Oh Thanksgiving, you thought you had me defeated didn't you?

Well, I had the task of preparing a few dishes for my family's Thanksgiving feast. Because of all of the other errands I had on Wednesday, my cooking did not begin until after 11pm on Thanksgiving Eve. Here is my first Facebook post of the night:

So far Thanksgiving v. Krissy is 2-1 Thanksgiving. My sweet potato casserole is now mashed sweet potatoes and my macaroni & cheese made its way to the garbage. My 1 point came from the fact that the black eyed peas made it safely into the crock pot
Yesterday at 11:27pm
 
So, as you can see, I was not fairing very well. See, I had found this very delicious sounding recipe for an apple sweet potato casserole. But I discovered, upon preparing to cook it that my pound of apples had turned into 1 apple with a 3 year old bite out of it...there went the casserole. The macaroni, well the poor macaroni was overcooked and formed into one big ball o noodle mush. Sad.
 
My next feat was a pumpkin spice cake. All seemed well, recipe went fine and it made it in and out of the oven. The problem occurred while trying to get it out the pan. My poor cake came out of a bundt pan in 3 pieces. No worries, I glued that sucka back together with homemade cream cheese icing. YUM!
 
Then to bed I went.
Only to wake up and realize that the mac and cheese I made during the night was gross!
Enter facebook post #2:
Haha Macaroni and cheese, you thought you beat me last night huh? NEVER that's why I remixed you and now you are as tasty as ever. Thanksgiving v Krissy 2-2 TIED! Lets see how my green beans turn out...thanksgiving 2k10 let's get it
So, with a little help from my mom a few secret ingredients, I made the most awesomest mac and cheese to date. Basically, the mac and cheese that I had previously made was a little bland and hard. So, I crumbled it back up and poured a secret concoction on top of it and put it back into the oven. Hey, so what if my mac and cheese is a 2 day recipe. You can't rush perfection, right?
 
The green beans made it in and out the crock pot without incident. They were..ehhh...green beany I guess.
 
To sum it all up, Thanksgiving was great. Cooking was a chore and I am glad it's over. I'm having tacos for Christmas! How about you?
 
Anyone else have kitchen adventures? How did everything turn out?

Thanksgiving Shenanigans

But first, a funny Katy story:
My daughter was playing with a 5 year old girl. The little girl was sharing a Santa coloring book with her. She asked my daughter, "Are you Christian?" My daughter answered, "No, I'm Katy Silly" LOL

Now on to the shenanigans.

Thanksgiving comes around EVERY SINGLE YEAR. So why do we run around each year totally frantic and unprepared? Did the last Thursday in November suddenly pop up on the calendar without warning? Maybe it's just my house....

Anyhow, for the first time ever, the dinner will be at my home and it is kind of a big deal. We are expecting about 16 people. SIXTEEN PEOPLE!!!!

Let me put this into perspective.
I am not a chef. When I cook, it is for my family of 3, one of whom is 3. Maybe this isn't a big deal to most, but to me it screams Jack in the Box! But since delicious $.99 chicken sandwiches are not an option for a sit down fancy smancy meal, I have to pull out all stops. This includes cleaning my home ugh. So, after a conversation with my mom, mother in law, and a few google searches the menu is as follows:

Turkey
Ham
Collard Greens
Cabbage
Green Beans
Mashed Potatoes
Yam and Apple Casserole
Potato Salad
Dressing
Blackeyed Peas
Mac & Cheese
Corn
Sweet Potato Pie
Sweet Potatoe Cheesecake
Pumpkin Spice Cake

The menu is a collaborative effort. However, I am in charge of the dishes in bold. Oh have I mentioned
I am not a chef. I am seriously contemplating making my husband (yes, the awesome one) video tape it Food Network style.

So to try to break the tradition of being completely overwhelmed, I made a shopping list and got my coupons equipped for shopping. On the way to the store, my husband (you know, the awesome one) informed me that 5-7 guests won't be coming. HUH?!? Well ok, at least I found out prior to shopping. It seemed easy enough. I just cut the list in half and bought the produce as planned. This was yesterday.

Today, the plan was to go to the store and purchase the meat and baking goods. While getting everything together my husband (yes, the awesome one) informed me that the 5-7 guest MAY BE attending dinner. WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!? Well ok, at least I found out prior to shopping.
Wait, didn't I just think this yesterday?
So here I am, on my laptop typing instead of  being on my way to the grocery store. I am thinking about what is in store for me on Thanksgiving day. Will I, along with help of mommy of course, create a Thanksgiving event that will be talked about by all for years to come....or will create a Thanksgiving event that will be talked about for years to come?

Who knows. I guess we shall find out on Thursday.

What's going on in your home? Anybody have a fail safe plan on cooking for millions of people? If so, please do tell.