Southern Thanksgiving in July

Before I get started, I wanted to point out what I came home to on Wednesday -- our "eight month"wedding anniversary. Now M and I are by no means "month-aversary" people and we don't even really make a big deal out of holidays or special dates. As a matter of fact, I can't even tell you our dating anniversaries before we got married (although we do have them written down somewhere). But in honor of us moving and making every effort to clear out the cupboards, M had a little surprise for me.



Twenty-four "countdown cupcakes" for our eight month anniversary and to serve as an advent calendar of sorts to count down to our move. We aren't even halfway through them because there are so many, but they are delicious! M is becoming quite the cook, and we were happy to have one less thing to have to take with us to our new kitchen.

So now ... on to the real highlight of the weekend: Southern Thanksgiving in July! But first, a little background. The sweet hostesses wanted to give us a final goodbye dinner but wanted us to pick the menu. I declined because if I picked it, it would probably be something nobody except for me wanted to eat! So we turned the decision over to M. "Southern Thanksgiving in July"is what he came up with, and the hostesses were all about it. We ate, and ate and ate some more.

Here was the menu:

-Deep-fried turkey with "giblet" gravy
-Corn Casserole
-Sweet potato casserole
-"Dressing" cornbread
-Green beans with bacon
-Mustard & collard greens
-Rolls
-Pecan Pie & Red Velvet Cake
-Sweet tea

I forgot to take pictures before we ate, but here are the remnants:


The 14-pound turkey was amazing. It was cooked in a device called "The Big Easy" which is made by Charbroil and uses "patented Heat Wave infared technology to deliver juicy, crisp, flavorful" turkey. My initial thoughts were that cooking turkey with infrared radiation might not be the most safe approach, but apparently 80% of the sun's rays are infrared, and it is basically a simple form of gentle, invisible, radiant heat. I decided not to think too much about it!

The turkey emerged from the fryer crispy, yet extremely juicy, moist and flavorful. M called it the "Ruth's Chris of turkeys" because it was injected with so much butter. But that's how they roll in the South, and it was delicious! The turkey was by far my favorite and my body loved the once-a-year protein from animal sources! Screw those legumes and nuts I eat all the time. ;)


The aftermath wasn't pretty, but like true Southern women they had the whole kitchen cleaned up about 30 minutes after we were finished. I try to help, but I can't keep up. :)

The talent behind the meal.

The red velvet cake we all definitely didn't need but loved nonetheless

M loving on his sweet baby friend, Lucy!

It was quite the night - great company, amazing food and friends that we will miss dearly after we've made our way back home. The good news is that we can get the recipes to bring some of this Southern goodness up North for our first Thanksgiving back in Chicago! It was a great send-off and we will both think fondly of it during the next couple days when we are moving heavy boxes and eating out of cans!