Happy Turkey Day!!! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Of course, I love any excuse to throw a party, but this is one of the holidays I get to go all out. This year was no exceptions, it was by biggest and greatest Thanksgiving yet. I’m lucky enough to have an incredible group of friends that I consider to be more like family than friends. I still can’t believe how lucky I am to have ended up in Longmont and surrounded by so much love. Ok, I’ll get back to the big meal.
We split up the menu to make life easier. I was in charge of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad and an appetizer. My midwestern friend is a killer bakers and wiz in the kitchen so she was in charge of a meatball appetizer, honey ham and a pecan pie. My super healthy friend from Reno made rolls from scratch, rutabaga mash, brussel sprouts, and apple cider old fashions. My Boyfriend’s Step Mom made bacon green beans and gluten free spice cake. Everyone else was in charge of booze, a very important role that is not to be overlooked.
For my app I looked to Pinterest for inspiration and found a super easy
recipe for a garlic basil tomato goat cheese dip that was truly phenomenal. My only complaint is that is ended up costing like $20 all on its own, but worth it for sure. Here is a link for the recipe, Most Amazing Fantastic Dip Ever
Turkey has never been my favorite, I always feel like it comes off as sort of bland. So I decided to go bold with flavor and made a Cuban MoJo marinade. I purchased a BPA free brining bag from Lucky’s and went to town on some garlic, mint, cilantro, onion, cumin, salt and lemon, lime and orange juice. I let it soak it all up for two days and let me tell you it soooo flavorful, but I have to say the flavors didn’t match the rest of the menu. So while it was delicious, I think if I did it again I would want to serve rice and fried plantains. However, I will definitely be marinading all my future turkeys.
For the table, I reused the low wood tables I had built for my birthday party. I bought a roll of black kraft paper for $5 and used it as a runner. Which was the perfect amount to invest into something that is bound to be covered in wine by the end of the night. I bought four bowl looking candle holders to use as vases so that the flower arrangements would stay low and not make it difficult to talk to the person across from you. I also bought six smaller bowl like candle holders for tea light candles. The foliage was the hardest part of the whole design, I could not find any everywhere I went. I have no idea why a florist wasn’t my first stop. I found everything I needed and more at Niwot Florist. They seriously made the biggest difference in my design. All and all I probably spent about $50 on my tablescape. Totally worth it if you ask me.
Now the real question is, what am I going to do for Christmas Eve Dinner!?