Our Friendsgiving was a success!
After cooking and baking for what felt like two days straight, we had a delicious Thanksgiving feast.
My sister and I prepared a bunch of sides and desserts while Ross and Ryan were in charge of the turkey.
The turkey recipe they followed had the turkey cook breast side down, which allowed all of the juice and turkey drippings to drip into the breasts, keeping them nice and moist.
We didn’t have any twine to use to tie the turkey legs together, so the guys got creative.
Foil twine! So scrappy.
My sister and I managed to time all of the the food fairly well. The only thing that wasn’t ready right on time was the mashed potatoes.
We followed a recipe from The Pioneer Woman and made them a day ahead, but when we went to reheat them in the oven for 30 minutes like the recipe said, they were still completely cold when we removed them from the oven.
Nothin’ a little time in the microwave can’t fix!
Eventually we had a feast!
Highlights:
Sweet potato casserole (possibly my favorite)
Ryan’s grandma’s amazing glazed carrots recipe
Roasted green beans (we needed something healthy)
Cinnamon orange cranberry sauce
My mom’s homemade stuffing recipe
And the turkey, of course!
My friend Laurel also made a batch of creamy macaroni and cheese by following a Paula Deen recipe and Ross made gravy from scratch that was awesome.
You better believe I filled my plate with a bit of everything.
After dinner, we all hung out, played games (Balderdash!) and had a good time before digging into dessert.
Pumpkin pie, tunnel of fudge bundt cake, apple pie (made by Laurel), ice cream, whipped cream and a pumpkin roll (<—it worked!)!
Again, I had a bit of everything and went back for seconds of the pumpkin pie and chocolate bundt cake.
I went to sleep feeling like a stuffed turkey and it was glorious!
Happy Friendsgiving! 
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Wow, all that food looks great! Glad you had a great time 🙂
yum! id say your stomach is sufficiently prepared for the actual day of thanksgiving! great warm up 🙂
Wow totally jealous of your evening- looks delicious, especially the dish with marshmallows!
That sweet potato casserole looks deeelicious! 🙂 I’m dying to make one for Thanksgiving!
That picture of you and your sister holding pies should be on the cover of southern living magazine! It’s so cute. Your pumpkin roll turned out beautifully!
Wow. Everything looks AMAZING! I’m so jealous of the little Betty Crockers you all are!!
Love all the pictures! Looks like such a fun and tasty night. Sweet potato casserole is always my favorite Thanksgiving dish! It’s like dessert before even having it. 🙂
Wow! Your friendsgiving turned out wonderful! All of that food looks delicious! The pumpkin roll came out great! 🙂 Sweet potato casserole is my favorite too.
Your feast looks glorious! My girlfriends and I are going to have a friendsgiving next Saturday. Hope it turns out just as well.
I love the idea of Friendsgiving! Your feast looked delish!
Friendsgiving sounds like such a cute idea! I’m glad it went well. Your outfit is so cute too! 🙂
So I’m sitting her half asleep reading this, and a little drool managed to slide out the side of my mouth….
Julie, I’ve been following your blog for months now but have never commented. You are so inspiring!
Would you mind sharing your grandmother’s amazing glazed carrots recipe?
And I love the idea of a Friendsgiving!
Everything looks delicious! Now I’m hungry for Thanksgiving dinner 🙂 my mom discovered the “roast the turkey upside down” thing one year by accident and she’s been making it that way ever since!
everything looks delicious!! i love the idea of friends-giving. we are doing something similar next week. if nothing, it’s an excuse to eat amazing food… twice!!
I love that you celebrated “friendsgiving”. My friends and I celebrate “Thankuary” in January after the holidays are over and everyone’s schedules have calmed down. Plus, it’s nice to have something to look forward to after New Year’s. 🙂
Very impressed with the pumpkin roll! It looks perfect!
You’ve got be craving Thanksgiving food! Everything looks delicious! Glad you had a great time!
haha… and I mistyped divine. Need More Coffeeee!!!
How fun! That pumpkin roll looks devine!
I kind of love the idea of a Friendsgiving; it seems like they’re all the rage this year, and apparently I’m behind the eight ball!
Glad you guys had such a great time!
And.. Now I am hungry! Wow, the food looks amazing! We don’t have any family nearby, so we have always wanted to do a friendsgiving! It looked like you guys had a blast!
Now I can’t wait for thanksgiving 🙂
Yumm!
We Canadians already have had our Thanksgiving – but Christmas is coming up and my family has Turkey Dinner then too 🙂 Cannot wait!
Everything looks absolutely delicious! The pumpkin cake roll looks beautiful; I’m most definitely hungry now 🙂
That looks like a lot of fun, and delicious!!! I LOVE stuffing! I hope my cousin (who makes our thanksgiving dinner) makes a gluten-free stuffing! Haha that’s one thing I’d miss this year!
Great job in the pumpkin roll! 🙂
I love the idea of Friendsgiving! Scott an I have been wanting to host our own version inviting friends over for Turkey Day dinner, but never wanted to give up going to our family’s Thanksgiving Dinner. The timing of your Friendsgiving is perfect and is an inspiration for us to finally do it next year!
Oh, and your sweet potato casserole looks to die for…YUM!!!
What a fun time! I love this “Friendsgiving” idea! Anything to make Thanksgiving stretch out as far as possible sounds perfect to me. 🙂 All of your eats look delicious! Sweet potato casserole is always my favorite too!! My stepdad has a killer sweet potato casserole recipe that is the winner in my book at every Thanksgiving.
Such a cute idea. When did this idea catch on? I did this about 5 years ago and I love that everyone is doing it. Thanksgiving is too good to celebrate only once.
That pumpkin roll looks fab. Post the carrot recipe!
and the best part? LEFTOVERS! if there are any that is 😀
Looks like a blast! So much yummy food – can’t wait until next week! Do you have plans for the leftovers?
The pumpkin log looks like it turned out great!! What a fun time! And such cute aprons! Do you mind me asking where you got them?
mine was a gift from my sister from a little store in st. pete and leslie’s was a gift from my grandma. i wish i had more info! anthropologie sells adorable aprons!
Can we have your mom’s stuffing recipe?! It looks AMAZING.
just posted it: https://www.pbfingers.com/2011/11/13/glazed-carrots-and-homemade-stuffing/
Everything looks so amazing!!!
Where are your’s and your sister’s boots from!? I absolutely LOVE them!
mine are colin stuart from victoria’s secret and leslie’s are steve madden and she ordered them from piperlime.com. 🙂
I just got really hungry and I cant wait for Thanksgiving!! I really want to try making the pumpkin roll!
Great job! Looks like a ton of delicious food and a really fun time 🙂
TIP: if you want to make mashed potatoes the day before (like I do) put them in a crock pot bowl and then around 6 hours before you want to use them, put the crock pot on low and let them warm gently.
so smart! thanks for the tip!
The glazed carrots looks fantastic! Any chance you can share Ryan’s Grandma’s recipe!?!?! 🙂
~Kari
just posted it now!
Looks delicious! And the pumpkin roll looks just like the professional recipe pictures!!
Looks great!! Haha that pumpkin roll sounds amazing 🙂
Sounds like a really fun time! 😀
Ooo will Grandma let you share the glazed carrot recipe? They look amazing!
I just had a similar meal with friends for Halloween. Love the idea of a “Friendsgiving” My dinner was on a weeknight so my husband and I made all the food the weekend before and then just reheated after work. Nothing is better than fall comfort food! The candied carrots look amazing, I may have to try a recipe like that this year! Have always loved your blog, keep up the good work.
awww, i love that idea of a friendsgiving!!! everything looks super delicious!
everything looks like it was delicious! You just got me super excited for Thanksgiving now 🙂
Look delicious! I may have to try a Friendsgiving next year.
friendsgivings are the bomb! Now I want to make everything here…. and chance you could link or type out some recipes?
LOVE that idea!
Those aprons! 🙂 i totally thought you two were wearing cute little dresses over jeans! Then I woke up a little and realized they were just cute little apron dresses. And yay for the pumpkin roll that came out looking fantastic!
This has gotten me so excited for Thanksgiving!!
Your aprons are adorable, and you and Leslie are so cute together. You look exactly the same, except your parts are flip-flopped. 🙂
This post just made me SO excited for Thanksgiving!! Everything looked delish 🙂
What a buffet! I’d love to taste everything!
And I really like the pic with you and your sister, you look great together!
can you post your moms stuffing recipe! I need a good one!
yes! just posted it! 🙂