Thanksgiving

Would you believe I forgot to bring my camera to Thanksgiving? Well, when you're frantically trying to accomplish so many dishes and then transport everything you need to finish them at the in-laws, I guess even things as important as cameras get forgotten. So, since I don't have any pictures of the feast *argh!* I'll share some pictures from Avery's Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast. They had a great set up for the kids and they were served a full Thanksgiving feast! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, the works! The had a little show for the Mom's and Dad's too.


They all sat a a giant long table as Indians and pilgrims.


Back to Thanksgiving. I did six different things all together, but the new recipes are worth commenting about. Because I follow The Pioneer Woman, I knew I had to DVR her challenge to Bobby Flay of the Food Network in which he came out to her ranch in Oklahoma and they they went head to head each making a full Thanksgiving meal. I was inspired!

I made mashed potatoes Ree's way (the Pioneer Woman). Okay, so actually Travis made these, I had to delegate or nothing would get finished. The potatoes have been requested for all future mashed potatoes! Travis could not get enough of these potatoes and didn't even want gravy masking their great taste!

I also made Ree's cornbread stuffing. SO good. Travis and I both really liked this recipe, although I substituted applewood smoked bacon for the pancetta. Seriously, I will be making this again. Usually it's my green bean casserole I like extra helpings of but the cornbread dressing actually trumped the green beans!

And, finally, the other new recipe I tried was Bobby Flay's Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Spiced Caramel Apple Sauce and Vanilla Bean Creme Anglaise (and fresh whipped cream with pumpkin pie spice). Oh, mama, is this one to write home about! Travis is rather mediocre about pumpkin, but he loved this. It was, however, definitely only worth doing once a year, max. Maybe I'm just lazy (there's no maybe about that) but it was certainly a bit a work, although constantly needing to recheck the recipes always slows things up. The good part about all that work was that it could be spread out. The pumpkin bread can be made well in advance and the pumpkin custard (for baking the bread in), the vanilla bean creme anglaise and the spiced caramel apple sauce I made the day before.
So here it is, the yummy masterwork! I loved the warm and spicy mixed with the cold and creamy, and the heavy mixed with the light. Ah, so good...


Hallelujah for people who share such amazing recipes for us peons to enjoy! The recipes can be found here. I would love to try Bobby's brussels sprouts too, but I can't see doing all that work and me likely being the only one to eat them.