Hi everyone! As you know, I’m here in Pittsburgh this year for Thanksgiving with Matt and his family. My parents came, too! It was the first time my dad met Matt’s parents and everyone hit it off great. We all had a blast — lots of laughter and rowdiness.
Here I am with all the other “kids”!
From left — me, Matt, our friends (the newlyweds!) Thomas and Janice, Thomas’s sister Sarah (their parents also join for Thanksgiving every year), Matt’s younger brother Drew, and Matt’s older brother Chris and his wife Jess. Awesome group. 🙂
As in past years (remember last year’s Thanksgiving feast?), Matt’s parents created a menu showcasing all the deliciousness for us.
I love how into Thanksgiving they get. 🙂 His parents took a trip to Italy earlier this year, so they decided to do a fun Italian themed Thanksgiving. The menu was even translated into Italian!
The festivities began in the early afternoon with appetizers and turkey frying. Matt was in charge of the fried turkey. 🙂
While his brother Drew “supervised.”
And I was in charge of sweet potatoes, like last year! Apron-tastic:
Last year I made my Spiced Mashed Sweet Potatoes; this year I decided to mix it up and try an Eating Well recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole. The recipe included a meringue topping, but I nixed that and added some baby marshmallows instead per Matt and his brother’s request. 🙂 I love this recipe — not too sweet and great flavor from the pineapple.
Everyone arrived around 3:30 and we all mingled, enjoying appetizers and some wine and champagne.
We all pretty much attacked the appetizers — they were so good!
I especially loved the eggplant olive tomato spread (above) and the modified bruschetta pictured below. That’s sautéed radicchio on top of goat cheese! Mmm…
I wore a fun new dress that our family friend Jill passed down to me from her closet — I love it!
Before we knew it, the turkey was ready!
YUM. Fried turkey is amazing — it gets really juicy inside.
We also had two stuffed turkey breasts — mmmm. One stuffed with spinach and prosciutto, the other stuffed with sausage.
As usual, dinner was quite the experience from the moment we sat down at the table!
Before hitting the main course buffet, we enjoyed some starters. Our primi was a pumpkin fettuccine with roasted shallots!
Delicious.
There was also an “amuse bouche” courtesy of the chef (Matt’s dad) — another nod to Italy, anchovies on top of garlicky greens with some shaved fennel. This was also really delicious!
Next up? A palate cleanser! Which refused to be photographed.
Lol. It was a shot of limoncello! Refreshing — and fun to all take shooters at the table with our parents. 😉
After our palate cleanser, it was time for the main event! It was QUITE the feast.
Turkey, obviously:
Roasted root veggies:
Mashed potatoes:
My sweet potatoes:
Broccolini:
Farro and goat cheese salad (SO good):
Creamed corn:
Roasted Brussels sprouts:
Omg. My plate was so stuffed my camera couldn’t even focus on it, apparently. Or maybe that was the limoncello…
After a brief interlude to digest, it was time to hit the dessert buffet hard.
I sampled the apple pie and the pumpkin chiffon pie. Amazing!
Plus biscotti, which we enjoyed with some unpictured cappuccino. Mmmm…
Amazing dinner, as always in this house. Happy belated Thanksgiving! I hope you all had great holidays, too. 🙂
