The Messy Kitchen’s First Thanksgiving

The Messy Kitchen was in full swing this week as I prepared to host my very first Thanksgiving dinner.  As always, I had ambitious plans for the occasion.  Although there were only seven of us, between the twenty pound (humanly-raised!) bird and an absurd amount of sides, I’m quite sure we could have served about twenty.

While I took off Wednesday intending to get started cooking most of these dishes ahead of time, that didn’t exactly end up happening.  Instead I went to a ninety minute spin-yoga class, saw Dallas Buyers Club at E St. Cinema (excellent film!) and then headed to Oyamel for their excellent happy hour that I usually miss because it only goes until 6:00.  Somehow it was 9:00pm and instead of cooking, I was at Shake Shack eating a pumpkin pie concrete (over-rated).  By the time we tracked down an open liquor store to buy bourbon for the brine, it was quite late and I was at least five margaritas deep.  Perfect time to start cooking!

We started by giving the turkey this bourbon brine.

Then I made the sweet potatoes, chocolate chip banana bread and vegan feta and called it a night.  We woke bright and early (rather I woke Courtney bright and early) to assemble our new smoker and finish prepping the turkey, which actually involved a trip to the grocery store and two trips to our buddy Josh’s house.

While our day started out stressful, by 4:00pm when folks begun arriving I pretty much had everything prepared and ready to go in the oven and the kitchen only slightly messier than on your typical tuesday.  The only other near disaster was when we ran out of propane at 5:00pm, with another hour to go on the turkey.  Luckily, Courtney was able to run our and find some.

There’s nothing I love better than a festive table…

Except for the grinning faces of awesome family and friends surrounding it.

While I’m not going to do a step-by-step of each recipe I made this year, I will go through and give you the link and tell you a little bit about each.  Other than the turkey, gravy and stuffings, the spread was entirely vegan!

We started with this super tasty Thanksgiving sangria, festive and potent enough to ensure a lively dinner table discussion.

I was happy to find the giblets, since I had totally overlooked gravy!  I ended up making this broth and turning it into this classic gravy.  Then Lila and Jim enjoyed the heart and liver!

On the left, you have these garlic mashed potatoes, made high protein with the addition of pureed beans.  They tasted awesome, but the beans do cause the edges and top to crust a bit when baked casserole style.  I think these may have been a bit prettier had I reheated them in the microwave an served them in a bowl.

On the right, you have this recipe for coconut-ginger mashed sweet potatoes, except I turned it into a casserole and topped them with pecans and shredded coconut.  I loved these even more than the sweet potato casserole I usually make, and will definitely be making them again next year!

Clockwise from the top left, you have my vegan baked feta, this awesome orange bourbon cranberry sauce (of course I added way more bourbon!), these tasty roasted pomegranate brussels sprouts made by my mama, my nut and seed bread, and this delicious chocolate chip banana bread that I don’t know why I don’t make more often!

Last but definitely not least you have my favorite thanksgiving food, the stuffing!  The left is this sage and sausage stuffing made with Trader Joe’s apple chicken sausage and the right is this fig and pine nut stuffing.  Both were good, but I think everyone preferred the sausage one, so I may just make a big batch of that next year.

For dessert I decided on a vegan version of my Mama’s favorite dish: sticky toffee pudding.  I can’t say enough about how awesome this was.  It’s vegan and much healthier than your typical version with heavy cream, but you sacrifice none of the flavor.  Seriously, you should make this for Christmas.

I always love cooking for my family and friends, but it was a truly special experience to host Thanksgiving this year.  Yes, it takes a good bit of planning work, and I definitely have a new respect for my grandmother who has hosted our Thanksgiving dinners for as long as I can remember.  I must say though, that it is totally worth it in the end when you’re surrounded by both family and friends enjoying a beautiful meal!

Johanna