First Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, John and I decided to stay in Madison. We both had to work and it is too hard to drive to either family location just for one day. I was pretty bummed at first, but it turned out to be a perfect first Thanksgiving.

To prepare for the big day, I asked John what his favorite Thanksgiving day food is, as I only wanted to make what we WANTED to eat. It came down to turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and pie. I wanted to make it as paleo as possible. This was my first time making all of these things, so I was a little nervous. But I have to say, everything was super easy and SO DELICIOUS. I ended up making gluten free stuffing instead of "paleo stuffing" and there was whole wheat flour in the gravy. But, for the first time in my life, I did not leave the meal feeling like my stomach was about to burst. So, let's walk through the steps of creating our first Thanksgiving.

The day before Thanksgiving, I brined the turkey. This was really easy and I would totally recommend it. We just got a bone in turkey breast so I cut the recipe in half. Now that I realize how easy it was, I would cut the salt down even more.  I got this brine recipe from allrecipes.com, and it consisted of 16 c. water, 1 c. canning salt, black pepper, 3/4 c. brown sugar and 3/4 c. Worcestershire sauce. You let the turkey soak for up to two days.

Fast forward to the next day. I knew it would take about 2 hours to cook the turkey so that went in first. I used a Reynolds turkey bag. This is great because there is minimal clean up and it stores all the juices needed to make the gravy. I seasoned the turkey with fresh ground pepper, rosemary and thyme. 

Next, I sautéed the veggies for the stuffing. I wish I would have cut the celery into smaller pieces because it was still a bit crunchy. I sauteed the veggies in butter and then placed them into a baking dish with the bread. The bread I cut into pieces the day before and let dry. Once you have all your ingredients in the dish, add cold butter and 1 cup of chicken stock. Bake for 30 minutes. 

The potatoes were a mix of Baby Reds and Yukon Gold. I boiled the potatoes then drained them and added butter and sour cream. If you can't tell already I used a lot of butter. Just call me Paula Dean. I used a hand mixer to blend together until mashed. 

Finally, the gravy. I was most worried about this because it is my favorite part. I used the drippings from the Turkey and Chicken stock. I mixed the liquid with 1/4 c. whole wheat flour. Once it is well mixed, I put it into the saucepan and stirred until it came to a boil. Verdict? IT WAS AWESOME. 

Me with the finished product. 

John carving the turkey. 

Ahhmazing. 

Now on to Christmas!