Thanksgiving!

So Thanksgiving has come and gone and I finally have a chance to post a little bit about all the goodies I made this week.  While I know none of this will be helpful for anybody this Thanksgiving, lots of the these recipes will be great for any time of the year.  For now I will post a list of what Guy and I (and my mom) prepared with a few pictures, and then use this opportunity to spread the recipes out over the course of many posts.  I don't think I could fit them all into one post anyway.

So here is what we had for Thanksgiving at my house:

• Gruyère and parmesan cheese gougères
• Bacon and cheese stuffed mushrooms
• Clear wild mushroom soup
• Celery granita
• Sweet potato casserole with mini marshmallows
• Potato gratin with gruyère and parmesan (aka Pie Guy)
• Sauteed mushrooms with white wine
• Green beans with garlic and pine nuts
• Challah dressing
• Apricot and Sherry cranberry sauce
• Mushroom and white wine gravy
• Parmesan herb butter roasted turkey
• Maple glazed roasted turkey
• Creamy pumpkin and yam pie
• Apple cranberry crisp
• Black forest cake

As you can see... I have been busy.  Guy and I didn't even get a chance to take pictures of everything we made! =( But we did the best we could, and I hope the pictures we did take will be enough.  And no worries, we will be making many of these again soon, and hopefully we will be relaxed enough to get some pictures the next time.

For now, here is my current go-to cranberry sauce recipe.  Cranberry sauce is one of the easiest make ahead items for Thanksgiving, and trust me, the more you can prepare in advance, the better off you will be come thursday evening.  This is also great to use as a jelly or to add to your sandwiches of leftover turkey! mmmmm!

Spirited Apricot Cranberry Sauce:

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine Nov. 1999

1/2  cup dried apricots, sliced

1/4  cup sweet sherry*

3/4  cup water

2/3  cup sugar

1/4  cup honey

1     cinnamon stick

1/8  teaspoon ground nutmeg

2     teaspoons lemon zest

12   oz. fresh or frozen cranberries

*If you don't want to use alcohol you could use orange juice instead. It won't be quite as good though.  For an alcoholic alternative, port would be awful tasty =)

Step 1:

Soak the sliced apricots in sherry overnight or about 8 hours.

Step 2:

Rinse and drain the cranberries if they are fresh.

Step 3:

In a saucepan combine water and sugar until sugar has dissolved and mixture begins to boil.

Step 4:

Add cranberries, apricots, honey and cinnamon stick and continue to cook over medium heat.  Stir often until cranberries break down and mixture starts to thicken (about 10 minutes). 

Step 5:

Add nutmeg and lemon zest and stir to combine.

Step 6:

Transfer to a container and refrigerate for a few hours or until needed. (don't forget to take out the cinnamon stick before serving!)

Which Recipe Next?!

Here is a poll for you to decide which of my Thanksgiving feast recipes you want me to blog about next!

Cast your vote!

p.s. 

How cool is fresh nutmeg?! I didn't really notice a difference in flavor, but I just love looking at it!