Thanks & Giving

There is so much to be thankful for this year. I try to be mindful of everything I have to be thankful for each day, but Thanksgiving is a day where all that thankfulness is heightened because the mood is always jovial, the food delicious, and the company special. This year I was surrounded by more family than I was last year and everyone took time out to spend a few hours together despite hectic work schedules and multiple dining commitments.

We did Thanksgiving at our house again this year and it was two days of cooking for me. The overall meal came together perfectly, but everything was cooked in such bits and pieces because I didn't want Cati to feel neglected. It always amazes me (1) how much longer things take when you have a kid and (2) how good it feels when you are able to accomplish something big when you have a kid. Thanksgiving is literally the only time of the year that I will cook and cook and cook without complaint. It's my favorite holiday and I just love that it means coming together as a family over good food.

The menu this year was cinnamon rolls for breakfast, turkey and gravy, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cornbread casserole, dinner rolls, stuffing, HoneyBaked ham, green bean casserole (my mother-in-law), crumb cake, pumpkin flan (Abuela), bread pudding (Alex's aunt), and an apple cider sangria that was supposedly delicious. The meal was beyond words delicious and everyone's favorite thing was the turkey (thank God!). Cati paid me the biggest compliment by eating a ton of turkey and liking my cornbread casserole.

I can't believe our little threesome will be a foursome this time next year. It's fun to think about the three Thanksgivings we've had in our house: I was pregnant with Cati our first Thanksgiving, Cati was with us for our second Thanksgiving, and this year we have both Cati and a baby on the way.

And with all that said, I am thankful for my life and all the people in it. I am thankful for the husband who works his butt off every single day to provide for us, the daughter who fills me with unconditional love, the baby-on-the-way who reminds me of the beauty of life one nudge and roll at a time, the dog whose heart is still ticking 16.5 years later, the family who supports me and loves my little family, and the friends who like me for me even when I parade around Miami wearing Cati's hair bows.

I hope each and every one of you had a great Thanksgiving and were able to fill up on food and love.

Happy Turkey Day

Last year:

This year:

Needless to say, I am very thankful. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Recap

Have you had enough Thanksgiving food? With the exception of breakfast and two lunches all I have eaten since Wednesday is Thanksgiving food. I'm not sick of the food yet but I am happy to report that all the leftovers are a meal or two away from being gone. I can't get over the amount of turkey I have eaten. I have eaten from THREE different turkeys. I do not eat turkey at all during the rest of the year so I definitely overdo it with the turkey during Thanksgiving.

Our Turkey Day Marathon started off on Wednesday with a dinner at Alex's parent's house. They decided to celebrate it early since Alex was on call Thursday. Funny thing about Alex being on call...you have no idea how disappointed I was when I found out he'd be on call on Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday of the year and this is the second year that we don't get to spend the actual holiday together. Last year I spent Thanksgiving alone in Boston because Alex was down here in Miami trying to impress his future potential employer. This year, that potential employer is his employer and made him work Thanksgiving. So dinner with his parents was a day early. There was a ton of food and the most interesting dish was my mother-in-law's sweet potatoes. I'm used to the traditional sweet potato mixed with brown sugar, but she mixed things up and added pineapple juice to the sweet potato. This made the Thanksgiving feel very Floridian.

Bacon wrapped turkey.

The spread. My dish.

Turkey Day Marathon continued on Thursday with a dinner at my mom's house. The day completely sucked because Alex was working and I couldn't tell if I was feeling extra sensitive to this because I'm pregnant. At least I got to see my brother, hang with my sister, and get a ton of my baby books and pictures. It's nice to see how my mom hasn't changed how she does Thanksgiving dinner. There's comfort in finding the same dishes year after year.

The turkey.

The spread. My dish.

Last but not least was the turkey dinner I made on Friday. I felt very strongly about us having a dinner for just the two of us. We have so much to be thankful for and it was really important to me that we got to reflect on how blessed our lives together are. Plus, I was excited about our first turkey dinner in the new house. I didn't get too many pictures of what I made because Alex hadn't eaten anything in close to 20 hours and I didn't want to make him wait while I took pictures.

The turkey.

Partial spread. My dish.

The most interesting "trend" this year was bagging the turkey. Both my in-laws and mom roasted the turkey in a bag. Neither have ever done this and it caught me off guard when I saw the birds come out of the oven in a bag. Both swore the turkey was juicier than normal, but I think my regular roasted turkey was just as juicy. Or maybe I'm just biased.

And now, because one of the things I am thankful for the most is the expansion my love for Alex and of our family I leave you with this picture. I secretly hope our daughter is as cute and happy as I was as a child.

Turkey Day & TWD

Happy Turkey Day everyone! Hopefully everyone is either busy in the kitchen cooking up a storm or resting at home while someone else is busy in the kitchen. I had my first of three turkey dinners last night and it reminded me of why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Lots of yummy food centered around a deliciously roasted turkey, all shared with the people who mean the most. Because this first Thanksgiving was with my in-laws and they always make more than enough food and always have more than enough desserts (last night there were 5 choices), I decided to make the last of the TWD sweets today for my mom's Thanksgiving dinner. This sweet was the Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake chosen by Katya of Second Dinner. Dorie's recipe, while it sounded good, was a little too involved for me and made use of ingredients (chestnuts, chestnut spread) that weren't readily available. So I simplified things for myself and I switched things up a bit and made nutella cakelets filled with a caramel sauce topped with a thick chocolate ganache. I am very happy with the changes. The cakes came out beautifully and are so unique in flavor due to the nutella, the caramel, and the chocolate. Hopefully they are a hit tonight!
Don't forget to check out Katya's blog. If you are interested in the original recipe for this cake go here.

It's Turkey Day!

I love this holiday. I love how my apartment gets filled with all the delicious scents of traditional Thanksgiving food. I love how I get to spend the day thinking about everything I should be thankful for, including my husband, dog, family, friends, and life in general. This Thanksgiving has been different from past Thanksgivings because this is the first time I have spent the holiday alone. Well, not completely alone because I have been playing Bond movies all day, but he doesn't really count since he didn't eat any of the food I made. I now have enough leftovers to probably last for the next week which is perfect because I'm sure cooking will be the last thing on my mind while I'm studying for my five tests.

This year I made a turkey breast, cream cheese mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cornbread (recipe here), cheddar biscuits (recipe here), and the Santa Pie for dessert.

I hope everyone else had a fabulous holiday and got to enjoy the company of their loved ones :)

Baked Turkey: It preferred to be on its side

Definitely done.


Most of the spread.


Single serving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Day Preview

I did my turkey day shopping yesterday and I am so pumped! Even though I am celebrating Thanksgiving on my own this year, I can't let tradition slide especially when Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. The smallest turkey breast I could find was 7lbs so I will be eating turkey for the next week...yay! I love Thanksgiving leftovers. I'm a cheater when it comes to stuffing because stuffing isn't high on my favorite Thanksgiving foods list, but I still can't picture my meal without stuffing. I'm still trying to think of a dessert with my meal since I like to try a new dessert each year with my meal. Last year I made oreo truffles and cinnamon rolls, the year before that I made fruit ambrosia and banana bread, and the year before that I made cinnamon bread. I love having to make these kinds of decisions!

Basic Turkey Day Menu
-Turkey
-Gravy
-Mashed Potatoes
-Sweet Potatoes
-Cornbread
-Stuffing
-Cheddar biscuits
-Dessert??