Thanksgiving Recap

I really had the best intentions to take more pics of Thanksgiving...but a root canal the day before threw those plans off track! Note to everyone - don't delay going to the dentist too long! What I thought would be a filling and crown turned into a 4 hour ordeal at the dentist with a tooth that did not want to cooperate with a root canal. I still pulled through on Thanksgiving with making the meal thanks to B's help (THANK YOU!!). Its one way to eat less on Thanksgiving!


Now down to the meal... I bailed on making cake pops (like I said the day before was pre-occupied) and also bailed on the homemade pie crust. We still made all the other fix in's that I planned thanks to all those Williams Sonoma tools I tried! Two turkeys, the stuffing, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.....The best was the potato ricer - it was just fun to put the potato through that instead of mashing. Kinda that when you played with play doh as a kid (ahem) and made the play doh hair (was I the only person who liked doing that???) After the day was over I realized that I did not have any pics of food - I guess if you are having issues eating it my mind did not go to taking pics of it, so here are other pics of the day.


As for the table, I just put on the items I had from last year- when in doubt pull together what you already have!

The real fun on Thanksgiving was the football. If a bunch of people are playing, the pics just mostly ended up of my cute niece.

She's got mad skills... much better than watching football on TV

Are kids just playing and laughing the cutest??

Her daddy my brother teaching her how its done.

Dad

Brian Tossing the ball around

And for one last close up of cuteness 

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!

Apple Pie with Williams Sonoma Piecrust Cutters

I have never made a pie - sure I had some of those pre made pies I heated up but never made a pie from scratch. Since I have never done this I thought to get a head start on Thanksgiving by making one over the weekend as a trial run for the big Turkey day. I admit I did cheat  the filling with an apple mix from Trader Joe's, but the crust was my first ever by hand!


I used the Williams Sonoma recipe for Basic Pie Dough - check out the site for the details, but here are the ingredients. 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 3 Tbs. very cold water

If I can make a pie turn out like this the first time - you can too! The Williams Sonoma Piecrust cutters are the key to this! 

First I started with the ingredients in the recipe and used my new kitchen toys from Williams Sonoma - an Emile Henry Pie Dish and the Piecutters.

These piecrust cutters make all the difference. I was not perfect with the edges on the pie crust, but adding these made the edges looking uniform and decorative! Just a tip - someone at Williams Sonoma said these designs change from year to year so if you like them, get them now!

I then just used the pie cutters to cut the designs out and placed them around the edges.

TA DA! Here are the leaves and acorns around the edges.

 After putting in the filling, I then placed a few turkeys and pumpkins in the middle.

If you are a newbie like I was, I read online that placing foil around the edges helps with browning so that the edges do not burn. I took them after 10 minutes before the pie was done cooking. I cooked this for 1 hour at 350, but I have a convection oven so yours may be more or less.

And it is done! 

Thanksgiving Dinner Menu and Place card ideas

Once again I am having my family over for Thanksgiving. It really ends up being 10 people so it is not a big group but this will be only my second Thanksgiving doing this. Last year I wimped out  - I ordered half the meal including the turkey from AJ's Fine Foods (although I did attempt to make a second turkey on my own). This year, I am not having any of that! Now I need to do it on my own. Turkeys have already been bought and are just waiting for Thanksgiving! I may not be ordering in food but I did get a little help from my friends at Williams Sonoma! I love that they have meal plans already set to make, it helps newbies like me! 

So here is my Thanksgiving menu so far:

Potato Ricer - When I first saw this I thought ricer had more to do with rice than Potatoes. Although there is another brand at Williams Sonoma, this one is larger and was recommended by one of the associates here. It is supposed to make the best mashed potatoes!

Brine Solution - Last year the turkey I did make came out dry. Part of that is due to my oven since it is a convection oven. Most items I make need less time than on the recipe due to this. This year we are going to brine the turkeys to see if that can help as well.

Pumpkin Pie -Lastly, my goal this year is to attempt to make a pie. We will likely create a back up pie from the store, but I am giving this one a try. I got the pie cutters to make it decorative, the pie mix, and the emile henry pie dish.

I am still thinking about making these cake pops  from Bakerella as well if I can fit in the time!

I am still determining my place card holders, but here are a few ideas from Pinterest.

Source: bhg.com via Debbie on Pinterest

Source: centsationalgirl.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: centsationalgirl.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: blogs.babble.com via Aimee on Pinterest