Oh man, G, dat turkey

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house on the actual day for my mom and dad and sister. Did we keep it small and simple? Oh fuck no. Made the same amount of food as last year when we had twice the people.
- Brined a turkey in a crazy salt, broth, herb mix, then rubbed down the turkey with a butter/fresh herb mix (even under the skin). My god, juicy. I don't even like turkey. Mmmm
- Homemade cranberry sauce
- Green bean casserole from scratch and dairy-free! GTFO with Campbell's soup
- Sweet potato casserole - Ruth's Chris Steakhouse recipe from a friend who used to work there
- Garlic mashed potatoes and gravy
- STL-style salad with provel cheese and homemade sweet Italian dressing and croutons
- Some kind of sage stuffing
- Sweet corn
- Rolls
- Pumpkin cupcakes
- Pumpkin pie - by my mom
There may have been more, because we couldn't even see the table. Even cooked an extra sweet potato and roasted a pumpkin so the baby could enjoy the feast. My parents bust their ass all day and watch the baby for free, so it's the least we can do for them. I can't afford to shell out the $1100/month we'd have to pay a daycare (because if I could, I'd gladly give it to them anyway), but I can cook a mad fucking Thanksgiving meal.
I still can't eat dairy with the baby, so only the salad and pumpkin pie had dairy. Had to do a lot from scratch to avoid it and so wouldn't taste like a "substitute", and honestly, it all tasted identical or way better than usual. My husband was in charge of the turkey and my mom the pie, but I did everything else with a teething baby attached to my hip.

Cookin yummy shits