Was a success… I’d give myself a B+ because theres always room for improvement, but I’m also granting myself brownie and extra credit points because it was my first attempt. However, this attempt was not without lack of planning. I spent many of my work from home hours watching Food Network Thanksgiving specials on Turkey prepping, sweet potatoes, carving, and how to put on a good “feast”. Rachel Ray, Oprah, and Martha taught me well…or so I’ve heard from the reviews and the lack of leftovers. Thanks ladies.

Things could have gone horribly wrong though, as I …being relatively new to the cooking game, didn’t realize you had to ORDER fresh turkeys or get a frozen one DAYS in advance to let them thaw out…whoops. Fortunately, I found some unfrozen ones at Giant in time for the puppy to thaw out :)…thanks to Mom for that lil awakening…

Fortunately, this time around I did not have to cook the ENTIRE meal, because lucky for us, we have very cooking savy friends who brought mac and cheese, bread, dessert, and more :).

Recipes I used:

Turkey: http://www.oprah.com/food/Classic-Roast-Turkey-with-Stuffing-and-Gravy

Before

Naked Buttered Turkey

Is it done yet…

2.5 hours later…SUCCESS=DONE…I had nightmares of it turning out the same way as in Christmas Vacation where it just evaporates into dried nothingness….

Gravy: http://www.oprah.com/food/Turkey-Gravy

Sweet Potatoes: http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/sidedishes/sweet-potatoes/

Stuffing (which I was told was a “surprisingly awesome treat”), which I subbed into pecans for pine nuts because pine nuts were $15 dollars a bag…and pecans were $5: http://www.oprah.com/food/Bacon-Nut-Stuffing

Green Beans:  Merchant family recipe of green beans, ham hocks, water, and salt…lots and lotsa salt. Simmer the bad boys all day and enjoy :).

The aftermath….Thank heavens for a dish washer…

All in all, the prepping, planning, and the help from mr. goggin who did a beautiful job of carving his very first turkey (thanks to youtube for the step by step instructions), was all worth it, Happy Thanksgiving Ya’ll!