Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Thanksgiving 2010

This Thanksgiving I have a lot to be thankful for. Despite my attempts to avoid family gatherings by working three shifts this week, people worked around my schedule to make sure I could participate. I ended up going to a total of four meals, and inevitably there was cooking involved. I made a pumpkin pie, a carrot dish, and cornbread stuffing. The pumpkin pie was made from the recipe on the back of the can - does wonders every time :) The carrot recipe was from an Israeli friend who has great recipes for all kinds of Mediterranean-type foods.



Moroccan Carrot Salad: Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 lbs Carrots
Fresh parsley, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped very finely
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp sweet Moroccan paprika
lemon juice from one large lemon
a dash of pepper
salt to taste, roughly 1 tsp
Golden Raisins (optional)
Preparation:
1. Peel and trim carrots, place in pot of water and bring to a boil. (If using raisins, simmer them in broth until plump.)
2. Cook until a fork is inserted easily but don't overcook as carrots will be too soft.
3. Slice carrots in thin rounds, or use a corrugated vegetable knife to cut rippled carrots (very professional  looking!)
4. Add olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, paprika, a dash of pepper, and salt.
5. Stir well and add chopped parsley and golden raisins
6. Taste salad, it should have a slightly tart garlic, lemony taste with a slight touch of paprika. Make sure there's enough salt to bring out the flavor, this is sometimes the difference between a good salad and a perfect one! Add more lemon juice if needed, and refrigerate before serving to allow the carrots to marinate a bit.

My friend also said to add cinnamon if you want to get really fancy. I much prefer cooked carrots over raw, and I recently learned that it actually helps the beta-carotene in carrots absorb at higher rates in your body if the carrots are cooked. A mixture of different raisins would make this dish extra colorful. 


For my second dinner, I made cornbread stuffing. I tested this recipe only about a week ago, but to be honest, I lost the real recipe. I did remember it was a mixture of cornbread, celery, onion, dried cranberries, and granny smith apples. Pretty much, I let the package size be my serving size, and it seemed to work out. The back of the dressing box also had instructions, so I could just follow them to determine proportions of broth and butter. 

Ingredients
2 boxes of Sage Cornbread Stuffing from Whole Foods 
5 stalks of celery, finely chopped
3 medium onions, finely chopped
1 small package of dried cranberries (Whole Foods brand had the least amount of added sugar)
3 granny smith apples, diced
2 2/3 cups vegetable broth
1 stick of butter, melted

Directions
1. Saute the onions and celery in a little bit of butter
2. Combine cornbread, onions, celery, cranberries, and apples in a large bowl
3. Pour broth and melted butter into the bowl and mix
4. If there is not enough moisture, add some water
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes covered with aluminum foil, and then 10 minutes uncovered. 





Saturday, December 26, 2009

Merry Christmas



It's been a while since I posted. Two big food holidays have passed and much food has been made.
There were carrot cake cupcakes...

There was a cake for Thanksgiving...

And some mini holiday fruit pies...

As well as a "College" Thanksgiving...

...and two pre-Christmas dinners with friends...

One of my roommates gave me a HUGE Martha Stewart Cookbook for Christmas, and Christmas Eve Dinner consisted of her glazed carrots and striped sea bass...I still have to upload those...
At first I was unsure how much I could really use Martha's book because a lot of recipes seemed unapproachable, but now that I have tried two of them...Glazed Carrots with Whole Spices and Rosemary:

and Roasted Sea Bass:

The carrots are definitely going to be repeated, and the Sea Bass was pretty good too - although the fennel and white wine did little to add to the flavor. I think the cookbook is just right of amount of challenge to help me learn new things.
I have said before how I am a fan of going to company websites to find recipes... well while we were snowed in last weekend we made white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies with the ghiradelli recipe and they were delicious...


Saturday, November 14, 2009

College Students are kind of like Pilgrims, right?


One of my good friends is going to Paris over Thanksgiving break, and I promised her I would make her a Thanksgiving dinner to make up for the one she will miss. There definitely has to be turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy. Pumpkin pie is also a possibility if there is time. In order to make this dinner without missing class I am breaking the preparation up into phases.
Phase 1: Weekend Before

-Celery and Onion Stuffing: My mom's classic stuffing is just a cup of onion and celery per serving, the instructions are on the bag. If the stuffing has actually been inside the turkey it can last for a few days in the fridge and I think the condensation from the plastic wrap adds moisture, somehow.
-Cranberry Sauce: I have never made this before but Alton Brown always makes recipes in a classic sort of way, and classic seems to be the theme.

Phase 2: Day/Night Before

-Cook Turkey: My turkey is coming from Whole Foods, but I think the most important thing is that it has a plastic popper to tell you when it's done cooking. Even a small turkey takes several hours, so I will put it in the oven as soon as I get back from class the night before and refridgerate it over night.

Phase 3: Day of the Meal
-Bake sweet potatoes: My friend is in charge of sweet potatoes; she covers them in maple syrup, brown sugar and mini marshmellows -delicious!
-Make instant gravy: Because it's necessary, but a pain to make.
-Buy fresh bread: Optional, but I think every good meal could use some good bread.

Dinner is planned for Wednesday night, so I will be recording all my problems and successes for the first thanksgiving dinner in my own apartment.