Guide to a perfect Thanksgiving

I know this is out of order, but a lot of people wanted to know what we were making for Thanksgiving.  So even though it is already past, I wanted to include a post with pictures and recipes I used.

I always brine our Thanksgiving turkey.  Always.  Brine.  I have been doing Thanksgiving on my own (aka without family) for five years now and have brined it from the beginning.  It all started with a trip to Williams-Sonoma and I am sure you can guess the rest from there... My turkey has always turned out fantastically juicy and tasty and I highly recommend brining a turkey to anyone, but especially if you are a little gun-shy.  It is a crowd favorite and a sure fire win.

Like I said, I have used the Williams-Sonoma Apple and Spices Turkey Brine almost every year.  Last year I had to follow another recipe because I wasn't close enough to a store and didn't want to order it.  This year, I used Pioneer Woman's My Favorite Turkey Brine and it was divine.  Next year I might not add the oranges because it gave it a little bit of a citrus taste to the skin of the turkey.  Either way, they are both wonderful.  I am sure you can find lots more recipes online.  The key really is the salt and brown sugar, which locks in the moisture and flavor of the turkey.  Also, you really need heavy duty bags to hold all the liquid and the turkey.  You can buy brining bags from Williams-Sonoma but I opted to try different (cheaper) bags this year and went with the Ziploc Heavy Duty XL bags.  These bags are designed to hold 10 gallons of "stuff" and worked perfectly for our 22 lb turkey and 2.5 gallons of brine.

The only downside to brining a turkey is the process.  You can't really start it on Thanksgiving day.  I usually start planning my Thanksgiving menu at least a week in advance.

My calendar goes like this:  

Monday - Grocery shopping 

Tuesday- Boil the brine and cool it overnight

Wednesday - Put thawed turkey and cooled brine into bag and into fridge to soak overnight
(picture from last year)

Thursday - Dump out turkey and brine, rinse off turkey and put it in the oven

Roasted at 350 degrees covered with foil for three hours, basted with butter every hour and last hour uncovered

 Maybe it seems like a lot of extra work, but I feel like it is totally worth it.  The turkey always turned out perfectly and that really makes up for the process.

Super deliciousness

Williams-Sonoma doesn't recommend using the drippings from the turkey in the gravy because of the concentrated salt content, but I have used it before and just diluted it with milk to balance the salt from the brine.

For the sides, I used mostly the basic recipes off the cans - Campbell's green bean casserole, Stove Top stuffing, mashed potatoes with butter and milk, mashed sweet potatoes with butter and my canned bread and butter pickles.

After the dust settled and the counters were cleaned off, everyone made room for the pies and cookies.  Desserts were made in multiples and all four pies and three dozen cookies didn't make it past the second day.

Paula Deen's Apple Pie

Bobby Flay's Throwdown Pumpkin Pie

Nigella Lawson's Maple Pecan cookies

All in all, it was a delicious and exhausting day.  It was full of family on both sides, full of love and laughter and memories made.  Thanks to everyone that came and mostly those that helped prepare, clean and entertain the kids!

Lastly, I forgot to add that as our Thanksgiving miracle, Calla took seven steps by herself!  Ever since Thanksgiving, she has slowly gotten more comfortable walking unaided, but hasn't repeated that many steps in a row since.

Christmas lesson

Before I lose my chance, I wanted to quick share a short story from Gabe.  If I get a chance, I will include an update on our Thanksgiving. 

In an effort to save money and also teach the kids a lesson in moderation and the true meaning of Christmas, we told the boys they were only allowed to ask Santa for two things this Christmas season - a 'want' and a 'need'.

We explained the difference between the two - that a 'want' is usually fun and unnecessary and a 'need' is something necessary, not always fun.

Gabe thought about it for a while and said, "Mom, I am going to ask for three things.  My 'want' is for a Nintendo DS.  My 'need' is for AA batteries.  And for last, I am going to ask Santa to buy you flowers, because you never ask for things for yourself."

I instantly became blubbery and had to control myself before I tried to talk.  I told Gabe thank you for thinking of me and that I appreciated and loved his idea of giving to others.  I went on to talk about the true meaning of Christmas is about the birth of Jesus and how we should think of others at this time of the year and how he gave me the perfect example of thinking about someone else.

 

On the outside, I remained composed and collected, telling my oldest son that his heart is in the right place and how proud I am of him.  On the inside, I was a mess!  What a boy!  I can't believe those words came out of his mouth!  I feel like I was staring at a boy much older than six years old, which makes me thankful that we are raising him right but also sad that he is growing so fast.  Sigh.

Look for my Thanksgiving recap and Christmas tree decoration update soon.  Sorry for jumping out of order.

Thankful Trees tutorial and freebies

This time of year is the time to be thankful.  I keep seeing lots of different ideas for making big Thankful trees on Pinterest, but I found these 3D trees at Target on the clearance racks (marked down to $1!).  I like that they are on heavy cardboard and can stand up by themselves.  They came with leaf stickers to put on the branches and we have been writing our daily "thankful" and sticking it on.  I decided to trace the two pieces and make them available to download for everyone!

Below each picture of the tree is a link where you can download your copy of the tree.  To download them, open the link.  Then click on the button that says "Options" and click "Download".  This is the first time I have included a download in my blog post, so if it doesn't work out let me know!  I highly suggest printing them out on either heavy card stock or on paper and then tracing them on to cardboard. 

Thankful Tree side 1

Thankful Tree side 2

Here are the cutting details.  You want to cut out the little rectangles but leave the line attached.  Then to put them together, you slide the top of one into the bottom of the other and turn it so the cut outs match up with the holes.  They should lock into place and keep the tree standing up.

If you can't find stickers to write your "thankful" on, you can download free tags to hand on the tree from Jones Design Company.  Emily is the blogger there and she always has the cutest and coolest printables!

free printable tags courtesy of Jones Design Company

  In search of more free Thanksgiving decorations?  Check this out - a free Thanksgiving banner!

courtesy of shanty2chic.com

our banner in our dining room

Enjoy the freebies and let me know how the tree-making goes!

Pocketbooth app

I know I have been neglecting my blog and I apologize.  We have had a lot going on recently and I have kind of signed off of "social media" altogether.  I am trying to work out getting myself more organized regarding setting limits on myself, not expecting so much out of me and basically just letting go of ridiculous time lines I set for myself.  This is the time of year to sit back and enjoy yourself and your family and all you have and I have been running myself around crazy, trying to make a million things happen instead.  So.  I am going to lay off myself for a little bit.  Which might mean less entries, less updates and less pictures.  And I apologize.  But I need to give myself a little leeway before I have a nervous breakdown.

In other news, I always take the free app cards at Starbucks.  Anyone else?  We have so many apps and songs and videos from those little suckers.  Zander and Calla love to hold on to them and pretend they are credit cards.

We recently snagged the Pocketbooth app and it is so much fun!

Available here

This isn't what the app looks like.  iTunes wouldn't let me copy the app image, but this gives you an idea of what it's like.  Imagine the old school photo booths, where it takes a picture, pauses and then takes another one.  That's the concept.  What I love about this app, other than having the sequential pictures, is that it is completely customizable.  You can pick how many pictures, what photo filters and how long a delay you want between shots.  I also love that you can email it, post it on Facebook, Twitter or even order it to be printed!



When we got it at Starbucks, it was free but regularly the app is $.99.  You can buy more filters and expand the use of this app if you want.  I think the basic version is pretty cool.  Here are some shots of us messing around with Pocketbooth on my iPad:

The kids love it! They didn't really understand the concept of moving or posing for the next shot at first, but they quickly caught on.  You can tell I got in a posing slump and kind of make the same poses in each sequence.  I am a photo booth bore, I guess.  But seriously, how fun!  I love the idea of taking something that is kind of non-existent anymore and updating it for the next generation.  Check it out!

October Recap

Pumpkin Patch

Leaf Jumping

Pumpkin Carving

Calla's birthday

Trunk or Treating with cousins

Painting Pumpkins

 
Trick or Treating

Calla stealing candy from Zander

Fun Halloween extras

It was a great month full of outdoor fun and indoor crafts!  

Our newest favorite recipe is for baked pumpkin spice donut holes.  I made them the morning after Calla's birthday party and they were a hit with the kids as well as the adults.  They were super easy to throw together and ended up making a full four dozen.  Next time, I am going to try substituting the pumpkin for applesauce.  Try them for yourself and let me know how they go!

baked pumpkin spice donut holes