When the North Meets the South

Our first married Thanksgiving involved a little of the north and a little of the south...I had Turkey duty...so I stuffed the turkey...WITH STUFFING.  *all the southerns gasp*  And it was YUMMY!  My Love even liked it, and He had himself convinced that we northerners didn't know anything about stuffing or dressing.  My S-I-L was past her due date, Mr. Bryson decided that He just wasn't quite ready to come out and meet us all yet, so my M-I-L and I split the thanksgiving menu up.  I had the Turkey, *Yankee Stuffing*, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Yeast Rolls, Applesauce, Cranberry Relish, Sweet Potato Pie & A Pumpkin Roll... My M-I-L had everything else, coke salad, a 7 layer salad, "Southern Dressing", Sweet potato Casserole, deviled eggss, corn casserole, carrots, pecan pie & fig cake.  And my F-I-L made his own gravy...that only he ate (pictures to come!)  Needless to say, we had enough food to feed a small country....for a year!

My Dear Husband started His morning off watching a little netflix...until I kicked Him off the couch and got him to come help me in the kitchen!  He was slightly grumpy with me, because I woke him up at 1 am to ask him if he would get up at 5 am to take the turkey out of the fridge so it would "unchill" before I put it in the oven at 7:30...Then I ended up getting up at 5 anyway!  Being on Turkey duty stressed.me.out.  I mean, that's a HUGE deal--if you mess up the Turkey you're done for!  Besides, this was my first Thanksgiving as an "N",  my probation perious isn't up yet!

 

 

Homemade Yeast Rolls.  I did something I don't normally recommend and tried a new recipe, without testing it first, so we would have been SOL- SUPER out of luck- if they hadn't turned out!

 

Homemade Applesauce, made with "yankee" Apples that my mom sent me down!

 

Sweet Potato Pie, made Jenkins style

 

Cranberry Relish!  Yum! 

 

Pumpkin Roll.  This was my favorite thing of the entire day!

 

Here's my Turkey.  The husband got a little nervous when I started researching researching tips on roasting a turkey! 

 

I basted it with some garlic butter from Red Lobster that I still had in the fridge from our wedding.  It worked wonderfully!

 

Crunchy Onions for my Green Bean Casserole.  I decided to try and make this from scratch, instead of the traditional way with cans of Cream of Mushroom soup.  The Crunchy Onions Turned out great...

 

The Casserole...not so much!  I'll revert back to the traditional way--just make my own onion crunchies!

 

This...This is my gravy...

 

 

This....This is my F-I-L's Gravy.  That would be pieces of hard boiled egg, and giblets that you see.  I'll stick with my gravy recipe ;)  Not that His isn't good--I wouldn't know.  It scared me.  So I didn't try it ;)

 

Mashed Pototoes!  You would think that this wouldn't be a big deal.  But it is.  My first thanksgiving in the South almost made me move back to the north.  There was no Turkey.  The Ham was cold.  Everything was a casserole.  And there were no Mashed Potatoes.  And no Gravy.  So for my Dear F-I-L and I...I made mashed Potatoes.  And they were scrumptious, and made my thanksgiving complete!

 

 

The Dessert Counter...

 

The "Appetizer" Counter

 

Sweet Potato Casserole, JW Gravy & Southern Dressing...

 

The Main Course Counter...

 

Yup.  We had enough food I think!

 

 

And that is my beautiful Turkey.  I think it turned out well anyway!

 

 

My Husband....is a dork ;)  But He's My dork & I love him. :)  (No, he didn't really wear this!) 

 

 

The other "in-law"... He doens't like his picture taken.

 

Nope...not one bit...

 

I guess this one will have to do...

 

 

My S-I-L wears pregnancy well! 

 

 

Bryson just was too cozy in there!  (He finally decided to join us.  You can check out his hospital pics Here)

 

 

My Lovely M-I-L.  She always looks pretty, it makes me kind of jealous! 

 

My F-I-L that morning...the picture's blurry, but it's the only one I got because my camera decided to break.  Sad day.

 

 

I can't even begin to tell you how thankful I am for this family.  They have welcomed me into their family with open arms, even when they probably thought the Mr & I were slightly crazy.  I mean, we DID get engaged 4 months after we met.  AND I have that "Yankee" thing going! 

 

All in All--our North meets the South Thanksgiving was a success!  We all went home happy with full bellies, and I even got my Love to try my gravy, which He liked.  Considering He tried 2 things He thought he wouldn't like, and liked them, maybe I'll sneak in some more Yankee traditions next time ;)