Friendsgiving 2023

This year, Thanksgiving went down a little differently… Superbowl style. Greg is a huge Green Bay Packers fan and our friend Rick is a die-hard Detroit Lions fan so since those teams were facing off in the early game on Thanksgiving, we opted for a crockpot / couch-style feast. We tried to make the menu as easy as possible so everyone could just eat whenever they wanted to right in front of the TV.

But then, we had to take it beyond just the food. We “Packered” the place. Anything and everything that we could turn green and gold, we did (with one exception… as you will see ). Operation Lambeau had to be covert as we couldn’t do ANYTHING downstairs until after Rick dropped off his veggie tray makings Wednesday night as he walks over a mile to our house for the feast on Thursday.

Also, not sure if you follow football, but the Packers were absolute trash and definitely not expected to even have a chance against the Lions, which made Rick even more excited for Thanksgiving. But that meant I did not want to spend very much money trolling Rick only to then watch him gloat when the Lions won. The ONLY money I spent on decor was $4 from the dollar store for 2 packs of green paper plates and 2 green plastic tablecloths that went under the yellow mesh cloth (usually reserved for Steelers games). That’s it… The rest was cobbled together from the dredges of my craft room. Greg obviously already had his sweatshirt, but being a Steelers fan, I flat out refused to borrow his other one. So instead I found some yellow, green and white yarn to make myself a truly hideous hat for the occasion. Roxie’s jersey was concocted from scrap printable iron-on paper and a pink baby onesie that was left over from the 2-pack I bought to make her very first halloween costume 11 years ago. How I still had that and how I actually knew where to find it was definitely a Lambeau hail mary! We already had the helmet sign from when the Packers and Steelers faced off in the Superbowl XLV in 2011! I have decorative fairy lights in our front room that can change color, green and yellow flanked the front door. The floor lamps in the dining room do the same, so those were switched on. Greg plopped his 2023 “autographed” football in the middle of the dining room table as a centerpiece and we somehow figured out how to prop up Greg’s camping table right next to the crock pots.

Rick was a very good sport… for most of it. He wasn’t at all surprised that we did it, but was still really confident in his Lions to win (who admittedly were having a great season in 2023). That is until he found this in the bathroom… it was Greg’s idea not to give him a minute of respite from the Packer mania! We just heard Rick groan loudly when he saw his beloved Lion underneath Roxie’s pee pad. The best part however, is later in the day, Roxie had made use of her pad… right on the Lion’s head. She understood the assignment.

Now onto the food. Unfortunately, I was too busy watching football to take a decent picture of the appetizer spread before it got destroyed, but it was amazing. Then dinner. I made baked turkey sliders with cranberry sauce and stuffing, Greg handled the turkey legs, my friend Craig brought the upside down tomato tart (which quite possibly could be one of the best things I have ever eaten), Mike brought the garlic knots and root veggies, while Lara brought this delicious Scottish dish that I can’t remember the actual name, but yum. My friends can cook! I didn’t even get a chance to take a photo of the desserts as they were gone so fast but also very tasty. If you want the recipes for what I made, there’s a link at the end of this post. (Excuse the green light food photos, dishes certainly don’t look as delicious as they were, but we were going for a vibe here.)

I really liked the lowkey football-themed Thanksgiving especially on paper plates. Depending on who is playing next year, it may become a new tradition. Rick also brought special plates that his sister sent him for the occasion… he asked me not to throw them away, that was difficult, so I compromised by sending him this pic to let him know that he left them behind. And maybe to rub it in just a little more…

Thanksgiving menu 2023

• Asiago Dip
• Apple Butter-Glazed Cocktail Franks
• Spicy Sweet Maple Snack Mix
• Hot Pepper Dip
• Slow Cooker Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole
• Stuffing Muffins
• Air Fryer Turkey Breast (used in the sliders)
• Baked Hawaiian Roll Turkey Sliders
• Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
• Lemon Pecan Slab Pie

If you want to download the cookbook from this Thanksgiving Feast, click here!