While I didn’t exactly follow the Eat This Not That philosophy, I did have one awesome Thanksgiving meal and it wasn’t all that bad for us either. As I was looking for recipes, my computer kept taking me back to the Foodnetwork.com website! I love that network/station/channel, what ever you want to call it and so it’s no surprise that I kept being drawn back to some of my favorite chefs.

The Turkey was actually from my own imagination! I stuffed the bird with apples, onions, thyme and sage and placed it on top of carrots and onions (okay, I love onions and I forgot, gasp, the celery! I then rubbed the entire bird with an olive oil/butter mixture and seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme and sage. I basted the bird every half an hour to hour for around 5+ hours and it came out beautifully. The white meat was even tender.

For the sides:

Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Almonds by Tyler Florence

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey and Cinnamon  (of course to make it look like “Thanksgiving”, I threw on some mini marshmallows and toasted them)

Cranberry and Orange Relish ~ my own creation

And, I’m a little embarrassed to tell you the rest but it’s been the kids favorite for so long that I had to do it, StoveTop stuffing and Pillsbury Cresent rolls. Baby Steps!