Sunday, November 25, 2012

I've Got Plenty To Be Thankful For....

Bing Crosby once sang "I've got plenty to be thankful for," and this year I'd have to agree with him. My husband and I have been blessed with two good jobs, a roof over our heads, and the best families we could ask for. We had a wonderful November full of birthdays, anniversaries, and Thanksgiving, and we're looking forward to the rest of an exciting holiday season. We celebrated Thanksgiving on the farm here in Georgia. Our meal had some great classics like fried turkey, mashed potatoes, skillet seared Brussels sprouts, and pecan pie. I also got to try a couple of new dishes:

Souffled Pumpkin Pancake
adapted from a recipe on Foodnetwork.com

5 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup pecan halves
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
dash of cloves
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs, separated
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
maple syrup for serving

Melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a 10 inch cast iron skillet over medium low heat. Add brown sugar and stir until the sugar starts to melt. Add the pecans and stir to coat them with the mixture. Cook 2 minutes and remove from heat. Set pecans aside and save skillet for pancake.

In a small mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, sugar, salt). Melt the remaining butter. In a separate bowl combine the butter, egg yolks, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add pumpkin puree and combine well.

Beat the egg whites to soft peaks (add a dash of cream of tartar if desired). Fold the egg whites into the pumpkin mixture in two parts. Mix carefully. Pour into skillet. Sprinkle top with pecans. Bake at 350 F for 20-30 minutes.  Service in slices with warm maple syrup.

My family and I usually have cinnamon rolls on Thanksgiving morning while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  This recipe was a really tasty change of pace for our breakfast.

Green Bean and Artichoke Casserole
adapted from a recipe on MarthaStewart.com

1 lb green beans (fresh: washed and trimmed to 1-2 inch pieces or frozen: cut green beans)
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups milk
1 can (12-14 oz) artichoke hearts in water, drained and quartered lengthwise
ground cayenne pepper
ground black pepper and kosher salt
1 small canister of French fried onions




Boil green beans in salted water until tender, drain and set aside.  In a dutch oven, melt butter, add garlic and cook until softened but not browned! Add flour and mix to make a blond roux. Add milk and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and allow to simmer (stirring often) until mixture has thickened. Add a dash of cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper to taste. Add green beans and artichoke hearts to the mixture and fold until well combined. Pour filling into a baking dish. Top with French fried onions, and bake at 425 F for 7-10 minutes or until filling bubbles and topping is lightly browned.

I've been working on tweaking this recipe for the last couple of weeks.  I think it's really top notch, and I'm excited to share it with the rest of my family on Christmas. I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving as much as we did. I would love to hear from my readers. Please post your favorite Thanksgiving day recipe or memory.

"You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." 2 Corinthians 9:11
 
Photos by Jenn Ballard

1 comment:

  1. Two yummy sounding recipes! Do we get to try them both at Christmas? BTW - I could hear Bing Crosby's voice in my head singing the first sentence.

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