I certainly didn’t mean to have Thanksgiving dinner 2 weeks before Thanksgiving.
That wasn’t my intention.
When the Girls started school, Ninja and I were worried about… The unknown. We had no idea if there would be a rash of Covid breakouts in our community. We decided we would take a 14 day pause on seeing people outside of our new school/dance bubbles. Really, we wanted to make sure that our kids were not exposed to the virus and bringing it home to their grandparents.
We decided if things were going well after 2 weeks that we would host a family dinner! At our place! It would be the first dinner that we have hosted in our new…ish 😆 home. I also remembered it was my Dad’s girlfriend’s birthday so we decided to have a back to school/housewarming/birthday dinner on Sunday.
The weather has definitely been turning into fall over the past 2 weeks. With all the beautiful fall colours, I really wanted to have a dinner that represented September, at least to me. That dinner is roasted chicken. It’s not quite roast and mashed potatoes season yet but definitely has that roasted chicken and apples sort of feel to it. I went to 3 different places to find decent sized and decently priced chickens to no avail. You know what I did find on sale that would be big enough to feed 8 of us, turkey! It did occur to me that Thanksgiving was in 2 weeks and we would be having a similar dinner then but I talked to Ninja and we decided we didn’t care! We love turkey and we definitely don’t get it often enough! In fact, while they were on sale I should’ve bought 3 more for the freezer so we can have turkey more often!
My In-laws always make Thanksgiving dinner. I crave my mother-in-law’s stuffing. I tried to keep to the traditional turkey flavours but also do it with a little twist. It was delicious!
A turkey dinner with all the fixings can seem overwhelming but we had the best day! SBean had a play date while Ninja, HBear, and I listened to music, cooked, laughed, and just had an awesome day together making dinner for the people we love the most. You really can’t ask for anything better!
It was also the first “big” dinner that we made in our new kitchen and boy does having counterspace make all the difference in the world! It was so easy! We all had our own workspaces, It even seemed easier to keep clean!
Ninja worked on the turkey. Although he used classic turkey flavours we also wanted to do it a little bit differently then your classic Thanksgiving turkey. He added apples, paprika, and cooked it on the barbeque using the rotisserie attachment! It was perfect. I can’t wait to make the most flavourful turkey stock using the carcass and leftover meat.
HBear and I worked on the side dishes!
I didn’t even think about asking my mother-in-law for her stuffing recipe! She makes the best stuffing in the whole world! Actually, I didn’t even like stuffing until I tried hers! But it’s hers. We look forward to it on special occasions when she makes it. I tried making my own! It has the same flavours as a traditional stuffing, But isn’t 😊. We also made garlic butter roasted potatoes and carrots. We used heirloom carrots that were locally grown and used the ridged cutting tool to make them look fancy!
I hope these recipes inspire you to make your own homemade Thanksgiving dinner this year! Even though 2020 has been… Rough, we have so many things to be incredibly grateful for ❤️.
Adapted from FoodieCrush
1 13 to 15 pound turkey
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1 heaping tablespoon sage, chopped
1 heaping tablespoon thyme, chopped
1 heaping tablespoon rosemary, chopped
1 heaping tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
For the stuffing:
2 apples sliced into large chunks
1 onion sliced into large chunks
4-5 cloves garlic smashed
handful of various fresh herbs
Prepare your grill with a rotisserie attachment. Preheat a 3 burner grill on high.
Mix the butter and chopped fresh herbs with the salt, pepper, and paprika until well combined.
Gently work your fingers under the skin of the turkey breast and legs. Work 3/4 of the herbed butter evenly under the skin, then rub the top of the skin with the rest of the herb butter mix. Season with salt and pepper.
Stuff the cavity of the turkey with the chopped apple, onion, celery and smashed garlic then add the herbs.
Tie the wings to the sides of the turkey with twine. Insert the rod of the rotisserie attachment through the middle of the turkey stem to stern. Then, attach the forks so they firmly hold and tighten the wing nuts tight so the turkey doesn’t shift during cooking. *** We watched Alton Brown to make sure we did this correctly 😆.
Place the rotisserie attachment with the turkey on the grill and cook for 10 minutes, then turn the centre burner off and outer burners to low for indirect heat.
Cook the turkey 15 minutes per pound. Always check the internal temperature of the turkey in the thigh without touching the bone or rotisserie rod for a finished cooking to a final temperature of 165 degrees F, it will continue to cook as it rests so you can take it off around 155-160F.
Remove from the grill, tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 15 minutes or until the temperature registers 165 degrees F.
Classic Traditional Thanksgiving Stuffing
Adapted from Averie Cooks
1 cup unsalted butter, divided
1 loaf white French bread, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1 extra-large sweet onion, diced small
1 1/2 cups celery, diced small
2/3 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup sage, finely chopped
3 tablespoons rosemary, finely chopped
2 tablespoons thyme, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 cups chicken broth, divided
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 250F. Place cubed bread on a baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally, until dried out, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.
To a large skillet, add 3/4 cup butter and heat over medium-high heat.
Add the onions, celery, and cook until vegetables have softened and are just beginning to lightly brown, about 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Transfer vegetables to bowl with bread.
Add the parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, 1 1/4 cups chicken broth, and toss well to combine; set aside.
To a small bowl, add the remaining 1 1/4 cups chicken broth, 2 eggs, and whisk to combine.
Dice the remaining 1/4 cup butter into 8 to 10 pieces and evenly dot the butter over the top of the stuffing.
Roasted Potatoes and Carrots
Adapted from The Recipe Rebel
2 lb yellow potatoes
6 carrots peeled, sliced diagonally, 1cm thick
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
2 teaspoon parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Chop the potatoes into even cubes and place in a large bowl with sliced carrots.
In a small bowl, whisk together butter, garlic, parsley, salt, thyme and pepper.
Spoon butter over potatoes and carrots in bowl, reserving some for serving later if desired.
Stir vegetables to coat, then spread in an even layer on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for 35-45 minutes until desired tenderness is reached.
Brush with reserved garlic butter before serving.
Autumn Apple Salad with a Maple Vinaigrette
Adapted from House of Yumm
6 cup baby spinach
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
6 tablespoon feta cheese
1 1/2 granny smith apple, sliced
1 1/2 fuji apple, sliced
6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
6 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoon maple syrup
3 and 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
salt & pepper to taste
Add the spinach to a salad bowl.
Top with cranberries, pecans, feta cheese, apples, and bacon.
Add olive oil, vinegar, maple syrup, mustard and salt & pepper to a jar. Shake to mix. Pour over the salad. **I like to make it a serve yourself salad. I put out all the ingredients and you can dress it the way you like it.
Dinner Rolls
Adapted from Natasha’s Kitchen
1 1/2 cup milk warmed to 110F
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 packet rapid rise yeast
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
4 cups flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted
In a bowl, combine warm milk, melted butter, salt, sugar and yeast. Whisk everything together and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
Pour the liquids into a mixing bowl, and add flour in small portions until the dough is no longer sticky.
Knead the dough with the dough hook in a stand mixer for 2 minutes, then place dough in an oiled bowl. Cover it with a towel and let it rise for about an hour in a warm place.
Once the dough rises, remove it from the bowl and cut it into 24 even pieces. Shape each piece into a round shape and place them on an oiled baking sheet next to each other.
Cover the dinner rolls with a kitchen towel and let them rise another 30 minutes in a warm place until puffed then bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Brush tops with melted butter and set aside to cool to room temperature before serving.
This week I also had to sew the ribbons and elastics onto HBear’s new pointe shoes. Her dance teacher spent 2 classes trying to teach her how to do it before finally asking me too. HBear probably would’ve had an easier go at it 😂. I am the worst sewer in the entire world. My fingers still hurt from all the pinpricks 😂 but, I got it done! #UltimateDanceMom SBean had the most perfect weekend planned and it started with a parkour birthday party after school on Friday! On Saturday it would have been Mom’s 62nd birthday. Every year in honour of her memory we donate her would be age to the Terry Fox foundation. This year we donated $62 to SBean’s run and Dad donated $62 to HBear’s run 💛. Saturday was date day! The Girls had a fun filled sleepover at Papa’s with J while Ninja and I took it easy. We stayed in our pajamas, watched an excellent movie called Irresistible, ordered takeout and watched the Stanley Cup finals before podcasting. It was so relaxing and much needed!
On Sunday we woke up early to get cooking for our dinner party! We got ready while SBean had her Gr2Besty over for her first play date in the new house! They are in a cohort at school so we are totally on board for more play dates now with kids in their school/dance bubbles! We all enjoyed our delicious turkey dinner and then ended the night by celebrating J’s birthday with presents and my mother-in-law’s homemade mocha chocolate cake!
