Thanksgiving menu

Happy Turkey Day to all!
 
I actually started this blog last week, but the number of recipes I had to type up stretched it out, luckily I was able to do links to a few.

 
Mom is busy working away at getting her house ready to sell and she has packed up a lot of her kitchen and it's a bit out of order. This means Alessa and I will be hosting Thanksgiving at our place this year. We have taken this responsibility quite seriously and we set to work planning a fancy menu. 

MENU

Turkey
Fluffy Whole Wheat Biscuits
Sweet Potatoes Stuffed with Cranberries, Pecans, Pear

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Toasted Almonds

Mashed Potatoes, Parsnips and Carrots

Broccoli with Lemon-Garlic Crumbs
Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle

Not exactly your traditional Thanksgiving dinner, no Green Bean Casserole, no Cheesy potatoes, we didn't even have jellied cranberry sauce! We attempted to forgo stuffing as well but mom brought the Turkey and she stuffed it. 

Honestly who would expect traditional from us?

We really liked the sound of all these recipes and couldn't wait to see how they all turned out.

We started the meal with some Pumpkin Sticky Buns. Which we turned into 'Monkey Bread' to snack on while we finished preparing the meal.
This is a recipe we got when we took a bread baking class at the Harmons cooking school (thanks Chef Bob)

Pumpkin Sticky Buns
Dough
1 TBS dry active yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup flour
1 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs slighty beaten
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
6 TBS butter, softened

Syrup
1 cup packed brown sugar
8 TBS butter
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Filling
1 TBS butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Dissolve yeast in the water in a large bowl until foamy. Add sugar, 3/4 cup flour, pumpkin, salt eggs, milk and vanilla and mix until well blended. Slowly add the remaining flour until a soft but workable dough has formed. Work in the butter. Place into an oiled bowl and cover. Let rise to double, about 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, make the syrup. Combine the sugar, butter, and honey in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and add the pecans. Pour evenly in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.

When the dough has doubled, roll in a 16x12 rectangle. Spread the filling ingredients evenly over the dough and roll, pinching shut the edges . Cut into 8 slices and arrange on top of the syrup. Cover with a cloth and let double in size.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until the syrup is bubbly. Let cool 5 minutes and invert onto a sheet tray or serving platter.

We used Maple Pecans instead of plain Pecans which just made them even more delicious.  These are great and rather easy to make, dangerous as a 'snack' because they are irresistible.

Our meal was a lunch because most of us then headed over to the brothers house for dinner and Beatles RockBand. My Sister in Law always plans for an army when it comes to food so we knew there would be a lot to eat once we got there.  I guess we could of switched our menu to be more like a brunch but we just couldn't resist the recipes we'd found.

About the Brussel Sprouts, I guess you either love 'em or hate 'em.
Well, Alessa and I have never had them and we've both been thinking about giving them a try.
Mom says she hates them and Kim (other sister) says she likes them.
We'll see if mom changes her mind after this, because I'm guessing she's only ever had them steamed or boiled. Preparation goes a long way with vegetables. Alessa and I will also have formed our own opinion after this meal.

The Fluffy Whole Wheat Biscuits are a recipe Alessa found for me on allrecipes.com they are yummy! True to their name they are light and fluffy.
I figured out the Weight Watchers Points and they are 2 per biscuit. A roll is 3 points.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and the Potatoes, Parsnips and Carrots both come from Harmons Grocery store ads.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes 

8 Yams - scrubbed 

4 TBS butter 

4 tsp fresh ginger - peeled & minced 

4 tsp brown sugar - packed 

1 1/2 TBS white balsamic vinegar 

2 firm, ripe pears - cubed 1/2 inch 

1 cup pecans - coarsely chopped 

1 cup dried cranberries 

1/2 tsp salt 

2 tsp balsamic vinegar 

Bake the Yams at 350 until tender, about 55 minutes. Meanwhile, soak the cranberries in 2 cups hot water to reconstitute, about 10 minutes then drain.  Saute the pears and ginger in half the butter for about 5 minutes.  Add the drained cranberries, pecans, brown sugar and white balsamic vinegar.  Saute about 2 minutes, remove from heat and let cool.  When the yams are ready, cut off about 1/4 inch from the top.  Melt the remaining butter, add the balsamic vinegar and mash into the yams. Top with the pear mixture. 

These can be made a day ahead of time, just wrap and refrigerate. Reheat in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. 

Mashed Potatoes with Parsnips and Carrots 

4 LBS Russet potatoes - peeled and cubed 

2 LBS Parsnips - peeled and cubed 

2 medium carrots - grated 

1/4 cup butter 

3/4 cup milk 

Salt & Pepper to taste 

Cook the potatoes and parsnips in a large pot of salted water until tender, about 40 minutes.  Drain the water and mash.  Add the milk and butter and mix well.  Add the carrots, salt & pepper.

The Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Toasted Almonds (3 points) and Broccoli with Lemon- Garlic Crumbs are both Weight Watchers recipes.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Toasted Almonds
20 oz Brussels sprouts, trimmed of outer tough leaves and cut in half lengthwise
2 Tbsp olive oil, extra-virgin
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 Tbs sliced almonds, natural-flavor

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

In a large bowl, combine Brussels sprouts, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper; toss to mix and coat and then spread on a nonstick baking sheet. Roast, stirring once, until nice and brown, about 20 to 22 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small skillet, cook almonds over medium heat, stirring constantly, until golden brown and fragrant, about 3 to 4 minutes. Mix toasted almonds with cooked Brussels sprouts and serve hot. Yields about 2/3 cup per serving.


Now on to the best part, Dessert!

We chose to create a Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle.  Alessa had a recipe for one, then after we decided to make something similar to it, we watched a Paula Dean Thanksgiving special where she made one.  We figured if Paula Dean was filming it, we had made a good decision.

Of course we made up our own recipe.
I used a Weight Watcher Gingerbread recipe and then instead of the vanilla pudding that all the recipes called for, I made a vanilla custard from scratch.  Both of those layered with Pumpkin whipped cream.

MMMmmmm, DROOL.

I also chose a White Chocolate Custard recipe to use as a model, but replaced the White Chocolate with Vanilla Chips.
I had originally thought vanilla when we were planning this, then Alessa suggested Cinnamon chips. Of course I thought that would be awesome with the gingerbread and so we bought some on our grocery shopping trip Sunday.
When it came to cooking it though, I completely forgot we had picked up the cinnamon chips and just grabbed the vanilla ones out of the cupboard.
I also personalized the Gingerbread and added some chopped candied ginger.

Another fun tidbit, I didn't have any Powdered Sugar for the whipped cream because I had used the last of it just days before in my Whoopie Pies for the office potluck.
There was no way I was going to the store Wednesday night. I made my own,  since I needed 1/2 a cup powdered sugar, I measured out just less than 1/2 a cup granulated. I used my coffee grinder to turn that into powdered sugar, it worked great.

Old Fashioned Gingerbread 

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 

2 tsp ground ginger 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt 

6 TBS unsalted butter

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar 

1/2 cup molasses 

1 large egg 

1/2 cup boiling water 

approx 1/4 cup candied ginger chopped (optional) 

Preheat oven to 350

Spray an 8x8 baking dish and dust lightly with flour 

Combine the first 8 ingredients plus the candied ginger in a bowl.  In a separate large bowl, with an electric mixer on med-high speed beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the molasses and egg  until well combined.  With the mixer on low speed slowly add in the flour mixture until well blended.  Beat in the boiling water.  Pour into the baking dish. 

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 - 35 minutes. 

Let cool in the pan on a rack 5 minutes.  Remove from pan let cool completely. For the trifle it is best to make this a day ahead of time.  

If it is not for the trifle, Eat up! 

Custard 
1/2 cup sugar 
1/4 cup cornstarch 
1/4 tsp salt 
4 cups milk 
4 large egg yolks 
6 oz white chocolate (chopped) or flavored chips 
2 tsp vanilla extract 

In a 3 quart saucepan, with a wire whisk, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt.  Slowly stir in 4 cups in the milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils and thickens; boil 1 minute.  Remove saucepan from heat. In a cup beat 4 large egg yolks with a fork; slowly stir about 1/2 cup of the hot milk into the egg yolk. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the saucepan, stirring rapidly.  This will prevent lumping.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and coats a spoon well. Remove saucepan from heat.  Stir in the 6 oz of flavored chips and vanilla. Stir until melted and smooth.  To keep skin from forming as it cools, press plastic wrap directly onto surface of hot custard.  
For the trifle let the custard cool and set for at least 1 hour in the fridge. 



Pumpkin Whipped Cream 
1 1/2 cups pumpkin 
2/12 cups heavy cream 
1 tsp vanilla 
1/2 cup powdered sugar 
1 tsp cinnamon 
1/2 tsp ground ginger 
1/4 tsp allspice 


In a non reactive bowl (glass or copper) whip the cream, add the powdered sugar, vanilla and spices mix well until it forms stiff peaks. Fold in the pumpkin and chill for 1/2 an hour. 


Assembling the Trifle

 Cut the gingerbread into bite sized cubes and place 1/2 of it in the bottom of a bowl, top that with half of the custard, then half the pumpkin whipped cream.  Repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients.  Refrigerate at least 4 hours' best if overnight.

Can I just say, OMG for this trifle, I honestly think it is going to become one of my signature dishes for potlucks and dinner parties. 

All in all, this was a great meal, We ended up not making the biscuits, even with all the prepping we did, we were slightly pressed for time. 

Luckily, cousin Ali brought rolls along with a homemade Oreo pie for a contribution.  She wasn't able to head home this year so she came over to hang with the crazy extended family.
I liked the Brussel Sprouts and will probably have them again on occassion, the broccoli was alright.  I like Broccoli but I think my expectations were a little to high on this one, which of course usually leads to disappointment. 

The Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and the Mashed Potatoes, Parsnips and Carrots were yummy I will keep those recipes handy for various occasions or just an ordinary dinner.

As far as the Cinnamon chips we now have sitting in the cupboard?

Alessa suggested making my favorite Weight Watchers Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies but use the Cinnamon chips instead of chocolate.  Oh yes, that will be happening soon.