This Thanksgiving I was lucky enough to be able to cook diner for my family. Granted it’s a pretty small family, just myself, my two sisters, and my mother. Nevertheless, I think that my menu managed to be just a little ambitious, but at the same time well within my capability, and int the end turned out pretty well. I improvised a lot of it the day of so I don’t know if I can remember every detail, but here’s basically how it all went down.

Butternut Squash Soup – I made this the day before, and it turned out really well. This was my first squash soup, so I was delighted at how easy it was. You can really do whatever you want with it, and it’s bound to taste good. Mine relied heavily on ginger, with some garlic, onions, and brown sugar thrown in.

(my mom and my sister paralyzed with delight)

Cajun Rubbed Turkey – This was great, or at least I thought so. My approach to the turkey was one of little effort. You see, in the Malin household – my household – we’re not so much into the turkey. There are after all more important things going on, so why waste the time? Thusly, I decided to stick with a really simple rub for the turkey. It was perfect for the situation. The turkey had a little extra flavor and avoided being dry, and I was able to concentrate on more important dishes. Nice.

Curry sweet potato mash with walnuts and marshmallow – Again, as with basically everything else on the menu, this was super easy to put together. First I cut up the potatoes into half inch cubes and boiled them. Then, I went ahead and mashed them with all of my seasonings, as well as the walnuts and some of the marshmallows. That mix stuck around in a casserole dish until the very end, when it was put in the oven for another 10-15 minutes to heat up and melt the marshmallows on the top.

Roasted vegetables – Mushrooms and cauliflower with olive oil, garlic, and seasoning. Everyone seemed to like this the best, which is a bit of a disappointment as it was the easiest thing to make.

Roasted red potatoes – Exactly what you might imagine.

Ginger green beans – Good, but we used frozen beans. My sister isn’t allowed to buy the groceries anymore.

Biscuits – These are the biscuits I wrote about way back when. They were good, but not nearly as pretty as in the past.

My mom topped things off with her incredible stuffing and cranberry sauce. we all insisted that she make both considering they’re the highlight of the meal for my sisters and I. Maybe if I ask her nicely, she’ll write a post about it. Here’s what it looked like all put together.

After we ate, everyone passed out for a few hours, which I’m pretty sure was a good thing.