Thanksgiving!

Happy Day After Thanksgiving, everyone! I experienced the best Thanksgiving I’ve had in years! Even though George had to work at Starbucks most of the day, it gave me the chance to cook my very first Thanksgiving dinner all by myself! Of course, I was only making dinner for two, but it was certainly a feat! And I was proud of myself, man! Everything came out just right, tasted great, and was served hot when George got home around 7pm! And he was so impressed! He ate way more than he had eyes for, but that’s the point, I guess.

You might be wondering how this could be the first time I’ve cooked Thanksgiving dinner since George and I have been married for two years and have had three Thanksgivings together. Well, last year, I had to work at Starbucks and I was pretty depressed about missing yet another holiday with my family. And the year before that, George’s mom came to visit, so she ended up cooking the dinner and once again, George and I worked at Starbucks that day. So yes, this was my first year FREE from Starbucks enslavement and therefore, I was FREE to cook the most awesome Thanksgiving dinner that I’ve had in years!

So here are a few photos I captured from various items I cooked up throughout the day. Forgive me for not going into much detail as I have in the past (ie. My Infamous Chili) but I had waaaaay too much going on to invest that much time in the pictures. And I’m sorry we’re not in any of them because by the time the food was ready to eat, neither one of us wanted to waste any more time before devouring everything in front of  us! Which we did.

Okay! So feast your eyes on these! I started by making my Dad’s amazing mashed potatoes recipe. Those who know George and me know that our diet is clean of heavy starches like potatoes and corn, but on Thanksgiving, we make the exception. Made with fat free sour cream, a little fat-free cream, and Smart Balance butter and seasonings, these are the most fantastic potatoes you’ll ever try. And you can get the recipe on my Dad’s recipe page on his website here!

carly.bish photography :: Thanksgiving!

carly.bish photography :: Thanksgiving!

carly.bish photography :: Thanksgiving!

Yet another annual diet exception… And also my favorite item on the Thanksgiving dinner plate.

carly.bish photography :: Thanksgiving!

George and I started our diet back in December 2007, about four months after we got married. We removed all processed sugar and white flour from our diet and while the weight did come off and has stayed off, I wasn’t aware of all the health benefits that would also go into effect. Like no headaches, which was something I suffered from frequently and severely before. Now, if I ever indulge in something high in sugar, a headache inevitably follows the next day. So what do we do to avoid such misery? We find alternatives! Like these sugar-free chocolate chip cookies! They’re actually not entirely sugar-free, but they’re significantly less! We use whole wheat flour, the brown sugar Splenda blend, and Truvia to make these and the recipe is located on the back of the Hershey’s sugar-free chocolate chips bag. Spoon them onto a metal cooking sheet with a tablespoon and they’re the perfect size, too!

carly.bish photography :: Thanksgiving!

carly.bish photography :: Thanksgiving!

Ahh! My perfect turkey for two! This is a 5 pound turkey breast, which was the perfect size for just George and me. I used our rotisserie to cook it and it came out PERFECT. I was so happy about it!

carly.bish photography :: Thanksgiving!

We managed to make room for everything on our little coffee table! Isn’t our Thanksgiving dinner for two so cute? I don’t care if you don’t think so. I know it’s adorable! And I know you love it!

carly.bish photography :: Thanksgiving!

carly.bish photography :: Thanksgiving!

carly.bish photography :: Thanksgiving!

Okay, this is the last one I’m gonna tell you about because it ended up being so awesome. On the back of the Splenda brown sugar bag is a recipe for this “Apple Crisp” and I decided to try it out since I didn’t have an apple or pumpkin pie to serve. The recipe called for crushed walnuts, which I didn’t have, and I am so gonna have them next time because I’m sure it’ll make it taste even better! But it was pretty perfect by itself–apple slices, the brown sugar, some fast cook oatmeal, baked about 45 minutes… It was pretty much an apple cobbler. But it was fantastic! In fact, I think I’ll have another bowl of it tonight. Yum!

carly.bish photography :: Thanksgiving!

Okay, so that’s it! I hope you enjoyed the little inside look to our Thanksgiving mini-feast! After we ate, we met up with Robert&Kayleigh for a late-night viewing of “The Blindside” which was wonderful and I didn’t cry! Surprise, surprise!

Gosh, I’m so thankful this Thanksgiving turned out so well! No really! I feel like it made up for these last years of really crappy holidays spent working and not really getting to celebrate! And since this was our last Thanksgiving in Tennessee, it seems really fitting to make it a great one!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too! I’m feeling really cheesy and like a giant cornball wishing the whole Internet a happy Thanksgiving, but dude, I’m pretty stoked about yesterday! So I hope it was great for everyone and that the spirit of thankfulness lasts for as long as possible! And if you think I’m this energized about Thanksgiving, just wait until I post pictures from Christmas spent with MY FAMILY! My first Christmas at HOME in six years!

Oh yeah… It’s gonna be a whopper.

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