A wish for you...

 

Tomorrow is the big day..

a day filled with love,

laughter, 

and good food!

I wish you all a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!

I leave you with this cute Thanksgiving poem...

Twas the night of Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't sleep.
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep
The leftovers beckoned--The dark meat and white,
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.

 

Tossing and turning with anticipation,
The thought of a snack became infatuation,
So I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
Till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground!

I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky,
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie,
But I managed to yell as I soared past the trees,

HAPPY EATING TO ALL! PASS THE CRANBERRIES PLEASE!

Creamy Cranberry Relish Spread

 

Every holiday needs a good appetizer.

I love to munch and I'm sure you all do to.  So there is no doubt that I love to serve a good appetizer for friends and family to eat while the dinner is be prepared.  It wets the appetite.

So today I wanted to share with you a new unique appetizer that I made the other day with my friends along with our desert marathon.  

They had wanted a fresh cranberry sauce.  So we made a relish, but I'm not really into tart cranberries all that much.  By themselves they are just too tart and all I do is pucker!

So we made the relish and yes, it was too tart for my liking.  So I decided to turn this into a spread and add something creamy to cut the tartness.  I used goat cheese which also has tang but enough creaminess to create a foil for the tart cranberries.  Perfect for a spread.

It was a winner!  Creamy, yet tart...perfect with crostini.

This relish would equally be good mixed with marscapone or ricotta, or even cream cheese.  Choose what you like, I'm sure they would all be delishh!

So a new appetizer was born and everyone loved it.  Try it this Thanksgiving and let me know how it turns out.

Creamy Cranberry Relish Spread

serves 12-15

1 orange, unpeeled and preferably
organic, scrubbed
2 bags (12 oz. each) fresh cranberries
1 1⁄2 cups sugar
1⁄3 cup peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
2 logs of goat cheese

Cut the orange (with its peel on) into 16 chunks and discard any seeds. Working in batches, combine the orange chunks, cranberries, sugar and ginger in a food processor. Pulse to chop fine, stopping once or twice
with each batch to scrape down the sides of the work bowl.

Place in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.  Remove from the refrigerator and add back to the food processor along with the goat cheese.  Pulse until well incorporated.  Serve with crostini.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

The other day I brought you a new take on pumpkin pie.  Today’s entry is all about pumpkin and dessert, but it’s not pie…

Today’s dessert is what I consider an elegant dessert.  A pumpkin brulee’, and it’s perfect for Thanksgiving entertaining!

Let me tell you that you can’t beat the flavor of this dish.  A rich, decadent custard that’s distinctly pumpkin flavored with a nice crusty caramelized sugar coating on top. 

Heaven!

My friends and I were experimenting with new desserts for the holidays and wanted to add a more delicate, elegant touch for those serving formal dinners.  This one fits the bill.

 

You'll notice on my pics that the top is not caramelized.  Well, funny thing my blow torch ran out of butane so I used the pics before that happened.  You can even see that I was sprinkling the sugar on top!  So long story short I had to go get more butane, and fixed them right up the next day.

This photo is what it looks like with the caramelization as it should look.  (Photo from Williams-Sonoma) 

If you love regular creme brulee then you will be so pleased with this dessert.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 tsp. freshly grated cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
• 3/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 5 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 6 Tbs. pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup plus 4 tsp. granulated sugar
• 1 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 300°F. Have a pot of boiling water ready.
Pour the cream into a small saucepan and whisk in the cinnamon, allspice, ginger and nutmeg. Set over medium-low heat and warm the cream mixture until bubbles form around the edges of the pan and steam begins to rise from the surface, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 15 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, vanilla, salt, pumpkin puree, the 1/3 cup granulated sugar and the brown sugar until smooth and blended. Slowly pour in the cream mixture, stirring until blended. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Divide the mixture among four 8-fl.-oz. ramekins and place in a large baking pan. Add boiling water to fill the pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake until the custards are just set around the edges, about 30 minutes.
Transfer the ramekins to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.
Just before serving, sprinkle 1 tsp. granulated sugar evenly over the surface of each custard. Using a kitchen torch according to the manufacturer's instructions, move the flame continuously in small circles over the surface until the sugar melts and lightly browns. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.