On the plate:
Coq au vin blanc for when Joseph's parents arrived on Wednesday
Thanksgiving dinner:
Roasted acorn squash,
cranberry relish, green beans a la Alexander,
brussels sprouts with pancetta and balsamic vinegar, wild rice,
cornbread and chestnut stuffing, Nikki's sour cream mashed potatoes, homemade pan gravy, and a brined turkey
Soundtrack(s) to cook to: Dave Matthews'
Under the Table and Dreaming and Pandora's
Mariah Carey Holiday station
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My attempt at decorating - my mom's old decorations. Alexander loved
pointing out the turkeys. :) |
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| Alexander's Thanksgiving card to the family. I love his artwork! :) |
Phew!! What a week!! After completely stuffing myself with Thanksgiving leftovers, and bidding Linda and Elias, "Adieu," I am finally ready to catch up on my posts. I apologize for the wait.
Earlier in the week, I was frantically cleaning and straightening up the house in preparation for Linda's and Elias' (my in-laws) arrival on Wednesday. I wanted to make a nice dinner that would make enough that we could have it for lunch on Thanksgiving day (before the big meal). I found an awesome Emeril Lagasse recipe and decided to debut it for the family - coq au vin blanc (chicken cooked in white wine...a whole bottle!).
Before I cooked this dish, Linda and I took Alexander to the Children's Museum while we were waiting Elias' arrival. Here's a little video of Alexander playing around:
After Linda, Alexander and I got back from the Children's Museum, I put Alexander down for a nap and began prepping for the evening's dinner:
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| Prep the celery, leeks, and parsnips... |
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| cook 6 slices of bacon (I used uncured turkey bacon), |
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take out the bacon and cook the chicken (I chose to cook just breasts)
in the bacon drippings...OOOOH yeeeaaaahhhh! |
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Then throw all of the ingredients back into the pot with a little
chicken stock and a bottle of chardonnay. Let it cook for 2 1/2 hours and serve. |
Report: Absolutely fabulous!! Outstanding! (Warning: It is time consuming to make, but it is WELL worth the work!) If you have someone or some people to impress, whip out this little dish and the table will be silent because everyone will be gobbling this food up. I served it on top of a bed of brown rice and the next day with just a slice of bread. It's a winner either way you serve it.
Since I had a little time leftover from Alexander's nap, I thought I'd make the cranberry relish ahead of time.
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| I LOVED that the only thing I had to chop was 1 apple. So easy! |
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| Linda, my mother-in-law, dutifully stirring the relish. |
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It was so much fun to hear the little cranberries *pop!* as they
got hot. I chopped up a little orange rind and threw it in the relish
as well. It was so simple to make and was absolutely delish!
(Plus, you can't go wrong with a recipe that puts Gran Marnier
in the relish!) :) |
This was my first Thanksgiving to host and I was shaaaaaking in my boots! Two weeks before the big day, I began to plan out the dishes that I was going to make. I wanted the classics, but also wanted to maintain a
somewhat healthy menu at the same time. I didn't want to be
that woman with
that story about her first turkey. I didn't want to undercook it, overcook it, or leave in the neck and gizzards and have them grossly flop out of the turkey as I was serving the turkey to my family. I asked my friend Jocelyne if she knew how to prepare a turkey, and all that she said was that one should start days in advance. I already felt behind and was a little panicky. I did some major research, went out to the store, and gathered my arsenal of supplies - this turkey would not conquer me....I was determined. I armed myself with a meat thermometer, turkey baster, brine, brining bag, and a prayer. I meant business.
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| Armed and ready in my little apron courtesy of my sister Kristen. |
Now came the turkey. I knew what I had to do...I had to touch it in order to prepare it...which really gave me the heebie jeebies. I took the 11 1/2 pound turkey out of its plastic wrapping and reluctantly handled it, while simultaneously shuddering and uttering, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, eww, eww, this is gross, oh my gosh..." (as I'm sure you can imagine me saying). Linda was by my side and sweetly offered to prepare it for me, but then I said, "Y'know what? I need to just suck it up. I need to suck it up and be a grown-up about all of this." (That was my own little pep talk to myself.) Also, it was my first turkey to host and I wanted to do it right. I cleaned it, removed the neck, Linda removed the gizzards because I couldn't find them, and I placed the turkey in its brine.
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I stuffed the turkey with oranges and leftover leeks, parsnips,
and celery from the coq au vin. |
I followed the directions on the bird and cooked it for 3 1/2 hours. I basted every hour and watched this bird like a hawk. I used my thermometer and waited until it got to the recommended temperature. After all of this worrying and planning, the prep work and research paid off!!
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Voila!! My first turkey that I've ever cooked! Success!
Nikki = 1 Turkey = 0 Bwah-ha-ha!! |
Here's a few pictures of the grandparents hanging out with the little one:
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Linda and Elias were exposed to the world of Thomas the Tank Engine
during this trip. Alexander is teething and was pretty fussy, and Thomas
always calms him down. |
Here's a few pictures of the rest of the spread:
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Roasted acorn squash stuffed with sweet potatoes and topped
with gingersnap cookies - be wary, you MUST cook the acorn
squash for much longer than the recipe says. |
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Brussels sprouts with pancetta and balsamic vinegar - a HUGE
hit at the dinner table. I made some brussels sprouts lovers
out of this family! |
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The stuffing recipe I downloaded called for french bread, but I
like corn bread stuffing, so I chose corn bread. I also added
chestnuts to the recipe and it was absolutely fantastic! |
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My sour cream mashed potatoes (but I ran out of sour cream,
so my sister recommended that I use my fat free Greek yogurt
instead. Thanks sissy!) ((There...you've got your shout out, happy?))
:) LOL! |
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Wild rice (always a staple at the Waples table, so I couldn't have
a Thanksgiving without it). |
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Green beans a la Alexander (gotta have something that I know
the little guy will definitely will eat). |
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| Cranberry relish (it even tasted fantastic by itself!) |
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Pumpkin pecan pie (not even remotely healthy, but I couldn't
resist and had to have something decadent for dessert). Soooooo good! |
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| Our Thanksgiving table! |
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Franses family Thanksgiving (minus Joseph and Oscar....Joseph's
taking the picture, and Oscar was there, but he's so little that you can't see him.) |
My first Thanksgiving to host was an absolute success! The food turned out well (minus the acorn squash that needed to be cooked about an hour longer than the recipe required) and we had great company with which to share the meal. We have many things to be thankful for as we've been very blessed.
After the massive clean up and food coma, we all slept well and woke up still stuffed. Once we had a light breakfast, we decided to go and get our Christmas tree. We went to the local Allandale Farm and got our tree and a wreath.
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| Daddy and Alexander checking out the trees. |
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| Alexander enjoyed sniffing the trees. |
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| Our tree!! :) |
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Alexander kept shouting, "Emmo, emmo!!" and trying to escape.
We then deduced that he wanted to see the "animals" at the farm.
This kid has a great memory! |
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| Pointing out the chickens. |
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| Daddy and Alexander, hanging out at the farm. |
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| Mommy and Alexander at the farm. |
After we got back, Alexander took a nap, and I began decorating the house for the holidays. Once the tree was up, we didn't light the lights until the next day. My family has a tradition that when everyone gets home, we give a toast to the Christmas tree with a ceremonial glass of egg nog and then turn on all of the lights and dad places the angel at the top of the tree. I enjoy carrying on traditions, and did so with my sister, Joseph's parents, and our little family.
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| I made a "Skinny girl" egg nog - it was just ok, but did the job for the toast. |
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| Linda, Elias, Kristen, Joseph, and Alexander toasting the tree. |
