Thanksgiving: recession style

since i'm currently in the UK, i didn't expect to have an elaborate Thanksgiving. seeing that half of my flatmates didn't even understand the concept until i explained it, i figured there would be no way that everyone would be keen on celebrating it. still, at the last minute, E and i decided to whip up a mini meal, and we headed to get groceries at 8:30 pm...haha!

we used some stuff that we already had in our fridge, and then bought a few things to make the sides. in total, E and i only spent ~£8 on groceries! fantastico! (:

a few of the things we bought: stuffing mix for 39p, pie crust for 87p, sweet potato for 88p, créme fraîche for 71p, evaporated milk for 51p...

we also bought some carrots, some butter, and some other basics like potatoes & gravy.

did you know that they don't have pumpkin puree here?? i've moaned and complained about this for 2 days straight now, but .. it shocks me! instead of making pumpkin pie, i had to make sweet potato pie instead (RECIPE BELOW).
the stuffing came out .. ehhhhh.

you pretty much just added boiling water and then baked it in the oven. it came out kinda gross and hard and just not very pleasant. but what can you expect from 70p instant stuffing?

look how huge the sweet potato is!

okay, so you can't really tell from this picture, but it was about 9 inches long and 5 inches thick! it was quite big haha!

after getting some help with peeling the sweet potato, i boiled it ..

then mashed it...

added some cinnamon & nutmeg stolen from starbucks (ask me about this!)...

filled the premade pie crust up with the mixture ..

and baked it (: yay for a complete pie!

we topped ours with créme fraîche bought from sainsbury's..

...and it made it even better (:

oh, and since i only had one pie crust, i just baked the remainder of the filling in little dish and sprinkled some oatmeal and sugar on top:

here is my lovely plate of Thanksgiving goods:

chicken with cranberry sauce, cabbage & carrots, mashed potatoes with vegetarian gravy, and sage & onion stuffing! it was quite good! and i'm very happy with how everything turned out. best of all, i got to share the experience with my British flatmates, and it just made the day perfect (:

Sweet Potato Pie (reduced sugar / easy / economical version)
2 medium sized sweet potatoes (or a huge one like i had)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 stick butter
150 mL evaporated milk
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp flour
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch allspice (if you don't have it, you can technically leave it out)
3 medium eggs
2 9-inch shells (1 inch thick)

boil the sweet potatoes for about 15 minutes or until softened. drain and mash them; add the butter while the mixture is still hot and continue mashing. let it cool for a few minutes while you beat the eggs, then stir in flour, sugar, salt, spices, evaporated milk, and eggs. mix batter well so that there are no (or very few) lumps left, and then pour into shells. bake at 200 degrees C for 10 minutes, and then reduce heat to 170 degrees C and bake for 30 more minute or until a toothpick comes out clean. let stand and cool for about 1 hour before serving.