10th Annual “Apartment” Thanksgiving

So most all of you know by now I always host a Friends-giving the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  Its been a tradition since junior year of college and we just realized this marked the 10th Anniversary!!!  Crazy!! 

The setting, the food, and the guests have tweaked a little over the years but in general it’s stayed the same.  Only now I’m in a house not an “apartment”. 

You can check out all my past 3 years of blogging about Thanksgiving and all the recipes I’ve used here: 2011, 2010 (and this 2010 recap has links to 2009 and 2008 which have some of my traditional recipes).

Some highlights from this year?

First, I switched up the method of cooking the Turkey for the first time ever!

I decided I wanted to try a brine and opted to use arguably the most popular brined turkey recipe on the internet: the Good Eats Roast Turkey.

Brine ingredients. 

You let the turkey sit in the brine for 8-16 hours. I put mine in the brine the night before, and took it out around 11:00 AM the next day.

That’s the other thing I liked about this recipe…MUCH shorter cooking time!  You roast at 500 for 30min, then lower to 350 for 2-2.5 hours until the bird is done. 

The recipe recommends using a thermometer probe in the thickest part of the breast and removing the Turkey from the oven when a temp of 161 is reached. 

My only gripe is that I think I should have taken it out earlier.  Once the thermometer beep went off at 161 degrees, the popper had popped and I wonder if it had popped much earlier?  I think the meat was delicious, but the white meat was a tad drier than I was hoping with this brined turkey.

Although the drippings made some KILLER gravy this year.

Carrots.

Nothing groundbreaking here.  I always boil carrots as a side because I use the cooked carrot broth in the gravy.  HOWEVER, this year we remembered we still had carrots planted in our garden!

The only green left in the garden.

A few colored ones!

I couldn’t believe how many we pulled up!

These were simply served with butter

Of course the classic family recipe stuffing.

Green beans

I also had fun with the cheese plate this year!

My bff got me a slate cheese board for my bday last year and I had YET to use it!! 

We hit up Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge and asked the guy to help us pick 3 cheeses.  I wish I could just go in there and sample EVERY cheese in that shop!! 

We went with a smooth comte, a 2.5year aged gouda, and a soft goat that was more on the mild side.  I love stinky cheese, but always go milder for guests.              

Apps and Drinks

And finally Desserts!!

After doing some online browsing for new fun, yet simple recipes….I picked these:

White Chocolate Mousse with Pomegranate Granita

This was actually super simple and SO good.  Definitely a favorite of everyone that came.  Plus they look fancy.

This was an eggless mousse that basically was just white chocolate, cream, and crème fraiche!

The pomegranate granita couldn’t have been easier.  Just dissolve the sugar into the POM juice and freeze.  Before I was ready to serve I just ran a fork through it to break up the ice.

I didn’t even make the pomegranate syrup, and honestly you didn’t need it.

Served in my grandmothers colored glasses she gave me :)

Rich but delicious and refreshing at the same time.

Next was….

Apple Galettes with Caramel Sauce

The recipe called for packaged puff pastry, but I just made a simple pastry dough from one of my cookbooks…your basic flour, butter, water.

I loved the addition of almond pasted under the apples

But I made some without it for my friends with nut-allergies.

Right before I served them, I made the caramel sauce on the stove.  It only takes a few minutes.

These were awesome!  Although if you have leftovers, the caramel sauce gets a little weird just sitting on top.  So I’d recommend not topping them all with caramel unless someone wants to eat them all.

Also…

Mini Black Bottom Pies!      

Not the best photo.  But I used the same pastry dough as the apple galettes, and used a recipe from an OLD OLD Betty Crocker Cookbook.

I only used 1 Tbsp of Rum in the recipe though and thought it was definitely enough!

Its basically a pie with a layer of a chocolate cream filling on the bottom, then a rum-custard filling over that.  Then serve with fresh whipped cream!

Well I think that just about covers it for House Thanksgiving 2012!!

It’s always a blast with my friends…although I think next year we will most definitely need a kids table!!  Crazy!

Speaking of kids…  I find out the gender of my baby today!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I CAN NOT EVEN WAIT!!  Only a few more hours now!!!

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Shiny Copper & Quick Veggie Dishes

Hey Guys! 

I’m so glad you guys want to win that “Summer in a Box” giveaway!  Pretty sweet right?  We’re all suckers for free desserts and products!!  You still have until Wednesday to enter!

Hope everyone has had a great weekend! Mine was pretty busy, but also really fun.

I’m still working my way through our garden full of zucchini and now also this PILE of feta cheese! (I weight it too, almost 9lbs total!!)

I’ve never seen so much feta cheese in one place before, not even when I was in Greece!  I can’t complain though, I love the stuff and so far have really been enjoying coming up with recipes.  I’ll be sharing those with you in the near future :)

This feta comes to you from the same people who brought you Chobani Greek yogurt, so you know it’s good!  Real good.  

One easy way to use up is obviously on salad.  I was invited to a Pig Roast at Tina and Mal’s house yesterday and so I made my favorite party salad, but substituted feta for the Romano cheese!

I also brought a dessert, but I’ll get to that later.

Another fun weekend surprise was a FANTASTIC deal my mom found for me at an estate sale!

See, my grandmother (the most), and my aunts…LOVE garage/yard/estate sales.   I usually lack the patience to try and find something great at those things, but I’m always grateful when someone ELSE finds something for me ;)

Like this beauty:

Oh yes.  My mom snagged me a GORGEOUS Ruffoni copper casserole!   I  drool over those acorn handled pieces of art every time I go into William Sonoma. 

This must be an older model as I can’t find it online anymore, but I’d be willing to guess it would cost around $300-$400 brand new. 

She paid $5!!!  FIVE DOLLARS!! 

Seriously!  Thank you mom!!!!  She also found some other great items for me at this sale…it was one of the better sales they have been to in a while, and somehow I made out like a bandit :) 

And you want to know how she polished it up?  Ketchup!  Yup, just rub some regular old Heinz ketchup all over your copper for a few minutes, wash off and it’s shiny and beautiful.

($5!!!!)

Now I just need to figure out a nice spot to showcase it.

Ok onto the veggies!

The first was a tasty green bean side dish I enjoyed while I was on Nantucket.  My aunt made it, and it was so simple I re-created it when I got home. 

Vinegar Green Beans (you’ve got to like vinegar for this one)

Now this is more of a recipe by description, not exact measurements.

• Simply steam up some green beans (she boiled them, but I went with steaming) 
• I had the steamer basket full.

 

• While your beans cook.  In a shallow serving dish/bowl combine:
• Red wine vinegar (2 parts)
• 1 clove minced garlic
• olive oil (1 part)
• salt & pepper
• As you can see, I definitely used more vinegar than oil, but feel free to adjust.  You just want enough to dress the beans, and using a shallow bowl is great because you want the beans to sit in the vinegar.

 

• Once the beans are cooked to your desired level of doneness, immediately transfer the hot beans to the vinegar mixture

• Toss the beans, and let them sit for 5-10 min.   Or let them marinate overnight! 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed them the next day, cold, after they have marinated in the vinegar :)

Next…

BBQ Broccoli Slaw

This was one of those random snacks I made myself that I kept going back for more and more, and in turn at almost an entire bag of broccoli slaw!

It was all this hot weather making me crave cool foods, and I had a bag of Trader Joe’s broccoli slaw in the fridge.

This is pretty much a typical slaw, topped with BBQ sauce.

• approx 8 – 10 oz broccoli slaw
• 1 T olive oil mayo
• 1 T plain yogurt
• 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar (more or less to taste)
• 1/4 tsp celery seed (or few shakes)

So I whisk up the dressing, add in my broccoli slaw until I achieve my desired slaw to dressing ratio and serve myself a bowl. 

Then it hits me!!

One day in Nantucket (yes a lot of good food ideas came out of my 3 days there with family), one of my cousins was making herself some coleslaw for lunch.  I wasn’t really paying attention, but I do recall her adding some Sweet Baby Rays to her mixture.

Didn’t think twice about it, until I made mine!

GENIOUS! 

Obviously BBQ + Coleslaw go hand it hand, but I’ve never thought to add BBQ sauce TO my slaw!

So so so good! 

Super fast and healthy snack!  I literally ate what you see above X3!   Almost an entire bag of Broccoli Slaw! 

Ok that is all!!

This girl needs some sleep…  First day of work tomorrow!

Yes I got a new job :)  I’ve actually also had some time off lately which has been really REALLY nice, and making it real hard for me to want to go back.  Yet all good things must come to an end…oh and those pesky things like bills and mortgages need paying. 

The FUN part is that I am now working in downtown Boston!  I’ve always wanted to have my chance to work right in the city, so I’m excited it’s finally happening.

Wish me luck…I feel like it’s the first day of school.  What to wear, what to wear ;)

A Recipe Samping for Dinner

I had a bright and early start to my morning with the Hot Yoga class at 7:30, so you'd think I'd be out and about doing things all day...well not so much. I caught up on some blogs, picked up a tad, did two loads of laundry and then finally showered and got dressed...by that time I was hungry for lunch!!I made a mini pita stacked sandwich. This was a mini pita opened up and topped with:

• hummus
• feta
• grilled chicken
• red onion
• cucumber
• yellow and red pepper
• sprouts
• mixed greens
• more hummus
• then close!
  

It may be small, but it's FULL and very much a TWO hand sandwich. For "dessert" I had half of a container of 0% Plain Chobani, sliced strawberries, and some of my free sample of Bare Naked Granola!I liked this granola a lot! Very simple ingredients:

Whole grain oats, Honey, canola oil, almonds, Raisins (raisins, glycerin), Sweetened dried cranberries (cranberries, sugar, glycerin, sunflower oil), coconut, walnuts, pecans, maple syrup, oat bran, Ground flax seed, Toasted sesame seedsFinally Brian arrived and we set out on some errands. First we decided to try one of the route options from our wedding church to reception to see how confusing it may be and how long it took!

Then we hit up my FAVORITE grocery store that I have mentioned here before, Russo's!, it was more crowded than I have ever seen it. Lines went all the way to the back of the store!! The cashiers are pretty fast, but it made it very difficult to get around the store.

We braved the crowds because I had a few recipes I really wanted to make for dinner! The first came from my newest Food and Wine Magazine...
(it's actually the soup pictured on the cover)

I mean, how could you NOT make this!!!

This was very simple, first I cut in half 1 butternut squash, placed cut side down in a buttered baking dish, and baked at 375 for a little over 1 hour. This was then blended with 1/2 c. creme fresh, 1 cup water, and dash of cinnamon!
Mine came out thicker, more like a puree than a soup, but equally delicious. The best part of this soup, however, is the topping!1/2 cup of toasted pecans, chopped, and 1 banana, sliced...all mixed with 1 Tablespoon of real maple syrup!!!

This soup was the appetizer...in my new Athropologie bowls I got for Christmas!The soup itself isn't very sweet, but has a really great roast butternut squash flavor! I think this recipe could easily be made a tad lighter by adding less creme fresh and a little milk instead. I think I may add a bit more cinnamon and perhaps some other spices as well next time. The prep is SO simple though...and the combination with the topping is incredible.

For the main course I wanted fish and I recalled seeing a recipe recently on epicurious.com for a red snapped, simply baked in a foil pouch: Red Snapper with Thyme, Tomatoes, and Olives.

We went to whole foods to look for the fish. I was maybe going to get a different fish...maybe Halibut or trout, but they had neither. They did have WHOLE red snappers though! We bought 1 and had the fish guy remove the scales, head and tail. Since Brian is the fisher in this soon-to-be family, I let him tackle the filleting...ewww fish skin!! Yeah I can't say I am a fan of fishing!Not too bad if I do say so myself!No worse than I would of done :)

I prepared the fish per recipe, and let it sit in the fridge while I finished the soup and prepped everything for the side dish!

For a side I knew I wanted Kale

Then I perused some cookbooks and stumbled upon this recipe in my NEW Giada cookbook.Note the new cook book is in the new cook book holder :) You can also find this recipe online here!

Onions, green beans and mushrooms sauteing...I chopped the mushrooms up real small because I love the flavor but hate the texture!Added the kale!The final step was the add lemon juice (which made it so awesome), and Parmesan. Then I took the fish out of the oven, let it sit a few minutes and opened the packet!
Yummm!!! Plus you gotta love easy foil clean up when cooking fish. I think next time I'd add some capers to this mixture.

My first plate
I went back for a tiny bit more fish, and some more greens.

For me, the fish was great but the green beans and Kale were SO AWESOME!!! The veggies were just SO flavorful, and that last splash of lemon juice at the end really made it into an amazing side dish.

Even though there were many aspects to this meal, each portion was so simple that it didn't even seem like that much work...which I liked, obviously.

You know what goes great after a delicious dinner...

An amazing homemade dessert...yeah not so much. Sometimes I wish warm chocolate chip cookies would just appear. The roomie and I just sat there talking about delicious desserts that would taste incredible if we had them...

waffle sundaes, crepes with nutella, brownie sundaes...you know the usual.

We settled withFast mock-cheesecake/danish wannabes. Graham cracker, reduced fat Neufchatel cheese, and raspberry fruit spread!

I foresee myself falling asleep real soon because of my early morning. Tomorrow the roomie and I are meeting one of our other friends who is getting married and her maid of honor (roomie and I are bridesmaids), and we are trying on bridesmaid dresses! Then seeing Bride Wars!! There's nothing better than combining wedding related activities in the same day as wedding movies!!! I live for days like that haha.

Good Night My People!