Thanks-mas weekend

We have already entered holiday zone.

Kyle’s parents came for the weekend and we celebrated both Thanksgiving and Christmas together.  Because why not?

I wasn’t involved in picking the date, but since they were gifted Niners tickets to Sunday’s game, they scheduled their holiday visit to California for this past weekend and now the ball is officially rolling…straight ahead til New Years!!!!!!

At least the weather shifted this week.  So it does, in fact, feel like Fall now.  We even got sprinkles.  Now my plants are happy again (drought problems).

Let’s get to the really important stuff.  Thanks-mas menu planning!

I made this butternut sweet potato casserole.  Minimalist is definitely my style.  I used two different kinds of sweet potatoes/yams.  And I used walnuts instead of pecans on top.  I. Loved. It.  In truth, it might have been my number one.  Carbs are good and all, but squash and potatoes and nuts?!  Hells yes.

The stuffing I made was loosely based on this recipe, but simplified for the sake of using fewer bowls/dirtying dishes.

Kyle thought it was perrrrrfect.  And he was the only person I was aiming to please, really, since stuffing is just kinda whatever in my book.  Am I missing something?  Why are we so excited about herby savory bread?  Anyway, he wanted something simple and classic with lots of sage flavor and apparently this delivered big time.  I used Udi’s gluten free baguettes for the bread so it was allergy free.  Pattycakes thought it was good enough to clear his plate but I think he was fairly neutral on it beyond that.

And for the turkey, we went a new route and tried rotisserie!  I used this as a guide, but then let the men take over (I’d cleaned and dry brined the bird two days in advance, so I just rubbed it in olive oil and (more) herbs before giving it to them to do their thing).

Our grill actually has a rotisserie spear and motor and luckily the weather was nice enough for Kyle and his dad to do everything outside.  It certainly made my life easier – opened up oven space and took no effort on my part after I gave it to therm (until carving time).  I really think dry brining is the way to go.  Also, by leaving it open to air in the fridge for >24 hours, the brine really soaked into the skin and seemed to get alllllll the moisture into the meat.  The skin crisped up so well.  It was way different than roasting.  Now that we know how to use the rotisserie there may be more of that in our future.  It’s a good group entertaining option.

Doing my blogger thing.  😉

Question: how do you get your toddler to inhale sprouts?  Answer: BACON.

This brussels sprouts dish was the one I winged.  I pan fried them in bacon fat with pancetta, then deglazed the pan with white balsamic vinegar.  I love the acidic tones with the fatty bitter greens.  It was tied with the butternut sweet potato dish for the top spot.  Mmmmmmm.

Here’s the full spread!

Yup, canned cranberry jelly.  Gotta have ridges.

The one prob with rotisserie is you can’t get the drippings for gravy (as easily).  I made the gravy from the neck (ewwwww) and bulked it up with organic broth, seasoned it with thyme, parsley, sage, salt and pepper, and then thickened it with cornstarch.  Kyle’s mom offered to pull the meat off the neck after I cooked it and I gladly took her up on it.

The turkey was an organic heritage bird from Diestel Turkey Farm in Sonora.  I ordered it from Whole Foods.  WF is having a sale right now where you can order online and get a $10 off coupon.  You don’t have to get a turkey, sides or whatever are included too.  Good for Thanksgiving planning.  Here are the deets.

Back to the meal.

The above photo shows the roasting I did the day before for the squash and sweet potato casserole.  I did a bit of prep the day before, but not too much because I chose a strategically straight forward menu.  And above it is the baked French toast casserole I made for breakfast that morning.  We needed a quick morning because I had to get food in P and then get us to swimming by 9 am.  I cherish our swimming dates.  I also wanted to not be stressed about getting back to the kitchen immediately or anything.  So it was nice to have some of the stuff already taken care of the day before.

After it cooled a bit I pureed it right in the casserole dish thanks to the immersion blender.  But I didn’t candy the nuts until the next day.

Then the oven made it all crispy on top.  So perfect.

I served P some of everything.

He asked what the walnuts were and I told him candied walnuts with sweet potatoes, to which he replied “sometimes I trick or treat for candy!”  Yep little buddy, sometimes you do.  And then mom and dad eat it all.

Based on his empty plate, I’d say it was a success.  The sprouts were the first thing he went for!  He had seconds of cranberry jelly too.

But the best part of the night for him was probably dessert.

For the first time ever, he had “ice cream” and it blew his little mind.  P and I shared the coconut bliss, while everyone else went the dairy route.

One of the songs for this session of Music Together is about ice cream, and he’s read a million stories about ice cream, but it’s always been an unknown for him because (a) he has a million allergies and (b) I don’t feed him sugar.  But the holidays are for splurging right??

How perfect.  Another Music Together song is about pie.  🙂  If you know my son, you know how major a role music plays in his life (he hums and sings for 99% of the time he’s awake), so the continuous food themes make it fun.

I prepped the pie cobbler the day before but didn’t bake it.  Instead I kept it in the fridge until we fished the main meal that afternoon, then I cranked the oven and put it in so it was hot out of the oven when our stomach’s had a tiny bit of room.

His and hers.  Luna and Larry is goooood.  The cold weirded him out at first, but then he tasted the sugar and realized it was delicious.

Sooooo that was the Thanks-mas part of the weekend.  The rest of the time…

Target shopping with my elf sidekick spaz.

Breakfasting both Saturday and Sunday was this same thing.  Baked French toast with applegate sausage and berries. In truth, this was Kyle’s portion.  I had French toast with sun butter both days (no sausage).

Snacks to tide us over tilt he main event.  We had GF and wheat crackers to pair.  The far left may have been a goat cheese too…we couldn’t remember.  Either way I stuck to the honeybee goat gouda and it was delicious.

On Sunday we went to the niners game!  We left the kiddos with my parents…which was a HUGE deal for me.  I’ve never been away from both kids and nobody but Kyle has given V a bottle.  But my parents are pros so I had no worries.  I left them with a ton of frozen milk and then pumped before the game and made it home in time to nurse her before bed.

Levi’s Stadium has LEGIT food options.  This was all gluten free!  I had heaps and heaps (and heaps) of kettle corn too.

After the game, Kyle’s parents dropped us off (and headed to the airport) and we had dinner with my fam bam.

Next thing I knew it was Monday and rainy.  Wah.  Why aren’t weekends longer??