144.8…Thanksgiving: Done.

I have a whirlwind of food photos to share with you. So many delicious eats…..where to begin??

Tuesday night my husband wasn't home so I whipped up my favorite salmon dish, Amazing Salmon, with some steamed broccoli. 

Wednesday morning's breakfast was a toasted English muffin with peanut butter and a grapefruit. 

I took the kids to school and got to cooking for Thanksgiving. Somewhere along the way, I had a tuna salad sandwich and some Pringles for lunch. 

After a full day of cooking and setting tables, there was no way I wanted to make dinner. We all decided to go Island's for dinner. We shared some fries which I dipped in a combination of ranch dressing and hot wing sauce. Perfect sauce for fries, by the way.

I enjoyed my cheeseburger and fries thoroughly. 

When we got home it was time to put the turkey in the brine and call it a night. My fridge was officially Thanksgiving ready:

Thursday morning I was up super early to start making my Thanksgiving pies. I snuck in a mini bagel with cream cheese for breakfast at some point. 

Ready for pie making:

And just like that, my family (all 31 of them) started to arrive. I put out several appetizers to hold everyone until dinner. 

After a few hours, my Good Eats Roast Turkey was done and ready to carve!

Luckily I had two great carvers to help me. My brother:

And my brother in law:

Fabulous job!!!

While the turkey was resting, I threw all my sides in the oven. Everything came out perfectly! 

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes (recipe to come):

Gulliver's Creamed Corn:

Stuffing (my sister in law's recipe):

 Green Bean Casserole that my brother in law brought:

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese:

Peas:

 Homemade Gravy:

There were also Hawaiian Sweet Rolls in there somewhere. :) 

I took a little bit of everything which turned into a plate with a lot stuff:

I hate to toot my own horn but I think I finally nailed the perfect Thanksgiving menu. I'm always trying new recipes to find the perfect ones and I think this year I finally found them all!!

If that wasn't enough, out came dessert!

Grandma Ople's Apple Pie (the perfect apple pie recipe):

I'll be sharing the pie crust recipe with you soon. I used it for the pumpkin pie I made which was also incredible. 

New York Cheesecake:

The recipe promised the cheesecake wouldn't crack if the directions were followed exactly. Still cracked. Boo. But it tasted Amazing! 

Others brought desserts too!!

My "serious face" while whipping cream:

And just like that, Thanksgiving was over. After weeks of preparation, it all went by in a flash. Another Thanksgiving in the record book.

Friday morning called for carbs. 

Bagel with onion & chive cream cheese. 

I cleaned up the house a bit, packed and we hit the road for our weekend in Los Angeles. We stopped in Oceanside at Ruby's on the pier for lunch. Bring on the cheeseburger and onion rings!

I met this guy on our walk down the pier:

Not a normal sight the day after Thanksgiving. Gotta love Southern California!

We checked into our hotel and then met the rest of the family at El Cholo for dinner. I had the steak enchiladas.

After dinner we went to the Lakers game. They lost but it was a great game and we had a fun time together. 

Breakfast Saturday morning was a turkey bacon egg white sandwich from Starbucks. I enjoyed in on the way to the USC vs. Notre Dame tailgate that my brother was throwing.

My sister in law Helen, my husband, me and my brother in law Jerry: 

My brother and I:

My brother, me, my sister in law Stephanie and my husband:

For USC fans, it was a great game!! We won 49-14. I'd call that a victory.

Dinner that night was a CPK. I had a half order of the Italian Chopped Salad.

I shared a Chipotle Chicken pizza with my husband.

I came across this giant squeeze bottle of Cholula: 

I need to get me one of these!

Sunday morning's breakfast was room service at our hotel (Marriott). Two eggs over easy, bacon and potatoes:

We hung out in the room for awhile before packing up and heading to lunch at Yard House with family. We shared the Garlic Noodles:

I went big and ordered hot wings!

We drove back to San Diego. We had plans to go with my brother in law and his family to burger night. After all the food I had eaten over the past few days, I was NOT feeling like eating a burger. So I ordered the Chop Chop salad which was loaded with all different kinds of veggies and feta cheese.

 

That was the most vegetables I had had in a long time. Good call.

Yesterday it was back to normal life. I didn't go the gym because my back has been bothering me so I've been trying to take it easy. I took the kids to school and went to the Apple store to get a new phone. My old phone ate my breakfast and lunch photos. Breakfast was Honey Nut Cheerios and lunch was a delicious Cilantro Lime Chicken Salad from Nordstrom.

I picked up the kids from school, took them for hair cuts, then came home to make dinner. Nothing crazy…pasta:

And salad:

Breakfast this morning was a broccoli and cheddar cheese egg beater omelet. 

 Whew!!! I have to say…there were a TON of great eats over my Thanksgiving holiday? 

What was your favorite dish on Thanksgiving?

Technorati Tags: Amazing Salmon, Creamy Macaroni and Cheese, Egg Beaters, El Cholo, Everyday, Good Eats Roast Turkey, Grandma Ople's Apple Pie, Gulliver's Creamed Corn, Homemade Gravy, Island's, Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes, Marriott, New York Cheesecake, Peanut Butter, Ruby's, Starbucks, Thanksgiving, USC, Yard House