Thanksgiving 2014

Since Will and I are traveling extensively for Christmas this year (road trip!!), we decided to do our own mini-Christmas before leaving town, so we weren't lugging gifts to our respective parents homes, in anticipation of driving halfway across the country and back with them. And after opening all our gifts from each other and finding lots of kitchen gems (including two glorious new cookbooks from our friend Courtney), I remembered that I hadn't even blogged about Thanksgiving yet! The shame. Between wrapping up my bosses' last week in the office, doing some major updates on my computer and generally socializing our way through the week of holiday get-togethers (aka: drinking more than we normally do in a month's time, in a week), I figured I should set aside a few minutes to get this up on the blog before Christmas came and passed.

This years Thanksgiving holiday was different from most, as there were some extenuating circumstances that made the menu a wee bit out of the ordinary, though you really won't be able to tell. My uncle had some surgery the week before that limited the types of food he could eat, which forced us to explore some new recipes this Thanksgiving that we typically wouldn't have had. He was limited on what types of vegetables he could eat, which is how we found a lighter green bean recipe, as opposed to a traditional green bean casserole with french onion rings on top. Instead, we had a "Southern" green bean casserole with pimento in it (yum!), which we ultimately topped with leftover buttered Ritz crackers...like ya do.  In addition to the new green bean casserole, we also tried a new potato casserole recipe. Now we've done potatoes at Thanksgiving before, but they've never been a "staple" in my families' history. But again, because of some limitations and the need to eat white starches, we dove right in to a decadent whipped potato casserole. Y'all, it was somethin' else! I could NOT stop photographing it because it turned out so beautifully. I also could not stop eating it, but that's an entirely different matter.




In addition to new casserole recipes, one of the most exciting parts of Thanksgiving this year was the fact that my mom got a new stove! You might recall that last year, her stove went kaputz on us and decided to either work too slowly, or burn everything. So after a year of deliberating on what kind of stove to get, my mother finally replaced her 1980's dilapidated stove with a brand-spanking new beautiful oven! She had only baked and cooked a few things prior to Thanksgiving, so this was the true test of how it worked. Well needless to say, everything turned out absolutely perfectly and we were all pleased as can be with the new stove. She even purchased two turkey breasts for Thanksgiving to try out two different setting on the stove. However...










When Will opened the first turkey to being prepping it, a horrible rotten egg smell started filtering through the kitchen. Recognizing that this meant the meat was bad (despite only being purchased a few days before with an expiration date in December), Will opened the second turkey. You can imagine all of our surprise when that one had an even worse rotten odor to it! We were stunned - this meant no turkey for us! So we immediately went to the grocery store to get our money back and of course on Thanksgiving day at 2 PM, there are no turkeys to be found. So we settled on a pork loin and Will managed to make it just as wonderful of a dinner as turkey would have been, if not better!








All in all, despite a few changes and a bump in the road with the turkey(s), we managed to have a lovely Thanksgiving feast, with leftovers for days! We ultimately dined on a Rosemary Pork Loin, Broccoli Casserole, Pimento Green Bean Casserole, Whipped Potato Casserole, Classic Mac 'n Cheese, and Cinnamon Stewed Apples. It was a lovely feast!





Rosemary Pork Loin (serves 8)
1 medium pork loin
1/4 cup fresh rosemary
1/2 stick butter, softened
2 tbsp fresh thyme
S&P, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a baking dish on the counter next to a small bowl in which to make the rub. Prepare rub by mixing softened butter, fresh herbs and S&P with your hands. Then, rub all over the pork loin, in the baking dish. Bake in oven for 40-50 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 150-160 degrees. Remove and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing to serve.

Cooking Notes: We used butter instead of margarine. We also substituted crushed Ritz crackers (from our broccoli casserole) in place of the bread crumbs that the recipe called for, so we mixed those with the onion for the topping. We used any extra buttered Ritz on top.

Pimento Green Bean Casserole (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens; serves 6-8)
2 9-oz. packages frozen French-style green beans
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 tsp butter
3 tbsp crushed Ritz crackers
1 10 3/4-oz. can lower-sodium condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 tbsp diced pimento, drained
1/8 tsp pepper


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the green beans according to package directions, without salt. Drain well. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add the onion, cooking until tender. Stir in 3 tbsp of Ritz cracker crumbs, then remove from heat and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the soup, yogurt, pimentos and pepper. Stir in the beans. Transfer the mixture to a 1-qt. casserole dish, then sprinkle the remaining Ritz cracker crumbs as topping. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the mixture is heated through and the crumbs are golden. Enjoy!

Cooking Notes: My mom tore this recipe out of a magazine years ago and we followed it to a "t." I would note where we got it from, but unfortunately that information is long gone!

Whipped Potato Casserole (serves 12)
5 lbs russet potatoes
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups half and half
1 8-oz. tub of cream cheese with chives (whipped preferred)
1 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat a 2-qt. baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Peel and quarter the potatoes, then place in a large pot. Add enough water to cover the potatoes, lightly salt and then bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until for-tender. Drin, then place in a large bowl. Mash the potatoes with a hand mixer. Add the butter, half and half, cream cheese, garlic salt and nutmeg, beating on medium-high until verys mooth. Spoon into the prepared dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until top begins to lightly brown. Turn broil on high and watch carefully for 3-4 minutes, to lightly crisp the top. Let stand 15 minutes before serving and enjoy!

Cooking Notes: We used white cheddar, sharp cheddar and Parmesan cheese and threw an ton of extra on this dish, willy-nilly.

Classic Mac 'n Cheese (adapted from Betty Crocker Cookbook; serves 6-8)
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (7 oz.)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups whole milk
2 cup cheese (sharp cheddar, white cheddar, Parmesan or anything else you please)


Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook and drain macaroni as directed on package. While the pasta is cooking, in a 3-qt. saucepan, melt butter over low heat, then stir in flour salt, pepper, ground mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the roux mixture is smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat, then stir in milk. Place back over heat and heat until boiling, continuing to stir constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute, then remove from heat. Stir in cheeses until melted.

Gently stir macaroni into cheese sauce and pour into an ungreased 2-qt. casserole dish. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly. Turn broil on high and continue to broil 3-4 minutes, watching carefully so it doesn't burn. Serve and enjoy!

Cooking Notes for Apples: This is an old favorite my mom pulled off the internet in the early days of recipe searching online. She's tweaked it over time and this is the ultimate result!

Cinnamon Stewed Apples (adapted from Cooking Light; serves 6-8)
6 cups chopped, peeled Granny smith apples (~2 lbs.)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup apple juice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients in a large, heavy saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 45 minutes or until apples are tender, stirring occasionally. Let stand 5 minutes before enjoying! Best served with pork.