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!!

Willow Tree Farm: Chicken Pie!

For some reason, chicken pot pies are never something I think of making, or even buying for that matter.   I don't know why though, they are the epitome of comfort food, and it let's you have "pie" for dinner!

Recently, the nice people at Willow Tree Farm asked if I'd like to try out their chicken pot pies to review, and I gladly accepted.  Willow Tree is a local family owned and operated company out of Attleboro, MA specializing in chicken...especially chicken pies and chicken salad.

In most grocery stores around New England you can find their chicken pies in the freezer section and their chicken salad at the deli.

I selected their Chicken Pie with vegetables which had carrots, peas, and green beans.

With the heat we've been experiencing around here this summer, I was holding out for a "cooler" day to turn the oven on for this meal.  My wish finally came true this past Sunday when we had a nice day in the 70's ;)

Preparation is simple, place the pie on a baking sheet and bake for 1hr 15min.  I took the suggestion on the box to brush the crust with milk first to give it a nice golden brown finish.

Before we knew it, dinner was ready.  We had simple side salads to go with our meal.  The pie technically has 3 servings but if it's your main course I would say it feeds 2...we had no problem eating the whole thing.

Unlike some chicken pot pies this one only has a top crust which I really like!  Most of the time I feel like the bottom crust is just a filler and gets soggy anyways...this also keeps the calories down a bit.

I really enjoyed the big hunks of white meat, and the filling was nice and salty...in a good way, at least I thought so.  The crust was crisp and golden brown..good, but not as tender and flaky as it could of been.

I'd love to see them make a pie with just real butter and/or olive oil, instead of the shortening and soy or palm oils, but that would be my only gripe.

This would be a perfect meal for a brisk fall or winter day when you want something homemade but don't have the time.  Throw one of these pies in the oven, go do your other tasks around the house, and dinner's ready!

If you live in the area you can also check the Willow Tree Farm retail store  in Attleboro where they that pies, chicken salad and so much more!  I love their seafood salad and wish I could eat it more often, and they also make an awesome buffalo chicken dip which I ate copious amounts of at a friends house on Superbowl Sunday :)

They also have fresh turkeys you can order for the holidays...my "house Thanksgiving" 2 years ago used a Willow Tree bird and it was delicious.

Big thanks to Willow Tree Farm for providing me with the chicken pie!

Disclaimer: I received a coupon for a free chicken pie, but all opinions are always my own.

Do you rely on frozen meals sometimes??  As much as I love cooking everything homemade as often as I can…I also have to be realistic in that I keep my schedule pretty jam packed which leaves very little time for dinner some nights.  However, when I do by frozen foods I always makes sure the ingredient list is good and not filled with crap or chemicals :) 

Milky Way Tart & other Treats

Happy Halloween!

While I didn’t dress up or get scared by any costumes this year…I think most of us around here got quite the surprise by the freak snow storm we got last night! 

We were luckier than some, but unfortunately Brian and I did return to a power-less house last night!  I’m just SO thankful it came back on early this morning, because I know a lot of people are still in the dark!

On the upside, we had a fabulous evening at Megan and her fiancé Jeff’s condo last night!

Megan, working with the Tri Lamb group, hosted a Fall themed pot luck with a lamb dish being the focus of the meal!  Brian and I both love lamb, so we were excited about it!

The recipe she was sent to make was for a lamb pizza with goat cheese and arugula!  I was a BIG fan of this pizza!!

There was also a plethora of other treats:  cheese, crackers, meats, hummus, Elina’s spinach artichoke dip, Justin’s white chili, Emily’s pretzel bites, butternut squash soup, and more I can’t even remember.

p.s. I want this cheese board (actually I think I registered for it, but never got it…bummer)

There were even “lamb jokes” spread around the room

(the sLAMBer…get it?)

It was a really relaxing night, and I realized no one else was taking too many pictures, so I just put my camera away too :)

I do, however, have plenty of shots from the making of my dessert :)  Megan made some gorgeous mini chocolate orange cupcakes, and the cutest pumpkin/chocolate tartlets! 

I was trying to think of a “fall” dessert, but instead went more for a “Halloween” theme…candy!

As soon as I flipped to it’s page in the Flour Bakery cookbook, I knew it would be a winner!

Milky Way Tart!

I’m a big fan of the candy bar, especially the mini version, but this tart just takes it to a whole new level of awesome!

It’s a fairly simple ingredient list, and procedure, however the different components have different cooling times needed so be sure to read the WHOLE recipe before you dive in!  In that same regard, this would also be a great dessert that you could prepare all the components a head of time!

Lucky for you I found this whole recipe reprinted online, so I will link over to it and just give you my notes :) 

Find recipe here (although I HIGHLY recommend just buying the book, it’s a good one!!)

Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery + Cafe

As I said, very simple ingredients…

• I made the chocolate cream for the mousse first thing in the morning, as it needs to chill for AT LEAST 8 hours!
• I used instant espresso powder instead of instant coffee and only used 1 tsp.  I was worried it was still too coffee tasting, but the final product was amazing and you couldn’t detect the coffee.  My mom loved it and she hates coffee, so don’t worry about that and DON’T skip the coffee!
• I love making caramel
• The caramel needs to cool for at least 4 hours, so I made it around noon

I always use my copper pot for caramel :)

• Have your caramel ingredients measured out and ready before starting to cook the sugar

In no time you’ll have gorgeous caramel

A little later I got to work on the dough for the crust

• I used a rectangular tart pan, as opposed to the circular one in the recipe, and in my case my crust cooked faster!
• I checked the dough at 25 min and it was even slightly more browned than I would have liked, but luckily not burned and still delicious.
• Once the crust was cooled, I whipped the mousse.
• The recipe says soft peaks, and I did just that, but I think I could have whipped it a tad longer and will next time.
• I also let the caramel come more to room temp before spreading it into the crust just to make it easier.
• When it says the milk chocolate should be slightly warm for ideal “curling” conditions, we’re talking on the verge of melting warm!  Mine wasn’t really warm enough, nor did I have a long enough piece so my curls didn’t really curl.

In the end, it came out lovely :)  At this point it was supposed to chill for 30 min to set, however we were late and I decided I could let it chill at Megan’s place.  Not the best idea as it shifted a little en route, and was a little “melty”, but luckily no one cared because it tasted great. 

I can’t wait to make this again!!  Everyone seemed to really like it which is always a relief :) 

This is an impressive looking dessert, and even though it takes some time, it’s very straightforward and everyone will love it :) 

Megan told me they would make this as mini tarts in the Bakery…LOVE that idea :)

Hope you have lots of treats (and no tricks) this Halloween.

Hmmm guess we should actually get some candy for the trick-or-treaters…

So, what's your favorite candy??     I love Twix, sour patch kids, peanut M&M’s, and the Midnight milky ways (ooo that would be a yummy Tart too!)

Thanksgiving Part 2...3...?

Phew...I'm exhausted! We just finished doing LOADS of dishes and cleaning the war zone that was our kitchen about an hour ago. I have SO many pictures I want to share but I think I may have to do this in various posts from now until tomorrow....I need some sleep tonight too :)

There were a few struggles along the way, and I was worried a few things weren't going to come out right but in the end I have to say EVERYTHING was awesome!!

Let's rewind to Saturday morning. We had to get going early and finish the necessary grocery shopping. That's right...white bread. The 1 time of year I purchase this. We always get so excited though because there's something about a super soft fresh slice of white bread when you haven't had any since this time last year...its like a special treat. I broke off half a slice, spread some nice soft butter on top and savored every bite. So nostalgic...we used to always have bread and butter at my grandmothers house!

Are these not the most beautiful carrots you've ever seen?? They had yellow carrots too! They aren't parsnips, they were "rainbow carrots" The oranges ones were HUGE!!
That's a normal sized fork!! I mean those carrots were massive...very tasty though.

Saturday is when I get most of my baking out of the way because the oven is occupied most of the day Sunday for the turkey. I started rolling out crusts for the butterscotch pie and for roomie's pumpkin pie.
Lot's of flour for the counter and rolling pin...I will say that I should of added more water to this dough, especially since I chilled it overnight. It was a little difficult to work with, but this is how you learn.

I think I'm getting better at the crimping of the edges...my mom does it do effortlessly and it always looks beautiful, mine takes a lot longer. Don't forget to poke it with a fork if your baking it without filling.
10-15 Minutes later, and nice and golden...
Then it was time to get to work on my Mini Cranberry Orange Cheesecakes! I tend to do some of the same desserts every year, and they are classics everyone likes BUT I decided to switch things up this year...I mean in 4 days I'll be having another Thanksgiving with all the classic pies.

Last year I did mini lemon meringue pies which were awesome, but I didn't feel like making lemon filling, so I went for a cheesecake with the citrus burst.

The recipes started off based on this recipe...Giada of course. I made the chocolate crust...Crushed the chocolate wafer cookies by placing them in a big Ziploc bag and smooshing them with a rolling pin
Combined with the melted butter
Then pressed the mixture into each well of the mini muffin tin!
I combined the cheesecake mixture in the food processor...ricotta, cream cheese, eggs, sugar, and orange zest!Blended til smooth, then distributed the filling into the mini muffin tin, on top of the crusts!
These had to bake in a water bath, then cooled in the fridge before trying to remove them from their homes :) I will follow up with the Cheesecakes tomorrow...but I will say they were divine!

During all the cooking and baking you forget to actually prepare a meal...but all of a sudden get sooo hungry. I dove into the freezer for another quick meal. I bought this at...yes...Trader Joe's... a while ago and have been waiting for the perfect time to break it out.YUM!!!!! SO good! This was a great pick-me-up. Plus it was split 3 ways so a lot less guilt :)
I think that's enough for now...I need my bed asap! Can't wait to get in a super gym workout tomorrow evening...I don't even want to think about my calorie intake this weekend!! At least I was on my feet 90% of the time!