Thanksgiving 2011 Trina10:04 PM 0 comments

My next post will be about Christmas and then I will be officially caught up. 

{Insert cha-ching move here}

Thanksgiving.  This year's Turkey Day is particularly special for a number of reasons.   First, my dad (Pop-Pop) was able to come spend the holiday with us.  It's the first time he's seen our basement since the construction and the first time he's seen us since I became Mrs. Almeda in 2009.  Second, it's my first time hosting a Thanksgiving dinner in five years.  Third, it's my first time preparing a gluten-free Thanksgiving dinner ever.  Fourth, because I'm a little crazy, we invited two other families to join us for dinner, and another couple for dessert.

I'm not going to lie to anyone.  We spent an insane amount of money on food and preparatory items.  Our entire monthly grocery budget went to this one dinner.  But it was worth it.  I would do it again in a heart beat.  And the food was good.  Most of it (I burned the corn muffins thereby turning them into rock muffins). 

Helping me prepare for the feast was Fallon's preschool.  Have I mentioned how much I love these people?  They of course had their own feast in the morning before the holiday break, and then (wisely), sent the children outside to burn off all those holiday eats.

Fallon with her amazing teacher, Ms. Yasmin.

They also taught her *this*

Watch it again.  Go ahead.  It's adorable.

Anyway, back to preparing for the feast.  My dad was scheduled to arrive at noon on Thanksgiving Day.  Knowing that I wanted to be able to interact with people and pretend as though preparing a feast for 15 people was simple and stress-free, I shifted into hyperdrive and deep cleaned the house the week before, rearranged the furniture, and scheduled four different grocery store visits.



We may not have a dining table, but we DO have couches and tv trays!

The night before Thanksgiving, I set out all my ingredients next to their respective recipes with everything pre-measured for quick preparation.  Because I am a genius.

As people arrived, we had a cheese and fruit tray, chips and salsa, salad, and drinks to keep people out of the kitchen while my wonderful friend Jen helped me in the kitchen.

I did make a mess of my kitchen (the biggest of which was thanks to a powdered sugar attack by my KitchenAid stand mixer...a really awesome birthday present from my dad that I failed to mention in my birthday post).  Our holiday meal consisted of a gluten-free organic turkey brined in deliciousness carved by my dad, gluten-free turkey gravy, gluten free garlic primavera risotto, gluten free green bean casserole, roasted potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and "rock muffins."  (I burned the corn muffins so Jen affectionately renamed them "rock muffins."  I still set them out, and my dear loving friends still ate them and even lied and said if you removed the crispy outsides, they were actually very good.  Well, they are very good.  When you don't burn them.)

The feast.

Crazy faces

My dad and me

As though we hadn't adequately stuffed ourselves with dinner, we quickly cleared the tables and set out dessert: pumpkin pie (both regular and crustless), an oreo striped pie concoction made gluten free so I could also indulge, gluten-free cinnamon pumpkin cupcakes with homemade cream cheese icing, and a gluten free apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.

The dessert table

And then we all exploded.