Thanksgiving 2018 Recipes

I tried two new recipes for Thanksgiving this year. I love using phyllo dough cups since they are so easy and perfect for bite-sized appetizers. I thought I was bringing cranberry sauce, but turns out that dish was already taken. Since I already bought the berries, I coated them in sugar and added them to a sweet potato tartlet recipe that I found. They were so pretty and really added a lot of flavor! Plus, the original recipe topped the tartlets with brown sugar pecans, but I absolutely love Trader Joe’s sweet & spicy pecans since they have a kick to them, so I used them instead. 

In addition to the tartlets, I brought iced tea (I’m pregnant so no wine for me this year). We have a lot of rosemary growing in our backyard so I threw that into the tea with some peaches and a ginger simple syrup. The tea was really tasty but I should have given myself more time to make it. I put the hot water into my drink dispenser to brew the green tea but the heat ruined the seal so it started leaking. Luckily my grandma had a backup dispenser that we transferred it to when we got there.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and got to spend quality time with your loved ones! 

Sweet Potato Tartlets with Sugared Cranberries, Sweet & Spicy Pecans & Mint (adapted from My Recipes)

Ingredients:

• 4 (1.9 oz) packages frozen mini-phyllo shells, thawed
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 sweet potato
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 1 T vanilla extract
• Trader Joe’s sweet & spicy pecans (if you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you, you can follow this recipe to make them yourself)
• Sugared cranberries (recipe below)
• Mint leaves

Directions:

1. Wash the sweet potato, stab holes in it, rub in olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil, then cook in the crock pot for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high (or cook the sweet potato by your preferred method).

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place shells on baking sheets.

3. In a food processor or with a mixer, blend cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add sweet potato (no skin), sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Spoon filling into shells.

4. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until center is set. While still warm, press on pecans.

5. Once cooled, garnish with mint leaves and sugared cranberries.

Sugared Cranberries (adapted from Cincy Shopper)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar, divided
• 1 cup water
• 12 oz fresh cranberries

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, heat water and 1 cup sugar over medium heat until boiling. Keep just at a boil for 10 minutes or until it thickens slightly.

2. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Line a cookie sheet with foil and place a cooling rack over. Toss batches of cranberries in the simple syrup and transfer to the rack to dry (try to space the berries out so they don’t stick together).

3. Allow to dry for 30-45 minutes, then toss the berries in the remaining 1 cup of sugar.

Iced Rosemary-Ginger Peach Green Tea (adapted from She Knows)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups boiling water
• 6 green tea bags
• Several rosemary sprigs
• 2 peaches, slices
• ¾ cup fresh ginger, chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• Ice cubes
• Cranberries for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. Add tea bags and rosemary to a pitcher and top with boiling water. Allow to steep for 6-8 minutes depending on how strong you like your tea.

2. Remove the tea bags and allow the tea to cool.

3. Meanwhile, boil 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and ginger in a small pot over high heat. Reduce heat to medium then allow to simmer uncovered until the syrup thickens Remove from heat and allow to cool.

4. Fill a drink dispenser part way with ice. Top with sliced peaches, cranberries, rosemary iced tea, and ginger simple syrup.

Raspberry Whiskey Smash

I saw this video on Instagram recently for a Blackberry Bourbon Smash. 

We decided to try out a variation of this recipe using raspberries & whiskey instead. It was super easy and impressive enough that we agreed it would go for $10-$12 if you went to a bar with fancy cocktails. Make it yourself at home for a fraction of that.  

Raspberry Whiskey Smash (adapted from Half Baked Harvest)

Ingredients:

• Handful of fresh raspberries (about 10), a few extra to garnish
• 7 mint leaves, a sprig extra to garnish
• Juice and zest from half a lemon
• 1-2 T honey
• 1 oz whiskey
• Ginger beer (or ginger ale)
• Granulated sugar

Directions:

1. On a shallow plate, combine sugar and the lemon zest (could use lime if you prefer). Run the lemon wedge around the edge of your glass, then invert onto the plate to create a sugar/lemon rim.

2. In a cocktail shaker (or we used a large mason jar), add your raspberries, mint, lemon juice and honey. Use a muddler to smash the ingredients together and release the juices. Add the bourbon and muddle a bit more.

3. Add crushed ice to your rimmed glass, then pour the drink over the ice. Top with ginger beer and garnish with the extra raspberries and mint sprig. 

*This recipe is for one drink, but multiply it for as many drinks as you'd like! 

Crock Pot Pork with Peaches

Peaches were on sale this week at Trader Joe’s, so we bought a 4 pound box.  Since we have so many peaches, I looked up recipes to incorporate them into our dinner. 

This one was inspired by the Williams-Sonoma recipe for Grilled Pork Loin with Peaches.  Unfortunately we don’t have a grill (besides our little George Foreman) so we adapted the recipe for the crock pot instead.  I’ve had peaches with pork before (I tried out this Summer Peachy Pork from my friend Leslie’s blog and it was great!)

The original recipe called for fresh thyme & oregano, but since I already had rosemary and mint growing on my patio, I swapped for those herbs instead.  I ran out of plain balsamic vinegar, so in my recipe I used Cinnamon Pear Balsamic that I had purchased from Joe & Son’s Olive Oils.  If you haven’t been there, it’s worth a trip to check it out.  They have a huge selection of olive oils and vinegars, and they let you taste as many as you want.  I actually had a Creative Loafing deal, so I got $40 worth of fancy oils and vinegars for only $20. 

I still want to try out the grilled version of this recipe at some point, but the crock pot version was super easy to make and tasted amazing!  It was very juicy and shredded like pulled pork.  We ate it by itself in a bowl, but I’m sure it would taste great on a sandwich as well. 

Crock Pot Pork with Peaches

Ingredients:

• 1 boneless pork loin roast, about 3 1/2 lb
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (mine was cinnamon pear balsamic)
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 2 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 Tbs. fresh rosemary
• 1 Tbs. chopped fresh mint
• 1/2 Tbs. dried thyme (or fresh if you have it)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 1/2 lb. small peaches, pitted and quartered (we used 8 peaches)

Directions:

1. Cut your peaches in quarters and arrange about half of them in a layer along the bottom of the crock pot

2. Rub the pork with the balsamic, mustard, brown sugar, herbs, salt & pepper. 

3. Place the pork in the crock pot and top with the remaining peaches.  

4. Turn your crock pot to low setting and come back to enjoy 8 hours later! 

There will be a lot of juices from the peaches in the crock pot, so when serving you may need to use a slotted spoon to dish out the meat & peaches.  

Enjoy!