Thanksgiving Part 2...3...?

Phew...I'm exhausted! We just finished doing LOADS of dishes and cleaning the war zone that was our kitchen about an hour ago. I have SO many pictures I want to share but I think I may have to do this in various posts from now until tomorrow....I need some sleep tonight too :)

There were a few struggles along the way, and I was worried a few things weren't going to come out right but in the end I have to say EVERYTHING was awesome!!

Let's rewind to Saturday morning. We had to get going early and finish the necessary grocery shopping. That's right...white bread. The 1 time of year I purchase this. We always get so excited though because there's something about a super soft fresh slice of white bread when you haven't had any since this time last year...its like a special treat. I broke off half a slice, spread some nice soft butter on top and savored every bite. So nostalgic...we used to always have bread and butter at my grandmothers house!

Are these not the most beautiful carrots you've ever seen?? They had yellow carrots too! They aren't parsnips, they were "rainbow carrots" The oranges ones were HUGE!!
That's a normal sized fork!! I mean those carrots were massive...very tasty though.

Saturday is when I get most of my baking out of the way because the oven is occupied most of the day Sunday for the turkey. I started rolling out crusts for the butterscotch pie and for roomie's pumpkin pie.
Lot's of flour for the counter and rolling pin...I will say that I should of added more water to this dough, especially since I chilled it overnight. It was a little difficult to work with, but this is how you learn.

I think I'm getting better at the crimping of the edges...my mom does it do effortlessly and it always looks beautiful, mine takes a lot longer. Don't forget to poke it with a fork if your baking it without filling.
10-15 Minutes later, and nice and golden...
Then it was time to get to work on my Mini Cranberry Orange Cheesecakes! I tend to do some of the same desserts every year, and they are classics everyone likes BUT I decided to switch things up this year...I mean in 4 days I'll be having another Thanksgiving with all the classic pies.

Last year I did mini lemon meringue pies which were awesome, but I didn't feel like making lemon filling, so I went for a cheesecake with the citrus burst.

The recipes started off based on this recipe...Giada of course. I made the chocolate crust...Crushed the chocolate wafer cookies by placing them in a big Ziploc bag and smooshing them with a rolling pin
Combined with the melted butter
Then pressed the mixture into each well of the mini muffin tin!
I combined the cheesecake mixture in the food processor...ricotta, cream cheese, eggs, sugar, and orange zest!Blended til smooth, then distributed the filling into the mini muffin tin, on top of the crusts!
These had to bake in a water bath, then cooled in the fridge before trying to remove them from their homes :) I will follow up with the Cheesecakes tomorrow...but I will say they were divine!

During all the cooking and baking you forget to actually prepare a meal...but all of a sudden get sooo hungry. I dove into the freezer for another quick meal. I bought this at...yes...Trader Joe's... a while ago and have been waiting for the perfect time to break it out.YUM!!!!! SO good! This was a great pick-me-up. Plus it was split 3 ways so a lot less guilt :)
I think that's enough for now...I need my bed asap! Can't wait to get in a super gym workout tomorrow evening...I don't even want to think about my calorie intake this weekend!! At least I was on my feet 90% of the time!