My Very First Thanksgiving Dinner!

After we had Thanksgiving day at the church in Heber, we decided to try and make a Thanksgiving dinner on our own. I was mainly inspired by the cooking class we went to where a friend in our ward showed us how simple it could be to make a delicious turkey! So, I wanted to give it a try, despite my tiny stove, oven, and kitchen in general. So we invited Dave and Heidi over for Sunday dinner at our house. Thanks for being our guinea pigs! :)

We pulled our little kitchen table over into the living room to give us a bit more room to eat and so all four of us could squeeze around the table. Here's the table all set and waiting for food:And due to my lack of oven space, I had to ask our neighbors for the use of their oven to bake a couple things. Seen here are the delicious yams, green bean casserole, and the cranberry cake I attempted to make. I think I baked it a few minutes too long even though it was still 10 minutes less than was called for (thank you, high altitude, for making baking SO simple... blah). But yes, I had to use my end table as a serving table because I honestly had no room anywhere else! Haha
The stove was also full all night. At one point we had the potatoes boiling, gravy cooking, stuffing being mixed, and cranberry sauce simmering all at once. Here's the DELICIOUS cranberry sauce that Trev's sister Meghan gave us the recipe for. It did make quite a bit of sauce, however, and I should have halved it but didn't really have time to think about it! But... considering I've never really been a fan of cranberry sauce, this was AMAZING. I actually couldn't get enough. You could definitely taste and smell the cinnamon and orange in it:
Here's our table trying to fit all our food and drink and condiments and everything on the table. It was so small. I look forward to having a nice, big, STURDY kitchen table one day, where the whole thing won't shake when someone's cutting their turkey! Haha. But the food still looks delicious as I look at it now! :)
I'm taking the picture, hence not being in it, but here are Trevor with the Kimball's. Trev's tie looks weird because he had to loosen it and put it behind him when dressing the turkey. After it almost dipped in the turkey juices once, he learned his lesson. We also didn't want it to catch on fire from the oven either. Haha. Oh dear.
So... the results? Well... it ACTUALLY wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! Making the food itself is quite simple. What makes it all tricky is the timing of the dishes so they all are ready when the turkey's ready and not before other things or they get cold!

But we got great reviews on the food! Dave and Heidi said the turkey was actually quite juicy and tender--so much so that they actually enjoyed the turkey this time, whereas they usually aren't too huge on it! I felt the same way. I was quite proud of my first turkey, despite the fact it was still a little bit pink on the very inside and we had to make sure to cut around it! Everything else was great, as well, my personal favorite being my Nana's yam recipe and that cranberry sauce! :) So good!

I am glad to say that I overcame the fear of making a turkey and that it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. We'll see if we make a tradition of doing this yearly... maybe, maybe not. I'm still young enough that I should be enjoying someone ELSE's cooking on Thanksgiving. I feel it's a rite you have to earn--being able to be the "Thanksgiving chef". But hey - now I know I CAN do it and it's actually pretty fun! :)

Happy Late Turkey Day!