Thanksgiving Day Was A Good One

We haaaa! Dessert First right?
     I went to town Wednesday to pick up some things I needed for the dinner I wasn't planning on making at home. It was a last minute thing. I went to the meat department and the butcher was not in to slice the turkey I wanted . I went from the store to the Robertson's Smoke House on the interstate. I got there about 15 minutes before they closed at 5:30. I wanted about 6 slices of 3/4 " thick smoked turkey. I got that and a medium coke and a praline for $23.00! That was only about 1.5 pounds of meat. That was almost as much as the 28# Turkey in the freezer!

So on thanksgiving day I managed to do the Thanksgiving thing.

    We had a typical Thanksgiving dinner for hubby and I.We were invited to Nikki's family dinner but I decided to just send a desert instead of going. I  made some peanut butter fudge.Nikki's group likes peanut butter. I just dropped that off and went to deliver a failed recipe. I had made a gooey pumpkin cake but I didn't like the way it turned out at all! The crust was just tough and even though I greased the pan terrible to get out. Tasted great just didn't look good by the best of imaginations. LOL So that one I took to Nikki's grandma. She said they don't mind taking care of my practice recipes at all. We had a good visit and munched a little on the failed recipe.
   Hubby was so funny this year. Nobody has been having any get togethers to speak of. He was complaining that we never get invited anywhere saying what is it they just forgot us? I told him we are not the most sociable folks in the world ya know. Everyone knows you can't travel or sit anywhere without hurting right now with the sciatica. So when we did get invited to the Thanksgiving dinner he started doing the "What ifing" thing. What if I get there and start shaking really bad? What if my leg hurts so bad I can't sit anywhere? I looked at him and just started laughing! You ... have... got... to .. be.... kidding! I told him REALLY?! Just shut your mouth right now and don't even start complaining. You wanted to do something and now your going to start that up?!! Good grief! He said I know....  I said if  any of that happens we will deal with it no big deal!
    Then I got to thinking.... he is due for surgery on his back December 16th. He was already delayed months when he got the bleeding ulcer from meds. If we go and we catch even a simple cold it could mess everything up again. He has been waiting too long to feel better as it is. So we stayed home and I just sent goodies. When I told him that he said your right. Better just stay home. Then in the most pitiful sounding voice he said .... "Then we won't have a Thanksgiving dinner?" That's when I decided to throw something together.
    So thanksgiving morning I made fudge, packed up goodies to deliver. Came home. Jumped into the kitchen to clean up the place. Now I could get to work. It was about 3pm and I had to have something good on the table by 6 pm. I put my brains on the paper so I could see what the dinner looked like. Ok, Turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes and corn for him, green beans for me. For dessert I had a refrigerator cherry cheesecake recipe I wanted to try. I made the cheesecake first since that takes longer to chill. I laid the sliced turkey in the big cast iron pan and the boxed dressing I mixed up along the side and drenched it all with homemade turkey gravy (thank goodness for chicken stock) put it in the oven to warm up while I set the table and warmed up the veggies on the stove top. I had put the cheesecake in the freezer to get it's chill on since I didn't have time for the fridge to do it's job.
   Everything turned out great! I was really surprised with the cheesecake filling. Usually they are almost runny they are so soft but I added half a stick of butter to it and when I cut it the piece came out nice and all together not runny on the plate. I have now found my go to recipe for this! YEA!

See!

So here are the pics to the typical American Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner plate isn't all bright and cheery colored and full of starches but who cares? It's what he wanted and so that's what he got.

    

So now the work / fun really starts with the Christmas Season. I have to make a list of all the to do's and presents and addresses and and and...

Time to clean up the kitchen and restock all the shelves to get ready for some fun baking and planning. I always have a full list of recipes I want to try but never get to them all.
I look at my kitchen after yesterday and my oh my what a wreck! LOL Typical for me. I try to look at it like this.... clean it up and I can reward myself with baking!

Love
Ranchmama
Hope everyone had a good one this year!