Deliciousness

This year's Thanksgiving was packed with delicious food, friends, and lots of love! The star of dinner was the beautiful cider glazed turkey with amazingly dark crispy skin.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year, Dan and I are staying at home in our little apartment and having our newlywed friends, Justin and Kyle, over for football and a big turkey dinner.  I can’t wait to spend the day with them and hear about their recent honeymoon!  Though I will miss spending time with family this year, I am so thankful to be able to share the holiday with our great friends!

What will we be cooking for the big day, you ask?  Here is the full menu!

From My Kitchen

• Cider Glazed Turkey with Lager Gravy – recipe from Michael Symon, featured in the November 2011 Food and Wine
• Mashed Potatoes – classic with plenty of butter and cream!
• Fresh Cranberry Sauce – spiked with brown sugar, cinnamon, orange peel, and red wine
• Wayfare Tavern Popovers – last minute switch from Honey Buttermilk Rolls, when my dear sister @Stacyateit shared the recipe from Tyler Florence’s cookbook 
• Arugula Salad with Toasted Almonds 
• Classic Pumpkin Pie
• Apple Cider Cream Pie – I saw this recipe in the November 2011 Food and Wine and couldn’t wait to try it!  We are bringing this pie to a friend’s house for dessert on Thursday night (that’s you, Matt and Jill!)

From Our Lovely Guests

• Cornbread, Apple and Sausage Stuffing
• Green Bean Casserole

Drinks

• Mulled Red Wine - inspired by autumn tastings at Veramar Vineyards
• Old Fashioned Cocktails with Figgy Orange Bitters - also found in Food and Wine.  We had a little hiccup with the recipe, but @BTParsons was kind enough to share his expertise to help us out!

I’ll report back with pictures of the highlights!  What goodies are you making for the big day? What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Honey Buttermilk Rolls

We are one week away from one of my favorite holidays, and I am stoked!  I love the menu planning, food shopping and the all-day cooking and baking.  I look forward to the smells of roasting turkey, fresh bread and apple pie!  This year will be a small celebration with a couple of close friends, and I can’t wait to share it with them.  The boys will be mixing drinks with homemade figgy-orange bitters, and I’ll be sipping mulled wine between oven rotations of the turkey, pies and stuffing.