Feasting

So we decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner early this year due to Mike being gone during the normal Thanksgiving time. I love Thanksgiving. I love food. We chose a Sunday to have our feast and well I think that detracted from the feel of Thanksgiving. I think it's on a Thursday for a good reason and we should keep it that way forever. I tried to prepare as much of it before Sunday as I could but regardless it's a bit of work to do. My husband's ignorance on this shows when he commented to me "It's just dinner". Alas it is not just dinner. Not for me anyway.

The menu-
27 pound turkey with stuffing ( I stuff my bird with my own homemade stuffing)
Mashed Potatoes (Homemade)
Gravy (Homemade)
Fresh green beans with garlic and olive oil
Sweet potato casserole (pretty much it's like dessert)
French bread (Homemade)
Whole Cranberry sauce (Homemade I like to make it with blueberry nectar but didn't have any so I added some frozen blue berries)
Black olives
Green olives
Bubbly drink
Pumpkin Pie (Homemade crust and I even used a real pumpkin-you know not from can)
Pecan Pie ( Homemade)

So did you notice a few Homemade's there? Well that's what makes it a little more work to make all that stuff. It was good but it wasn't just any other dinner. Not in my book. Not to mention that we actually use a table cloth and center piece and china. Yes, it was a FEAST. Now we have tons of leftovers that are just as delicious.

So here's my husband's favorite Sweet Potato recipe. Here in AK they label the pale ones as Sweet Potatoes but I buy the ones they label Yams that are orange in color.

Potatoes:
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar (I half this)
3 TBSP butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla (I used the real stuff this year and man did it taste good)
2 eggs beaten

Topping:
3 TBSP melted butter
1 cup brown sugar (I wanted to use less but didn't, you could and it would still be good)
1/3 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Combine potatoes, sugar, butter, salt, vanilla, and eggs. Put in oven casserole dish. Mix butter, sugar, flour, and nuts. Put on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Happy feasting