I’m very happy and thankful for everything turning out so well.  Hmmm… except for one of the hors d’oeuvres.  The mini venison burgers.  I used pie crust as the burger buns and wanted the top bun to have a little color.  So in the last few minutes I turned the oven to broil and intended to only do it for 1 minute.  Did I get some color!  Of course I got busy with doing other things and burnt them.  I was very upset, but got over it. People just took of the top and ate the burger and the bottom bun.

Here are some pictures of the preparations and roasting of the turkey.

Some more pictures of me making the Maple-Glazed Yams with Pecan Topping.  Boy, they were a hit! Not too sweet but just right with a bit of a crunch.  Definitely going to make it again.  I’m going to give you the recipe in a later blog post along with all the others.

Finally, here are pictures of all of the dishes I prepared that day.  Check out the center piece!  I even made that myself.    I went with stuffing out of a box and it turned out perfect.  I kept things simple, adding nothing fancy to the stuffing.  I used canned green beans for my green bean casserole.  The hummus spread I used on the cucumber stacks were also store bought.    I decided that for the simpler dishes I used canned, prepackaged, and boxed ingredients.  Over the years I’ve learned to showcase my cooking skills in preparing dishes one cannot easily buy at the store and have it taste or look as exceptional as when it is homemade.  As for the rest, I’m not ashamed to take a short cut here or there.  Let’s be real! And yes, seldom do I burn food, but it happens.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! If you would like to share any of your stories please feel free to email them to me @ asamatteroffood@gmail.com.