Going Rogue for Thanksgiving

We were going to try to go to The Mother's for T-day this year.. but as finances aren't really cooperating with taking The Husbands gas guzzler 20+ year old van on a 6 hour trek to the Rio Grande Valley.. We've had to change plans and are staying home. The Sister invited us to their house.. and that was the plan until yesterday. See, I watched Rachael Ray's Thanksgiving in 60 the other night, for probably the 10th time. And I made the decision. I am changing up Thanksgiving this year. The Brother does not dig new things on T-day.. so I decided we would pass on their invitation. The Husband is totally cool with the idea of a Thanksgiving dinner with NONE of the normal fare. The Brother on the other hand would organize a mutiny over it. We do like the same desserts, though.. so we decided to let them have their tradional meal, we'll do our Rogue meal, and then we will get together for dessert. Everybody is happy. :)

My biggest rogue move: I am *NOT* going to roast or fry a whole bird. Nope. Don't feel like it... and I'm veddy veddy intrigued by her herb roasted boneless turkey breast. Looked juicy, the skin was crispy, and it took.. 40.. yes *40* minutes to cook. Umm, yes please! LOL

Now don't get me wrong. I do enjoy making the whole bird. Sorta. I used to make turkey the way The Mother makes turkey.. in a reynolds cooking bag. Yeah.. no crispy skin with that at all. Growing up I didn't know there was such a thing as crispy turkey skin. Or that turkey could be carved in pretty slices. No, The Mother's turkey literally fell apart when she took them out of the bag. They were good. But The Mother didn't put herbs on them or anything like that. Then The Husband got one of those turkey fryer kits. And we really liked it. Then we found AB's turkey brine and fried one that been brined.. EVEN BETTER! The Husband did all the cooking work, I carved it up.. voila. Last year I did Giada's roast turkey.. And it was yummy, though I really had a problem with my oven getting it done evenly.. not sure what was up. But it always so much work.. carving a whole bird is a huge mess.. There is meat leftover that gets tossed sometime around Christmas because no one ate it.. And I don't know.. but I just don't feel like it this year. The boneless breast looks easy.. it looks yummy.. and it's new! :)

So far I am thinking:

RR's Herb Roasted Turkey Breast
My own pan gravy, with maybe a splash of brandy, but not the cider
Cheesy Mashed Potatos (kids fav, gotta have it)
Butternut Squash & Turkey Sausage Risotto
Ciabatta and Cornbread Dressingg with fresh sage (this is a knock off of my mom's.. she uses dried bread cubes, plus cornbread in her stuffing.. so I'm going to replace the regular dried bread with ciabatta)

And some sort of green bean recipe.. we haven't decided on one yet.. The contenders are: Fried Green Breans with wasabe ranch for dipping, AB's green bean "casserole" recipe, my own everyday green beans with bacon and onions that we love, oooorrrr I kinda want to give the apple cider green beans that RR made in the episode a try.

As for a bread.. probably a sweet yeast dinner roll. :) Seems we have a few starches and not so much veggies. Eh, it's a holiday.. WHO CARES?!?! LMAO Besides.. there is squash in the risotto. That's gotta count for something. And there will be celery, carrots and onions in the dressing. So there. Lots of veggies. :P

Dessert.. My very own Mile High Apple Pie. This is the one thing I don't change. :) I love apple pie, and my apple pie freakin rocks, but only seem to make it for Thanksgiving, Christmas and occasionally Easter. So, I have to make it. LOL And a cake or cupcakes of some kind.. Because The Pickiest Eater in All The Land doesn't like pie. *eyeroll* The Sister will probably make pumpkin pie. :)

And for a little snack type thing for during the cooking (can't let the chef get low blood sugar afterall! LOL).. We'll do Raspberry Chipolte sauce over cream cheese with crackers.. and I'm going to attempt to recreate that Boom Boom sauce from Chuy's, with chips. Or I'll just go buy some. LOL And maybe some sweet and sour meatballs because the kids adore them. :) See.. there is gonna be so much food, we don't NEED a whole turkey! :)