy and I both love to cook, we went all out, even though it was just the two of us.

First and foremost, the turkey.  This year, after watching about five million hours of the Food Network (oh cable, I'll never get rid of you again!), we decided to try Alton Brown's super special turkey recipe. The fact that it had five stars on their website and over 4,000 reviews definitely persuaded us.  Here's our bird with the secret weapon - the custom designed foil shield!


The shield protects the white meat while allowing the dark meat to cook perfectly.  This was, hands down, the best turkey I have ever had.  It was also super easy and didn't involve any fancy tricks aside from the foil.  You can get the recipe here: Alton Brown's Turkey Recipe.  If you plan on trying it, definitely watch the video to get the step by step on the foil shield.  Totally amazing.

On top of the turkey we had potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and of course, Andy's secret family recipe green bean casserole.  If you want that recipe, you have to get in good with Andy's mom and maybe ply her with a little wine to get her to give it to you.  Or, as an easy alternative, you can check the back of the French's fried onion container.

I also, on Andy's request, baked a pumpkin pie!


I'm in a bit of a food coma right now as you might imagine, and I'm also trying to think of a thousand ways to repurpose the approximately 13 lbs we have left of the 14 lb turkey we bought.  We've also decided that the double oven, which we have at the rental, is a MUST HAVE for any future house.  Cooking the turkey and the sides at the same time was so convenient!

I hope everyone out there had a fantastic Thanksgiving.  This year we definitely have a lot to be thankful for.  It's amazing to think that a year ago we were just sort of kicking around the idea of moving to Alaska "someday" and that just a few months later, despite the time apart, the multiple moves, driving the ALCAN twice, the ups and downs with trying to sell our house, renting a house without seeing it first (bad idea), and all the other headaches that came with this whole process, we're actually HERE and we're starting to even feel settled.  Hopefully in the next six months or so we'll have a new house and we can start playing tour guide to all of our great friends and family! It was a tough decision to pack up and leave almost everything and everyone that we know and love, but we're really happy and know deep down that this was absolutely the right thing for us.  We're so happy and we wish you all a happy Thanksgiving!

And now I'll leave you with this picture, which is something I'm thankful for because it makes me smile:


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