Thanksgiving Food!

So we had my parents down on this past Saturday to have Thanksgiving with them. I made a ham vs. a turkey and there were definitely not enough people to make both. I also made green bean casserole for the first time ever. Wow...that was an easy recipe! But again...I don't really like stuff in cream-based sauces because they are too rich so it's not something I'll make regularly.

Then I made a family favorite called "cheesy potatoes" per Josh's request. I don't like them either because they have sour cream in them. Ha. I am picky. :) So I made those for the first time as well, and they turned out well too.

I made cranberry sauce from scratch per the back of the Ocean Spray bag, and that turned out great. I love cranberry sauce. I could eat that stuff plain like a bowl of ice cream. I love stuff like that that is bitter. Crazy, I know. The canned cranberry sauce has HFCS in it, too, boo.

Lets see...I also made the yeast rolls that you let rise for like 5 hours. I had Claire help me put the frozen dough balls in the pan. I put 2 in each so they were doubly big. Yum. Claire decided to lick one of the dough balls. She loved it immediately and gnawed on it until it turned into a soft lump of gooey dough, at which point she started eating the raw dough. Another favorite of mine. ;)

She also ate raw carrots and celery for the first time! She did chew them up and spit them back out for the most part, but I guess that's all part of trying new things!

I made a 10 pound ham. I swear there are at least still 5 lbs in the fridge. I should probably put it in the freezer tomorrow because I'm already sick of ham. I'm going to make some split pea soup with it. I love split pea soup. It's probably my favorite kind.

I also made 2 desserts. Lemon pudding bars and Apple-Raspberry Cobbler. Both are completely gone. :)

Lets see...Stuffing was done by Stovetop, complete with the MSG in all it's glory. I'm sure that's why all the other brands suck...they don't have MSG.

My brother Richie sent down some corn chowder from his garden corn from this summer. It was super tasty with carrot chunks and potatoes. Claire loved it, but she loves cooked carrots more than me. Carrots are sooo sweet.

Speaking of sweet, Claire's appetite has really picked up lately, and boy does she love fruit. I can't keep bananas, grapes, oranges, or clementines in the house. I think we've already been through 2 boxes of the clementines this citrus season. I'm not used to having another fruit eater in the house! She also loves apples and can easily eat 2 in a day.

She also loves cream of wheat, oatmeal, and hard-boiled eggs. I've been trying to feed her an egg for a bed-time snack instead of something like an apple since the protein will keep her full longer.

I also had a shrimp ring for an appetizer with cocktail sauce. I love horseradish cocktail sauce...the hotter the better...I love the sauce they have at St. Elmo's!

Well that's about it for the food. Want some leftovers?