Final 2011 Food Wrap Up: Giving Thanks This Year

As you know, the holidays have been hard on me as we move farther and farther west. It just so expensive to get back home… so we just don’t go. Which makes me a little sad as I miss my family. However, we still had a really nice Thanksgiving this year that was just the right size and with just the right people. As I mentioned in my Exiting Hibernation post, I had been feeling out of sorts, and this gathering was one of the highlights of my fall. It lifted my spirits greatly.

Busy getting ready

Time to Eat!

Thank you R, L, and I for being mine and Robert’s Thanksgiving family for the second year in a row! I am truly thankful to have such lovely people in my life.

We stuffed ourselves silly with an abundance of good food and then played a competitive round of Quiddler. Lesson learned: you will learn some new words when you play with a biologist!

Now, on to the food. We did it pot luck style, and we brought several contributions. To make sure we had veggies, we made our favorite Hearty Winter Salad that makes regular appearances at our dinner table.

My Mom’s Artichoke Dip is a classic in our family. She has been making it for as long as I can remember. It is super simple and tasty. I definitely recommend you give it a try at your next gathering. I like to serve it with Triscuits. There are no pictures of the appetizers. By the time we started thinking about pictures, they were long gone!

Mom’s Artichoke Dip Recipe

Ingredients

2 jars of marinated artichoke hearts, drained

¼ cup of sour cream

¼ cup of mayonnaise

¼ cup of Parmesan cheese

Directions

Combine all ingredients in food processor. Process until desired consistency (I prefer mine to be fairly smooth).

Place in small dish and bake at 350 degrees for 15 – 30 minutes or until bubbly.

We brought two appetizers. Again, these were gone by the time we started taking pictures. We also made some stuffed mushrooms with cheese and spinach that were quite tasty. I think I picked the recipe because I had some spinach I wanted to use. Conveniently, the crumbs from the cutting the bread up for stuffing worked for this recipe. My only criticism is that it really made way more stuffing than needed, and we even increased the amount of mushrooms. I felt it “overstuffed” them. Unfortunately, I can’t find the recipe. However, it was pretty basic. Chop and sauté the mushroom stems with some butter and sherry. We also added some shallots. Mix in some bread crumbs and chopped fresh spinach. Top with cheese. Bake until bubbly.

This Sausage, Fig and Cranberry Stuffing (really it is dressing since it was not stuffed in anything) recipe was a new adventure for us. We pretty much followed it as is, but added some diced pear that needed to be used up, as well. We also used bourbon as the liquor. It is a little on the boozy side, but it was quite tasty! I would recommend it.

Here is a recap of our day in pictures:

Our lovely hostess

Max is camera-averse. He turns away if you try to take his picture.

Table is set

Beautifully roasted

Discussing the temperature

Carving the turkey

Mashed sweet potatoes

Can't have turkey without gravy!

Look at all that scrumptious food

Sweet Finish 1: Pumpkin Bourbon Cheesecake

Sweet Finish 2: Pecan Pie with Chocolate and Bourbon

Yes, it appears bourbon was a meal theme