Thanksgiving Feast, Part 1

Sunday, my husband and I hosted our very first Thanksgiving meal.  We were very excited to make use of the holiday china and fine silver we've had since our wedding, but never had an occasion worthy of using.

It's perfect to have our Thanksgiving with him this far from the actual date. With a feast now, we will have devoured all the leftovers and are ready for the grub again by the time the real big day rolls around.  We are lucky his Dad suggests to do an early or late Thanksgiving each year.

So picture it, it is just going to be the five of us for this dinner.  You would think we could have a small, sensible menu with just the most traditional turkey day fare.  You would think, right?  No no, not us.  We had to make ALL of our favorite Thanksgiving Day dishes.  For 5 people!  Needless to say we are having left overs tonight. 

Our perfect Thanksgiving Menu included:
Smoked Turkey
Smoked Ham
My Mama's Cornbread Dressing
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans with bacon and shallots
Corn Casserole
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
Cranberry Apple casserole with crumb topping (courtesy of Jim's Dad, sorry no recipe)
Marinated Asparagus
Pineapple Casserole

Yes....for 5 people....

I tried and tried to narrow down the menu some to only a few sides.  But what I could live without, Jim had to have, and vice versa.  There was no trimming the fat from this menu.  So, one pound of butter and one huge Turkey catastrophe later, (~sigh~ I'll save that story for later in the week) we had enough to feed the entire block last night.

As we are all planning our menu now for next week's big day I thought I would share with you the recipes that make up our perfect Thanksgiving.  Maybe you can find inspiration for something at your own table.

Which brings me to today's feature...Creamy Macaroni and Cheese!  I'm starting off my week with this because it was one of the hands down favorites of the night.  I've made tons of macaroni and cheese recipes in my lifetime.  I like a crumb topping, and my husband is a purest and likes it to taste as close to Velveeta shells and cheese as possible.  Good lawdy, what an insult to a homemade macaroni and cheese maker, "Um honey, do you think you could make this taste more like the boxed version?"  Sheeze! We've never been able to meet in the middle.  Until now! 

One of my favorite food bloggers published a cookbook this year called Southern Plate.  It is far and away the best "county cooking" cookbook I've ever owned.  I can best describe it as a collection of all your Mother and Grandmother's best recipes that they never wrote down.  They always tell you their recipes with measurements like "a hand full of this" and "about a spoonful of that", but when you try it the dish NEVER comes out like hers.  Yep, all those recipes.  It's the perfect collection for a southern cook.

This creamy macaroni and cheese recipe came out of this cookbook but I also found it on her website so I can share with you.  She has plenty of pictures posted here too for you cooks that like the visuals with recipes.

http://www.southernplate.com/2009/09/big-news-about-velveeta-and-me-and-mamas-mac-and-cheese.html

You can also find info on where to purchase her cookbook on that site.  I bought mine from trusty Amazon.com and its become my new recipe bible for comfort food. 

Please let me know if you make this recipe and your family goes as crazy for it as this one did.  Or, if you have a recipe you think would top this one please send me a link.  I'd love to try it.