Thanksgiving Menu and Roasted Butternut Squash & Apple Soup II

As Thanksgiving eve draws ever near (and our thawing turkeys take up what little space is left in the refrigerator), I've just started warming up my oven for a long evening of baking. Certainly I've switched the knob to preheat, but many a motivational speech has also been given. My oven has a mighty important job to do in the next 18 hours. If there was as much pressure on me to perform, I'd wish for a cheerleader too.

Tonight, however, I've decided to share a different kind of recipe with you. It has nothing to do with Turkey Day and does not pair well with sweet potato casserole and spoonfuls of gravy. In fact, I've specifically chosen not to share a Thanksgiving recipe with you (if you are lucky enough to cook the feast, the very last thing I want to do is send you off to the grocery store again). This particular recipe, instead, is reserved for after the holiday. Once tomorrow's long period of gluttony is over, I think I might need a little detox for a couple days (and maybe you feel this way too).

When that happens, this Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup will be waiting for you.

I've actually posted a very similar recipe before, but this time around I've made a few changes that might have made it even better. It features a puree of roasted vegetables and is filling enough to keep you satisfied until the next meal. Plus, since this is a vegetarian soup, I'm absolutely certain it would go perfectly with a side of leftover turkey sandwiches.

But, since Thanksgiving isn't over yet (and thousands of calories are still sitting in my kitchen waiting to be eaten), I would like to share my traditional holiday menu with you. Our house was chosen this year to host the main event and although it isn't nearly big enough to hold the 20 invited guests comfortably, I'm certain we'll manage just fine. Food does bring everyone together—figuratively and literally.

Thanksgiving Menu

Appetizers
Honey Rolls
Whole Wheat Rolls
Spicy Pumpkin Taco Dip

The Main Event
Turkey (the star of the show)
Ham
Cranberry Sauce
Grandma's Famous Stuffing (I could eat this and only this all day and be completely satisfied)
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Bean Casserole
Fruit Salad

Desserts & Snacks
Honey Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas
Ranch Roasted Chickpeas
Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake
Cranberry White Chocolate Tarts
Chocolate Gingersnap Tart
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (for the kids!)

Since I was aptly placed on dessert duty (and I can't seem to keep myself away from the butter and sugar), it turns out there will be nearly as many desserts as real dishes. Typical me. I just hope my guests leave room for dessert. I'll even settle for "willing to look for extra space that may or may not exist" (are you listening, dear relatives? Save space. It will be worth it, I promise).

If you came here this evening looking for a few last minute Thanksgiving recipes, I urge you to check out How Sweet It Is's list of 101 Thanksgiving Recipes. Oh, this is such a beautiful list!

What Thanksgiving dish do you most look forward to?

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup is a sweet and hardy soup. It features a thick puree of roasted vegetables, where the squash and apple take center stage. A little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg help to round out the flavors. This soup is delicious and nutritionally sound, making this a good meal for any autumn day. The flavors of the mushrooms and celery are hidden beneath the squash and apple, which makes this soup easily adaptable (you could easily add cauliflower or any other vegetable with a subtle flavor to pack in more nutrients).

Click to read more ...

Spicy Pumpkin Taco Dip

The last week has been a study in the long-term effects of sleep deprivation. The truth is, after two solid months of waking up at five am every morning to get myself to work, I can't adjust to going to bed earlier. I average between five and five and a half hours of sleep every night and there's no one to blame but myself.

Trust me, I've already tried placing the blame on everything else.

I read a study recently that claimed women who consistency got less than six hours of sleep a night have the mental and physical capacity of a drunk person. I initially thought this claim was very bold. Are they operating less than 100%? I'd absolutely agree. But drunk? I'm not so sure about that.

Well, not until I started noticing the signs on myself.

It started with forgetfulness. I'd sit down to write out my to-do list for the day, knowing it was going to be endless, and suddenly not be able to remember what was supposed to be on it. I'd scribble down a couple items, but most of it had simply disappeared from my memory box of a brain. Luckily, I'd gradually remember things as the day went on, but rarely was a pen and paper handy and the tasks were lost in my head once again.

Then the forgetfulness turned into very real short term memory loss. Truth be told, I now find myself with the memory span less than a goldfish. It stands at roughly three seconds, if I'm lucky. Don't believe me? Let me give you a couple examples.

I was working in the Patisserie and needed both sprinkles and a cake board to finish the cake I was working on. The sprinkles were exactly ten steps away. Since I already knew I had forgetfulness issues, I reminded myself three times that I was going to grab the sprinkles and pick up the cake board on the way back. Three times. Ten steps. I could do this.

I couldn't. I forgot the cake board. In fact, it was so bad that I stood in front of the unfinished cake for a few seconds before I even remembered what needed to be finished. I went back for the cake board with a proverbial tail between my legs.

As for the second example? Well, I've already forgotten. How's that for memory loss?

It wasn't until the last week that I began to notice the physical side effects. I went apple picking with my family at my grandmother's house. Most of the apples had already been picked, but the highest ones in the tree still remained. My father braved the ladder and, as soon as he'd get a handful, he'd toss them down to me so I could place them in the boxes. It was a good system, in theory. In reality, I couldn't catch an apple to save my life. My body knew the task, but my motor skills had slowed down so drastically it was impossible for me to catch any of them. It would have been comedic had I not been so concerned for myself.

Now I have several boxes of bruised apples. The only good to come out of this is that I will now be doing a lot of apple baking which I will, of course, share with you.

So, sleep. It's important. Maybe even more important than you (or I) ever gave it credit for. This next week, I'm going to force myself into bed at a decent hour. The sleeplessness (and drunkenness) needs to stop. I want to be able to walk through the grocery store without running into shelves and people or forgetting my entire list the moment I walk through the automatic doors.

Let's eat some of this pumpkin dip and get a full eight hours tonight. It sounds like a plan to me.

My Aunt Nancy made this Spicy Pumpkin Taco Dip for Thanksgiving one year and I barely strayed away from it long enough to eat my turkey dinner. Though the base is cream cheese and pumpkin, the dip still manages to be spicy with that classic taco flavor you look for in a taco dip. The dip is stuffed with vegetables including red and green peppers, olives, and a bit of dried beef (which can be omitted for vegetarians). Served in a bread bowl or small pumpkin with a side of vegetables or crackers, this dip is sure to please any crowd.

Click to read more ...

Garden Tomato & Basil Tart

Since I began my own food blog, I've found myself more open-minded when it comes to the kitchen. New flavors, new tastes, unexpected combinations—I can't seem to get enough of it. I never expected to start inventing my own recipes or have a "to-make" list a mile long (one of my fears when starting a blog was that I would run out of ideas. Ha!) Even now, having shared dozens of my own creations with you, I still find it hard to believe. You see, growing up, I was one of the world's pickiest eaters.

My poor mother certainly had a handful when trying to feed me. Rarely would she find a food I would actually eat and enjoy. There was no seafood, no vegetables, and no chocolate (can you imagine?). Even "different" kinds of french fries (aka not McDonald's) were shunned from my picky palate. Perhaps worst of all was my absolute dislike of tomatoes. I would have nothing to do with them. No pasta sauce, no lasagna, no ketchup. I preferred my pizza to have no sauce at all.

Basically, I was a tomato hating picky eating nightmare (sorry mom!).

Gradually, tomatoes managed to sneak themselves into my diet. I would get lazy after constantly scraping the sauce off my pizza (it's a lot of work!). Then ketchup won me over. But it was pasta sauce that took the most time. For most of my life, when my mother would whip up a spaghetti dinner, she'd save some plain noodles for me to eat for my dinner. And I would eat them just that way. Plain.

It wasn't until a couple years ago that my love for tomatoes began to flourish. I can only imagine a switch in my head (or mouth) must have flipped, because I suddenly and unexpectedly couldn't get enough tomatoes. Last year around this time, every single meal I cooked for myself had tomatoes in some form or another. Pasta with fresh cherry tomatoes. Pitas stuffed with tofu, greens, and sun-dried tomatoes. I would often eat tomatoes like apples, as I brought them for lunch at work or to snack at home.

I had turned into a red fruit loving, going-to-turn-pink-from-all-the-tomatoes kind of gal.

When I lost my sense of taste last spring, tomatoes were one of the few foods I could eat and truly enjoy. Though I could not taste, the texture of the tomato was so diverse—meaty and juicy, yet both soft and firm—that I virtually ate tomatoes for that entire week I was ill. Since then, I've really grown to respect the texture of a good tomato, whether raw, roasted, or cooked down into a sauce.

The fact that I can now eat (and absolutely enjoy) this Garden Tomato and Basil Tart really showcases how far my love for tomatoes has come. Now to take my tomato loving one step further—desserts.

I'm only kind of joking.

This Garden Tomato and Basil Tart truly does taste fresh from the garden. A whole wheat crust is infused with olive oil and dried basil. On top are layers of Gruyere cheese, fresh basil, and garden ripe tomatoes. The whole tart is then sprinkled with freshly ground pepper and sea salt before roasting in the oven. The concept is similar to a margherita pizza, but has so much more flavor. This dish will certainly rouse your taste buds, giving them a bit of a wake-up call. This is the perfect dish to use up all those extra garden tomatoes.

Click to read more ...