First Turkey + Go Buckeyes

It's hard to believe, but this Thanksgiving was the first time that Todd and I made a turkey from scratch at home. We've been married for, well, a long time. But we spent Thanksgiving at Todd's parents house when we lived in Ohio. In California, up until four years ago, we spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house. After my mom died, Thanksgiving wasn't the same. My dad often traveled overseas during Nov/Dec, so it was just me and Todd. We were too lazy to cook a whole Thanksgiving turkey meal for just the two of us.

This year, was different. My dad and Shelly were coming for Thanksgiving. A few days before Thanksgiving, Todd and I watched the Thanksgiving Feast Throwdown between Bobby Flay and The Pioneer Woman on the Food Network. We decided to make our own turkey from scratch, using Bobby Flay's Herb Roasted Turkey Recipe, mainly because it looked easy. We also made garlic mashed potatoes, pumpkin muffins, and Bobby Flay's Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranates and Vanilla-Pecan Butter.

Dad and Shelly arrived Thursday around 11:30am.


For lunch, we had homemade fried rice and my famous homemade cream of mushroom soup. I forgot to take a photo.

After a walk at a park near our house, it was time to get cooking for dinner.

Lovely turkey before preparation.


Todd rubbing the homemade herb butter on the turkey.


Beautiful turkey out of the oven.




Carved up turkey.


My roasted brussels sprouts with pomegranate and vanilla butter.


Garlic mashed potatoes and sage gravy.


After dinner we cleaned up, then watched "Toy Story 3" together. It was awesome! I cried at a couple of different points in the movie. Yes, I cry at animated movies and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

The other days this weekend were fantastic too. But what was Todd most excited about? His Coach Tressel sweater vest shirt, and the Ohio State Buckeyes beating the Michigan Wolverines 37-7 yesterday. This was the 7th year in a row we've beat our rival Michigan! Yaaaaaaay!