Thanksgiving

Karen and I hosted Thanksgiving again this year. We really enjoy hosting Thanksgiving. This year we were joined by my parents, Kory and Sylvia, and Karen's parents.

This year I decided that everyone needed to get lots of leftovers. We generally cook a single turkey in our electric roaster, but once the meal is done there isn't much meat left over. We needed two turkeys, but I only had space to cook one. A quick stop at Campbell tractor solved our problem; I bought a Traeger smoker/grill on Tuesday. I went all-in, cooking both turkeys on the grill and followed a recipe I found on the web.

Karen's family likes their gravy. Gravy literally makes or breaks family dinners for the Finch family. With this in mind, I put a drip pan under the turkeys filled with yummy stuff to add flavor.

 Add two turkeys. They weighed 23 and 20 lbs.

Dinner was planned at 4:00. I didn't know how long it would take to cook the birds since I wanted to smoke them for a while prior to turning up the heat. When I put the thermometer in them at 2:00, they were done. I took one bird off of the grill early and carved it up and packed leftovers for everyone. The other bird coasted and managed to remain moist for dinner.

We really need to take more pictures at our family gatherings.  Once things get going I always fail to get the camera out.

This is the first year Karen and I have celebrated Thanksgiving without one of our grandparents attending. My grandfather was a very small man, but he was a master of hyperphagia. I remember lying on the couch, grasping my aching belly, only to watch him go back for serving #4. He sat at the abandoned table and just kept shoveling it in. Enter Sylvia, hyperphagia master. She cleaned her plate AND had dessert. Well-played Sylvia, well-played.

 The kids enjoyed the meal as well.

 The ladies prepped dessert while the guys watched football.

 

I would like to thank everyone who made it for the holiday and we look forward to next year!