Thanksgiving Bloopers 2011

This year’s bloopers didn’t involve any Jell-O. 

No, the disasters this year all focused on baking.

Earlier in the week, I went to pull my file of Thanksgiving recipes…and they were nowhere to be found! I panicked. I cried. I ranted. Then I searched for a while online and finally…finally found the recipes again!

My pie recipe (which is nothing spectacular~ it involves Jell-O Pudding & Cool-Whip!) is pretty yummy & it’s my husband’s favorite of all the Banana Cream Pie recipes I’ve tried over the years…so I was pretty upset that I had misplaced it.

 

The next disaster involved rolls. Homemade rolls. I do not consider myself a novice baker. I used a roll recipe that I’ve used dozens of times…but the dough would not raise. I made 2 batches of rolls. Both with different yeast & different flour, neither batch turned out.

The picture makes them look much better than they were. They tasted fine~ but they were really small.

(These are my back-up plan)

I was going to blame the mishap on the altitude here…but the back- up rolls (Rhodes) raised just fine~ in fact they raised more than I wanted them to…so I guess that throws the altitude theory out the window!

Either way, we had plenty of rolls to go around! And my family had plenty to harass me about~ so I guess the rolls were a success after all.

And finally…the piecrusts…(yes, they are Marie Callender’s Frozen pie crusts….don’t judge me!) For some reason I thought I could bake them without using pie weights….yeah, no.  They puffed up in the center.  I gave in and substituted Keebler’s Graham Cracker Crusts instead~ which everyone liked better than the traditional pie crust that I usually use.  So, now I know.  Next time, I’ll make my own graham cracker crusts though…

 

Disasters aside, it was a great day! We had 16 people here to celebrate Thanksgiving. There was plenty of yummy food to go around...it was a perfect day!  I love Thanksgiving!!!

 I started the day off by making Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins for breakfast.  They disappeared in a hurry! 

 For Thanksgiving Dinner, we served:

Turkey, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Sage Dressing/Stuffing (my grandma’s recipe), Candied Yams (my mom’s recipe) Green Beans w/ Bacon & Onion, Rolls, Stuffed Celery, Pickles, Olives.

And for dessert: Pumpkin Pie, Mincemeat Pie, Banana Cream Pie, Chocolate Cream Pie.

My dad was at his all- time funniest. He had been sick the week before, so I think he was just happy to be feeling better. I did tell him he might need to lay off the Nyquil.  :)

Shane was our official photographer.  Here are a few of his better shots:

 I guess he likes taking pictures of the backs of people's heads?

These are interesting...

 At least he got a picture of the puppy!

Other Thanksgiving Weekend fun included:

*A partially flooded basement.

No one will confess to plugging the toilet & then letting it overflow. All. Night.

We suspect is was "Blaine" (name has been changed to protect the not so innocent.)

*Season 4 of "Prison Break"

The whole entire season...in one day! (That's for you, Vern).

*Breaking Dawn...my husband has declared it the stupidest movie he has ever seen. Even worse than "The Polar Bear King" (I know it looks like a good movie...I chose it as a rental years ago & have never lived it down.) 

Now we are switching gears for the Christmas season.

I love the Holidays!