Happy Thanksgiving!!

Whew!! What a wonderful day! Our priest and two of my friends and their kids came over to share our holiday meal with us. 5 adults and 12 kids! ("Crazy?!! I was crazy once...!) We ate and laughed and ate and talked and ate and sang old 70's tunes and ate and laughed and moaned about how much we'd eaten. I think it's safe to say, a good time was had by all. My friend Julie's husband is in the States at school and she and their 4 kids will be moving with him to CO in a few weeks. I'm going to really miss her! Her kids all get along really well with our younger kids. The kids ate and ran off to play dress-up and Dance, Dance Revolution and pretty much left us alone to keep eating and laughing in peace. My friend Laura's two youngest kids are tight, tight buddies of "A" &"K", so they all spent the afternoon hanging out. Laura's hubby is in the States preparing for deployment to Iraq and their oldest son is in his first year of college in the States.

We were so blessed to have our priest accept our invitation to dinner as well. Father O'Grady is new to our parish and we adore him! He's as Irish as his name and an absolute hoot. He loves the Lord and His Church and is good at really challenging us when we're tempted to slip into complacency. We're hoping he can stay here as long as we do!


(Laura, "A", Schmabbers (great look Schmab!), Laura's son "J", "K" (love the expression K!), Laura's daughter "E", Father, Banana)


Here's the rundown of our Thanksgiving menu this year:
Turkey - Duh! Fixed Alton Brown's way - the most unbelievably juicy, flavorful bird ever!

Stuffing - with leeks, mushrooms, and red peppers. Matt goes bonkers for this every year.
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potato praline souffle - too much cream and butter to be ever be considered healthy, but too good not to include.
Roasted sweet potatoes and pears with raisins and pecans. This one is definitely healthy and fantastic!
(Even Julie, a self-avowed sweet potato hater really like these. Of course, she really liked the souffle, too....hmmm..how many sweet potatoes have you really eaten before, Jules? ;)
Green beans w/ bacon
Corn custard with tomatoes an fresh basil on top - again, too much cream to be healthy, but oh so good!
Jello salad - the kids wouldn't let me get away with omitting this one
White rolls
Whole Wheat rolls
German bread with fresh chive cheese - Thanks, Laura!!

Then we had 8 pies- two each of four different kinds.

Banana cream and chocolate cream pies. Yum!

If you don't recognize this one, you're not an American and need to log off this site!!



Rustic apple cranberry tart
I enjoy cooking and I really enjoy cooking for people that enjoy good food! My only challenge was getting everything cooked in my tiny little Easy Bake Oven-sized oven. I can only fit one 9x13" pan or one pie pan at a time. I don't know how German's manage to feed their families with such little ovens and sinks. We have a one-bowl sink that my regular size colander fits perfectly side-to-side in. My roasting pan has to be scrubbed in the tub upstairs. But we'll deal with inconveniences like this any time as long as we can continue living over here.