Crockpot Turkey

I mentioned in my Thankful post last week that the family crockpot made an appearance on Thanksgiving. You might even say it was the star of our holiday feast. :) Don't think I got off completely free though, there was some actual effort that went into planning and executing our meal (but not much...)!

The original plan was to invite over D's single soldiers who weren't going home for Thanksgiving, but since his NCOs already had that covered and he *ahem* may have procrastinated at extending the invitation, we got off easy and it ended up being just our little family for dinner. We met up with some of his guys for dessert later in the evening. I was a little relieved at the prospect of only having to cook for us, but was still excited to make a yummy meal, so I came up with the following menu and had a fun day of cooking. Click the menu item for a link to the recipe!

The Menu
Turkey Breast
Brown Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Souffle
Green Bean Casserole
Parmesan Knot Biscuits
Chocolate Pie
Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Note that there is no fruit. I may have been getting a little overzealous with my menu and D was quick to nix cranberry sauce from the list. I still think you gotta have some at an official T-day meal, but I wasn't complaining about having one less thing to make. Also, the two potato dishes? I refused to give up mashed potatoes and D has a thing for the sweeter variety, so we had both.

It was a great day. Thanks to a certain early riser of ours we were up and at 'em before 7am. I had desserts made, potatoes peeled, and the turkey in the crockpot by 10am and made my way out for a mid-day run around noon. Wine was uncorked and the table was set by 4pm and we were seated and eating by 5! Everything turned out really well. The sweet potatoes were way better the second day and I will probably play with another recipe next time. The biscuits didn't necessarily go with the meal, but I was looking for an excuse to try out an easy Pinterest recipe- and they were the biggest surprise hit of the night. The turkey was awesome and moist, the mashed potatoes have already been made again this week and the green beans were a classic. We all know how the cookies were. If you haven't made them yet by this point, you are missing out. I had soldiers trying to get me to friend their mom's on facebook so I could pass on the recipe. If that isn't success, I don't know what is. :)

All in all we had a great Thanksgiving with our little family. I love spending time with the rest of our relatives whenever possible, but this was the best way to spend the holiday with our move so close on the horizon. I do look forward to potentially hosting a big T-day bash in the coming years. This was a good trial run....but I'm not sure they make crockpots big enough for a full sized turkey, so I have a ways to go! :)

xo,
H