Well, a couple days late is better than never, right?  The past 2-3 days have been a whirlwind here in our house.  Wednesday consisted of running around in circles baking, cooking, chores, laundry and then sleeping.  Thursday started with a lovely 6 mile run at the gym.  Gotta get that run in to create the calorie deficit that needed to occur before the feast! 😉  LOL!  I believe in eating all my favorites & not restricting foods for the holidays because then you walk away feeling deprived.  I am not saying I go hog wild, there is a happy medium there.  Once my run was complete, then came the cooking.  The turkey was prepped & then placed in the oven to roast.  I have to say that we purchased a Meijer Naturals Turkey this year and were disappointed in it.  The meat came out very dry despite being cooked in the oven bag.  In years past we have only used Honeysuckle or Butterball and it looks as if that is the only way to go.  After prepping the turkey, we moved onto the cranberry sauce, stuffing, veggies & salad.  Thankfully I had help from my Mom, Aaron & Mary, my mother-in-law.

The turkey ready to head into the oven: 

Turkey, resting:

Ready to be carved:

Green beans & carrots ready to be steamed:

My plate of yumminess:

The cranberry sauce was made differently this year.   I used POM Wonderful and orange juice instead of just orange juice.  Also, I cut the sugar in half.  I will post the new recipe this week.  We also had come cocktails made with Pom Wonderful, orange juice & Stoli’s vodka = YUM! 

The meal was awesome!  I am also preparing recipes for the Catholic potatoes, cornbread stuffing w/sausage and pumpkin cornbread to go up this week. 

Did you guys shop on Black Friday?  My Mom, Hannah & I went out at 4:30 AM and shopped for close to 12 hours!  Lots of fun.  I will share a recap & deals in an upcoming post. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!