Wednesday night, with less than 24 hours before Thanksgiving, Rex and I decided to forgo a meal with our good friends, John and Sutton, for an at home feast. This was not an easy decision, after all the more the merrier. Well, last week I came down with a cold, which I gave to Rex. Wednesday evening we were both still had runny noses and a cough (not exactly the best way to start one of our favorite holidays). So instead of infecting our friends with our bug, we opted for a quiet Thanksgiving meal at home. That meant, Wednesday after work I had to run to Whole Foods and gather additional ingredients for our feast. Luckily I found one of the last 9 lb. free-range turkeys. (I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t find a small organic turkey, but at least I found an antibiotic-free, hormone-free free range turkey at such a short notice. The 9 lb.-er would have to do.) I shoved the turkey, along with some sweet potatoes, and brining kit in my backpack and made the 1 mile walk home. I felt so giddy – like a little school girl excited to come home, in anticipation of the holiday – but instead of books, I carried a turkey. What a funny sight! I completely underestimated how heavy a 9 lb. turkey and several pounds of sweet potatoes can be. Oh well, I’ll have a story to tell my kids one day – how I walked 1 hour in the cold with a turkey in my backpack!

Well as you can tell by the pictures, our turkey dinner turned out to be quite a nice little feast. After 5 years of being married, we’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving just the two of us. While we may have been recovering from colds, we made the most out of the holiday. Having never cooked a turkey, I was quite intimidated, but called my sister and my mother multiple times for instructions. Rex and I also found youtube to be quite helpful.

Our meal consisted of the following recipes. The sweet potato dish is a recent tradition in my family. The cranberry salad dates back to my dad’s childhood – an old classic American recipe of my grandma’s. And the roasted brined turkey is my sister’s favorite way to prepare a turkey. In an effort to use as much of my CSA vegetables as possible – I made a sauteed brussel sprout and green bean dish, and a variation of apple crisp.
Kim & Rex’s First Solo Thanksgiving Meal
Roasted Brined Turkey with Dried Herbs
Streuseled Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Beans & Brussel Sprouts with Balsamic Shallot Butter
Cranberry Salad
Cranberry-Apple Streusel Crisp
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