First Thanksgiving

No, this post isn't about pilgrims, it's about my first Thanksgiving this year, and my first Thanksgiving dinner made all by myself. It may seem a little early to be making a turkey, but it's actually very late. My sister bought this turkey last year, because they're such a good price around the holidays, but never got around to making it until now. I've been helping with Thanksgiving pretty much my whole life, and my dad let Lee and I do Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, but it was still exhilarating and intimidating when I pulled out this turkey with no one else even home to help me with anything.

I started to browse some recipes, but then I decided to just gather up some fruit and bread and things that needed using and make it up as I went.

Look at that turkey just chilling out in the sink. I'm pretty sure he was laughing at me, because I couldn't find the hole that all the stuffing and such goes in. But I won in the end.

First I sliced up nine mandarins and four lemons, and shoved them all under the skin. I'm pretty sure not an inch of skin was actually touching the meat—top, bottom, even the legs.

Then four apples, two pears, a loaf of Macaroni Grill Bread, a few slices of sandwich bread, and a handful or two of craisins all mixed up for stuffing. I always thought you cook it in the turkey, but there wasn't nearly enough room, so most of it had to go in a separate pan.

Mmmmm garlic. Originally I was going to put this under the skin as well, but I ran out of room, so I just added it to the stuffing.

I mixed up some fresh chopped rosemary, seasoning salt (Lawry's is my favorite), and olive oil to smear all over the turkey.

Into the 325º oven for about 4 hours. Thanks to the easy cooking guide on the turkey package. Just look at those lemon slices in the leg...beautiful!

Of course turkey needs mashed potatoes, so I boiled a few russets and mixed them with butter, parmesan, and half & half.

I left the skins on, but blended till smooth.

And there's my first solo Thanksgiving feast. Only about five hours start to finish. Not nearly as bad as I expected. But you may notice something missing—gravy! There were almost no drippings. Did I do something wrong, or do you usually make the gravy out of something else?

The turkey was a little dry, but it was turkey. The mashed potatoes were pretty good. But that stuffing...Brilliant! (If I do say so myself.) I was a little worried at first that there was way more fruit than bread, but it was delicious, I'd definitely recommend it!