Holy Happy Turkey Day... almost!

My dad flew in from Michigan today and the first stop was the grocery store to pick up some things for Thanksgiving dinner. This year is going to be a small dinner, but I'm sure just as good as any other. This year it's just me, my fiance Nate, and my dad. I'm hoping we won't have the horror stories of wives who cook their first Thanksgiving dinner. I think maybe with our combined brain power we'll be able to pull off something decent. :)

Today I felt a little like Julie Powell, the author of Julie and Julia. I am definitely not much of a baker, so it's always a bit nerve-wrecking when I pull whatever it is I'm baking out of the oven. It might look like an explosion in a bread pan, or it might come out looking good but be tough in the middle... and the stories go on and on. So today after I picked up my father, and Nate was working in the simulator, I decided I'd make pumpkin spice bread with a cheesecake filling. I saw the "Dessert Diva" make it on channel 2 news one morning. I was feeling motivated and bought all the ingredients to make it for Thanksgiving dinner. It's only Tuesday, but tomorrow we're busy so today was the day to make the bread! It asked for room temperature cream cheese, but I forgot to take it out of the fridge to warm up. Aaahh, you can use cold cream cheese right?! Oh yes, so I mixed the "chilled" cream cheese up with an egg, sugar, and water. It looked sort of like creamed corn out of a can, chunky and somewhat creamy. I wasn't sure if that was how it was supposed to look... oh well. After 50 mins. of baking in the oven it actually came out looking like a loaf of bread! Sweet victory... but not too soon, we haven't tasted it yet. I'm making them wait until Thanksgiving day and then we can review the bread. I'll keep you all posted. ;) You never know.

I also made the cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving dinner today, because I'm worried about making everything on Thanksgiving day. We made a great sauce at my aunt's house about 3 years ago for dinner. I asked her how to make it and she couldn't remember how we put it together that year. So another experiment was on the way today... and I think it might turn out okay. I found a recipe in a magazine and I edited it a little to be more like the one we made three years ago. I followed it pretty closely, except for the half package of jello mix that I added... and some cold water. I can't wait to give that a try too.

So tomorrow we're going to Ft. Collins, CO to tour the New Belgium Brewery. The last time that Nate, my dad, and I went we missed out on the tour. People were lined up outside at 10am that morning to get tour tickets. The last time I took a tour, my uncle had picked me up at the airport in Denver since I flew in from MI, I fainted and collapsed onto the floor. They gave us all sorts of free things and tried to bring an ambulance, which I refused. They told me I was dehydrated and affected by the altitude change. So this year I won't be having a repeat of that year. I've warned everyone to stay hydrated and to be prepared for a day of tasting beer and touring breweries! Tomorrow will be a good day.

I'll keep everyone updated as to the results and reviews of the bread and cranberry sauce! Hopefully the turkey and stuffing come out alright too. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. <3