Thanksgiving Results

Thanksgiving was an odd day this year. Being a new mom and newly engaged we decided to spend the holiday on our own as a family, just the three of us. This marked the first Thanksgiving that I was not with my parents and sisters. It also meant no football games or Thanksgiving Day Parade. It meant no obnoxious people or relatives. So, our day was quiet. We woke up and went for a run as a family in the ghost town of Ripon, Wisconsin. Then we got home and slowly worked on prepping our meal and began cooking our meal. In between cooking and listening to Christmas music (FINALLY!), Andy and I snuck in a game of Monopoly, which has always been one of my favorites. I got Andy hooked on it, too.


Overall, the food was delicious, and we ate well that night. The green beans were a little under-seasoned, but for a girl who isn't a green bean fan, I thought they were alright. Naturally, all that cooking means a lot of cleaning.

Our kitchen mid-day

But we kept up with it all and did multiple loads of dishes throughout the day. I'm a big believer in cleaning as you go (Andy seems to believe otherwise).


The cranberries were beyond tart! I knew that was the point, but I couldn't get past a few small bites. Andy, on the other hand, loved them. Alex, after making a few disgusted faces, enjoyed them, too. 

Cointreau Cranberry Relish

The stuffing was quite tasty but not how I expected it to taste. The Cooking Light recipe that we used had you make your own cornbread, but in an attempt to make things easier, we used a basic box mix. However, I think the box made more than what the recipe would have so the stuffing was heavy on the cornbread. Now extra cornbread is not exactly bad, but it overpowered the jalapeno and chorizo's spiciness just a little too much. I was hoping for a little bit more of a zip! So, my advice would be to stick with the recipe and nix the shortcut. I will say, Alex was a huge fan. He ate most of the leftovers, too.

My plate of deliciousness

            

The sweet potato gnocchi was great! Andy did a fantastic job with it. He put crushed red peppers on a plate and poured oil over it and let it soak for several hours so that the oil took on the taste of peppers. He sauteed the gnocchi in the hot pepper oil and then cooked them with pecans in maple syrup and bourbon. So we had two dishes that played with the balance between sweet and spicy. However, the gnocchi was the clear winner.    

Sweet Potato Gnocchi Pre-Baking

                                            

That day I also prepped homemade spiced cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Friday morning. The recipe came from Cooking Light. I have included the link here. They were pretty easy to make on a technicality scale, but they were a little involved. You have to let the dough rest several times. It actually worked well to make them on Thanksgiving because I could cook other dishes while waiting for the cinnamon roll dough to rise. Once I had them all rolled up, I parbaked the rolls and then kept them in the fridge until Friday morning. Then on Friday while I let them finish baking in the oven, I made the glaze to pour over them. Yum!

Par-Baked Spiced Cinnamon Rolls

All in all, a nice turn out of food and a sweet day spent with my family, and gave me the break I needed to remember why I am so lucky and to be truly thankful for all of my blessings.

Happy Holidays!

-Kate