Our Thanksgiving Marathon

Ah Turkey Day - complete with a cornucopia of flowers. We can just relax- after all - most of the food is catered!

Wait- relax? Not possible! Too much to prepare! This is the scenario Gus and I found ourselves in this Thanksgiving when my very generous and kind Aunt decided we should make copious amounts of food for our guests. 

For today's post I'm going to give you the rundown of everything we made between 2-5pm on Thanksgiving Day plus all the food that was brought in and then I want you to guess how many attendees we were planning for!

Everything in italics is food we made from beginning to end. Those with asterisks involved us heating things up between 2-5pm.

Appetizers:

Cheese Tray

Cream Cheese with Pepper Jelly + Crackers

Cream Cheese with Blackberry Jelly + Crackers

Baked brie

(We apparently like cheese in this family)

Dinner:

Turkey and gravy*

Beef Tenderloin*
Cranberry Sauce
Broccoli, Cheese, and Rice Casserole*

Squash Casserole*

Cornbread Dressing*
Sweet Potato Casserole*
Rolls
Fried Corn

Green beans with almonds

Bacon-wrapped and regular asparagus

Mashed Potatoes

Dessert:

Apple Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Pecan Pie

Chocolate Pie (super nom)

Edible arrangement of fruit

Assorted berry bars

Blintzes

Ice Cream

Okay. Now it's your time to guess, based on the amount of food,  how many attendees were we expecting? The entire Native American population, perhaps?

 Eleven. Eleven people total. Yes, I know you're doing the math in your head - that's like a side per person. Oh well, it was delicious and there were surprisingly not all that many leftovers when all is said in done. I am thankful for my family's healthy appetites!

Giving Thanks for Bacon

I haven't quite gotten all my Thanksgiving photos ready for the blog. What you should be excited to know is that Gus and I ran an unexpected Turkey Day marathon of cooking! I hope to share a complete rundown of that craziness this week on LwA. 

In the meantime, I'd like to share with you a little treat we managed to make amidst the chaos - Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus! So easy, you'll wonder why you ever ate your veggie without bacon to begin with. 

Ingredients:
6 stalks of fresh thin stalk asparagus for every bundle you'd like to make (I used 36 total)
1 strip of bacon for every bundle you'd like to make (I used 6 total)
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil (enough for a drizzle of all the bundles)
Toothpicks


Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 400F.
2) Using your preferred method, cook the bacon half-way. I used a cooling rack sitting in a cake pan (so the fat dripped away from the bacon) and let it cook for about 8 minutes in the oven. Don't cook it completely - just half-way.
3) Now it's time to make the bundles. Line a baking sheet with foil.
4) Drizzle olive oil over all of the asparagus stalks. Sprinkle with a light coat (to your taste) of garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
5) Gather six stalks together with your hands. Using one strip of the half-cooked bacon, begin to wrap the stalks together. I usually tuck the top roll under itself to hold things more in place. You can also use a toothpick to keep things really secure.
6) Repeat with all your stalks until you have something that resembles this beauty...

7) Throw the baking sheet in the oven and cook for at least 10 minutes. Once the bacon has crisped up and the asparagus looks about done, you are ready to go. Serve immediately.

8) If you'd like your bundles to go farther, split them in half like I did (though I should have used a toothpick).

Go forth, and give thanks, for the bacon in your life...

and stay posted for more awesomeness du Thanksgiving.

Happy Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I'm currently in NC with my family and my favorite travel companion, Gus. Since we are currently stuffing our faces and then going shopping, I'll be away from my blog until Monday morning, Nov. 30.

Please come back Monday for more Living with Annie and have a great holiday with your friends and family :)

Cartoon originally from here