Turkey Day 2008

From ThanksgivingWeek08

What can I say? It was a day full of family, fun, and football. I love all of those things and cooking. Thanksgiving remains my favorite day of the year. The only thing I would have changed was my hubby not being here. I hated that he missed out on all the goodies!

Well, the Twofer pie turned out great, as did all the new recipes we tried. The new recipes were:

1. Cranberry Chutney (which I poured over Cream Cheese and served as an appetizer), recipe found on internet somewhere
2. Twofer and Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake, courtesy of Dorie Greenspan and Cooks.com, respectively
3. Pecan Praline Topping (used for snacking and topping), epicurious
4. Cranberry Sauce (http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2008/11/its-fresh-cranberry-sauce-time-its.html)-Chef John You Rock!!!
5. Green Bean Casserole (Everyday with Rachael Ray, Nov 2008, page 114)
6. Golden Potato Mash (same as above)
7. Turkey Cake (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ_DPF6UDcI)

As you can see we had a lot of fun trying out the new recipes and enjoying the day. Savannah had more dishes added to her list this year and did a great job. She was responsible for the Green Bean casserole and Mash Potato Dish. The Mash Potato Dish was a little bland (per recipe), so I tried to soup it up by adding turkey stock and some brown sugar. Still was missing something. Will have to tweak it up some more. The casserole was awesome, especially if you like fresh green beans and mushrooms. The taste really "pops" out and is not ruined by a fake mushroom gravy taste. Savannah's cake was too cute and really moist. The kiddos love it. Justin could hardly wait to cut into the cake's turkey, funny and somewhat disturbing.

My favorite new recipe was the Cranberry Sauce recipe from Chef John of Foodwishes. I will NEVER buy it out of a can again! It was so easy to make. The kids loved hearing the cranberries popping and the taste was really rich and tart, almost like cherries. My second favorite was the Green Bean Casserole. My least favorite was the Golden Potato Mash. That recipe needs some work, way too bland. I think the new additions to our traditional spread will be, both pumpkin pie recipes, green bean casserole recipe, the cranberry chutney and sauce, and the Turkey design (either on cake or other dessert). Oh yeah, the pralines, too. They were really easy to make and may be added to the Golden Potato Mash in some way.

Oh, yeah, the Cowboys won! What a day. Hope you all had a great day of feasting like we did!

GABE IS ALMOST HOME, YAY!