The Thanksgiving Meal!

I hope your Thanksgiving meal was as good as mine was. It was a long day of cooking, 6 hours to be exact, but it was all worth it! Here was my menu: Garlic Studded Prime Rib w/ Thyme Au Jus, Honey Baked Ham, Roasted Asparagus, Sun Dried Tomato and Feta Pasta Salad, Sauteed Corn w/ bacon, Baked Potatoes, Green Salad, Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia, Apple Hand Pies and Chocolate Devils Food Cupcakes.

My family isn't a big "Turkey on Thanksgiving" kind of family. We tend to move more towards a Prime Rib; it's probably a sin, I know. But I figure, we always get a rotisserie chicken from Costco every now and then throughout the year so why have a bigger chicken again for Thanksgiving? Swapping out the turkey for a Prime Rib isn't that bad, right?

I have never cooked this big of a meal since, well, last Thanksgiving and I forgot how hard it is! Especially for this kind of meal, it's all about timing. It's all about "When should I start this dish so that it finishes at the same time as another dish?" Once you get that down you're golden. Everything worked like clockwork at my Thanksgiving.

I was surprised at how well everything was going, with only one oven to use and 5 items that needed to be baked off at different temps. Prime Rib is one of those iffy things especially when it comes to the perfect temperature. I actually had to google the temperature of a medium rare/medium prime rib and came up with weird results. Some said 115 degrees, others said 125 degrees, another said 135 degrees F. So, I kind of guessed on this one and took it out at 132 degrees F and to me it was perfect, for my family anyway! My tip would be baking it about 20 min a pound. Start off at 450 degrees for the first 30 min, then lower your heat to 350 degrees F for the remainder of the cooking time.

With this kind of meal, there was no need to go on a diet. You can bet that a nap was well needed right after.

-Aaron John