Thanksgiving for Two

This year Thanksgiving was a little different.  Between crazy travel, school, and work schedules, we weren't able to make it back to Texas.  We saw my family last week, and we'll see Brent's in early December, but for Thanksgiving, it just worked out for us to stay in Durham.  Although we really missed our families, it was nice to spend a relaxing day at home.  We started the day watching the Macy's parade with a few cups of coffee.  Then we took a brisk 3 mile walk on the Wa-Duke trail.  We had a leisurely lunch of just appetizers - that's right - everyone loves appetizers, so we made a meal of them.  We lounged around all afternoon and then ate a late Thanksgiving dinner around 8 pm.  To finish off our night, we watched Home Alone, a holiday tradition.  I am pretty proud that I made a whole Thanksgiving dinner by myself.  It was probably best for this first time to be a "practice run" with just us because if it didn't turn out... oh well!  But it did turn out, and everything was delicious.  I feel confident that I can roast a turkey now (though I just made the breast for us), and now I have some "go to" recipes I could replicate.  We had enough for a great dinner and a few leftover meals.  Here's what I made, just in case you need some inspiration for Christmas!

 

Thanksgiving Lunch:

1:  Roasted Shrimp Cocktail from Ina Garten

2:  Risotto Stuffed Mushrooms (I improvised this recipe - I made the risotto from this post and then stuffed it in baby bella mushroom caps, topped with Parmesan cheese, and roasted in the oven.)

3:  Caramelized Onion, Bacon, & Gruyere Spread on a baguette from Cooking Light

4:  Cold Duck (my family's Thanksgiving tradition)

Thanksgiving Dinner:

1:  Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes from Ina Garten

2:  Sausage and Herb Stuffing from Ina Garten

3:  Perfect Cranberry Sauce from Food Network Kitchens

4:  Herb Roasted Turkey Breast with Pan Gravy from Rachel Ray

5:  Roasted Asparagus from Cooking Light (Not pictured)

Ginger Pumpkin Cheesecake with homemade whipped cream from Cooking Light (A new all-time Brent favorite!  This stuff is crazy-good and made with low fat ingredients!)

We hope you had a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving!  It's officially Christmastime in our house since all of our decorations went up today.  It's the most wonderful time of the year...