Hosting my first Thanksgiving was a success! I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous. Cooking/baking has always come pretty naturally to me. (I thank my mom for that.) But planning and executing a big meal is a lot!
The timing of everything is the tricky part. I needed the turkey to be done early enough that I could use the oven again but not so early that it sits for a long time. Luckily everything came out right at the perfect time. For the turkey I used Real Simple’s plan to cook one. Thank you, Real Simple!
I also made a tofurkey for my brother who is a vegetarian. I really wanted him to have something special too. I found this recipe and decided it sounded doable. I’ve never cooked with tofu before so that was something new. The night before you crumble the tofu into a colander and form a bowl. Another bowl sits in it to keep the shape. The day of you make stuffing, fill the bowl and then flip the whole thing over onto a baking pan. I seriously was sweating when I had to flip it over! The tofu stayed together and there was much rejoicing. Tony gave it a stamp of approval.
I used Pioneer Woman’s mashed potato recipe from her Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Oh goodness, they were awesome. I made my mom’s stuffing which turned out great even though her recipe was kind of lacking. My mom is an amazing cook. She is one of those people who just throw things together, never measures or times anything. This is totally fine unless you are trying to replicate it! She had semi-typed out her stuffing recipe and we laughed about how she didn’t have the measurements for sage or how long to bake it. It must just be ingrained in me because the stuffing was delicious. There was sweet corn from this summer that I had frozen, dinner rolls, green bean casserole and of course pumpkin pie. We also had some yummy appetizers (salmon/dill crostini, veggies and pumpkin peanut butter dip).
I’m so glad that I offered to host and everything turned out. It was a lot of fun to have my family here and cook for them. I am looking forward to Christmas though when my parents take over the cooking again.
I used a bunch of Pioneer Woman’s recipes a couple of years ago (mashed potatoes..yum!) and they were very good. Love your blog!