happy thanksgiving!

This year I made my first-ever complete Thanksgiving feast by myself. James and I invited the international students who were on campus to join us for Thanksgiving dinner, and 8 of the 9 students took us up on the offer, so I cooked a lot on Wednesday night and all day Thursday. I made quick yeast rolls, slow cooker cornbread dressing, sage/thyme roasted turkey, creamy mashed potatoes, whipped sweet potatoes, crumb apple pie, pumpkin pie, whole cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and an accidental peppered gravy.

I made everything truly from scratch, even my pie crusts, and it was my first time making almost everything--the only previous attempt I had made at any of these dishes was making mashed potatoes, but this recipe I found was far superior to anything I've thrown together before. The dressing made WAY too much for 10 people, so next year I'd probably make a smaller recipe or half it, also because I don't like dressing so I'm not willing to eat any of it. The turkey took a lot longer to cook than my Southern Living recipe said it would, but an almost 16 pound turkey fed all 10 of us perfectly. The story on the gravy--I was making the pan gravy recipe from my SL cookbook, and when I went to add the pepper about a tablespoon fell in instead of the 1/2 tsp I was supposed to use. I wasn't going to serve it, but the kids asked to try it and said it was actually pretty good. The only other thing I would change would be to make more green beans, make the rolls on the day of the meal instead of the day before, and maybe just omit the cranberry sauce since almost no one tried it--although I like it, so maybe it's a keeper just for my little serving that comes out of it. All in all it was a good meal, and I am proud of how my first solo Thanksgiving turned out. I guess I can do this grown-up thing!