Thanksgiving 2009

[teaberryblue]

As many of you know, for the past four years (this being the fifth), I took off a full week of work to make Thanksgiving dinner for my parents, my grand parents, and liret. This is my thank you to the people I love.

	Prepping the Beets		Daddy’s Special Thanksgiving Cocktail		Sugarbeet
	Crispy Baked Kale		Crab Salad on Endive with Dried Cranberries		Liver Mousse and Pickled Onion Crostini
	Homemade Cheddar Cheese Shortbread Crackers		Liver Mousse & PIckled Onion		Fennel Soup with Toasted Hazelnuts and Dried Cranberries
	Pretty Centerpiece		Jess! (NOT FOR EATING)		Mama! (Also not for eating)
	Dada! (Do not even think about eating!)		Escarole, Frisee, and Shaved Beet Salad with homemade vinaigrette		Pan-seared scallops with chestnut sauce and deep-fried sage
	Deviled Pickled Eggs		Cranberry-Mint Sorbet		Grandma and Poppa!
	Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes with deep fried shallots		Turkey!		Brussels Sprouts with maple-candied pecans
	Cranberry and Clementine sauce with pomegranate-candied pumpkin seeds		Rye and Pumpernickel Stuffing		Sauteed Broccolini with toasted almonds
	Corn pudding		Mixed root vegetable gratin		Cranberry-Pomegranate relish
	THE HOLY PEAS OF JOHN		Apple Pie		Pumpkin pie!
	Apple-ginger pie		Pecan Pie		German Chocolate Pie

Note: Everything here is homemade. The liver mousse is homemade. The crab salad is homemade. The soup is homemade. The syrups in the cocktails are homemade. The mayonnaise in the deviled eggs (which are home-pickled, like the onions) are homemade. The candied nuts and seeds are homemade. The sorbet is homemade. The beets, the carrots, the broccolini, the kale, and the brussels sprouts, along with most of the herbs, come from our garden so they're extra homemade. The only thing on the table that is not homemade are the peas, which are their own story. Their own very exciting story.

Mirrored from Antagonia.net.

(This is also counting as my Free Topic entry for therealljidol)

Comments

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

dear LORD/GOD/GODDESS/BUDDHA/ALLAH is that a lot of food...

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

That is why I feel like a giant leaden balloon right now!

[lifechild.livejournal.com]

*drools* Wow! That looks absolutely yumsciously amazing, I am very very impressed. Impressed from the tip of my head to the tip of my toes.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am impressed with my belly.

Woah.

[daydreamweaver.livejournal.com]

Please to be having shortbread cracker recipe? Pleaaaaaaaaaaase?

Re: Woah.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Sure!

3 oz cheddar cheese, grated
1 oz parmesan or peccorino or another sharp grated cheese
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cp white flour
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tbs ground nuts (optional-- you can also use herbs or something)

Put everything but the sour cream in a food processor. Process until the cheese has been cut up all grainy
Now add the sour cream and process again till all the dough gloms together
Take it out and roll the dough into two 1 1/2 inch logs. Roll the outside in the ground nuts.
Refrigerate the logs for 2 hours or overnight

To cook:
oven at 350F
Slice the logs into 1/4" slices and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Cook for 20 minutes. Take out and cool completely. They can be stored same as cookies.

[torsui.livejournal.com]

you are AMAZING. *wide-eyed at the color on that turkey*

the shapes on the pies are adorable! i love the leaves.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

My mom did the decorations! I think they are adorable too. We have these awesome little cookie cutters she uses.

[kittehkat.livejournal.com]

Grandparents: possibly for eating?

Dude, I want that relish.

All your pies are flipping gorgeous. Wow. I mean, it all is, but they're also adorable! And yummy looking!

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

NO EATING GRANDPARENTS. My mom did the decorations on the pies! She is awesome!

And the relish is:

1 1/2 bags cranberries
1/4 cup basil

Put in food processor.

Then make this syrup:

1/2 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup sugar
5 Tbs pomegranate molasses


(if you can't find pom molasses, add more wine and then use pom juice)

Boil till it gets syrupy

Add to the chopped cranberries. Add a tablespoon at a time till you get the desired amount of sweetness. If you like it more sweet, add some sugar or corn syrup.

Add 2 cups of pomegranate seeds (about one large pomegranate). Stir in with a wooden spoon!

[mstrobel.livejournal.com]

Damn I am HUNGRY.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

NOM NOM NOM NOM.

[cetacea.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is amazing.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I love my Thanksgiving!

[phreakphantasia.livejournal.com]

You look so much like your daddy! He's too cute. :D

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Hee! I do look like him!

[majesticarky.livejournal.com]

Wow that's amazing. No wonder you needed a full week off to do it! It's really interesting how you do some unconventional dishes or put a spin on traditional dishes.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I think they're all pretty conventional dishes! I get most of them out of magazines so the creativity is kinda minimal. The crab one I made up myself, a well as the cocktails, the crispy kale, the stuffing, and the turkey recipe, but most things are pretty verbatim do what the cookbook says!

[onda-bianca.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

It was!

[oneonthefence.livejournal.com]

HOLY HELL. That is a LOT of (amazing looking) food.

Damn gluten allergy. I'd eat all of it if it weren't for that :)

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

It is a ton of food! I am still full today! And I have actually done gluten-free holidays before. Not for Thanksgiving, but...the kale, the crab, the liver (not the bread, obvs), the soup, salad, scallops, eggs, sorbet, potatoes (assuming you're just wheat-gluten allergic), turkey, sprouts, both cranberry sauces, and the broccolini are all gluten-free! You really just wouldn't be able to have the pie, gravy, stuffing, toasts, pudding, or crackers. It would be doable!

[stoopid-silly.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmmm this all looks scrumptious!!! And I made that cranberry cocktail and it was definitely a success! :)

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Oh I am so excited to hear that! No one else has ever made one of my drinks before (and told me about it at least!)

[crissykitty.livejournal.com]

Those pies are ridiculous! And 5 of them?! Insanity! I <3 the decorative pie crust cut-outs on top.

You may have posted this before, but do you have any tips for making tasty, flaky, delightfully and evenly browned pie crusts?

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

My mom does the pie crusts so I couldn't say but I know she uses lard.

[drippedonpaper.livejournal.com]

DO you ever invite people that aren't family?:) I mean, you wouldn't want THAT many leftovers right?:)

Wow. All I can say is, you REALLY love your family. I love that photo of your grandparents so much:)

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

I do! My friend Jess comes every year. We were actually supposed to have more people this year but a couple of them cancelled after we'd already done all the grocery shopping.

[kutiechick.livejournal.com]

WOW, WOW, WOW!!! That food looks wonderful! And I also love the picture of your grandparents -- that is so cute!

I hope you enjoy those leftovers. Amaaaaaaazing! :D

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Oh god my belly is dreading the leftovers! We made turkey pie yesterday.

I really love that pic of the Gs.

[plastrickland23.livejournal.com]

I am officially hungry and ready for next Thanksgiving already! Those little leaves on the Apple Ginger pie! Awesome! You could make a fortune as a caterer. DId you ever work on a cruise ship?
Looks like one o those midnight buffets they serve...
I'm impressed...P.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

My dad actually used to work in cruise ship management, believe it or not! But no catering here! I just work in the comic industry!

[joeymichaels.livejournal.com]

I am drooling. Just FYI.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

DON'T GET IT ON YOUR KEYBOARD!

[pricelessone.livejournal.com]

So many gorgeous pictures, with rich fall colors! I love it!

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

It was super delicious, so I loved it too! I am super pleased with the photo quality from my new camera!

[phloxyloxy.livejournal.com]

*bows down* I can only hope that I will one day be able to cook like you.

This all looks amazing!

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It really just takes practice-- I wasn't a great cook the first year I did it, but now it's been five years and I am super proud of my progress.

[karmasoup.livejournal.com]

I'm totally saving this entry as an image of my dream Thanksgiving feast (which I'm never likely to have, but a gal can dream).

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

You can do it! I just copy recipes out of magazines! I have a few years' practice under my belt now, is all. And my mom just bought me a really good camera as a belated birthday present.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

Wow! Clearly, I'm doing Thanksgiving wrong. Hope you had a wonderful time.