A Crazy Hilarious Thanksgiving

I have to say that Matt and I have some AMAZING friends!!! This weekend Bryn and the newly married Brandon and Emma drove up for a visit. We had a great weekend full of frisbee golf, girl shopping/boy hiking, cooking, drinking, laughing, hot tubing, bear hunting and bike rides. Needless to say... it ended too quickly :(

Matt, Bryn, Me, Emma and Brandon playing frisbee golf <3

Emma and I had the urge to decorate some cupcakes which worked well since the boys had an urge to eat them. Here's a quick pic of the final product...

Emma and I started thanksgiving dinner while the boys were out spelunking. We had quite an ambitious plan... rotisserie turkey, sausage and rice stuffing, yam gnocchi with browned maple basil butter, beans and brussel sprouts with bacon and onions, the works mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies. Since I don't want to bore you I'm only going to write out the recipes for a few things. So here we go....

After brining the turkey for 24 hours, the boys got it ready for the barby. As boys generally do, they figured out a way to add bacon to it. After some complex tying and pinning, they got it covered in bacon. Although it looked a little worse for wear when it came off the BBQ, it tasted amazing! Super moist!!! It was also hilarious watching the boys eat like caveman :P

The bacon turkey monster :S

Italian Sausage Stuffing 
- 1.5 pounds hot Italian sausages
- 1/2 stick butter
- Several cloves minced garlic
- 1.5 cup chopped celery
- 1.5 cup chopped onion
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1.5 cup long grain raw white rice
- 2 cups water
- 1 8oz can tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 red or white wine
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup pine nuts or chopped almonds

First remove the sausage casing. In a large frying pan, cook the sausage and break it into small pieces while mixing. When the sausage is almost done, melt the butter with garlic in a large dutch oven. Add the vegetables and cook until they are almost tender. Add the sausage, seasoning, rice, water and tomato sauce. Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes until the rice is tender. During this time, soak the cranberries in wine. We made this super early so after 25 minutes, I added the cranberries/wine and nuts and then left it on the counter until closer to dinner. Since the turkey was on the BBQ we couldn't put the stuffing inside. Instead we baked the stuffing at 350 for 25 minutes (stirring occasionally). I LOVE this stuffing, so yummy and different.

Yam Gnocchi with Browned Maple Basil Butter
Gnocchi
- 2 pounds yams or sweet potatoes
- 2/3 cup cottage cheese (we had to add extra flour because it was so moist.. drained ricotta might have been better)
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 1/4 flour, plus some for work surface

Maple Cinnamon Basil Brown Butter
- 1/2 cup butter
- 13 or more fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper

Emma, Brandon and Bryn took charge of this one so I have no idea if they took a detour from the recipe. This is the one we had planned out, having made a few alterations from the original recipe. I baked the yams with some orange rind for over an hour at 425F. We did this early just to get it out of the way.
Emma and I made the butter before hand as well. We melted the butter, added the basil, and boiled until the butter stopped frothing. Then remove from heat and stir in the cinnamon, syrup, salt and pepper. Everything else I'm just guessing... Mash the yams, making sure there is at least 2 cups. Then add the cheese, salt, cinnamon, and pepper. Mix well! Add the flour gradually until a soft dough forms. Lightly flour a work surface with flour. Divide the dough into several balls, then roll out into rope. Cut into pieces and transfer formed gnocchi onto a baking sheet. Ours turned out to be about 1"x1" but we all felt they were a little large. I think next time I would make them 0.5"x0.5".

Add the gnocchi one at a time to a pot of boiling salted water. Cook for 5-6 minutes, or until tender but still firm to the bite. Drain the gnocchi with a slotted spoon. At first we put them in a bowl but Emma noticed water was draining to the bottom and making the gnocchi soggy. Emma thought to put them in the oven on a pan, which worked great! Once all the gnocchi were cooked and in a bowl, we re-heated the butter and poured it over top. They were different but super tasty, Emma was addicted :) haha

The 'Works' Mashed Potatoes
- 5 medium golden potatoes, skins on
- Sour cream
- Chopped cooked bacon, 5 slices
- 1/3 cup chopped red onions
- Fresh chopped parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste

At the last minute we decided to add mashed potatoes to our dinner. Emma boiled the potatoes until tender, then Matt mashed them. I cooked diced bacon, drained the fat and cooked the onion until they were brown. I stirred everything together until Bryn approved of the our final product.

For dessert Emma and I made a Halloween inspired mud pie. It was soooooooo delicious and scary haha So much fun to make!

Halloween Mud Pie!! 

This was one of the best thanksgivings I can remember. Everyone doing their thing in the kitchen, helping out and doing dishes. 

Brandon and Bryn doing dishes!!

Our big family dinner was so much fun. Not only because of our culinary creations and sangria but because we have the best friends ever!!! Love you!!

The spread...

The Family!