Friendsgiving Dinner

I say this every year...Thanksgiving is my favorite food holiday. The turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts kill me with deliciousness. The holiday is always so perfectly timed with a cold front putting me in just the right mood for some warm home cooked food. Next week we are going to Toronto to spend this American holiday with my Canadian family. My sister is hosting a big dinner which she has been planning for weeks. She's got a Pinterest board dedicated to our dinner and spreadsheets for her shopping lists and preparation schedule. Since next week I'll be celebrating with my family, I thought it would be really nice to host a Thanksgiving dinner for some friends...Friendsgiving! We invited over our friends Ilana & Mike and their daughters Mazzy & Harlow. The kids are all best pals and were so excited to hang out for a special night together. Ilana came over early to help me set up. We drank wine and set the table together. Always a fun way to spend time with your friends and a great way to get them to help with dinner! I went a bit glam with the table this year. I had some sequin fabric and used it as a table runner down the center of my table. I normally host really large dinners so it was kind of nice to host something so small and intimate for a change. Because there were only four of us I went to town decorating the table because we still had so much space to put our food. Candles, wood planks, bud vases of fresh flowers and succulents made up my tablescape. I served a red wine with star anise floating to make for a festive looking drink. Was a great pairing to the dinner I was preparing. As for the menu, I went the traditional road with all the classics: Mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts with pancetta and a balsamic glaze, stuffing (which I made out of a bag...for the first time ever...wow was that easy...shhhh) and cranberry sauce. The one twist on my dinner was the turkey. I wanted to be different in some capacity so I found a recipe for a spatchcocked turkey. I had the butcher help to prepare the meat for me by removing the spine from the turkey and butterflying it open. What a BRILLIANT way to cook!  My turkey, who Michelle named Wilma for me, turned out incredible juicy and delicious! And guess what? Only took 90 minutes to cook!!  Can you believe it?  I couldn't! Here is the recipe...trust me...you need to try it! For dessert I whipped up a pumpkin cream pie and served with a mulled wine in these fabulous Moscow Mule mugs that I found at Crate and Barrel. Tune in next week...I'll show you how we set the kids table and will share some tips on folding napkins and how to serve your appetizers in a pretty way! What are you planning to serve for Thanksgiving? Any great recipes to share? Please do in the comments! *Photos in this post were taken by the lovely Karilyn Sanders.