Happy Thanksgiving

We weren’t sure about posting today… being Thanksgiving and all! BUT, we thought back to some of our turkey dinners in the past… if you are reading this right now then you know what we are talking about! You may be bored to death with the company that you turn to your other mommy friends to see if they are just as bored as you are or maybe you just couldn’t stand the family drama any longer so you have snuck away with your phone and you are hiding out in the car just to check and see what the rest of the world is up to so you can forget that your aunt can’t stand your mom who can’t stand her brother!!!! lol just kidding… no not really :)  On a lighter note maybe your fam is so giving on Thanksgiving that they are keeping the kiddos busy long enough for you to search you fave online sites (we hope to be one of them!) just to try and relax and unwind after a busy day of cooking! So we thought that if any of the above apply then we should get a post out just for YOU! Relax and enjoy!

I had talked earlier this week about how I had an early Thanksgiving (and what I did with the leftovers!) and I thought I would share our yummy turkey day menu with you! On the list:

• Good ole deep fried turkey! If you have never had a deep fried turkey before I would add that one to your bucket list! It is SO yummy and tasty and you can flavor it any way you like. This year we injected ours with a creole butter sauce and then applied a cajun rub seasoning to the outside. Check out the Bayou Classic 3066A 30-Quart Outdoor Turkey Fryer Kit if you wanted to deep fry your own! Being the first year we were supplying the turkey, I wanted to make sure I bought a local, hormone free, humanely treated bird and thanks to Busch’s Country Corner I was able to make that happen! (I made sure to add that in to our “what we are thankful for” ritual..wink wink)! Also, if want a detailed description on how to carve your turkey with confidence, check out the you tube link from Whole Foods for a play by play!
• Stuffing with gravy
• Broccoli Casserole- AMAZING! I will have to post the recipe for this one!
• Sweet Potato Casserole- personally I think my mamas is the best and I need to post this one too!
• Cranberry Sauce– o.k. so I am the only person in my fam who is a fan of the cranberry sauce in a can. I know it looks nasty, but it is a one time a year thing and I LOVE IT :) However, now that I am starting to try and cook more things from scratch I started thinking about how I could make my own! Well just in time… hot off the press, thanks to OAMM, here is a pretty cool recipe for a DIY cranberry sauce (minus the roast)! Please let me know how you like this! I can’t wait to try it out myself!

Lastly, now that Cody is into crafts, we made the turkey hands which I laid on everyones plate as a take home gift and we made Indian napkin holders. This idea was a cross between two different crafts. I had seen in one of Martha’s magazines an adorable craft for napkin holders that you decorate to look like pilgrims, indians etc. for thanksgiving. Then mama Jenny sent a pic of a cute little turkey craft she did with her son Conner and it gave me this idea.

• Save your paper towel holders (cut in half) or tp rolls. Cover them in brown construction paper.
• Make the “feathers” for the indians headdress from construction paper. I had leftover construction paper “feathers” from the turkey hands so I used those
• Let the kids decorate the face how they want or cut construction paper eyes/ nose etc. and let them decorate that way. It was super cute, although a little advanced for an almost 2 yr old! I think the older kids would LOVE this!

This can also be a fun way to talk to your kids about history and they make great finger puppets when you are finished with them!

O.k. now there you go… a little piece of quiet :) Now you need to take a deep breath and go back into the war zone and finish your Thanksgiving!!! lol! Have fun! Happy Turkey Day!