Thanksgiving Meal

Thanksgiving Meal Menu

This year the Guinea Pig and I celebrated Thanksgiving by ourselves for the first time.  This meant that I had to cook the meal for the first time.  Lots of pressure!  I decided that if I were to make the meal, I would make it my own.  So I took traditional Thanksgiving foods and made them in a new for us way.

I started off with brainstorming the menu.  Then I did a few trial runs of different foods to make sure I didn't ruin it for the Guinea Pig.  I figured out that a sweet potato hash would work better than mash and string beans were perfect on first try.

Kabocha Squash Soup

I had originally wanted to make a pumpkin soup, but when the time came to go grocery shopping, there were no pumpkins to be found.  I had made the same recipe with a butternut squash, but didn't want to repeat it no matter how good it turned out.  I wanted something new.  So I turned to the Kabocha Squash that the grocery store had.  It was a nice change and came out great as expected.

Corn Bread Casserole

I tried making a cranberry corn bread in advance using a fancy box mix, but it came out a bit dry.  I think the only saving grace of the experiment was the addition of cranberries.  Not settling for mediocre, I found a casserole recipe that promised to be moist.  It took a standard box mix and added a whole bunch of stuff to it.  Not having enough time to try this recipe with cranberries before making the big meal, I opted to stick to the recipe as is and was rewarded for my efforts.  The casserole was not the least bit dry like the first attempt.  Even when reheated the corn bread stayed moist and full of corn goodness.  I would feel comfortable adding cranberries the second time around.

Turkey Leg, Sweet Potato Hash,
and String Bean Stir Fry

As for the star of any Thanksgiving meal, the turkey, I had a very specific vision in mind.  I wanted to cook just the turkey legs.  The Guinea Pig loves dark meat.  The legs came out amazing!  Even better than I could have hoped.  Crispy sticky skin and juicy meat.  The sticky sauce was a combination of honey, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.  I see making this combination again and again.

I had originally planned to make the dessert to order.  It would have given the food a little time to settle in our bellies before adding more deliciousness to the mix.  Unfortunately, as we set and the food settled, we quickly realized that we were beyond full and the dessert never came to be.  Nevertheless, I would call my first Thanksgiving meal a huge success.