Thanksgiving Cooking!

So I really didn't take very many pictures of Thanksgiving because I was just too busy cooking..But I did take some photos of my cooking.

 Wednesday night Thelma came over and we had some wine and she helped me bake some pies for Thanksgiving. I never made apple pie by scratch before and I really been dying to make one. We actually made two! The first was a caramel Apple pie. The crust I made I used cream cheese rather than shortening. It came out delicious. The other pie was just a traditional apple pie but I added dried cranberries to it.

 I originally wanted to make it a lattice top but It was just way easier to throw the crust right over the pie. We kinda had to add more dough here and there but it did not look toooo bad.

 I ran out of pie crust and did not have all the ingredients to make another so I began to panic a little thinking Oh what am I going to do with this OTHER pie...then a light came on in my head and I thought   CRUMBLE!! I baked the first pie with the crust that night. I saved the crumble to bake right after dinner. However...In the morning when I went to pull the pie out I notice half my crumble topping was missing cause a certain little sneaky toddler decided to open the fridge up when no one was looking to grab a taste ..or two .or three... Luckily I had enough time to make more crumble.

 This Thanksgiving everyone made items for the dinner. I did (besides the pies) The Turkey. It came out sooo good we didn't really have any left over. I prepared my turkey by first stuffing some garlic cloves and sprigs of fresh rosemary under the skin. I then made a mixture of melted butter,lemon juice, garlic salt,white pepper and nutmeg and use a HUGE syringe and injected the turkey all over with that juice. I then rubbed honey all over the skin and in a bowl mixed up a whole container of whipped butter, minced fresh garlic,rosemary,thyme,parsley and bay leaf, white pepper, a whole lemon juice and smothered all that on the turkey and tooth picked in some fresh lemon wheels and drizzled honey all over that. I put it in the roasting pan with a half container of Chicken Broth and inside the turkey put in more rosemary and a whole lemon.
When we took the turkey out it was so tender it was falling apart.

 My other dish I made was a sweet potato maple mash. I never used sweet potatoes before. I soften them up by putting them in their whole form with nothing added for an hour and ten minutes. I then took them out peeled them and mashed them up with brown sugar, heavy cream, maple syrup, a pinch of salt and chopped pecans and back in the oven it went. It was Pretty damn good if I say so myself.

 Once I was done I started working on some apps. Traditional in my family we always have out a tray of olives and pickles. I remember as a kid always putting black olives on my finger tips..I tried it out but my fingers are much too big now..they were all breaking and falling off..I told Gabe QUICK take a picture while they are staying on for 2 seconds!

 Soon everyone was showing up. My brother and Jessica came. She was preparing some cheesy scallop potatoes and brought over a homemade cheese cake. Ally soon arrived and then my parents as well. Once our food was prepped and cooking we all did a Thanksgiving Shot of Godiva Chocolate Raspberry vodka..yummy and made cocktails and opened up some champagne and wine.
Once it was dinner time we all went out to the tables set up in the patio and ate outside. My dad went to pick up his uncle Jr and we all sat around the table eating. Later on My brothers Twins and Jessica and Teressa came over for a little bit.

 Once my parents left and the twins and left ..Gabe,myself,Ally,Jess and Alex got into a heated game of Cocktail-opoly. It was a gift that my brother and Jess got me for  my birthday. It is just like monopoly but instead of property you buy drinks, instead of start or Pass GO it is Cheers and instead of Free Parking it is HAPPY HOUR!

We made a rule that anytime you land on Happy Hour or Cheers we take shots!
It was a fun night..just like monopoly this game takes FOREVER!!!! Gabe ended up winning.
This was one of the funniest Thanksgiving I have had in awhile!