A Martha Stewart Thanksgiving

A little ways back, I put in my facebook status that I was finding inspiration for my Thanksgiving brunch from marthastewart.com. It became a bit of a joke between me and a few of my friends. While I do not support everything Martha does, I do (unfortunately) think she has some good ideas and I did get just what I wanted from her site.

Thanksgiving was a bit interesting (and we were very apprehensive about how it would go over) this year. It took awhile to figure out what we wanted to do and even longer to actually plan on what we would do. We ended up settling on a brunch with Nicole and Christopher (as they were invited to their "other" family's for dinner), hang out at home, then do a family dinner. I took charge of the brunch and Dad handled the dinner (as it involved the turkey which is a more manly dish he's always enjoyed preparing). I honestly didn't have the slightest idea what to expect from myself (or any of us) emotionally or physically. Even though she did a very good job training us kids in the ways of the kitchen and even very much involved us in cooking holiday meals, Mom always headed up and planned everything. We would lend creativity, ideas, and help where needed or directed. Because we now had to figure out who was doing what and what we wanted to do all over again, we all pretty much set our expectations to zero so that whatever we did, there would be no disappointment. We also allowed ourselves lots of leeway and flexibility to do whatever activities we wanted (a.k.a. we didn't plan anything) so if someone needed to crash, they could crash, and if someone wanted to party like it was their birthday, they could crash. ;-) Just kidding.

Anyways, I think we all ended up pleasantly surprised with how well the day went. Instead of becoming a basket case every time I went into the kitchen, like I was expecting, I had a very convenient and long burst of enthusiasm and energy and was able to turn out a really nice brunch (with help!!!! Dad was an angel in the kitchen and did all my dishes!) It was so fun. The menu I had chosen was filled with all kinds of fancy sounding dishes, but it ended up coming together very quickly and easily, and, with the additions that Nicole and Christopher assisted with -hot cider, grapes, and fruit salad- we were blessed with a very large, very delicious spread!

*Quick note: The point of all this is in no way to brag or show off! I was very encouraged by the fact that we were able to have such an enjoyable Thanksgiving and I just wanted to share that with you. If I'm coming across as a show off, give me a good smack next time you see me. ;-)

Sarah took some photos of the day, and while most are goofy ones of tired looking people relaxing in their home which I'm not going to share with you, she got some good ones of spread in the morning which I put below. We didn't end up with much to show for the dinner as we were all tired and very full at that point and didn't have the energy to pull out the camera for more shots.
The dinner menu (which, again, was all Dad) consisted of:
The essential (and very tasty) Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Sauce (which Nicole actually made for us)
Green Beans
Sparkling Cider (always a must)
Pumpkin Pie and whipped cream
Pumpkin Souffle

It was quite tasty.

(Those were some flowers I found at Fred's to help with the decor. I really liked them. :-))

The brunch menu was a bit more complex sounding:
Hot Cider (compliments of Nicole)
Coffee (mostly drunk by me)
Pomegranate-Orange Juice
Popovers - mini and regular (for fun and variation)
Cranberry Butter
Grapes
Fruit Salad (both also thanks to Nicole)
Broccoli Cheddar Quiches
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Sausage

The highlight of the menu, personally, was the pumpkin bread pudding. The pudding itself had absolutely nothing to do with pumpkin, but you actually hollowed out a pumpkin to bake the pudding in, so you end up with a really fun presentation! You can kind of see it in the picture below:


The individual set up:

The mini popovers. :-) They were as tasty as they were cute.

The bubbly.
It turned out to be a really fun, relaxing day. Maybe our Thanksgiving was a bit more Martha Stewart this year (which I really don't think it was), but who knows, maybe next year we'll go for a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feel.
:-)