Turkey Time

Some of you may have seen this photo on my Instagram account (@vickyheiler) on Sunday, where I told you that we’d be making our first turkey feast. Well, now I can proudly show you a few snapshots! We may still need a bit of practice (the skin ripped as we were turning it on the BBQ & we forgot to tie down the legs, causing the birdy to do the splits while cooking), but we had so much fun & it actually tasted amazing. We were a group of 6 people, 2 really close friends + my brother and his lovely girlfriend. It was perfect for a small gathering, there weren’t too many people in the kitchen and we had a great time cooking together. Everyone was in charge of different things and by the time we sat down for dinner it was definitely well deserved after about 5 hours in the kitchen. Here is what we made: BBQ smoked turkey (with hickory and apple wood chips) with a side of homemade mashed potatos and brussle sprouts with bacon and chestnuts out of the oven, and for dessert I made pecan apple pie and one of our friends made homemade vanilla ice cream with tahitian vanilla  – need I say more? I didn’t worry about a super nicely set table or the kitchen looking like a bomb had struck, because really, the day was about spending time with friends and enjoying eachother’s company. Before dinner, Mike made a little toast, giving thanks to the fact that we do have the luxury of sitting down to an amazing meal like that – and he is so right. We really are lucky and I definitely am thankful to be able to have days like this past Sunday! Did any of you celebrate Thanksgiving this year? Have you ever made a turkey?