Week 4 of #100daysofthanksgiving

Week 4

Day 22: 11/22: I am thankful for positive vibes from the world around me: Live a Great Story.

Day 23: 11/23: I am thankful for silly traditions with my Auntie.

Day 24: 11/24: I am thankful for a surprise picture of my Maman (on the left).

Day 25: 11/25: I am thankful for remembering to make things well in advance for Thanksgiving.

Day 26: 11/26: I am thankful to not be covered in snow, or even chilliness, this holiday weekend.

Day 27: 11/27: I am thankful for my family, new and old, who joined us for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Day 28: 11/28: I am thankful for my father and my friend Jen who made it possible to surprise my Husband.

Our Last Friendsgiving...for now.

Thanksgiving Breakfast

I did a 5K with Sarah and Janet <Go Shorties of the Galaxy!> and part of my bribe to get them to do it with me was having breakfast for them at my house.

Janet wanted to have Pumpkin Parfait which is a recipe that she found. I wanted to serve something for those people who weren't participating in the race so I found a Crockpot Breakfast Casserole

Pumpkin Parfait

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa, well rinsed

1 3/4 cups water

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup gingersnap crumbs

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 cups pumpkin puree

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cloves

2 cups vanilla Greek yogurt

Directions

Bring the quinoa, water and cinnamon to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the water has been absorbed, about 15 minutes and set aside.

Mix the gingersnap crumbs, sugar, pecans and butter until it forms crumbs, spread in a single layer over a baking pan and bake in a preheated 350 F oven until lightly golden brown, about 7-10 minutes and set aside.

Mix the pumpkin puree with the brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and set aside

Place 1/4 cup of yogurt into 4 large glasses and top with 1/4 cup quinoa and 1/4 cup of pumpkin, repeat with a another set of layers an top off with a tablespoon of the pecan streusel.

Crockpot Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients

6 Eggs
1/4 cup of milk
1/2 of a bag of Hash Browns
1 Green Pepper diced
1 small bag of Sharp Cheddar cheese grated
1 medium onion diced
Directions
Whisk the eggs and milk together and set aside. Grease your crock pot and place the hash browns on the bottom.  Then put your onion on top of that.  Next top with cheese, then peppers, and then start all over and layer again.  Reserve about 1/4 cup of cheese.  When you're done layering, dump the eggs over the entire thing.  Place your crock pot on low heat and let cook for 5-8 hours.
This recipe will feed about 2-4 people.  For a 4-6 family, double the recipe.

Forgot to take a photo of this one. I needed a bit of hot sauce or salt and pepper. Nevertheless, this is dish was, of course, delish. It has cheese and potato in it.

After this wonderful prelude came dinner.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Dinner consisted of a group effort, as per the tradition.

Husband made the Better Homes and Gardens Roasted Turkey, the Better Homes and Gardens Old Fashioned Bread Stuffing (and dressing), and the Mulled Wine.

I made Chocolate Whiskey Pecan Pie; Brie, Apple, and Onion Canapes; Cranberry Sauce; and Punch Mixers.

Here is the Punch I made to order during Cocktail hour:

Apple Cider Sangria (varied a bit)

ingredients:

Champagne or sparkling wine
2 1/2 cups fresh apple cider
1/2 cup brandy
3 honey crisp apples, chopped
directions:

Combine all ingredients together and stir, stir, stir. Refrigerate for an hour or so (or longer!) before serving.

Cranberry Champagne Cocktail

Ingredients
1 ounce cranberry juice (sweetened)
1 tablespoon of lime juice
Champagne or sparkling wine
Cranberries (frozen)
Directions
In a chilled Champagne flute add cranberry juice and a squeeze of lime. Top off the glass with Champagne. Garnish with 3 or 4 Sugared Cranberries.

We had 12 people at table with 3 more popping by for dessert.

Sarah made mashed potatoes.
Kim made her sweet potatoes and candied bourbon pecans.
Jesse made her green bean casserole.
Janet brought 2 different salads.
Kevin brought pumpkin pie.
Felicia made apple pie.
Kris and Logan made Brussels Sprouts.
Daddy and Carolyn and all the rest of us ate the food with happy hearts and great thanksgiving.

Excuse me, I am going to play some celebratory Rockband now (which is also one of our traditions).

Until the next Thanksgiving....

Do it for you...The What I Made The Day Before Thanksgiving

The If you haven't figured it out yet: you should always plan to have a least half (in my opinion) of your Thanksgiving dinner made before hand. Then that other half can be what people are bringing and the Turkey, Stuffing, and (if your my Husband, cuz he is picky about them) Mashed Potatoes.

So this is what I made ahead for Thanksgiving this year: The Appetizers (well, one of them as the other takes about 2 minutes to prep), Chocolate Whiskey Pecan Pie, Cranberry Sauce, and Cocktail Hour Punch Mixers.

Onion, Apple, Brie Canapes - A Cat Bock Original

Tools:

Large Skillet

Mini Muffin Tin

Cooking Spray

Ingredients:

1 large onion, finely sliced (I decided to use red this year and give it that extra time to caramelize)

1 tablespoon salt 

2 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoon of thyme

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup apple cider

2 tablespoons of cornstarch (last year, it was flour and I think it bulked the dish verses just thickening)

2 green apples, peeled, cored, and grated (the grating is a new twist. Since I knew I was using a mini muffin tin, the smaller the apple, the more tart like it would look)

8 oz of brie, diced *It isn't necessary, but it is take less time to cook if you take off at least some of the rind*

1 package of Puff Pastry

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet, oven medium heat, melt butter.

Add onions to the butter, sprinkling the salt over then as they soften to pull out the juices.

Allow onions to cook, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and lightly browned.

Add thyme and apple cider to the onions. Cook until reduced and syrupy.

Add balsamic vinegar to the onions and apple cider. Cook until reduced and syrupy.

Combine enough apple cider with cornstarch to make it into a liquid form and then thoroughly stir it into the syrupy sauce and onions.

Allow the onions and sauce to reduce and thicken even more. 

Add apples to onion mix and allow to cook further until the apples are soft.

Once apples are soft, reduce heat to low and stir in brie. Stir often to encourage the cheese to melt. 

**Don't be tempted to turn up the heat, as this will increase the chance of burning the filling.**

Slow and steady wins the yummy race.

Alternatively, you can just top the cups with a small slice of brie after spooning in the onion and apple mixture. Which is what I opted to do this year.
Once all the ingredients are well combined, allow the filling to cool slightly to thicken into a manageable consistency and scoop into a mini muffin tin cup lined with puff pastry or pie crust. 
<Refrigerate now if baking on the day of. > Bake as dough instructs you too.

This is a recipe I came up with myself. Most people I tell about it look at me like I am crazy. They haven't tried it yet. Everyone who attends our Friendsgiving agree that they are excellent. This year they became an appetizer and bite size. It all started out as a pie.

Chocolate-Whiskey Pecan Pie

Ingredients

1 cup  light corn syrup                                                   

3/4  cup  light brown sugar

4  tablespoons  unsalted butter, melted                                

3  large eggs

2  tablespoons  whiskey                                                                

1/4  teaspoon  kosher salt

2  cups  pecan halves                                                     

1/2  cup  semisweet chocolate chips

9-inch basic flaky piecrust, unbaked

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Whisk together corn syrup, brown sugar, butter, eggs, whiskey, and salt; fold in pecans and chocolate chips.

Pour mixture into the pie crust and bake until the center is set but still slightly wobbly, 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Gobble Gobble!

I like to save about 1/3 of the pecans out to make a fun design on top as well a bit of pie crust to make a little cookie. I allowed it to cool completely before covering and refrigerating it.

Design with Pecans!

Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients

4 cups (1 12 ounce bag) cranberries

1 cup water or orange juice or apple juice

1 cup sugar

Directions

Bring everything to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the cranberries burst and the sauce starts to thicken, about 10-15 minutes.

I used a bit of apple cider and marmalade and it made a very nice version of the apple/orange cranberry sauce I like.

Sugared Cranberries

Sugared Cranberries for Garnish

2 cups sugar, divided

1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries

Directions

Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved, about 2-3 minutes which makes a simple syrup. Stir in cranberries until well coated. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to wire rack; let dry for at least 1 hour.

Working in batches, roll cranberries in remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar until well coated; let dry for at least 1 hour.

I made the simple syrup and let them sit in it for about 3 hours. Then I pulled them out to dry and coated them with granulated sugar and let them dry for another hour before refrigerating them.

So now, everything that I planned on making for Thanksgiving is prepped. On Thursday, the Canapes, Cranberry sauce, and Pie will need to be pulled out of the fridge to bring them to room temperature. I will bake the Canapes before the Turkey goes in and plate theman hour or so before cocktail hour. The Punches decided on, poured, and garnished. The Pepper Jelly Cream Cheese stacked and the crackers arranged in an attractive fashion. I will have plenty of time to transform our living room into a large dining room, set the table, apply a centerpiece, candles, and place cards, prep the sidebar as a buffet, and be MORE than ready to receive 14 people into my home.

That's how I holiday!

Until tomorrow...

Husband's 31st birthday...I am married to an old man.

My Husband is my biggest cooking fan, I think. I do realize that it is directly linked to the fact that he benefits most from my love of cooking, but it is more than that. Yes, he gets to be a fat kid with the delights that I make before anyone else does. Yes, he has only "heated up premade frozen food" <Specifically, the Eggplant Cutlets from Trader Joe's> once since we got married. Yes, he is spoiled rotten thanks to the fact I prefer to be in the kitchen about 4-6 hours a week.

The REAL reason I believe that he is such a big fan is that I take him into consideration. I show my love by making things he would like and as well as inquiring about what interests his palate or not. So for his birthday I asked him what he wanted for his special dinner. It took him a while, but he finally landed on Beef Wellington* and (Whole) Baked Apple Dumplings. I took it a step farther and made a salted caramel sauce to top the apple dumplings with (and thus decided to not use the caramel candies inside the apples).

Here we go!

BEEF WELLINGTON

1 tbsp olive oil (not butter. Butter can burn to easily and this is a nice meal. No burny burn)

1 shallot, minced (you can sub onion, but shallot, though pricey, is worth it for this dish)

¼ lb mushrooms, sliced thin (shiitake are normally called for, but I don't have a refined palate for mushrooms, so I went with white, as that is what I had in my pantry)
1 clove of garlic, minced (don't add extra, trust me and this recipe)

2 8 oz filet mignon steaks (there were no Filets when I went to the store. I should have gone to handy market. 

Salt and Pepper

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 egg, beaten

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F.

Saute the mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and thyme in the olive oil until mushrooms are cooked.

Lightly flour a large board, and roll out pastry dough until square. Cut in half. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Salt and pepper the steaks, then over medium high heat, sear the steaks on all sides.

Place a seared steak on each half of the puff pastry dough. Top with mushroom mixture.

Fold pastry dough over the steak, folding over the edges to seal it. Press the edges down with a fork to make decorate.

Brush egg generously over each wellington.

Bake 20 min. uncovered. Serve immediately.

I served it with Oven Roasted Cauliflower covered in Bechamel. Not healthy, I know.

After searing the meat, let it rest for a bit to let the juices soak back up. 

Roll out the puff pastry so you have enough to wrap up the meat. 

Top with mushroom and shallot mixture.

The egg wash make the dough the pretty golden brown color.

This turned out very nicely except that I don't know how to make it medium versus the well done if came out.

Baked Apple Dumpling Recipe

Ingredients:

4 large granny smith apples, peeled and cored

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed <I used Pie crust. Turned out AWESOME>

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons corn starch

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 caramel candies <I instead mixed brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract with butter for the core>

2 eggs

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Salted Caramel Sauce for serving

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Mix the granulated sugar, corn starch, apple pie spice and salt in a shallow dish.

Cut both pieces of puff pastry in half so you have 4 rectangles. Use a rolling pin to gently roll out any cracks or creases. Then lay them on a large parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Roll 4 peeled and cored apples in the sugar mixture and set one in the middle of each piece of puff pastry.
Unwrap the caramels and stick 3 caramel squares down in the center of each apple.

To wrap each apple, pull the short sides of the puff pastry halfway up the side on the apple and hold them there with one hand. Then lift the longer sides up to the top and pinch the seams together on each side (over the short edges) to completely cover the apple. Pinch the excess puff pastry together at the top to seal, then arrange the flaps in a pretty way.

Then whisk 2 eggs with 2 tablespoons of water and brush the egg wash over each apple. Sprinkle the tops with sugar.

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP... Place the baking sheet with the wrapped apples in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to harden the puff pastry. This will ensure your puff pastry bakes in place and does not sag to the bottom. But don't leave them in the freezer longterm. You don't want the apples to freeze.

Once the puff pastry is hard, place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 25 minutes, until puffy and golden. Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Drizzle the tops with extra caramel sauce if you like!

Salted Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 tablespoons water

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

6 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Pour the water in a medium heavy-bottom sauce pot. Place over medium heat and add the sugar. Watch closely while the sugar dissolves and darken, 5-10 minutes.

The moment the sugar darkens to your desired color (somewhere between golden-brown and medium brown) remove from the heat and whisk in the heavy cream. *Darker caramels are really flavorful, but don't let the sugar get too dark, or you'll have to start over.

Once the cream is incorporated, stir in the butter, salt and vanilla until smooth. Serve warm, or jar and refrigerate until ready to use.

Not a great color on the caramel sauce, but the flavor was great!

I didn't use the caramels so I added a bit of extra brown sugarness.

Wrapped up all stuff.

Egg wash then patted down with sugar and spice.

Beautiful baked apple!

Carameling...

I needed to let the sugar and water cook longer to get the right color brown. Either way, these turned out GREAT! Both Husband and BROTHER loved them. I will certainly be making these again, but I will half the apple to increase the pie crust to apple ratio.

In summation, a most happy birthday to my partner, my love, my husband. I will continue to cook for you through hard times and good, sickness and health, easy conversations and disagreements, the mundane and holidays, pregnancy and children. Everyday I am capable, I will do my darndest to demonstrate my love (even if that isn't cooking!). Even when we are so old we have no teeth and can't enjoy anything except clear broth, I will continue to make the best dang broth with you in mind.

I love a pun...

Until the next birthday...


*The Beef Wellington choice which is a bonus for me as a lifelong friend, Carol Ward, requested I make this for her education. Seriously y'all, if you need suggestions/want me to make it first so I can share my insights with you, leave a comment or let me know on my Facebook Page! I can't PROMISE that I will make it immediately (or ever, to be honest), but the chances are good that if it piques my interest, I will attempt it when my weekly menu allows it.

BFMH (and BROTHER): Bacon Cinnamon Rolls

So BROTHER came in town very briefly this weekend.

So I, of course, had to make things that he would like. First up, I made Bacon Cinnamon Rolls.

Bacon Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
1 can Pillsbury Grands! Cinnamon Rolls (5 count)

5 bacon strips

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Place bacon strips in skillet and fry for 2-3 minutes until still soft but slightly cooked. Remove bacon and pat dry with paper towels.

Pop open the can of cinnamon rolls and unroll them into long strips. Lay one strip of bacon on each cinnamon roll strip, then roll them back up. Place each bacon roll in a greased pie pan.

Cook according to package instructions, then drizzle with icing from the package.

I think that if I make these in the future, I will precook the bacon a bit as I thought it still a bit too floppy after 25 minutes inside the cinnamon roll. Even with that, it is a total winner and incredibly easy. You're welcome internet.

Week 3 of a #100daysofthanksgiving

Week 3 of 100 days of Thanksgiving

Day 15: 11/15: Today I am thankful for my Husband's Birthday and the breakfast prepared for him.

Day 16: 11/16: Today I am thankful for friend who love snakebites, Doctor Who, and the fact that I arm knit.

Day 17: 11/17: I am thankful for Carthay Circle and the World of Color Dining Package.
I was able to see everything.

Day 18: 11/18: I am thankful for sidewalk chalk.

Day 19: 11/19: I am thankful for playing puppies who make me smile.

Day 20: 11/20: I am thankful for the life of Karen Oakes. This Lady was full of positive light and love, with a joy that came from deep inside. She will be sorely missed by all who knew her.

Day 21:11/21: I am thankful for coffee on early mornings and breakfasts with friends.