Thanksgiving Dinner at nap time

It's amazing sometimes what you can get accomplished in a day. Some days nothing gets done... NOTHING. And other days I can get a whole faux Thanksgiving dinner done during nap time. Friday this happened. And ironically, ever since I rocked out this awesome dinner, Noah hasn't napped. Not once, not for five minutes. So don't think this is a brag blog post, because I'm not bragging about my no-napping toddler.
 
We missed out on Thanksgiving dinner this year and our Thanksgiving dinner wasn't even good. Last time we were in Hawaii for Thanksgiving we had T-day dinner at Mama's Fish House and it did not disappoint. Best food in Maui for sure. This year we could not get a reservation for us plus the Editor's co-workers families (9 total) at a time that would be suitable for Noah to eat dinner. So we picked another restaurant and the view was amazing but the food was subpar. It was like their regular chef took the night off. And they only had pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. I'm a apple girl. I do not eat pumpkin anything. I subbed my pumpkin for ice cream.
 
On our trip to the grocery store back in NC I picked up all the makings of an apple pie. And then I thought, well if I'm making the pie I might as well go all out. Note that 'all out' does not include an actual turkey!
 
Friday was the day. As soon as Noah went down for a nap I started on the apple pie. I make the recipe my mom taught me and honestly there is no recipe. I don't use a measuring cup or spoon, and couldn't tell you how much sugar I use. Pillsbury dough (not homemade), 4 Macintosh Apples, 1 Granny Smith, sugar, cinnamon, apple pie spice, and dollup of butter, an egg and milk wash and into the oven. And I use leaf cookie cutters to cut air vents in my pie.
 

I ate half the pie!

 
Next I started the cranberry sauce. I saw this recipe on a blog I read, Bella Mia and decided to try it. I usually make the recipe on the back of the bag, but this one was so much better. And cranberry sauce is the easiest thing to make, dump it in the saucepan and stir occasionally for 15 minutes. I just left it out on the counter until it was dinner time, room temperature.
 

 
While the cranberries were simmering I started washing and stuffing my chicken. I use Barefoot Contessa's Roast Chicken recipe and it has never failed me yet. So I washed, salted, peppered, and stuffed the chicken with lemon, garlic, and rosemary and put him back in the fridge until roasting time. I add the melted butter right before I cook it.
 
The last step is chopping vegetables. I pretty much loathe chopping. The recipes always say "Prep Time: 20 minutes" and it always takes me 2 hours. Seriously! I don't always take a short cut, but sometimes I do. Buy pre-cut vegetables at the store. They cost a little more, but you seriously just throw them in the pot. So I bought pre-cut carrots, sweet potatoes, and celery. I cut my own potatoes, onion, and cauliflower.
 
The carrots, sweet potato, half the regular potato, and onion go in the roasting pan with some rosemary, oil, and butter under the chicken. I just keep them in a ziplock in the fridge until cook time. I save a little celery and onion for the stuffing (Pepperidge Farm style!)
 
I used the cauliflower and half the potatoes for my version of mashed potatoes. It's 2 or 3 white, red, purple potatoes and one head of cauliflower. I throw them right into the steamer and just leave them there until I'm ready to steam them.
 

 
And that was pretty much it for my cooking, baking, and prep work during nap time. I even had time to cry my way through an episode of Parenthood, though it wasn't nearly as sad as the Season Finale of my other Tuesday night show- Flipping Out.
 
About 30 minutes before we were ready to eat I started the water for the cauliflower and potatoes. After they are steamed, I mash them up with an immersion blender, some butter, salt, pepper, and milk. Mashed potatoes!
 

 

Mr. Chicken and his veggies went in the oven for an hour and a half.

 
 

And of course, Pepperidge Farm Stuffing takes about 5 minutes, and is not deserving of a photo.
 
Everything was yummy, especially the pie! I'm so glad I did a faux Thanksgiving dinner and that it worked out so well. We even ate dinner in the dining room on wedding china. But this was the last thing I've done during a nap time. I go back to my original point. Sometimes you can rock out a nap time like it's your job and other days you are crying in the corner surrounded by dirty dishes, clean but unfolded laundry, and a dog eating Hanukkah presents for you in-laws. True Story except I didn't actually cry... yet.