My First Post


Hello! Hope everyone is having a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Thanksgiving is my all time favorite holiday! This year I volunteered to host dinner at my house for my dad, mom, sis, and myself. It was an interesting adventure…garbage disposal backed up and halfway into cooking, the microwave quit heating! Oh well, I had a lot of fun and would definitely do it all over again!

When planning the menu, I knew I wanted to do the traditional Thanksgiving Day dishes but, well…healthified. I’m not against cooking with real butter or cream but I do think that every dish doesn’t have to be saturated in fat (no pun intended) for it to taste good. My mom and I both had to work on the actual holiday so we decided to have dinner on Friday evening.

I started by making the pumpkin pie on Thursday trying out a new recipe that I found on the Eating Well website: Pumpkin Rum Pie

I followed the recipe exactly and it came out ok. You could definitely taste the rum in it! It seemed to need more pumpkin-y spice so if I make it again, I will be sure to add more cinnamon and ginger.

Appetizer: Crudites with red pepper onion dip (White Willow brand mixed with cream cheese) and crock-pot apple cider

I made Whole Food’s Easy Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls and basted them with a garlic butter sauce halfway through cooking and again when they came out.

I decided I wanted to make a sourdough dressing after I had some from the Whole Foods hot bar a few weeks ago. It was delicious! I chose to make Figgy Wild Rice, Mushroom Sourdough Dressing that I had drooled over seen on www.katheats.com

Next up was the green bean casserole. It seemed like it took me forever to decide how I wanted to go with this one. I wanted it to be more “fresh” tasting so I decided this recipe was pretty close but instead of the pre-made fried onions, I made my own with breadcrumbs left over from the dressing and about 1/4 Vidalia onion sauteed in butter.

Then there was the bird! My first time ever to cook a turkey (eek!) Originally, I was super nervous about cooking it, but then I just thought about it like a chicken only uh…bigger and so I pushed up my sleeves and went at it! I cut up two lemons, putting one inside the turkey and the other I slid under the skin of the bird. I also chopped up some fresh parsley and put that inside the cavity along with one whole garlic clove (split in half). Then I sprinkled spices till my heart’s content: s&p, dried rosemary, onion powder, sage. Covered with foil and cooked at 350 for 2 1/2 hours and then uncovered for 30 minutes. Came out juicy and PERFECT!

And of course, who could forget about the cranberry sauce? This was my dad’s request:

And this is what the ladies had:

I think ours was probably a little bit better 😉 I used a recipe from Pioneer Woman and added in a cup of pom arils at the end. Delish!

And as if I hadn’t made enough already, I decided to make Waldorf Salad

Whole Wheat Banana Bread, and 4 Ingredient Cheesecake

Table setting with our pre-dinner salads: Spinach, goat cheese, cranberries, and pecans.

Time to eat! Great Thanksgiving day meal. I am so proud of myself. The wheels are already turning for next year! 😉

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6 Responses to My First Post

  1. Wow – you outdid yourself for your first Thanksgiving meal. Everything looks delicious, and your dad’s request for cranberry salad is cracking me up – men and their canned goods, huh? 😉

    I’ve never cooked a turkey either, but you inspire me to try. Big birds totally intimidate me!

    • I know right? Couldn’t believe he wouldn’t even try the homemade stuff, but of course he is the same man that I’ve seen eat pork ‘n bean straight out of the can on NUMEROUS occasions! Lol

  2. janetha says:

    Everything turned out awesome! So funny, my dad is the SAME WAY. He loves his canned cranberry sauce and canned yams!! Your blog is great, I can tell I am going to love it.

  3. Pingback: Who’s Ready to Party? | Kiss My Broccoli

  4. Just wanted to say…your photos started amazing. silly girl complaining over nothing. :p

    • kissmybroccoli says:

      Aww, thank you Arman!! And umm, if you notice the date, I’m sure you can figure out the big “surprise” that I’m announcing today! 😉

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