Thanksgiving Part II

Thanksgiving came and went. It was the first time I "hosted" a family meal (with more than 7 or 8 people) and it went well. It was VERY hard work. We had 35 people in total and it was 6 weeks of prep. The Pedant's mother helped organize everyone with a google group and document, and everyone pitched in.

My food came out great. The quinoa salad was a HUGE hit! Plus, I have 2 containers left (I would have had 3, but we ate it for breakfast Friday!). The Pecan Pies were also amazing, but the crust got a bit crispy - and broke 3 plastic knives. I made them in glass baking dishes and afterwords my mother said I might have needed to lower the heat. I will likely make the pie again for my work pot luck in December so will double check the cooking temp.

Thursday was one of the longest days I've had: After having nightmares at 4AM that the pie was burned to a crisp, I woke up VERY sleepy at 7 and did a 5 mile turkey trot (with my best time ever in a race - under a 10 minute mile!). I came home about 11:30am to a full house: Parents, grandfather, aunt, 2 cousins and made a second pie dough. (My mom rightly thought 1 pecan pie wasn't enough.) After, we went to the supermarket for some lunch stuff - a big salad. At 1:30 or so, we started the cooking

1. Making pecan pie and cooking said pie
2. Making stuffed mushrooms (my mom made the stuffing earlier but we needed to stuff)
3. Making stuffing (which my mom did most of)
4. Making quinoa salad (which I did most of)

About 2:30pm I realized I hadn't had enough water post race and had a THROBBING headache all night...

About 2ish TP went to his parents' house to get table cloths, wine, utensils and some other stuff since his mother was having a bit of trouble with the oven and the turkeys...

About 3 I started setting up the room with my dad and assorted family members. People started coming about 4 and I finally got to shower about 4:15! It was a non-stop event but I had a lot of fun doing it!

OUR MENU:

Appetizers:

Artichoke dip (Sherb's aunt)
Guatemalan black beans (S's aunt)
Broccoli/Carrots (S/TP)
Salmon (TP's aunt)
Humus, crackers, pita (S's cousin's parents)
Stuffed Mushrooms (S's mom)

Dinner:

3 Turkeys (TP's mom, TP's aunt, S's cousin)
Stuffing with meat (S's cousin)
Stuffing with no meat (S's mom)
Broccoli (S's cousin)
Slaw with tasty, tasty ramen noodles (S's cousin)
Quionoa salad (S/TP)
Sweet Potato (TP's Mom)
Sweet Potatoes with tasty marshmallows (TP's aunt)
Cranberry sauce from jar (TP's aunt)
Cranberry sauce - exact same kind! (TP's aunt, S's aunt - a wonderful coincidence!)
Salad (TP's Aunt)
Roasted Veg (TP's mom)

Dessert:

2 Pecan Pies (S)
2 Chocolate Pecan pies (TP's mom)
2 Pumpkin pies (S's cousin)
Chocolate chip cookies (S's aunt)
Pumpkin bread (TP's Mom)
Cranberry Bread (S's mom)
Parve whipped topping (TP's Aunt)

Beverages:
Wine, beer, soda, TP's Grandmother's whiskey sours