Ilario and I - plus Baby C in belly! - getting ready to chow down! |
Spicy Praline Pecans right out of the oven - yum!! |
I also made two pumpkin pies (my favorite thing to bake and eat!) - I make them from scratch using the Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie Recipe on the back of the Libby's Pumpkin can inside Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust. . . so simple, yet so perfectly tasty!! I also have been using Michael Symon's Juicy Turkey Cooked in Cheese Cloth Recipe for the past two years and it's amazing - I just remove the fennel because I really dislike it. Other than that, I use as is - though a forewarning, be certain to cook your turkey according to how much it weighs and not his specific timing. Trust me ;o)
I tried my hand at a few new things this time around as well! First, my Grandma's Dressing - I was incredibly paranoid that I was going to screw it up. . . especially since we she gave me the recipe she told me I "needed to use my head", lol! It turned out amazing though!! My sister-in-law and I also rocked out at making homemade gravy - something that scared us both a bit :o)
The big surprise winner of the day was my Cranberry-Pomegranate Compote! I had made Blueberry Compote before for a Baby Shower, so I took the recipe and tweaked it a bit for the seasonal fruits and it was amazing. You'll definitely want to test out this recipe!
Cranberry-Pomegranate Compote
1 cup pomegranate seeds
1 cup cranberries
3 T. water
1/2 cup sugar
2 t. lemon juice
1) Combine 1 cup of pomegranate seeds, water, 1/4 cup of sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan.
2) Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes - seeds will begin to pop.
2) Add the cranberries and other 1/4 cup of sugar, continuing to cook for about 8 minutes more stirring frequently.
3) Serve warm (on cornbread muffins is my preference!!).
I kept the tablescape relatively simple this year - being sure to leave plenty of room for the actual food, lol! I laid two ivory table cloths as a base and then topped them with a fun printed wrapping paper (only a dollar from Target - Bonus!) - the modern colors and stripes were offset by the vintage place settings. It's so much fun to gather things up from around the house and see how they work together! The plates were a combination of flea market and Goodwill finds (some of which were used in our Chevron Shoot earlier this year!), the gold leaf glasses were given to us by my mother-in-law - true vintage with a matching bowl and pitcher - and the centerpiece was simply fruit and candles, the perfect edible arrangement :)
No comments:
Post a Comment