Thanksgiving Success!

I'll get to my food in a bit, but our Thanksgiving was just wonderful!  It really started Tuesday evening at our annual Thanksgiving service.  I love hearing what everyone is thankful for each year.  We followed this up with our annual youth bake auction.  There were so many great treats and our auctioneers did a great job pushing the prices up.  Our youth department raised over $3,300!  Les and I bought Oreo Truffles:

  

and Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies.

 

We got home and stayed up waiting for Leksi to arrive.  While we waited, I made two types of muffins.  I spent much of Wednesday prepping as much food as possible.  I sent Kim a tempting picture of my dressing:

Les made his double layer pumpkin pie:

 

 

I was up early on Thursday morning and got my turkey going in the crock-pot.  This is the same kind of turkey I bought a couple of years ago, Jennie-O Oven Ready Turkey Breast.  As I mentioned, there wouldn't be room in my oven so I followed the directions for slow cooker.  Just add one cup of water, put the completely frozen turkey in, and cook on high for 4 hours.  I also added some chicken broth for a little extra flavor.

I also baked my peach cobbler.  It was the only thing that needed to bake at a higher temperature, but it didn't need to be ready at the same time.  It was still warm hours later when we were ready for dessert.

 

I started putting everything else in around 10:45.  Everything was going along great for about the next hour or so when my oven started smoking.  Unfortunately my macaroni and cheese boiled over and made a mess!  It was on the bottom rack, which was good because it didn't boil over in to anything else, but I suspect that is exactly why it boiled over!  We opened some windows and let everything finish baking.  Here is the spread:

Everything was SO good!  Yes, it was a lot of work, but I loved doing it.  This is the first time I've gotten to do this and hopefully won't be the last.  Leksi had told me she doesn't like dressing and I told her she didn't need to eat everything.  But she tried it and said, "This is the best dressing I've ever had."  Kim said it was one of the nicest Thanksgivings she's ever had.  My heart was as full as my belly!

Leksi turned 20 on Saturday.  Last time she was here, she told me that her skillet is kind of a mess and Wednesday morning she mentioned it again.  It was a simple gift, but we were happy to get it for her!

Rodney served in the Air Force, so it was fun to watch him and Leksi bond over their shared experiences.  It really was a Thanksgiving success - on both the food and family scene!

P.S.  As far as my oven goes - it's clean now.  My oven has two cleaning settings - Steam Cleaning and Self Cleaning.  For Steam Cleaning, I just poured a cup of water in the bottom of the oven and turned it on.  The steam helps everything soften up.  It wasn't enough, so I then used Self Cleaning.  I went for the full 5 hours and it worked like a charm!  The oven heats to a very high temperature and I ended up with ashes at the bottom of the oven.  Once it unlocked, I pulled the racks out and let it cool.  Then all I needed was a wet rag and everything wiped up!  No chemicals and Brillo pads required.

Thanksgiving Math

 

We are hosting a small gathering at our house on Thanksgiving.  This is a first for me!  Leksi will be here along with my sister, Kim, and her husband, Rodney.  Everyone else had other plans with other family members.  I'm so excited that I get to do this, but a little nervous about everything turning out.

Along with turkey and ham, I'm making dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, and rolls.  My turkey will go in the crock-pot, but everything else needs to go in the oven at 350 degrees. (There will also be cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and peach cobbler.)   I did a little research and most articles said to add about 15% more cooking time when more items are in the oven.  Of course not everything needs to bake the same amount of time. 

 

For now I have a chart of when everything needs to go in - the ham will go in about 30 minutes before everything else.  Next will be the dressing.  Then about every 5-10 minutes I'll add another dish!  Wish me luck!

P.S.  If you're wondering how much the calories of your meal will be, here is an old post from my WW days.  The points are the original plan, figuring about 50 calories per point.  Do You Really Want to Know?

Thanksgiving 2023

Les and I traveled to Florida for the annual McElhaney family gathering.  Our niece, Leksi, drove down from Tennessee with Pops so we rented a house for the four of us.  I found a great house in Mexico Beach - three bedroom, two bath with full kitchen, living room, dining room and laundry.  It was cheaper than a single hotel room and turned out great!

 

The majority of the family rented RVs and stayed at Dead Lakes Park in Wewahitchka.  This has been a gathering place for our family for many, many, many years!

 

 

I couldn't resist running along the beach.  Mexico Beach sits at the border of the Central and Eastern time zones.  Mexico Beach is in Central, while neighboring Port St. Joe is in Eastern.

 

Just across the time zone line is Gulf County Veterans Memorial Park.  I ran to it on two mornings and Les and I walked to it another time.

 

There were a number of fishing trips.  

 

There was enough food to feed a small army.  But more importantly there was abundant love and laughter!

Thankful!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you are surrounded by those you love and eat delicious food today.  But most of all, take a few moments to give thanks.  I'm thankful to you, my readers.  I'm kept this blog alive for over 15 years and I appreciate all the comments and all of you who silently read.

2022 in Review

Here we are at the end of another year!  I will say that 2022 felt more normal than the previous two years with one exception - we only took one trip to Hawaii.  We definitely miss our Hawaiian church family and friends.  I thought I'd take a look back at 2022, the year goes quickly, but January still seems like a long time ago.

 

January

I didn't blog until January 21st!  We started revival at church, then Les and I (along with a large majority of our church) got sick with the flu (or COVID for some.)  I started the year almost 35 pounds lighter than I started 2021.  I also kicked off another year of reading my Bible through and am on track to finish tomorrow.  I made my first trip of the year to Fresno for my niece Lauren's baby shower (which I did not blog about.)

 

February

Two very fun things happened in February.  First, we went on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera with Lance and Monica.  We had such a great time and really enjoyed a cruise ship that was only at 30% capacity.  The day we got home from Mexico, our family welcomed Robert Michael!  Little Bo has captured all our hearts.

March

Our dear family friend, Irene Wilkinson, passed away.  I was able to attend her funeral in Fresno and finally got to meet Bo.

April

My pictures from April are a mix of trail running and Bo!  I am so thankful for digital photos.  Multiple texts each week has helped me stay connected and watch our baby grow.  I did celebrate my birthday with breakfast at Black Bear Diner.  We also had a short visit from Pastor and Sis. McGriffin who were on their way to a cruise.  We enjoyed a day at the Ronald Reagan Library and didn't take a single picture!

 

May

Les and I traveled to Tennessee for Mother's Day.  It was a short visit but we enjoyed it very much (and again didn't take any pictures!)  We also had visitors here at home - Lance, Monica and Hannah came for a week of cycling and shopping.  I'm sure you can figure out who did what.

June

We stayed home and didn't have any company in the month of June.  This would be the calm before the storm - July kicked off traveling and more traveling that took us through the end of the year.  I started running a new trail and have turned into a bit of trail junkie.  I love the quiet of the trails and the only traffic I have to look for is other adventurers.

July

We took our long anticipated cruise to Alaska with our dear friends, Doug and Lori Long, and had a fantastic time!  The week before our cruise Les had a crazy business trip - he flew in to Boston and was in 5 states in 5 days.

August

We celebrated Les' birthday.  Les had another trip - this time to Philadelphia at the end of the month.

September

We spent 10 days in Hawaii to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Decision Research (Les' employer.)  

 

 

 

Les had another trip - this time to Las Vegas for a conference. I made another trip to Fresno and Les flew from Las Vegas to Fresno so he got to meet Bo for the first time.

 

October

October took a stressful turn when Les' mom had a fall at the end of September and was in the hospital.  Les decided to make a trip to Tennessee before continuing on to Orlando, FL for a work conference.  We then returned to Tennessee at the end of October to celebrate Pop's 90th birthday.

 

 

November

Our visit to Tennessee continued and we celebrated Dolly's 85th birthday.  We got home on Sunday, November 6th, and Les went to San Diego on Tuesday, November 8th.  We were home the rest of the month and enjoyed a Thanksgiving for Two.

December

Les had one more trip - another work meeting in Las Vegas.  We repeated our September routine, with me driving to Fresno on Thursday, Les flying to Fresno from Las Vegas on Friday, and the two of us driving home together.  That was my fourth trip to Fresno this year - what a difference a baby makes!  Our little guy is crawling everywhere and we expect he'll be walking before too much longer.  He reached out for me to hold him several times and melted my heart!

 

We had our Christmas recital at church on December 18th.  Christmas morning found us at church.  Shouldn't that be the case?  If we're truly celebrating the birth of Christ, being at His house is the place to be! Les and I enjoyed another quiet holiday at home.  We spoiled each other with a variety of gifts.  We both got new trail shoes and coffee mugs among other things!

Friday Foodie ~ Thanksgiving for Two

I wanted to share what I fixed for our Thanksgiving meal.  Since it was just the two of us, I really scaled back on everything.  

1. The Turkey!

I obviously did not want to buy a whole turkey.  I really didn't even want a full turkey breast.  I searched online and found that Jennie-O makes an oven ready boneless turkey breast.  This is actually half a breast, just under 3 pounds.  I search several of the stores in our town and none of them carried them. Amazon Fresh had them and by adding a few more items I was able to get it delivered free.

I followed the instructions and this was so simple. Leave in the freezer until ready to put in the oven.  I baked mine for about 2 1/2 hours and it turned out so yummy.  It was very moist.  We had this on Thanksgiving and had leftovers for three more meals - once for dinner and twice for sandwiches.  I did not use the gravy that was included.  FYI - reviews on this product are very mixed!  Some say there is no flavor and others love it.  We definitely loved it!

2.  The Sides!

I think the Thanksgiving meal is as much about the side dishes as it is the turkey.  I made glazed carrots, stuffing, gravy, baked sweet potato (we split one) and rolls.  We also had cranberry sauce from the can.  The leftover cranberry sauce was perfect on our turkey sandwiches.

3.  Dessert!

For years the week of Thanksgiving we have had our mid-week service on Tuesday night.  This frees up Wednesday night for traveling or baking.  We gather and pass the microphone, allowing as many as possible to give thanks.  After service our youth department holds a bake sale.  Les and I had already decided we wanted to buy a pie, so when Sis. Season's Razzle Berry Pie was announced Les jumped right into the bidding.  As much as I love to bake, pies are not in my repertoire.  This was delicious and lasted quite a few days!

Don't fret if you want to plan a big holiday meal for just two or four.   You can do it and enjoy!