If you are a cooking junkie like me, the epitome of the cooking experience each year is Thanksgiving. In September/October, I kept seeing recipes for Thanksgiving foods (stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc.) and I was dying to try my hand at them. However, I always travel to Philadelphia to spend Thanksgiving with my dad's family, so for actual Thanksgiving I was limited to making a pecan pie and buttermilk biscuits (mmmm, pecan pie and biscuits). A few weeks ago, I decided to throw my own Thanksgiving, because let's face it, no one would object to a second Thanksgiving. I waited until the holiday season was finished, invited friends and family over, and got to planning.
This was my first time attempting to cook for a large party (12 of us in total), and trying to make more than one appetizer/main meal/dessert combo. In planning the menu/timing of everything, I looked for things cooked tried to avoid cooking multiple hot items that needed the oven. I went pretty traditional with the side courses, but veered from tradition when it came to the meat. I am not a big Turkey person, and had seen an awesome looking Prime Rib & Roasted Vegetables recipe in Cook's Country magazine that had caught my fancy. My parents got me a roasting pan for Christmas, and this seemed like the perfect way to break it in! Now, I have never had prime rib before. I also was completely unaware of how expensive it was! However, I didn't let any of that stop me! The one change I made (which I am really happy I did) was to go smaller on the prime rib & to add a slow cooked pork loin as well.
Overall, I decided on the following menu (pictures to follow) - all recipes are some offshoot of either America's Test Kitchen or Brown Eyed Baker:
1) Garlic/Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
2) Crispy Skillet Stuffing
3) Roasted Prime Rib + Roasted Vegetables (my first time ever having prime rib! boy is it expensive!)
4) Slow-cooked pork loin w/ cranberry sauce
5) Whole Wheat Rolls
6) Sweet Potato Pie
8) Pumpkin Oatmeal Bars (last minute add when I freaked out about not having enough dessert that was very worth it!)
