Thanksgiving 2010

Lucas and I spent our Thanksgiving just the two of us this year. With Lucas' school work load we decided it would be best to stay home so that he could work on his assignments. But of course we had to cook! We went with an alternative Thanksgiving meal this year. I am currently obsessed with Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, please follow her blog, she is awesome! My mom gave me her cookbook for Christmas last year, and honestly I thought, "another cookbook?" Boy was I wrong! Ree (yes, we are on a first name basis) is ah.ma.zing! Like, I wish she lived with me and would cook for me on a regular basis -- I would weigh 5000 pounds but man, oh, man I would be happy.

Anyways,  check it out, she is a hilarious and her book, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels is being released on February 1st (man I should be getting paid for this promo) and chronicles how she met her husband and moved from a city girl in L.A. to a ranch housewife in Oklahoma. She is hysterical, seriously.

Ok, on to our actual Thanksgiving!

Here's our menu (I linked recipes that were not from Pioneer Woman):
Chicken Fried Steak with country gravy
Creamy mashed potatoes
Roasted brussell sprouts with panchetta (we left out the potatoes and these were YUM)
Buttermilk biscuits

And because that wasn't enough, I also made cinnamon rolls for breakfast the next morning -- hey don't judge, we didn't have turkey leftovers. But as you can see, the majority of these recipes are from this (yes, that is a wine opener in the background, we love wine):

Lucas making the chicken fried steak, and laughing at something hilarious I just said. :)

Chicken fried steak . . . YUMMY!

The most delicious mashed potatoes I have ever eaten!

Frying up some pancetta

I know a lot of people don't like brussell sprouts, and my parents never served them because they hated them. BUT, they are delicious! These are roasted and then mixed with butter, shallots (amazing little onions), pancetta (amazingly fancy bacon), and then sprinkled with lemon juice. So good.

My darling hubby helping in the kitchen!

Our complete meal . . . I had to bust out our china too because we never get to use it.

Dessert:
Flourless chocolate cake
Homemade cake batter ice cream (so amazingly delicious!)

Both of these desserts were so easy, and if you don't have an ice cream maker get one. Like, now. It is my favorite kitchen appliance. Have you purchased one of these yet? Seriously, get one.

My first dough making experience without my mom! :)
Yeast is kinda scary!

Baking . . . the smell was delightful! Sorry I missed all the steps in the middle, but my hands were kinda messy and Lucas was working on his paper. You get the idea though right? Fill with lots of butter, sugar, and cinnamon, then roll. Thus a cinnamon roll.

Pioneer Woman doesn't mess around when it comes to frosting, please do not acknowledge how much sugar or butter are in these large bites of heaven!

So there you have it . . . our first Thanksgiving on our own turned out to be a huge success. We did miss spending time with our families though and are so so looking forward to our winter break to go spend time with everyone!

Next up: Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow and the pups! :)