Thanksgiving 2012

We have 18 people coming for Thanksgiving, and I'm thrilled! I love the kind of Thanksgiving where you have to move furniture and borrow tables and chairs.

With so many good cooks in the family, I'm only making about half the dishes below--everyone is bringing something. My mom is even roasting a second turkey.

I'm also starting a new tradition: Pie-apalooza. I read on Slate about a woman who makes approximately one pie per guest, and I couldn't get it out of my mind. My side of the family loves pie, but we don't have it as often as other desserts. I'm not planning a 1:1 ratio of pies, but we'll have more than usual and maybe add a pie each year from now on.

Appetizers

Righteous Herb Cheese Spread (Beth)

Chex Mix (Chris)

Pumpkin dip with gingersnaps and apples

Main Course

Turkey #1

Turkey #2 (Mom)

Stuffing                                                          

Make-Ahead Gravy                                      

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes                  

Green Bean Casserole (Mom)                      

Savory Sweet Potatoes (Kristen)                

Sweet Potato Souffle with Homemade Marshmallow Topping                                         

Cranberry Apple Salad (Beth)                    

Macaroni and Cheese                                 

Corn Pudding/Casserole (Beth)                 

Winter Salad with Lemon Poppyseed Dressing           

Glazed carrots                                             

Jello salad (Grandma)                                  

Rolls (Chris)                                                   

Dessert

Pumpkin Pie (Jack)

Apple Pie (Mom)

Cherry Pie (Chris)

S’more Pie (Ben)

Mocha Buttercrunch Pie

Key Lime Pie

Peanut Butter Pie

Buttermilk Apple Pie

Whoopie Pies

The whoopie pie - a regional treat beloved of northern New Englanders and the Amish. It's two pieces of soft chocolate cake with marshmallow filling in between. And no, it's not a Moon Pie.

It's disloyal to say so, but I actually prefer Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with cream cheese frosting. But these are very, very good - made better (I think) when I bump up the salt in the filling. Salt cuts the sweetness and makes them irresistible.

Whoopie Pies

1/2 c. shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 c. plus 2 T. Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1 cup milk

Filling (note: I make 1.5 recipes of filling)

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 1/3 cups (4 oz.) Marshmallow Fluff or marshmallow creme
1/4 t. salt (I round the measurement and add more salt as needed after tasting)
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/3 - 1/2 c. milk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease or line with parchment 2 cookie sheets.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening, brown sugar, and egg. In a separate bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl, stir the vanilla into the milk.

3. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk mixture to the shortening mixture, beating until smooth. Drop the stiff batter by tablespoons on the baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. They'll spread a lot while they bake!

4. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, until they are firm to the touch. Check them at 6-7 minutes to be sure. Remove from the oven and cool on cooling racks.

5. Mix all filling ingredients together except milk until smooth. Add enough milk to make a smooth frosting consistency. Spread half the cookies with the filling and top with remaining cookies. These are messy, so it's good to wrap them in parchment or Saran wrap individually.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I am not one of those people who says, "You find the best recipes in church cookbooks!". But this is a good one: I don't know anyone who doesn't like it. I've changed and adapted it a bit over the years, but the basic idea is the same. If you like your sweet and sour chicken more saucy, just double the sauce ingredients.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into one-inch chunks
1 cup cornstarch
1 t. garlic salt
1 t. seasoned salt
1 20-oz. can pineapple chunks, 1/4 c. juice reserved for sauce
Vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten

Sauce

3 T. ketchup
2 1/2 t. soy sauce
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Pour enough vegetable oil into a frying pan to coat the bottom and heat to medium. Combine cornstarch, garlic salt, and seasoned salt on a plate. Dip chicken pieces into beaten egg and then into cornstarch mixture. In single layers, pan fry until golden brown in oil.  Place chicken and pineapple in a rectangular baking dish.

In a saucepan, combine sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil, and turn heat to low. Stir until sugar dissolves. Pour sauce over chicken and pineapple.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Stir and continue baking for 15 minutes. Serve over rice.

Pinterest project

I love Pinterest - it's a great source of ideas. I don't want it to simply be aspirational, so I try to actually complete projects from things I've pinned.

Here's a slight variation on an idea a friend found on Pinterest. Instead of shades of green, we used blues. We also added a charm to the ribbon and the star in the upper right.

We found all the supplies at Michael's - the craft wood was $1.99 for two pieces. The paint was craft acrylic, and we just eyeballed them to choose the colors. We used wood glue to hold everything together.

I cut out the letters with my Cricut; you can make decent stencils with contact paper. Just attach the white side up. The only tricky part is when you have letters with interior pieces, like the "b," "e," and "o." We added those pieces in the middle of the letters before painting.

I think this would be a nice wedding gift, using the date on the bottom three boards.

Caprese Kabobs

Serve salad caprese on toothpicks for a fun, light appetizer. I liked these a lot, but would serve them with extra dressing  next time.

Caprese Kabobs

1 pt. grape tomatoes
1 8-oz. package small mozzarella balls (or cut fresh mozzarella into small cubes)
1 bunch basil
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
toothpicks

Prepare kabobs with a grape tomato, a piece of mozzarella, and a piece of basil on each one. Place them on a platter. Drizzle with olive oil and splash with balsamic. Add plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper.

If you like, offer extra oil/vinegar on the side, since the dressing tends to slide to the bottom of the platter.

Smoked Salmon Spread

I love smoked salmon for an appetizer, but I decided to try salmon spread for a change. This is Ina Garten's recipe, and it's great, as usual! Even people who don't love smoked salmon like this savory, creamy spread. It's also a good way to stretch pricey smoked salmon.

I served the spread with Town House Pretzel Crackers, which were really good. Bagel chips or rye cocktail bread would also be nice.

Smoked Salmon Spread 

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill (I used one teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish, drained
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 pound (4 ounces) smoked salmon, minced

Directions

Cream the cheese in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until just smooth. Add the sour cream, lemon juice, dill, horseradish, salt, and pepper, and mix. Add the smoked salmon and mix well. Chill and serve with crudites or crackers.

Teacher Appreciation Menu

Here are links to all the recipes I used for the Academy Awards-themed preschool teacher appreciation menu. It was a lot of fun!


Chicken Cordon Bleu
Twice-Baked Potatoes
Cobb Salad
Carrot Souffle
Artisan Bread
Raspberry Cheesecake