Turkey Day 2011

Sorry, I've been putting off this blog because I knew it would take a long time, but here ya go!

Thanksgiving dinner was a huge success and in my opinion, much better than last year! The menu was not only healthier, but tastier too! This year's spread included:

Turkey

Stuffing

Gravy

Spinach-artichoke Dip

Deviled Eggs

Cornbread Casserole

Bacon-wrapped Green Bean Bundles

Brownies

Cinnamon Apple Crisp

and

Pumpkin Pie

As I said in my last post, I spent a lot of time preparing stuff the day before Thanksgiving so I would have enough time to finish everything by dinnertime. Even so and after pushing back the start time of the dinner from 8:30 to 9:30, I found myself running all over the place, non-stop, the entire afternoon to get everything done. Nearly everything I made had to be baked for at least a short amount of time so I had to arrange for a second oven. Juanmi, who lives like 5 minutes away from me, let me use his. Although I was reluctant to leave my precious turkey unsupervised while I made all the side-dishes, I didn't really have another option.



To make sure my turkey was moist, I decided to brine it overnight using this recipe for the brine. At my brother Neal's recommendation, instead of cooking the turkey with the instructions that go with that recipe, I used those for Alton Brown's Perfect Roast Turkey. The only hitch in the plan was that I couldn't find a meat thermometer anywhere, so I had to just guess how long to leave the turkey in the oven by how much it weighed. I probably could've taken it out a little sooner than I did, but between running between my house and Juanmi's and not wanting to serve 12 people undercooked turkey, I ended up leaving it in for probably a little under 3 hours if I remember correctly. And I must say, it turned out pretty darn well!

Keeping in mind that Thanksgiving is an absolute glutton-fest and the fact that I knew I was going to eat way too much, I made an effort to find healthier versions of the traditional recipes so I could gorge myself guilt-free (ok maybe not guilt-free, but less guiltily). I came across this great blog called SkinnyTaste, from which I took several of my recipes, most importantly the desserts.

The author's recipes for Skinny Pumpkin Pie and Cinnamon Apple Crisp were absolutely fabulous. For both pies, I made my own crusts with galletas María, the Spanish cookie that most closely resembles a graham cracker. The Cinnamon Apple Crisp doesn't call for a crust, but I made one anyway because, honestly, who doesn't love graham cracker crusts? My pumpkin pie was actually half pumpkin and half butternut squash since pumpkin is quite a bit harder to find and much smaller here. I found some immediately following Halloween (guess the stores were trying to get rid of them) but didn't see any more after that. The butternut squash, the most massive one I've ever seen (pictured right...it was literally 2 feet long!), was given to me by Juanmi because apparently his mom had no use for it. I found that it was actually quite a bit sweeter than the pumpkin so my pie turned out plenty sweet even though the recipe only calls for 3/4 cup of unpacked brown sugar. With it and the pumpkin, I pre-made and froze my own pumpkin/butternut squash puree a couple weeks in advance and thawed it the night before for easy use on Thanksgiving day. I followed her recipes nearly exactly and was VERY impressed with both how easy they were and the results. I will definitely use these recipes again. 

Her recipe for "Mom's Stuffing, Lightened Up" while still good, was probably my least favorite of all of the ones I used. It was a little lacking in something, though I'm not sure what...maybe it was because I couldn't find the sage leaves the recipe calls for and I didn't replace it with anything else. I think maybe it would've been better with sausage than bacon, but who knows. Next year I'm gonna look for a different recipe.

Since having recently gotten mildly addicted to cooking, I've realized how easy it is to make healthy substitutions without losing flavor. The healthy ingredient that was the saving grace of my Thanksgiving was none other than Greek yogurt. The devilled eggs were my own creation...pretty standard but with Greek yogurt instead of mayo. The cornbread casserole is a recipe from my Mom's collection also lightened up with Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I even chose to completely omit the mayo from SkinnyTaste's Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip and add extra Greek yogurt (I also used fresh boiled spinach instead of frozen).

The last dish I made was an aesthetically pleasing take on green beans as I learned from last year's regular old pot-o'-green beans that no matter how delicious the dish may be, the appearance of "strange" foods, especially vegetables, can either really encourage Spaniards to or deter them from (this was what happened to me) trying something new. These Bacon-Wrapped, Glazed Green Bean Bundles were definitely prettier than last year's batch, but honestly, I much prefer the traditional style like my Grandma Mac always made. And the lesson I learned is that while more beans were eaten this year than last year, Spaniards simply do not find them appealing in any way. Oh well, more leftovers for me!

My friend and fellow American Brenna arrived right before dinner bearing gifts of the most delicious and richest brownies I've ever had, and just in time to save my gravy! I was too lazy to try to scrape the fat and juices out of the bottom of the turkey pan so I made it just from the chicken stock that I had made the day before and it ended up tasting more like flour than anything else haha. Brenna came to my rescue and added the turkey juices and I don't know what else, but I'm glad she did because otherwise people would've walked away thinking that gravy was gross when it is in fact, one of the most delicious parts of Thanksgiving dinner.

Besides the turkey which EVERYONE liked, of all the dinner items I think the thing that got the most compliments was the cornbread casserole. Even Brenna was impressed with it as she's from Philly and the standard southern cornbread doesn't make it that far up north onto the plates of our Yankee friends. As far as desserts go, the brownies were the only thing to fully disappear. While even I will admit they they were quite literally the best brownies I've ever had, I was disappointed in how unadventurous people were in trying the pumpkin and apple pies. What can I say, Spaniards are not much for trying dishes when they know they contain strange ingredients. I've learned to make people try my creations BEFORE I tell them what's in them. While I was bummed some people didn't try my pies, I was NOT bummed about how much pie was leftover for me! I sent some home with Brenna (I could really only rationalize sending my leftovers to an American who I knew would truly appreciate the wonder that is Thanksgiving leftovers), and kept the rest for myself! I would even go so far as to say that I enjoyed my Thanksgiving dinner more the second time around!

More blogs coming your way soon since I fell behind this week! We've got a holiday Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday of the following week, so I'll get y'all all caught up on life over here! Have a good Friday!

Alsoooo, I'd like to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD AND NANA!!! Love y'all and see you in less than 2 weeks :D