Giving thanks

My boyfriend and I hosted Thanksgiving this year, and the thought of preparing and cooking all of the food really freaked us out at first! Luckily, everything went smoothly; we didn't even have to run to the store for a forgotten ingredient!

We gave the raw giblets to the cats, but only Rosie seemed interested in them. She absolutely LOVED them! She definitely has more expensive taste than the other two cats. She went back to her plate three or four times before napping the afternoon away.

We hosted my dad, step mom, and two of my three brothers. It was super fun! We set out Juanitas tortilla chips (the best) and cherry pomegranate habanero sauce to dip. Of course, football was on the TV! It wouldn't be a Thanksgiving with my dad without it.

We cooked the turkey in a really hot oven (435 degrees F) for a little less than two hours. Only olive oil and LOTS of salt and pepper graced its skin, and we kept the apple sausage stuffing to the crock pot. Salt and pepper were also put in the cavity. We made sure we had a self-cleaning oven because it splattered EVERYWHERE! Our oven is quite a mess now, but it was so worth it. We didn't baste it or anything and it came out juicy and delicious.

We made everything from scratch except for the cranberry sauce. It was really hard timing everything to be done at the same time! It was basically impossible because the sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts went into the oven after the turkey came out and the sweet potatoes were done sooner.

We decided to make Brussels sprouts instead of green beans because we tried this amazing recipe a few weeks ago. My brothers didn't enjoy them as much as the rest of us, sadly. They really are incredible with maple syrup, balsamic vinaigrette, and bacon! I'm planning on featuring them in their own post next time we make them.

Yum! I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings! I spent a lot of time on the couch after my meal online shopping. I am so thankful for the delicious food we indulged in and spending the day with part of my family! :)