Friendsgiving 2024

I had quite the year including packing up my childhood home and moving my parents from West Virginia to Ohio to live closer to my brother, so I wasn’t up for doing a big sit-down meal for Thanksgiving. Last year, I really liked what we did with the Crockpots and relaxing on the couch. I don’t want to say I phoned it in, but realistically, I definitely rocked my new buffalo plaid pajama pants to dinner. In fact, between those pants and a buffalo plaid pumpkin I got from my nephew were the inspiration for the decor. I got a plaid tablecloth from Amazon and used the pattern to make the signs. I love a good black/white/neon situation, so I dug through my paper stash and found a pack of neon that would work perfectly with my trusty little easels.

Pumpkin from my nephew for inspiration.

Cozy for the couch!

Signs for the buffet.

However, I did not phone in the food. I made some of the classics, but we definitely switched up the turkey situation. We are big fans of “The Kitchen” and watched Jeff Mauro make this Turkey Rollatini thing with Jalapeño Cranberry Sauce and Pumpernickel breadcrumbs that the rest of the cast were raving about on the show. What I didn’t consider is that Greg was still recovering from hand surgery and making it with 3 hands proved to be a little difficult. So it definitely wasn’t a looker, but it was really tasty. We weren’t sure how many people the breast would feed, so Greg (never one to pass on a turkey leg) busted out a roaster full of them. We set the roaster up in the office so it didn’t take up any precious kitchen real estate.

Turkey breast with dijon mustard base and cranberry sauce.

All rolled up with the breadcrumbs.

Roaster full of turkey legs.

We also had an abundance of apples for some reason, so I decided to make homemade apple butter with them. I used my Kitchen Aid Spiralizer attachment (a fairly new toy for me), my Immersion Blender and my InstantPot to make it. I love a good apple butter and its pretty easy to make at home. I had a hand-operated version of the spiralizer, but the Kitchen Aid version is so much easier to use! I love it.

Spiralizer in action.

Immersion blender to get the right consistency.

As for the rest of the food, we had an appetizer spread, a small salad bar situation (I can NEVER remember who hates tomatoes, but I think they are crazy), some casseroles and of course the Crockpot goodies. I also used my bread machine to make focaccia for the very first time. I didn’t think the first one turned out that great, mostly because it was too chilly in my kitchen for the dough to raise properly. Upon doing some research, I found out that you can put a pyrex measuring cup full of warm water (around 100 degrees) into your oven (that’s not on) and it becomes a pretty good proofing box. I got a much better rise using that tip with the second batch. Since then, I did a little experiment and tried the same warm water trick in the microwave. Whoa, that is the move. Much smaller area to keep warm. That focaccia was awesome. (Just have to hope no one turns on the microwave with the metal pan in it!)