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a food blog by erin
Erin
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2013-12-01
@Erin

A Thanksgiving Feast

As previously mentioned we celebrated our feast a little later, and since Thanksgiving was so late in the season, this post is arriving to you in December. Nonetheless, we just wanted to show you our dinner and proclaim to the world how grateful we are for everything in our lives— the food in our bellies, the roof over our head, our family, friends, being dog parents to the greatest puppy in the world, and everything else fortunate in our lives. Lucky puppy got a lot of turkey during out pigout session.

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We cooked our own turkey, stuffed it with garlic, onion, lemon, fresh rosemary, and sage. Definitely no dry, flavorless turkeys in this house.

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To top the turkey, I made an apple cider gravy. It was originally going to include some bourbon as well, but Dustin ended up sipping the little bit we had the night before without knowing I needed it. I have had some great gravies made with all of the nasty stuff from the inside of the turkey, but I just can't bear the idea of working with that stuff, so we stuck to more conventional ingredients in our gravy.

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Apple Cider Gravy

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup apple cider
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • salt, to taste
  • pepper, to taste
  • fresh sage, chopped, to taste
  • fresh rosemary, chopped, to taste
  1. Over medium high heat, melt the butter in a small saucepan.
  2. Add in the chicken stock and apple cider and bring to a boil.
  3. Remove about 1/4 cup of the mixture and add the cornstarch to make a slurry. Add the slurry back to the saucepan, stirring constantly and cooking until the gravy thickens.
  4. Reduce heat and season with salt, pepper, and herbs.
  5. Serve atop of turkey.

adapted from Rachael Ray

Mashed potatoes are a staple on my family's Thanksgiving day, and were probably the highlight of the meal for me growing up, so without a doubt they were going to end up on our table. I wanted to do something a little different than plain mashed potatoes (and maybe a little healthier than last year's Joel Robouchon copycat potatoes, that I liken to a dessert more than to a side dish). In came the hummus mashed potatoes I saw on the Internet in preparing for Thanksgiving. I knew these potatoes would be a hit with Dustin, since he absolutely loves the Trader Joe's hummus. We added it to potatoes and had a fun new side dish.

Hummus Mashed Potatoes

  • 8-9 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup hummus
  • ~1/2 cup heavy cream or milk, added until desired texture is reached
  • salt, to taste
  • pepper, to taste
  1. Wash and scrub potatoes.
  2. Bring a large pot of water with potatoes to a boil.
  3. Reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 25-30 minutes until potatoes are soft.
  4. Drain potatoes and let cool to room temperature.
  5. Press potatoes through a ricer (repeat once or twice for extra smooth mashed potatoes) into a large bowl.
  6. Add in olive oil, butter, hummus, and mix.
  7. Slowly add in cream or milk until desired texture is reached.
  8. Season with salt and pepper.

adapted from Gimme Some Oven

I always hated that gelatinous canned cranberry sauce, so I assumed I hated cranberries in general. Well, as I've learned with so many foods, if you eat a crappy, processed version, it isn't going to taste very good. Fresh foods are so much better, and it turns out I like cranberries. This cranberry sauce is sugary and delicious, with subtle hints of orange. I made it as an additional dish to bring to the UCLA Thanksgiving, and we brought the leftovers home for our enjoyment.

Cranberry-Orange Sauce

  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 3/4 cup orange juice (one large orange juiced)
  • 3 cups fresh cranberries
  • zest from large orange
  1. Bring the sugar, water, and orange juice to a boil, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar.
  2. Add in the cranberries and orange zest.
  3. Cover the pan and reduce to medium-low heat.
  4. Cook for 25-30 minutes until cranberries start bursting.
  5. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Allow the cranberries to come to room temperature before transferring to the fridge to chill overnight.

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I know it's not a Thanksgiving dinner for Dustin without his mom's famous cornbread, green chile, chorizo stuffing, so we made that as well, hopefully doing her original recipe justice.

Cornbread, Green Chile & Chorizo Stuffing

  • 1 8" x 8" pan cornbread
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 cup pepper Jack cheese, freshly shredded
  • 8 ounces diced green chiles
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 lb chorizo sausage, sautéed
  1. Preheat the oven to 350º.
  2. Crumble the cornbread into large pieces in a large bowl.
  3. Add onion, cheese, chiles, chicken broth and water. Mix until lightly moistened.
  4. Add in the chorizo and distribute evenly.
  5. Pour into 2.5 quart capacity baking dish.
  6. Bake covered with aluminum foil for 40 minutes then for another 20 minutes uncovered for a crispy top.

from D's mom

As you can see, we had a busy day of cooking (and eating)!

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