Thanksgiving ~ First Dinner Party

My first dinner party down South!
With friends of my DH,
the first family I met when I came down to visit
last autumn...
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I needed to lid many of the dishes while
the chicken came out and gravy made...

Stuffing (from a box I confess! in time I will
learn to make my own)
Carrots (raw and cooked)
Celery (raw)
Salad
Little lovely tomattoes
Green Beans (cooked)
Mashed Potatoes (with a hint of garlic)
Hot Mushroom Dish
(carmalized onion in butter, then cook mushrooms in it,
adding butter as needed; serve with sour cream)
Fresh Garlic Bread
Roasted Chicken
Apple Cider
Water

Flowers done by my
beloved husband
in a vase that was the first gift
we were given as a couple.

New olive oil and basalmic vinigar cruet,
made in Italy.

I read 4 of my cookbooks on roasting chicken.
I went in the end with
joy of cooking's instructions.
My DH and I got two organic chickens and
I called one of my closest friends and
my Mom and Dad
and got the following tips:
put onions inside the chicken to keep it moist and
give added flavour - Dad
put butter inside the skin and outside the skin - Close Friend
I added garlic inside and put salt and pepper on the skin
and put both fresh herbs
savory and thyme
inside the chicken,
before putting in lots of onion and the garlic.
It turned out wonderfully
and browned so nicely!

Apple Pie.
I cut the second pie crust and made the
lattice top.
Used M. Bittman's cookbook suggestion
to brush the top with milk and sprinkle on sugar.
It browned very nicely;
I went with Bittman's apple-pie filling
and a store-bought frozen crust.

 

I also baked a cherry pie.
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We also had a nice French vanilla ice cream
to compliment the pie
or eat by itself.
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My next challenge is to bake pies from scratch :)
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I was really pleased...
They both turned out really well!
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I realized later that I forgot to put out the cranberry sauce!
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We had a really lovely evening and are so thankful.
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My DH and I are having a smaller
dinner party today and I hope to remember to put out
this sauce!