pre-thanksgiving with the friends

this is the second year in a row that my friends and i have done a pre-thanksgiving together. it is a tradition that i would like to keep continuing! we went over to dave and allison's fabulous new house around noon on sunday then leisurely cooked our dishes while watching football :)

will made the cranberry sauce from scratch after we gave him crap haha. he added a touch of orange which was nice. i am personally not huge into cranberry sauce but i was fan of his! maybe i'll slowly convert over time. acquired taste perhaps?



i was in charge of the green bean casserole so i decided to use the pioneer woman's recipe (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/11/green-bean-casserole/) because it looks delicious AND omits the cream of mushroom. i don't know who came up with that idea in the first place but it is odd! she also substitutes panko crumbs for the french onions which i don't mind cause it makes the dish slightly healthier. anywho, the recipe turned out really well but i think i could've added just a touch more of salt. we only made it through half the dish so i have a lot of leftovers to eat this week! haha.



troy did the mashed pots. solid dish!!



dave carved the turkey following a step by step page from a cookbook and he did a great job!! i was impressed. allison did the turkey in an oven bag (a tip from the pioneer woman as well) and it was great! the meat was tender and not dried out.



stuffing was sadly from a box but what can you do? it still tasted good!



allison made gravy from the turkey drippings and it was fantastic! the only thing is that it got gelled over after a while so i wonder if there are some tricks that prevent that from happening.



i am a little embarrassed to say that i have NEVER had pillsbury crescent rolls before but they are amazing!!! troy did an excellent job cooking them in the oven so that they are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. apparently the key is that you turn down the temperature towards the end of them baking.



the dinner was great and it was just so nice to spend time with friends! if you think about it, thanksgiving is a little silly because you spend so many hours cooking it...and at the end of the day, the meal only takes you about 20 mins to eat before you're absolutely stuffed!

i didn't get pics of cat's mini pumpkin cheesecakes or her pecan pie but they were both very delicious as well!! :)

i went to bed a happy girl!!