Now I Know

Unintentional post, as I actually have a real one in the works, but I thought you all would enjoy this "test" I found on another blog.

I really haven't drunk that much coffee, nowhere near enough to be 1.33 levels away from near death, but I keep thinking about more. And energy drinks. And stuff with caffeine (but not chocolate). That's what I get for not doing yoga this morning.

How caffeinated are you today?

(EoP)

Thanksgiving Flashback, Two

Continuing where I left off, this post focuses on the main event -- the Thanksgiving dinner. Above is the cranberry sauce I made the night before. Very simple, but it's one of my favorite things to make. It tastes great on just about everything and can be used in more ways than as an accompaniment to turkey.

For the rolls, I went with the standard refrigerator rolls that I've used many times before. These keep all the prep we did on Thanksgiving to a minimum. Very soft, flavorful rolls with a pretzel-ish crust, everyone enjoys eating these.

Green bean casserole; one day, I will try making this from scratch

Sometimes the marshmallows deflate after browning. I've found that it's because you bake it when deflation occurs, because this time I broiled the mallows and it didn't shrink at all. The only difference is that, since the marshmallows retain their shape, it won't have that melted creaminess coating the sweet potato chunks.

I don't think so, Merry

D.W. cooked quicker than we planned, but Mom was able to keep it warm without overcooking and drying out the meat much. Bad, D.W.!

Pretty table

I'm not sure how we ever got along trying to put all the sides on the main table before, but it's much easier to set everything buffet-style and have each person get their own food. Except the turkey.

My plate on the first go-around


Sparkling apple cider


The end of dinner

Since dinner was actually around 1320, there were a few hours between it and dessert. That didn't stop me from snacking while watching a Thanksgiving episode of Gilmore Girls. Pumpkin dip made from cream cheese, marshmallow fluff, pumpkin, and besides the spices and orange zest, there may have been another ingredient I am forgetting. Anyway, it was really good, though not as thick as I would have liked it (I scaled back from the original amounts and wasn't really trying to figure it out since this was last-minute the night before Thanksgiving). I served the dip with cinnamon graham crackers, but it would have tasted better accompanied with mini gingersnaps. This also tasted really good spread on pancakes.

My apple pie was renamed to 'Elephant Man Apple Pie' by my mom. I wasn't insulted, I was thinking myself that it looked... rustic. All joking aside, it actually looks nice.

Taste-wise, I thought it could have been spicier, just a little sweeter, and it could have had a bit more 'sauce' on the inside. Other than that, the apples weren't mush and it did taste fine.

What do all these pictures have in common? The dominant color is golden brown. Seriously, all the food has the same color!

But I digress.

A pumpkin roll is nice if you don't feel like eating pie, and you don't want to bother with a layered cake. Simple to make, you could even pre-slice it and place the slices in a container separated by a layer of wax paper. Have any leftover cranberry sauce? Place a spoonful on the plate.

I'm missing a picture of pumpkin pie because I never took a picture of it. By the time I ate a slice, I was simply too tired to bother, so I'll tell you about it (again) now. This is the best recipe I've found for pumpkin pie. Perfectly spicy, very custardy and smooth, there's nothing to hate about it. It's not overly sweet, either.

So ends another year of Thanksgiving blogging!

Thanksgiving Flashback, One

Honestly, no matter how much I wanted to there was no way I was going to post right after Thanksgiving. I think I wash more dishes in the months of November and December than any other month throughout the entire year. (It was worth it, definitely.)

This is called 'fun with turkey'. My mom was prepping it and called me over. "Who does this look like to you?" Seriously? After telling her that I had absolutely no idea, even though there are some people who could resemble an animal, like dogs and their owners (but never an aardvark), she said it looked like the character D.W. from the kid's series 'Arthur', the one about the aardvark.

Shy D.W.

Mom read somewhere that cooling down the breast meat before roasting helped to make the cooking time even, helping the thigh and breast meat finish cooking roughly around the same time.

Coy D.W.

Here's D.W. before being put in the oven. My mom decided on a brief stint in the oven to give D.W. some color, then popping her into the roaster to finish cooking.

Cider serving station

Probably my most favorite part of Thanksgiving is the hot spiced cider. I look forward to it more than anything, really. Yes, I still consume many cups of coffee, but nothing is better than watching the parade while sipping a mug of cider.

We don't really have a regular breakfast on Thanksgiving, though we normally make something to nosh on. Well, we forgot. Luckily, there was leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge (from another meal) and I came up with the idea of making potato-sausage patties. I cooked the remaining sage sausage that my mom used for the cornbread dressing, added that with an egg and some flour, shredded cheese, salt, 'baby bam!' seasoning I mixed up earlier, then I formed the mixture into patties and dipped each side in flour. That really helped it brown nicely and kept the soft mixture easy to work.

As another snackable, I made banana muffins from Once Upon a Tart cookbook. I really like this recipe, though it's not my ultimate favorite recipe for banana bread. This version, though, has whole wheat flour, which I figured would be better to have for breakfast. The finished muffin is not heavy at all, and there are some banana chunks. Instead of the poppy seeds the recipe uses (I had none left), I used roughly the same amount of finely chopped pecans. You couldn't taste it because the pecans weren't toasted, but I'm sure it lent a nice flavor.

What's especially nice about the muffin recipes in OUaT cookbook is that it produces nicely crowned muffin tops. Very aesthetically pleasing, even though you shouldn't judge a muffin by its top.

Next post will feature the remaining process of cooking stuff that led to the feast.

Cider, potato-sausage patties, and Merry