Working Girl Cooks!

First of all, I want to apologize profusely for the quality of these photos! They totally suck! I’m still trying to learn how to use my camera and the lighting was just all wrong in the little cabin we were staying (Not to mention it was dark at 4:30pm!).

I know I am a little late in showcasing my Thanksgiving spread (I also still have yet to post the food and recipes from our holiday exchange party!) but having a full time job makes it kind of hard to Photoshop all the pictures, write a blog post, edit it, and post it in a timely manner. But here it is anyway. I cooked everything you see here, for some things I used recipes from other bloggers or cookbooks, and for others I made it up as I went along. Mostly, everything turned out really good, which is amazing, especially since I had to do half the cooking at home, tote everything three hours in the car, and finish cooking in a tiny cabin with limited supplies!

The main course was turkey, of course. Actually I wasn’t planning on cooking a turkey but we got this little baby for free for spending over $100 at Lucky’s. Whoo-hoo! I read about this method for dry brining a turkey, which means you basically just rub it with sea salt and pepper and let it sit overnight, then wash it off before baking. I thought this would be a suitable method for a turkey that was going to be trekked in a car so I tried it. It turned out really well. Juicy and moist with a nice flavor. I was so proud of myself, I get better at this cooking meat thing every time I try! I have found that no matter what you do before hand, roasting at a low temperature for longer always makes the meat turn out succulent and moist.

I made my orange-cranberry-vanilla sauce, a recipe I will share with you in my holiday recipe exchange post. I added a little extra vanilla this time to give it a little kick. I think some sort of vanilla liquor would be very good in this.

I also made another batch of PW’s dinner rolls. Yet another recipe that will be featured on the holiday recipe exchange post. They were a hit at the recipe exchange party and they were a hit yet again at my Thanksgiving dinner. We even had the leftovers for breakfast the next morning with some hot gravy. Yum!

This was my failure of the night. I tried to make a cornbread stuffing in a roasted pumpkin. It looked pretty but tasted awful. I did not use a recipe so I really had no idea what I was doing. I used too much broth and it turned out all soupy and yucky. Oh well, I definitely want to try this again soon but I think I am going to actually use a recipe next time.

These green beans were cooked with the turkey for the last 45 minutes. They turned out really yummy and had a really nice flavor.

Smashed sweet potatoes with spices and pecans. A Thanksgiving day classic.

This dish was made for my mom. I remember going to Canada with her a long time ago on vacation and she fell in love with Poutine, which is basically potato fries covered in cheese and gravy. So I made her a thanksgiving version with sweet potatoes, cojita Spanish cheese, and gravy.

And for dessert…a pumpkin cheesecake with gingerbread crust and dulce de leche topping. YUM!