So many recipes to be thankful for!

Well, readers, another Turkey Day has come and gone, which means it will be another year before we can binge to the point of pain and have it be socially acceptable. In the meantime, I thought I'd share a recap of the Hoar-Malone-Daly Thanksgiving festivities and all of the good food in which we indulged!

Pat and I started off the morning running a 5 miler, which let us feel slightly less guilty about the hours to come. After a quick shower, I spent the next three hours prepping our contributions to the Turkey Day dinner.

Besides the standard turkey (which was huge and cooked beautifully) and stuffing (one of my greatest weaknesses), we had Dina's green beans with caramelized onions and a cranberry ring. I contributed rosemary mashed sweet potatoes with shallots and nutty warm brussels sprouts salad. The potatoes were yummy...apparently "mashing" potatoes with a hand mixer makes them super fluffy, and rosemary is delicious with basically any orange veg. No one believed the only thing in the sweets themselves were rosemary, salt, and pepper. The brussels were surprisingly delicious as well. I love these things, but this particular recipe even got a "yum" out of my mom, who *hates* brussels sprouts, and Pat had a whole bowl for leftovers the next day! Both recipes I made as written, with the exception of a little less olive oil (2 T is a LOT!) for caramelizing the shallots, and a smaller amount of breadcrumbs and walnuts than the salad called for (otherwise they would have overwhelmed the dish). Both of these were super easy to make and I would highly recommend either if you're looking for a dish to contribute to a future TD shindig! Sadly, we were far too excited to eat and forgot to take pictures...the only one that make it into the camera were the sprouts.

Dessert was just ridiculous. We brought a famous, spicy, Daly family pumpkin pie, along with a ridiculously complicated and beautiful version with struesel and a ginger snap layer that my mom made. You guys. It's called "pumpkin pie spectacular." Seriously. She also brought her famous chocolate-dipped pistachio biscotti. Of course, two pies and cookies were not enough, so we also had for dessert a gorgeous three-layer strawberry cake (a little too sweet for me, although, after sitting at the table long enough, I managed to pick through the entire slice anyway) and an double-crust apple pie. The pecan never even made it to the table...and believe me, my thighs are thankful for that.

We had quite a treat for wine as well: Two types of Seghesio zinfandel (a family favorite), a Molly Dooker shiraz (Pat's Turkey Day tradition--2007 was a yummy vintage), a Moonstone white dessert wine from local Hillsborough Vineyards, and champagne.

It was a cornucopia, to be sure. And I'm so thankful to have been able to share it with so many loved ones!

Dinner tonight: Red Lentil Mulligatawny with Apple-Celery Salsa

Okay, the title's a bit of a lie. I made red lentil mulligatawny with apple-celery salsa at least a week ago. Life's been crazy.

I wanted to make a soup with fall flavors that was not pumpkin or bnut for once, and one that had enough protein that it could serve as a meal. I'd had this recipe in my big fat "to cook" folder (yes, I actually have old-school clippings in an accordion folder) for just about forever, so I though we'd give it a try.

Another eh. There was a slight bitterness to it, I think because I accidentally added the lime at the same time as the coconut milk, rather than at the finish. The salsa was interesting, and, as the recipe states, this soup thickens a lot over time. I would actually recommend making it the night before...a really thick soup is much more satisfying as an entree. For an easy, weeknight, vegetarian recipe this was okay, but nothing stellar. Definitely not an entertaining dish.

Next up...Turkey Day posts!!!