All posts filed under: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Dinner 2014: Top 5 Things I Learned in the Kitchen

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Well, Thanksgiving 2014 has come and gone and I hope your holiday was as wonderful as you’d hoped it would be. Mine was fantastic! We had a group of about 10 people for dinner and more friends came later on for drinks and dessert. I can’t even believe that it’s already December, but before we hurl ourselves full force into Christmas mode, I wanted to share 5 things that I learned from this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. 1. Turkey Technique 101. There’s a good way and there’s an even better way. I made two turkeys this year and both employed techniques that I hadn’t used before.  I had intended to make two small  12-14 pound turkeys using the Spatchcocked Turkey with Anise and Orange recipe on the November cover of Bon Appétit Magazine. But, being thrifty, I really tried to get a deal on those two turkeys without having to drive all over town. Turns out this is an impossibility. Yes, you can get great deals on turkeys, but you will have to drive all over town. There’s a long and boring story of …

Balsamic Vinegar Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Chorizo and Red Onion

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Brussels sprouts never fail to spark a little conversation.  Seems either folks love them or hate them, but frankly, I think they unfairly get bad press due in part to bad childhood memories.  Oddly, I was never in the camp of Brussels Sprouts Haters–the first time I had them as a child, I didn’t mind them, which is really saying something because back in the 1970s, people did horrible things to Brussels sprouts–namely boiling them to death, which made them very, very bad indeed.  Still, even boiled to death, I could see in my little kid mind that these baby cabbages (as I called them) had promise. I think above anything else, I thought they looked cool and it seemed like a very grown-up thing to eat.  Growing up, they didn’t appear too often on our family’s table–my younger brothers, for one, would never touch them, but over the past few years, I’ve rediscovered them–each fall, tweaking the recipe a bit and coming up with different ways to make them.  Previous Thanksgivings, I have separated …

Planning for Thanksgiving: Farro and Wild Rice with Roasted Autumn Vegetables

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We are full-tilt into the autumn season and I’m busy collecting recipes for Thanksgiving! I came across this beautiful recipe on Williams-Sonoma’s Taste blog and knew I had to make it immediately.  I had most of the ingredients on-hand, along with some leftover cubed butternut squash from last week’s Winter Minestrone.  I made a few changes to the original recipe by using farro and wild rice instead of wheat berries.  I also added some brussels sprouts and cremini mushrooms to the mix as well.  This dish   was hearty enough to be a main dish on a Meatless Monday, or a delicious side dish and I think it is perfect for Thanksgiving.  What’s not to love about whole grains with earthy, roasted root vegetables?  Speaking of root vegetables, the roasted parsnips were a revelation!  I had never had parsnips before and I love an opportunity to try something new!  I wasn’t crazy about the flavor when raw, but when roasted, they had a sweet, herbal flavor–similar to a turnip or a rutabaga.  I really enjoyed them …

Setting the Thanksgiving Table

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Whoops!  I blinked and it’s already November!  How in the world did that happen?  Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I’m not ready yet!  Being somewhat housebound since my surgery, I hadn’t had a chance to look for Thanksgiving and Harvest decorations until late October.  Now, I don’t understand what happens around here, but it seems that unless you get your harvest decorations in August, all you’ll find in October are few picked-over knick knacks and an explosion of Christmas!  I don’t know about you, but I really like Thanksgiving decorations and I’m not quite ready to be thrust headlong into Christmas yet! Since the offerings at the store were slim-pickings, I decided to do something a little different this year and settled on a simple, white and green Thanksgiving table.  I found two preserved boxwood topiaries at Homegoods and paired them with small white pumpkins (I love those) and white pumpkins with green and orange stripes.  I set them on top of a beige table runner and placed some candlesticks and jars with …