Thanksgiving 2005 has come and gone. Guests have left, and I have one more load to go in the dishwasher. This was actually the least-stressful Thanksgiving I’ve ever had, cooking-wise. Don’t know if I was just better organized, or what, but I’ll take it.
Everyone is stuffed, beyond stuffed, and the refrigerator is bulging with yummy leftovers, even after I sent a bunch of stuff to The Neighbors and home with my parents.
Most of the recipes for tonight were Tried-and-Trues, with actually only one new recipe today. I made a few slight menu changes, because there were some leftovers from yesterday’s office Thanksgiving feast, and I ended up taking home Sweet Potatoes and Corn.
Here’s the final rundown on what we feasted on:
Served with warm, sliced baguettes before dinner:
Brown Sugar Almond Brie (I love this one!)
Sun-Dried Tomato Dip
Butternut, Goat Cheese and Walnut Spread (this was the new recipe and will definitely be repeated – even Nicholas liked it!)
Sausage Cheese Puffs – a great comfort food starter
Cranberry Conserve (I’m not a fan of cranberries, but this recipe will make a convert out of anyone)
Cranberry Broccoli Salad (another one that Nicholas ate, sneaking those veggies in yet again)
The Husband’s delicious turkey
Potatoes Au Gratin (with 2 cups of heavy cream, you can’t go wrong with this one)
And then Mom brought Flan, Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie.
A delicious meal, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
On that note, Nicholas has just informed me that it’s “past my bedtime!” and I’m not arguing with that. I’ll post the pictures tomorrow — got them all loaded but the blogging component is having “issues” tonight.
Until tomorrow… tune in for Friday Night Date Night escapdes.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Cranberry Broccoli Salad
1-1/4 cups fresh cranberries, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
4 cups broccoli florets
4 cups coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage with carrots)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
6 slices of bacon, crisp-cooked, drained and crumbled (I double the amount of bacon)
Dressing:
1 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
In a small bowl, combine the fresh cranberries and sugar; cover and chill in fridge until serving time (berries will juice out). In a large bowl, combine broccoli, shredded cabbage, walnuts, raisins and onion. To make dressing, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over the salad and mix. Chill covered at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. Just before serving, gently fold in bacon and cranberry mixture.
Sounds delicious.
This is what I made –
Roast Turkey w/Herb Rub
Cipolline Onions with Peas
Crockpot Mashed Potatoes (really good)
Corn Sticks (in my cast iron corn stick pan)
gravy
cranberry
Toasted Pecan Pie
All came out great. I brined the turkey, with a small disaster, and then roasted it successfully with moist meat, even the white meat.
Mashed could have been warmer but they were delish, the cipolline were excellent, and the corn sticks were ok. The pie was the best of everything. Made it last year so I knew how good it was.
We have a ton of leftovers from the 12 lb bird (just 4 of us for the meal itself) but only a little of the potatoes left and a ton of cornsticks left (so I’ll be making dressing with them). No other leftovers (there are a couple of slices of pie left and one will go home with my MIL tomorrow).
Barely any problems this year, except with the brining. Otherwise uneventful.
Glad to hear someone else had no real problems.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Isn’t it nice surviving a huge meal like this, with less-than usual stress? We were able to do the same thing, getting most of the cooking down a day or two ahead. And keeping that dishwasher running was a big help!
Glad you had a good day!
Hi there — your success with vegetables and Nick is featured on Veggies for Kids over at A Veggie Venture. Both recipes sound great for grown-ups too! Thanks for the inspiration! Alanna