Give Thanks

We took over Thanksgiving hosting duties from our grandmother almost ten years ago and have always wanted to have an outdoor gathering.  This was the year.  Sixty degrees in November!? We worry a lot about Global Climate Change but in this case it worked in our favor.

Through trial and error we have fine-tuned our menu.  No one will forget the year Abbie used self-rising flour (by accident) in the gravy.  The result was a big mass that could have been used as mortar to build a brick wall! Or the sweet potato balls rolled in coconut that were almost like dessert. A dessert you would not want seconds of! Now Skylar makes candied yams using fresh yams and organic vanilla bean marshmallows.

The Menu

• v Salad of Mixed Greens with a Red Wine Vinaigrette
• v Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
• v Sage Dressing with Apples and Sausage
• v Citrus Cranberry Sauce
• v Rolls

And turkey of course! Josh prepared the turkey this year using a recipe from The Idaho Preferred Cookbook, Live Eat Local.  This one is similar  or buy the cookbook!  It has great recipes using ingredients produced in Idaho.

The Cocktail: A Pumpkin Old-Fashioned

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp. pumpkin puree
1 ½ oz. bourbon such as Bulleit
1 oz. maple syrup
½ oz. Orange Liqueur such as Patrón Citronge

Dash of orange bitters
To Make

Combine pumpkin puree, bourbon, syrup, orange liqueur and bitters in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled old fashioned glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with orange twist.

Please refer to our Pumpkin, Pumpkin, and more Pumpkin post on how to make fresh pumpkin puree.  That ingredient alone really makes this cocktail.

So, in summary we love the holidays and most things that come with them.  We have come up with a few tips for hosting a family gathering.  We always make a list of everything we are going to need by going through each recipe.  You will need twice as many bottles of Champagne as you think you do.  Do as much chopping and ingredient preparation ahead of time as you can. Make sure your old gram (or comparable relative) is not mixing her own cocktails or she will not make it until dinner! And last, but not least, make a detailed time line of all the things that need to be done and at what time or your mashed potatoes will be cold while your dressing is still waiting for its turn in the oven.  Thanks for reading!!