Tis the Season to be Thankful

Well, I cooked my first turkey without a hitch!! It actually came out moist, flavorful, and totally cooked!! I was scared, I can't lie that this venture was going to turn into a kitchen nightmare of the Ramsey kind. But alas, it was a success. A meat thermometer was my godsend. So, right off the bat...I am thankful for meat thermometers.

I woke up yesterday morning feeling ready to conquer anything my kitchen could throw my way. The soup was cooking on the stove top (yes, the butternut one) and the potatoes were beginning to soften in the pot when it dawned on me...I still need to cook the turkey!!! Sorry, but being vegetarian for so long, you forget about those types of things when you are used to baking a tofurkey for 1 hour in a toaster oven. So, a mad dash began to get our little bird into the oven by 1:30! it was 1:15, and I still had to butter the breasts and chop the veggies. Thankfully, my mom, sat and chopped the parsnips, onions, and carrots for me so that I could focus on this most important task. She was able to walk me through prepping the turkey as she has cooked many birds in her lifetime and is pretty much an expert in this department (she laughed at my meat thermometer and said she never used one of those...said she could tell by flexing the wing and knew it was done). By 1:53 the bird was in the oven! Whew...success. My heart rate slowed down a bit and I was able to focus on the rest of the food.

The beautiful thing about Thanksgiving, no matter which day you celebrate it on,  is that it always allows us to stop and think about all the wonderful things we are thankful for. This dinner would not have been successful if my husband didn't run to the store and grab my last minute items without a complaint, or my  mom who chopped my vegetables, and tutored me through my first bird, or my friend Demi, who as a guest, still offered to help me get the gravy done, or her fiance who walked us through how to cut a bird (no one had a clue!) and helped me move the table into the living room! A team effort made the the night successful, and when we sat down and reflected on all that we were thankful for, it didn't matter that it was Saturday and the official Thanksgiving day had passed. It felt like the genuine holiday right there in my living room, with people that I love and admire. I am thankful for these moments that make life so sweet.

Kendra