And it's over.

Thanksgiving was a hit, the food was great, and I'm the only person who broke a wine glass (and I did it today while cleaning).

I have some pictures, but I was so busy having fun and hanging out with all of my lovely guests that I failed a little bit on the picture taking. One of my friends took quite a few, so hopefully she will send them my way and I can post them a bit later.

For now, some photos of the pre-party table and the aftermath.

ADHD

I totally got distracted by decorating.

I pulled together a whole dining room table, a citrus centerpiece, a flower arrangement, cleaned my silver and wine glasses... but PIES! Those I haven't even started yet. I'm in for a long day tomorrow, and if I don't get some of it done tonight this will be amusing (alarming?).

I think that is part of the fun of cooking for a big group, seeing if you can actually get it done with no disasters, forgotten items, or 2nd degree burns. Good thing we have a lot of wine!

Tuesday before Thanksgiving... time to start cooking!

So, I accidentally on purpose invited a ton of people over for Thanksgiving. I love making big meals, especially when I'm allowed to use as much butter and cream as I feel like using.

The menu, carefully selected by the host with the most (me), is compiled and in pieces in the fridge.

We're having:

Turkey (obvious? it's 21 - yes, 21 pounds)
Gravy
Cornbread and sausage stuffing - it's more of a dressing, really
Green beans with toasted almonds and garlic
mashed potatoes
sweet potatoes with marshmallows (husband's request, I'm not a fan of the marshmallows)
Cunningham Family Cranberry Fruit Compote (recipe to follow)
Apple Pie (the same as my lattice top pie, which was a hit!)
Pumpkin pie

And one of my lovely guests is bringing a sweet potato risotto.

On to the good stuff... the actual cooking!

Today I am going to make the cranberry compote, cornbread, and my pie crusts. Tomorrow is a pie day (I need to make extra for my husband's coworkers who are stranded at the office on Thursday), and Thursday is the mega-cooking fiesta of turkey, potatoes, green beans, etc. I'm extremely thankful to have two ovens!

As soon as I get it together, I'll post progress photos!

I hear it's good for the soul, too.

M procrastinates by making some of the most beautiful pies I've ever seen (the last pie I made, while tasty, was hideous in comparison)... I procrastinate by making soups and stews. It would be bad for me to have lots of baked goods under my roof, though. So soup it is!

I don't know from where I got this recipe - at this point, I've tinkered with it so much I'm sure it doesn't bear any resemblance to the original. I do, however, believe firmly that chicken noodle soup MUST be made with homemade noodles. It really is not hard to make your own noodles, so there are no excuses for using store-bought ones. I like mine thicker and with some bite.

This soup is simple to make, and doesn't rely on "cheats" like poultry seasoning or bouillon - just the pure good flavor of your ingredients. I like to think it is relatively healthy too, since the only fat comes from the chicken itself.

Chicken noodle soup with homemade egg noodles

For the egg noodles:

• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup flour
• salt, to taste

For the soup:

• 2.5 to 3 pounds chicken parts (I use a combination of legs, thighs, and bone-in breasts)
• 1 container mirepoix from Trader Joe's (I have sung the praises of this mirepoix before. Sometimes, a girl is too lazy to chop up her own veggies and just wants soup NOW, not NOW + however long it takes to chop vegetables)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 cups water
• salt, to taste

Pour the flour into a bowl, and make a well in the center. Dump the egg + egg yolk into the well, then mix the flour and egg together with your hands until you form a ball. Season with a little salt. You may need some ice water to help it all bind together. Once you've formed a ball, knead it (in the bowl if it is large enough, on a floured surface if not) for several minutes until smooth. Reform into a ball and wrap in some plastic wrap, then set it aside on your counter while you start on the liquid part of the soup.

Add the half of the mirepoix and all of the chicken parts, garlic, bay leaves, and water to a large pot. Heat over low-medium heat until the soup comes to just under a boil. You don't want it to actually boil, but rather for it to just barely simmer. Partially cover and cook for 45 to 60 minutes. Your kitchen will smell positively lovely during this process.

Remove the chicken parts from the pot, drain, and remove the chicken meat from the bones in bite-size pieces. Be careful, the chicken will be hot! Strain the soup, discarding the mirepoix/garlic/bay leaves. I usually strain the soup once into a large bowl, then line my strainer with a paper towel and strain the soup back into the cooking pot. Add the other half of the mirepoix to the now beautifully clear broth, salt to taste, and heat until boiling.

While you're waiting for the soup to boil, make your egg noodles. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to your desired thickness. I usually like my noodles just under 1/8-inch thick (they will puff up when you cook them). Slice into whatever width/length you want as well - I usually cut them anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2-inch in width and 2 to 3 inches in length.

When the soup has come to a boil, add the noodles and cook for approximately 5 minutes (the exact amount of time will depend on how thick your noodles are). Add the chicken back in and cook until the chicken is warm again. And hey, that's it! You're done! See how easy that was? Now you have no excuse when it comes to making chicken noodle soup from scratch, noodles and all.

Paper Pie

By paper pie, I mean another procrastination pie. Apples again, although this time I substituted the flour with corn starch and used Mutsu (Crispin) apples. This pie was exponentially better, and it is already gone. Good thing I live with boys!

Procrastination Pie (Apple)

So, I could have (SHOULD HAVE) written a paper or read articles today. Instead, I made a pie. It may be one of the prettier pies I've ever made, but I'm not 100% sure how much I'm digging the taste. I don't usually use Honey Crisp apples in pie, but they were the best apples at the farmer's market yesterday so I went with it. Not perfect, but pretty. I can handle that.

You really need to make your own pie crust for this... it is really easy. Stop being lazy.

I use a butter-only pie crust recipe, I don't like shortening at all. I think it leaves a filmy feeling in my mouth (shortening is also the reason most store bought cupcake icing is disgusting...).

I made 1.5 of a crust recipe for the bottom part because I am paranoid and bad at rolling things out in perfect circles, and then 1 for the top covering the apples.

I'm not sure which crust recipe I used this time, but it was great (helpful, right?). I only wish I had better butter in the house. I like to let the dough chill in the fridge for about an hour before rolling it out.

I adapted the apple recipe from Martha Stewart:

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 large Honey Crisp Apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1ish inch cubes
3/4 cup sugar, plus additional for pie top
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large egg, beaten

- Preheat to 350
- Press pie crust into pie plate (I am now obsessed with my Emile Henry Pie Plate)
- Combine apples, sugar, lemon juice, spices (add MORE - mine was too bland! perhaps too many apples...)
- Toss everything and make a huge mess all over the kitchen, amuse the dogs
- plop some butter on to the apples (not a ton, just chunk some on there)
- cover your pie with the other piece of dough, obsess over the edges and make it pretty
- Paint on your scrambled egg, sprinkle sugar on top (IMPORTANT to add some sugar especially if you use my crust recipe)
- Bake for around 1 hour, the crust will be brown and apples bubbling

Yum.

Okay, so I think that I had too many apples and perhaps not enough seasoning. I'm not sure. Martha's recipe said 12 apples, I used 10 originally (so what gives?) but they would not all fit into my pie. I used leftover apples and stuffed them into pie crust and baked them as little pockets. Fattown, USA.