Today is the day we are having our Thanksgiving dinner. There will be 8 of us, myself, my mom and stepdad, his daughter, my mom’s friends, and my twin daughters.
There isn’t any hard cooking to do today given what I did the previous two days. After breakfast, and a call with a client, I started in on it. Everything went smoothly with this menu and there was about a 2 hour break in the middle where everything was ready with one dish I was going to make in the hour before service and one to finish then.
The entire menu, with notes, was:
- Butternut Squash Soup – This has been a regular for a few years. It is easy outside of the time it takes to peel the squash with a vegetable peeler before cubing.
Salad – Red leaf lettuce, canned mandarin oranges, avocado, goat cheese, poppy seed dressing – For some reason this year I had a craving for canned mandarin oranges. Something from my childhood called out for them.
Cranberry Sauce
Mashed Potatoes – Yukon gold potatoes with goat cheese, butter, cream, sour cream
Brussels Sprouts – Made the way Julia Child says to make them in one of her books. Blanched in salted water and then swished in butter before service. My step dad helped a huge amount and saved me about 90 minutes helping with cutting, leafing, and scoring the sprouts. They are delicious. If you think you don’t like Brussels Sprouts, you should try mine.
Glazed Rainbow Carrots – As a surprise, daughter Elizabeth brought this along. She used the rainbow carrots she got when we went to the farmers market and roasted them and then put a maple syrup glaze on them. They were delicious and very attractive to look at. Orange, white, dark purple and red carrots, I believe.
“Luke’s Wild Mushrooms and Orzo” – That is what the recipe is called. It is a family favorite. I keep making it. It turned out well this year. I think I’ve been slightly overcooking it in the past. This time was even better. Mushrooms I got were from my favorite Vietnamese store. One was trumpet mushrooms and I don’t know what the other was.
Butternut Squash Lasagna – I always make the vegetarian entree for my mom’s friends. I had not made this before but it is a favorite. Very yummy.
Turkey – My step dad BBQs it and it came out very well.
Gravy – This year I liked the gravy
Dressing – My mom makes a very good “mediterranean” inspired dressing. I don’t really like dressing normally but I like hers.
Pumpkin Cake – We pretty much require that daughter Catherine always makes this pumpkin cake. It is always good.
Apple Pie – We were expecting daughter Elizabeth to bring this pie because she said she would. Unexpected was the pretty lattice work crust on top and crust leaf motif on top. It was delicious.
Lemon Bars – Hard to resist these.
I didn’t over eat for which I was happy. We all had a good time and good conversation. Elizabeth flies back to Baltimore tomorrow and due to possible delays at the airport, we will be giving her a ride so she can get there extra early. We are picking her up at 3:50am for her 6:50am flight. I don’t like to be late to airports.
We will have the usual leftovers for the weekend for which we are all Thankful.