Thanksgiving at Gibson Place

This year was my 10th year not being at home for Thanksgiving. Although not surrounded by family, I still was surrounded by loved ones. Two of my roommates stayed in town. In addition to Jillian and Erika, Becca and Danielle came over. Oh, and a friend of Erika's joined us as well. We had a lovely dinner together.

I cut leaves out of construction paper using a cookie cutter. We each took several leaves and wrote something we are thankful for on each one and put the leaves in a bowl. During dinner we passed the bowl around and read aloud each other's leaves of gratitude. Not only did the leaves make a pretty centerpiece, but it was a wonderful (and, at times, hilarious) to hear what people wrote. Some of the things listed were the usual -- friends, family, and fellowship, but also included were thanks for the Wii and the beautiful fall leaves.

I was so proud of myself for starting my cooking on Wednesday night! I made the bourbon-walnut sweet potato mash in advance like the recipe suggested. I also made the pecan-pumpkin pie. Erika helped me cut out leaves to decorate the edge of the pie. The leaves were so festive! This pie is delicious and perfect for people like me who can't decide whether to have pumpkin or pecan pie. :-)

I went a little crazy making desserts and in addition to the pecan-pumpkin pie I also made a black-bottom chocolate pie for those who aren't a fan of pecan and pumpkin pie and a cranberry-orange cheesecake with chocolate crust. I think I'm going to make the cheesecake for Christmas. Dad would really enjoy it. And because that wasn't enough dessert, Becca made two pecan pies and I made two pumpkin pies. To top all the various pies I made bourbon-eggnog whipped cream. Looking back, bourbon seems to have been something of a theme for me this Thanksgiving!

Lest you think all we had for Thanksgiving was dessert, we also had the traditional fixings. I did the turkey, aforementioned sweet potatoes, and rolls; Becca did the green beans and dressing; while Jillian did the mashed potatoes. Erika contributed the cranberry-maple butter.

Our fridge is stuffed to the gills with leftovers and we have a quite a variety of desserts still. Friends are still hanging out. And the tree is up (but not yet decorated) in preparation for the Christmas season. All in all this has been a delightful Thanksgiving. Hope yours was as wonderful as mine.

A Fall Reception

Last Tuesday I was asked to do a reception at church on Sunday night for a new pastor's ordination service. I was bit pressed for time, so I split the duties with another girl from church. She did the desserts and I made the appetizers. Here’s my part of the menu:

Wild Mushroom-Chèvre Crostini
Sausage Balls
Caramelized Onion & Prosciutto Crostini
Butternut Squash Empanadas
Cheese Platter

Although I wanted to keep things pretty simple, I couldn't help but experiment with the Butternut Squash Empanadas. I was enjoying Lean Cuisine's butternut squash ravioli and wishing I could do something like that for the reception, when I was inspired to come up with this recipe. It's a pretty simple recipe and I think they turned out well so I thought I’d share.

Peel and cut up one butternut squash. Place in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Add some fresh thyme, salt, and pepper and then stir the squash to make sure it's coated. Bake at 450 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

When the squash comes out of the oven, mash and set it aside.

Sauté about ½ an onion in some butter until caramelized. Then, in the same pan with the onions, make a white sauce. Add about 4 tablespoons of butter, then stir in about ¼ c. of flour and then add 1 cup of ½ & ½, stirring all the while. Once you have a nice white sauce with onion, add the squash to the mixture. Stir in about 1 teaspoon of nutmeg.

In a small sauté pan, toast about 2/3 cup of walnut pieces. Then add to squash mixture.

Unfold puff pastry sheets. Cut out 4 inch circles. In middle of puff pastry circle, dollop squash mixture. Fold circles over and seal with a little water. Brush tops of empanadas with melted butter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Enjoy!