I think the easiest part of this whole meal was smoking the turkeys (breast only). You just season them up, stick them in the smoker and set the controls. I don't even attempt to check on them until the appointed hour, at which time they come out, get wrapped in heavy foil and placed in my small not-working-so-well-right-now oven to keep warm. The big turkey I was roasting in the big oven went pretty well until I placed it IN the oven, stuffed full of wonderful stuffing. Well, not actually "wonderful" stuffing ... for the first time EVER the stuffing was terrible!! Here's the problem ... I purchased an unknown brand of bread crumbs that SAID it had seasoning ... but you guessed it, there was none in the package! I keep a good supply of all things seasoning, but since I don't do this much cooking any more, they weren't exactly fresh and I didn't have enough. To make matters even worse, as I turned around to clean the counter, there sat the bowl of homemade cornbread that SHOULD have been in the stuffing!! In the end, it was too salty to eat ... and I didn't put any salt in it!!! I told my guests I would bury it with my other disasters ... at least I got a big laugh!!
I mixed up the pumpkin pie ingredients, to which I usually add a little more spice ... but this time, even though I had three bottles, they were so old you couldn't even smell the spices ... so in the trash THOSE went.
The pie turned out wonderful ... first time I ever made the crust from scratch ... but then anything covered with half a cup of whipped cream would be quite tasty!!
Since I wasn't sure how the pie would turn out and I had the soooo simple ingredients to make chocolate mousse, I whipped up a quick batch. Chocolate chips and whipped cream ... you can't go wrong with this one, and it was a BIG hit!!
The turkeys came out of the smoker juicy and delicious and luckily the big bird finished cooking at the same time!! I whipped up some mashed potatoes and rosemary-thyme gravy ... sorry there are no pictures. I was just trying to get it all done and on the table at the same time!!
Chris and Fletcher brought the best sweet potatoes I've ever had, along with my requested green bean casserole. Finished off with Kings Hawaiian dinner rolls and a little white wine, we all sat down to stuff ourselves until miserable!! That took all of fifteen minutes!!
It took almost as long to put all the leftovers away as it did to fix the meal. By that time, we felt good enough for Fletch to help me take my recliner out of the rig and move it to the house. I wanted to try my little swivel rocker, but it took up almost as much space. One of these days I'll find a small chair that will fit perfectly. That worked up our appetites for pumpkin pie with whipped cream.
While all the food fixing and cleaning was being done, their daughter Syd (my favorite model) played with Cooper and Jessie until they were exhausted. That kept them both our from under foot, but by the time they went home, Cooper was exhausted. He spent the rest of the night on my lap while I watched the 49ers lose to Seattle.
I didn't hear from Miss Jessie Belle all night either, as she was just as tuckered out as the rest of us.
The perfect end to a perfect day was waking up at 1:00 am with a horrible case of hiccups!! I drank water, ate sugar, tried to stand on my head and hold my breath to no avail. I finally stretched out on the floor and reached up as far as I possible could while holding my breath ... exhaling as slowly as possible, hoping and praying they would go away. That's what I get for overeating!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!
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