THANKSGIVING PREP DAY!

Two days before Thanksgiving .........




Skylar brought in the turkey we butchered just a couple of days ago. It's time to get him brined.


First, I had to get the brine put together and cook it in a pot.
This smells amazing!

After it cools.........


We add it to the cooler. This big boy weighs 25 lbs. Usually I put in a 5 gallon food grade bucket. Not this year, he is too big. So we pulled out the cooler.


Now we got the brine added, I will add ice in bags. I don't want to water it down. I will also need to flip the the turkey several times before he is ready to cook.


THE DAY BEFORE
~~~THANKSGIVING! ~~~

Flipping the turkey the next morning and several more times today.

Making some Oriental Slaw.
This is the some of the ingredients that can be prepared a day ahead of time.

The sauce is ready and I will refrigerate it until tomorrow.

Cherry cheese cake!
Tell me who don't like cherry cheese cake?!
Kaitlin got the filling mixed up.

While I got the yummy crust in the dish.

We will add the cherries later.

Now on to this delicious whiskey cream sauce.

I got it all cooked on the stove and then added the whiskey.

Now to bottle this up and put it in the refrigerator.
This is so good on apple and cherry pie.


In the meantime, I got two pumpkin pies baking in the oven.


Getting the eggs hard boiled.

Can't have thanksgiving without deviled eggs.

 

Using some homemade relish for this recipe.

GENIUS!

Pies are done!

We took the turkey out of the cooler rinsed him good and patted him dry.

Seasoned him up real good even with real butter!

And we slowed cooked him over night.
The smell of this turkey the next morning was amazing.

We spent the morning getting the rest of the cooking done.

Menu this year was:

Turkey
Ham
Mashed potatoes and Homemade Giblet Gravy
Green Bean Casserole
Corn
Yams
Oriental Cole Slaw
Deviled Eggs
Dinner Rolls
Relish Tray
Pumpkin Pie
Cherry Cheese Cake
Apple Pie
 Cherry Pie
Mini Cheese Cakes