I started off my Thanksgiving by making some festive turkey cookies. No, these cookies are not modified to be healthy because they are simply made for the purpose of being festive.
My neighbor had requested that I make her my famous turkey cookies, so I iced and iced and frosted and glazed and decorated the day away.
The trick to these cookies is practice, and the correct recipe for the royal icing. I referred to Alton Brown’s recipe of course! If you don’t use egg whites, you can use meringue powder which is the key ingredient for icing that holds up and stays shiny.
My sister was put to work peeling potatoes.
My Mom and I didn’t trust her with much else in the kitchen. Just kidding–I know she can do much more than just peel potatoes.
For an appetizer, I made a cheese ball that everyone loved. 
It was so easy. I highly recommend it. All you need is one 8 oz. small container of reduced fat chive/onion cream cheese, one 8 oz. plain reduced fat cream cheese, 2 cups of reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese, 2 TBSP. paprika, pinch of garlic and onion seasoning, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Mix everything together, shape into a ball, and let sit for a few hours in the fridge to harden. It was supposed to look like a pumpkin (with a piece of celery sticking out the top), but I forgot.
Turkey carving time!
Silly Matt eating the carcass–good luck.
My favorite is sweet potato casserole.
I made green beans this year with shallots, mushrooms, and a small amount of pancetta.
My Mom made “luxurious” mashed potatoes.
She was obsessed with getting all the lumps out and making the potatoes as creamy as possible because that’s how my Grandma makes them she says.
For dessert we had a pumpkin roll, apple pie, cookies, pecan pie, and tres leche cake (soaked in 3 kinds of milk).
After dinner, we were stuffed, but my sister and I were watching Taylor Swift and had a sugar rush from dessert.
