Happy Thanksgiving...

I hope you all had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. Let me start this post off with saying how grateful I am for my family and friends. I feel very blessed because of all of the love I feel daily from all of you. I am so appreciative of this life I have been blessed with and I am so glad that I get to learn, experience and grow from the things you teach me. I feel very hopeful, encouraged, excited and inspired for the things going on in my life. I will explain more of all of that in a later post.

This year is the first year I handled the majority of the dinner by myself. I was a little anxious prior to making the meal but luckily everything came together. I made the turkey, stuffing, and apple salad myself. My mom helped me with the gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole once she got here which was nice. For the most part I took care of the majority of dinner and I was extremely impressed with myself. My little chickadee was a huge helper. Although she is only 4, she wanted to be by my side all day long helping out her mommy. So she helped me stir, add in things, stuff the turkey. She even told me that she wants to get a pink and purple apron just for her so when she helps out in the kitchen (if any of you know where I can find one for cheap, cause this momma is not a rich momma, let me know please, I would love to get her one for Christmas!). Now we did have to make some exceptions on food for my Bugaboo, due to his sensitivity with food because of his autism. So we made him some corn dogs because that is something he will actually eat.

Here are some photos of our dinner...

Please excuse the non matching serving dishes :) it was just a family affair after all and nothing is perfect in this household.

Just in case you were wondering about recipes at all let me tell you about the stuff I made.

The turkey, I stuffed with celery, an onion I quartered, a lemon I quartered, carrots and fresh poultry herbs. Then I rubbed some softened butter mixed with fresh poultry herbs on the turkey under the skin and on top of the skin. Then I cooked it in an oven bag at 350 degrees for a little over 3 hours and checked it with a thermometer to make sure it was done.

The stuffing, I started by sauteeing a whole onion, sliced celery (the center pieces with the leaves because the majority of the flavor comes from there), fresh garlic and herbs. Then I cooked up some Jimmy Dean's Hot Breakfast Sausage, diced up an apple and mixed it all with some seasoned bread crumbs. Then I added some broth just until the stuffing held together in my hand if squished a little. I also added some poultry seasoning to it to provide it with more flavor. Then cooked covered for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees and then for another 20 minutes uncovered.

Apple salad is a recipe I got from the Hubby's grandma. It is diced apples, sliced celery, halved grapes, raisins, chopped walnuts and marshmallows. I just added all of these until it felt like a nice mix of the ingredients. Not certain measurements. Then the sauce is mayo mixed with cool whip. This is about a 50/50 mix, but I mostly did it to taste. I tend to like mine slightly sweeter.

What did you all make for Thanksgiving? I would love to hear your recipes. What are you thankful for this year? I would love to hear any of your Thanksgiving day stories.

Until next time I am just going to continue on this exciting journey of an everyday mom...