Party Post the First: Thanksgiving 2010

Now that I've gotten some old business out of the way, I can move on to the much newer: yesterday's Thanksgiving Feast.

Here it is pre-oven

Husband likes to do a turkey, as he's the only omnivore in the nuclear unit and doesn't necessarily eat all that much meat most of the year. The Girls and I are happy to look the other way and encourage his culinary expressions. He has perfected the Garlic Turkey over the past few years, and the Great Turkey of 2010 may well be his best yet. He stuffs a turkey with about 3 pounds of peeled garlic cloves and sprinkles more garlic around in the roasting pan, and then just bakes it.

Sadly, tragically, I never got a photo of my fabulous vegetarian option. Let's just piece it together. First, I took "Tender Bits", the the Superior, perhaps because Salty, vegetarian product from the Loma Linda foods line. Sounds odd, comes in a can, and is absolutely fabulous and I LOVE THEM. I then wrapped these lil nuggets in veggie bacon strips from Morningstar Farms. So fake, so salty, so delicious. Then I breaded and fried the suckers. I must say, a lot of guests ate these and had a wide variety of positive responses (ranging from I-had-no-idea-it-wasn't-meat to yeah-it-was-ok). Good thing is, those who found themselves not so much loving these left More for Me. This was fine.

• Sweet potatoes
• bread stuffing made with whole wheat bagels and Italian bread, miso stock, sage, caramelized onions & garlic, and about 4 sticks of butter
• cranberries
• green bean casserole
• brown & red rice pilaf
• a ham
• deviled eggs
• peanut butter cookies
• pumpkin pie
• pecan pie
• cherry pie
• hot apple cider, spiced rum, zinfandel

...you get the idea. Very traditional, very yummy. But the best part of course was the company. So many lovely people! I'm truly grateful. Truly.