The First Thanksgiving.

Megan and I were really sick over the weekend. In fact, we're both just now feeling better. It's amazing how much tissue+napkins+ TP two girls can blow through. Goodness.
Anyway, so what are we supposed to do when we feel cruddy? Well, I spent the entire weekend watching Food Network Thanksgiving specials on the internet. Yes I curled up with my laptop and Bobby Flay and Alton Brown all weekend long. That's comfort. HA! Seriously, I could watch Food Network and HGTV all day. Those are the only 2 reasons I ever miss having cable. The funny thing about internet TV is that usually they only post a few episodes of this or that. And being that Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, Comcast online or Xfinity as it's now called is only listing a bunch of Thanksgiving related Food Network shows right now. Fine by me.
So all weekend I was flooded with images of juicy turkey, all variations of stuffing/dressing, sweet potatoes made this way and that, and green bean casseroles aplenty, all while Giada and Bobby and Tyler and Alton explained just how delicious + easy each and every recipe was and how I MUST add this dish to my Thanksgiving menu.
I'm very easily influenced.
So Monday morning, when I was feeling just a bit better, I headed out to the store. I filled my cart with all things Thanksgiving. Sweet potatoes, fresh green beans, Trader Joe's corn bread stuffing and....even a turkey. As previously mentioned, I've never cooked a turkey before. Food Network told me I could do it, told me not to be afraid, so I believed them, so I bought one. Though, I decided to only go with the bone-in breast only though. I really didn't need a whole giant turkey a week before Thanksgiving. I also didn't want to wait for it to defrost. I have no patience. And I wanted Thanksgiving now. Food Network told me to do it. I'm very easily influenced.
Tuesday I spent all day preparing our feast.
"Is today Thanksgiving??", Megan asked.
"No", I said. "I just thought it would be fun to make our own Thanksgiving since we've never done it before and next week on real Thanksgiving we're going to Auntie Kim's".
"Ok, Momma".
"It is NOT Thanksgiving, Mommy. I do not want to eat all this stuff today," declared Jake.
"Too bad." I replied. "You will eat it and you will like it."
"I have the best wife ever." said Pete.
Our menu:
Mayo roasted Turkey (breast): said to make the turkey really moist without brinning. (again--no patience to wait for the brine)
Sweet potatoes: courtesy The Pioneer Woman. I am not a sweet potato fan. But these were really good.
Green bean casserole: also courtesy PW. This was really, really good! We didn't even miss the canned fried onions.
Stuffing: I used Trader Joe's cornbread stuffing mix. I just wanted to try it. It was pretty good. I added my own onions, carrots and celery to it. I think next time I'll go for straight up from scratch and see how it compares.
Gravy: from scratch made with butter, flour, turkey juices and broth. No Wondra.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie: Our Best Bites. I've blogged about this one before I think. Very, very good and super easy.
All in all, I'd call this first Thanksgiving very successful! Everything was really good. The only thing was I think the turkey could have cooked just a little longer. It tasted great and was definitely moist, but a little pink towards the bone. The Food Network told me to pull it out of the oven when it reached an internal temp of 160*. I do what the Food Network tells me to. I'm very easily influenced. But some episodes went all the way up to 180*. That's a pretty big difference in temp. I took mine out at 160*. Maybe next time 170* would be better.
I've got no pictures, but you can click on the links and look at other peoples food, if you want :)