Monday, October 12, 2009

Thanksgiving Day

Getting dressed for game day. Iron man is wearing dads’ barbeque apron.

I took pictures all day of my little sous chef cutting mushrooms for the stuffing, mashing sweet potatos . . . however it’s getting late and my patience is wearing thin so here’s the pie.

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Dumping in the pumpkin puree.

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Where’s the pumpkin?

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Adding the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

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. . . Sugar

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. . . Eggs

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. . . more sugar but must taste it first . . .

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add some heavy cream and . . . mix it up . . .

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Voila ! Two delicious pumpkin pies ready for the oven.

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Thanks for cleaning up sweetie . . .

We baked some no knead bread. The bread was wonderful ! Crispy crust, moist and chewy on the inside. Make this bread. It is the easiest recipe I’ve ever made.

Just before going into the hot oven

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Fresh out of the oven and cooling down.

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We roasted chestnuts, peeled them up and put them into the brussell sprouts with a bit of bacon and sherry. (Nigella Lawsons’ “Feast”)

Garlic mashed potatoes. My husbands’ specialty.

Sweet potatoes with marshmallows. ( my homage to the American feast)

Couldn’t do without some stuffing. The only thing I made from a box. (oh, the horrors!)

Brined and roasted the turkey. It was so moist on the inside and wonderfully crispy on the outside thanks to the basting with maple syrup and butter. mmmmmm.

and of course, just a little wine.

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Everybody getting ready for the feast.

We talked about what we were all thankful for. My list was long and varied. But for today what I am thankful for is a family to celebrate this thanksgiving holiday with. There was a time when I was so lonely. The holidays always intensified that feeling. I am so thankful to be surrounded by family and to be able to cook a wonderful meal. Put love and thought into what I am making and then serve to people I love. That’s joy.

The only thing missing was a fellow foodie. If anyone said mmmm that is really good . . I would go on and on about my cooking methods and recipes. My enthusiastic explanations would fall on deaf ears and my poor listeners’ eyes would glaze over.

Don’t you want to know how I made that no knead bread? What about the chestnuts. Let me tell you about roasting those chestnuts. What about the turkey? Do you think next time I should add more star anise into the brine? Can you taste the orangey flavour? The gravy . . . add the liver next time? This is so much fun let’s talk about it. Please?

Happy Thanksgiving.

14 comments:

  1. You are amazing, Anita. Erik is such a lucky boy to be able to participate in your beautiful Thanksgiving meal! Thank you Anita!

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  2. Such lovely designer colours you have in your house!! I love watching Noah cook up lovely food along with you! Looks fab!

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  3. I've never heard of a no-knead bread! Does it rise?? What's the secret? Well, now I realize there's a link which I will take a look at, but I still want to say that your table looks wonderful and that all those lucky people around it must have really appreciated the love and work that went into it.

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  4. Deborah, The bread does rise . . it tastes good - that chewy wonderful center with the crispy crust. I'm still surprised it turned out so well. It was the first time I made the bread. That recipe is fool proof. I promise. I made it from the recipe of the link I shared. Let me know how yours turns out. I did take a picture and I'll add it to this post.

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  5. o.k. I posted pictures and one more thing (you asked and now I'm obssesed) . . . my bread didn't have that nice crack on the top. I played with it too much so it was smooth. Still delicious but no rustic crack. I also watched a you tube video on making the bread and the guy just folded the bread over a couple of times and put the bread crease side down when rising. No knead means no knead. If I do it again and it's still too smooth I will cheat and cut a slit into the top with a knife.

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  6. Your comments are funny! I had no idea there was a science to getting a rustic crack in the middle of the bread. . . who knew!

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  7. Hey Anita,, I just found your blog :) great stuff girl and I'm not talking Thanksgiving :P
    xo
    Heidi-o

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  8. Heidi! Thanks for reading . . I have to get to work posting more.

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  9. okay... i’ve never seen such a cute sous-chef!
    kudos to the little guy for being so interested... i think we will need to make him a little noah cookbook... oh! there’s an idea! a cookbook for kids, by a kid! :) seriously, that is a really cool idea...

    i can’t wait to try that bread anita! it looks super yummy, and also the one on the link you provided! now i always thought that the crease was manually done with a knife... is that not so?

    please go to my yummy recipes blog... i just baked some snickerdoodles — great for the holiday season coming up!

    and please, send me your blog header photo in an email — i’ll crop it nicely for you!

    guylaine xoxo

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  10. Guylaine,

    I guess you would normally use a knife. . . but there is a guy that owns a bakery in New York and he makes the no knead bread. He makes it in such a way that the folds are on top and hence the crack with no knife.

    You are do kind to offer to fix my picture but I keep thinking I will use the lemon cherry lady to give me a picture for my header . . now, I just have to get around to e-mailing her and doing it !

    xo Anita

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  11. I just discovered that no-knead bread a couple of weeks ago through my dad. It's amazing!! I used the wrong kind of yeast so I don't think the dough rose as much as it should have, but it was still yummy. And the crunchy crust was awesome!!!!! Definitely a keeper :-)

    Just reading the comment above... yes, get the Lemon Cherry lady to create a header for you. She does fabulous work :-)

    Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving -- your meal sounds yummy, and how great to have your very own personal sous chef :-)

    Kelly

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  12. Kelly,
    My bread didn't rise (double in volume just didn't hapen could be that I was just impatient) that much either but the results were still really delicious.

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  13. Those pumpkin pancakes look great! It's that time of year, I made some this morning although I didn't have a helper to clean my sink!

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  14. Hey lady, we are all waiting for a new post!! Like the new type on the header, but I still think you should get an illustration from Katie!
    xo
    Maria

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