Thanksgiving Recipes 2017

Thanksgiving is always my favorite holiday of the year of course since it is centered around food and family. My in-laws came in town for a week, so we had plenty of meals together including the main event on Thursday. 

Leading up to that week, my work had a potluck and I brought this cute veggie tray! So happy with how it turned out. We decided he looked more like an Angry Bird though haha!

My friend Amanda also hosted a Friendsgiving the weekend before and I made a baked brie. I’ve done this recipe several times before, but I tried a new version this time with toasted pecans and Trader Joe’s apple jam. You can use whatever type of nut and jam combination you like (here’s the recipe from awhile back on my blog…)

Tuesday night before Thanksgiving we had both sets of parents over and tried out a recipe I’d never made before – Baked Four Cheese Butternut Squash Rigatoni. I’ve recently become obsessed with the food blog Half Baked Harvest. Everything I’ve tried from that website is incredible (actually 2 of my recipes this year were from her!) Since I was cooking this after work and didn’t have much time, I used Trader Joe’s canned butternut squash puree rather than cooking a squash and scooping out the insides myself.

Thanksgiving dinner was at my Grandma Pat & Grandpa Craig’s house this year. They just moved into a new place which has a huge kitchen so it’s perfect for entertaining. We ended up with 19 people this year and more food than I think we’ve ever had any other Thanksgiving yet. My contributions were Maple Roasted Carrots in Hummus Sauce with Pomegranates and Pistachios as well as a Wild Rice Salad with Cranberries and Nuts.  

Then on Friday, we had some friends and their parents over. I made my go-to easy Pesto Crockpot Chicken, but then tried another Half Baked Harvest recipe – Brown Sugar and Pineapple Acorn Squash with Spiced Brown Butter. I think this is now my favorite way to make squash – it’s almost like dessert.

I’d say all the new recipes this week were a success and I’ll definitely use them again!  What were your favorite dishes this Thanksgiving? Send recipes you love my way because I’m always looking for new ones!

Baked Four Cheese Butternut Squash Rigatoni (adapted from Half Baked Harvest)

Ingredients:

• 1 can butternut squash puree (found at Trader Joe’s)
• 1 head garlic, outer skins removed
• 2 T olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• 1 pound rigatoni
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 t dried oregano
• 2 t dried thyme
• 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach
• ½ cup oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded asiago cheese
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• Turkey pepperoni (recipe called for 8-10 but we used way more!)  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Chop the top 1/3 of the garlic off to reveal the cloves. Place in a muffin tin and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake 20-30 minutes or until the garlic is soft enough to squeeze out of the skin. Turn the oven to 450 degrees.

3. Boil pasta in a large pot until al dente. Reserve 1-1/2 cups of the water before draining.

4. Add the butternut squash, roasted garlic, and reserved pasta water, milk, oregano, and thyme to a blender. Season with salt & pepper and pulse until smooth. Add the ricotta and pulse until just combined.

5. Pour the butternut squash over the pasta and set the pot over medium heat. Add the spinach, sundried tomatoes, and ¼ cup of oil from the sun-dried tomato jar. Toss to combine. Cook until the spinach is wilted and the sauce is hot, about 5 minutes.

6. Remove from the heat and stir in the parmesan and asiago cheeses. Spread the pasta in an even layer in a 9x13 baking dish and top with mozzarella and pepperoni. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and gooey.

Maple Roasted Carrots with Hummus Drizzle, Pomegranates & Pistachios (adapted from Closet Cooking)

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds carrots, peeled (I used Trader Joe’s multicolored kind)
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 T maple syrup
• 2 T garlic hummus (or regular hummus and add grated garlic)
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1 T parsley (I used the Gourmet Garden parsley paste that comes in a tube - it keeps way longer and tastes fresher than dried parsley) 
• 2 T pomegranate arils (click here if you need instructions on how to remove the arils yourself)
• 2 T pistachios, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Toss the carrots in a mixture of 1 T olive oil and 1 T maple syrup. Arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Rub each carrot with a bit of parsley, then roast until tender, about 20-30 minutes, turning once in the middle.

3. Mix together the hummus, 1 T olive oil, and lemon juice until it creates a thin drizzle.

4. Serve the carrots topped with the hummus, pomegranates & pistachios.

Wild Rice Salad with Cranberries and Nuts (adapted from The View from Great Island)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup wild rice (we used Trader Joe’s Basmati & Wild Rice Medley which already has some seasonings)
• ¼ cup pecans
• ¼ cup cashews
• ¼ cup pistachios
• ¼ small red onion
• Sevral small inner stalks of celery with leaves
• 3 green onions
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 T balsamic
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 t whole grain mustard
• 1 t honey
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Cook the rice according to the package.

2. While the rice is cooking, chop the pecans and cashews into pieces and put them on a baking sheet in a 375 degree oven until just toasted (keep an eye on them so they don’t burn!)

3. When the rice is finished, add the nuts, red onion, celery, green onion, and cranberries.

4. Combine the olive oil, balsamic, lemon juice, mustard, honey, salt and pepper in a jar with a lid. Shake vigorously. Toss the salad with half the dressing and refrigerate until chilled.

5. When ready to serve, toss with the remaining dressing.

Brown Sugar and Pineapple Roasted Acorn Squash with Spiced Brown Butter (adapted from Half Baked Harvest)

Ingredients:

• 2 large or 3 small acorn squash, cut into wedges, seeds removed and reserved
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1 – 8.5 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
• 6 T butter plus more for greasing the pan
• 1 T olive oil
• 1-1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1-1/2 t chili powder
• ½ t pepper
• Dash of red pepper
• Arils from 1 pomegranate

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 pan with softened butter.

2. Line squash wedges on a prepared pan. Evenly sprinkle them with brown sugar, salt and pepper. Spoon the crushed pineapple over the wedges.

3. Place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until it melts, foams, froths, and begins to brown along the bottom. Remove from the heat and whisk the browned bits of butter off the bottom of the pan, adding in cinnamon, chili powder, and pepper.

4. Pour the butter over the squash, then cover with foil and place in the oven.

5. Roast for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and roast for another 30 minutes until the squash is tender and caramelized.

6. While the squash roasts, clean and dry the seeds. Season them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper and toss to coat. Toast the seeds in the oven until golden brown.

7. Sprinkle your squash with pomegranate arils and squash seeds.

Mediterranean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

We had our friend Vimmi over for dinner the other night. Since she’s vegetarian, I scanned my “Vegetarian Meals” Pinterest board for ideas. She’s also allergic to gluten, so that vetoed a lot of the options like pasta and pizza. But I came across this recipe for Mediterranean stuffed sweet potatoes and it’s one of my new favorites. It was great served hot, as well as cold leftovers a few days later. 

We cooked the sweet potatoes in the crock pot while at work which is how I’m always going to cook them from now on. It requires zero effort and they turn out perfectly soft inside. 

Recipe (adapted from A Saucy Kitchen)

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 3 T extra virgin olive oil
• 2 T fresh lemon juice, divided
• 1 T lemon zest
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 T chopped fresh parsley, divided
• ¼ t sea salt
• 1 medium ripe avocado
• ¼ cup garlic hummus (or you can use regular hummus and add a clove of garlic)
• ¼ cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• Crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

1. Scrub your sweet potatoes, poke holes in them, and wrap them in foil. Cook them on low in a crock pot for 6-8 hours.

2. In a medium bowl, combine chickpeas, olive oil, 1 T lemon juice, lemon zest, 1 clove garlic, 1 T parsley, and sea salt. Toss to marinate then set aside.

3. In a food processer, blend the avocado, garlic hummus, 1 T parsley, and 1 T lemon juice.

4. Assemble your sweet potatoes. Depending on how hungry you are, either cut a slit in the potatoes to stuff them, or serve half a potato per person (our potatoes were large, so we only ate half per person). Spread the avocado sauce over the potato, then top with the marinated chickpeas, pepitas, and feta. Enjoy!  

Trader Joe’s Picnic

 

I worked on Tuesday on my actual birthday, but Lance and I both had Wednesday off, so we continued the celebration an extra day.  One of my favorite things to do is to have a picnic – especially when it involves Trader Joe’s food!

Lance just upgraded his car to an Explorer, so he was excited to take it on its first adventure.  After picking up my free birthday Starbucks drink (chai tea latte) and getting some groceries, we headed to Hillsborough River State Park. 

 

The weather was beautiful – just cold enough that I needed a jacket.  We set up our cooler at a picnic table (which was being closely watched by hungry squirrels…)

 

The Trader Joe’s “Two Buck Chuck” Shiraz is our go-to wine – I’m no sommelier, so it tastes great to me!  We paired it with Bacon Cheddar and Manchego cheeses, Chianti red wine salami, Kalamata olive hummus, blackberries, and Everything crackers.  (Lance also got Nacho Cheese tortilla chips that are basically Doritos with less chemicals, but we didn’t open them yet…) 

The crackers had garlic, onion, sesame, poppy, and caraway seeds, so they were like mini-everything bagels.  I liked both cheeses, but the bacon cheddar tastes a bit processed to me (like a higher-end Velveeta).  The Chianti salami was fantastic and I’d definitely buy the olive hummus again. 

The squirrels kept inching closer and closer, but we know better than to feed them.  They were pretty jealous of our feast!

 

 We hiked around the trails for awhile to work off our lunch – it got a bit muddy towards the end.  We had to head back home and clean up, because my birthday present was dinner at Bern’s Steakhouse that night! (more on that soon!)

 

Trader Joe's is located at 3808 W Swann Ave, Tampa, FL 33609 and is open 8am – 9pm every day.    

Carmel Café & Wine Bar – Tampa, FL

Today was a day of catching up with friends.  This morning I had coffee with my friend Laura who is in town from Vermont (who went to lunch with her sister at Mazzaro’s after my recommendation!) Then for dinner I joined my friend Maddie at Carmel Café & Wine Bar. 

The South Tampa location of Carmel Café has been open for about 2 years now - I've been there several times already.  The design is sleek and sophisticated with vibrant artwork (several of the oil paintings were painted by Alfonso Architects).  To complement the modern interiors, they also have state of the art technology with an iPad ordering system.  I love that the iPad menu is so interactive – you can see actual photos of the food prior to ordering – and even type in special instructions for the chefs.  The visuals ensure that you get exactly what you want – I hate when I order something solely based on the menu description and it shows up completely different than I had envisioned.

The food has a Mediterranean vibe and there is a wide selection of specialty cocktails, wines, and a full liquor bar.  Once ordered, the food arrives very quickly, so I’d advise pacing yourself while placing the iPad orders if you don’t want everything to arrive at once.  Despite most of the work being done via iPad, the servers are still very attentive – almost too much so.  It seemed that every time we took a sip of water, our waiter was there to refill our glass. 

On Sundays and Mondays there is an option for a special Prix Fixe menu – 3 courses for only $14.  I went ahead with the special and ordered the chickpea fries, black olive Caesar salad, and Moroccan lemon chicken.  From 4 – 7pm on weekdays they also have several appetizers and drinks on special for $4.  Maddie ordered the mini mezze platter and the tomato Margherita flatbread. We also split a press of their red sangria with fresh fruit. 

I’ve had the chickpea fries before so I knew that I’d like those.  They are served with a sweet tomato jam and a curry aioli sauce which you’ll want to lick clean off the plate.  Unfortunately for the Prix Fixe menu I actually got less fries than normal portion – 4 instead of 9.  The Caesar was good but nothing too exciting – I probably wouldn’t have ordered it if I weren’t doing the special menu.  But the Moroccan lemon chicken was excellent!  It was served with pine nuts, saffron, olives, lemon, and a mix of roasted vegetables, including large stalks of broccolini.  The chicken dish on its own is normally $12, so it was definitely worth it to do the Prix Fixe meal. 

The mezze platter that Maddie ordered is my go-to appetizer at Carmel Café.  It has grilled pita with a variety of dips and toppings – including muhammarra (a Syrian pepper dip), edamame hummus, goat cheese, roasted garlic, olives, and sun dried tomatoes.  A lot of the dishes like that one are perfect for sharing – probably the best way to experience Carmel Café is to go with a group and just order a bunch of dishes to pass around the table.  It was pretty quiet tonight, but it does get very busy on the weekends.  Most days have specials like today – you can check out their calendar here. 

Carmel Café and Wine Bar has several locations.  The one we visited tonight is located at 3601 W. Swann Avenue, Tampa FL 33609 and is open from 11am – 10pm Monday through Thursday, 11am – 11pm Friday & Saturday, and 11am – 9pm on Sunday.