I thought it might be helpful to make a Thanksgiving Recipe Round Up by adding all of my favorite Thanksgiving-friendly recipes to one post, so they are easier to find. This time of year is busy enough, you shouldn’t have to search for all of these yummy options! Just click on a photo to go to the full post and recipe.
Main protein:
I have yet to roast an entire turkey myself, so these options are more for a smaller family Thanksgiving, or even in addition to the full turkey if you’re having a huge crowd!
Herb Infused Turkey Breast
Pressure Cooker Whole Chicken
Sides:
Let’s be honest. Thanksgiving is ALL about the sides! Here are some of my favorites. Some traditional, some not so much.
Slow Cooker Garlic Red PotatoesCreamy Mashed PotatoesMashed Potatoes with Mushroom SaucePressure Cooker Mashed Sweet PotatoesCouscous with Dried Cranberries and Pine NutsApple-Sage Stuffing CupsCardamom Glazed CarrotsHoney Mustard Roasted Rainbow CarrotsBalsamic Honey Roasted CarrotsSlow Cooker Creamed CornGreen Bean Casserole with Mushrooms and Fried OnionsSlow Cooker Cranberry SauceCherry-Port Cranberry SauceCranberry-Pomegranate SauceSteamed Spinach with Curry Butter
Cauliflower with Anchovy BreadcrumbsPressure Cooker Cauliflower PureeLemon BroccoliPomegranate Mustard Roasted Brussels SproutsBrowned Butter and Lemon Brussels SproutsWinter Risotto with Farro and Arborio RiceMoroccan Black Lentils with Kale and OnionsFarro with Vidalia Onion and Asparagus
Desserts:
I hope you saved room!
Nutella-Swirled Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Pumpkin Cake BitesMini Chocolate Swirled Pumpkin PiesChocolate Pumpkin Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese FrostingChocolate Hazelnut CakeFlourless Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate GanacheVery Berry PieApple Butter Swirled Gingerbread BarsCaramel Apple PieSpiced Apple Two Bite Tarts
What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving recipes?
With the Wing Bowl in full swing down at the Wells Fargo Center, there is no better time to share all of your favorite game day recipes! I have a ton listed on this site, but I wanted to see what else is out there! Feel free to link up your top game day recipes below some of my featured recipes!
First up, my post from yesterday for a Pull-Apart Party Loaf. This loaf was made for sharing during the big game!
With St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching I have been thinking back to my trip to Ireland quite a bit. I had such a great time that I wanted to relive a little piece of it, through food of course! I was chosen to be a part of Foodbuzz’s 24×24 for March so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make some Irish treats. I invited my Dad, boyfriend and Aunt who all came on the trip with me to Ireland as well as my grandpa, who grew up in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, and my mom, who didn’t get to do the trip with us. I honestly was a bit nervous about this undertaking, I didn’t want to disappoint my grandpa or mess up a traditional meal!
We began with a mini traditional Irish breakfast for an appetizer. An Irish breakfast consists of black and white pudding, bangers (sausage), rashers (bacon), a fried egg, baked beans, and a fried tomato. Because this was just an appetizer, I used quail eggs instead of traditional eggs. I found the black and white pudding, bangers and rashers on foodireland.com, a great website for Irish food products.
A traditional Irish breakfast is quite the meal. In my grandfather’s words “you should eat a good breakfast, because you don’t know when you’ll eat again.” My appetizer version still included all parts of an Irish breakfast in much smaller portions. I personally am not a fan of black pudding or bangers, but I love the rest of an Irish breakfast and was so happy to have this as an appetizer.
The main course was a beef stew. I used my Irish stew recipe I made last year, but substituted beef instead of lamb and omitted the peas.
The Guinness adds such a nice flavor to this stew. I suggest making this ahead of time and freezing it. Stew always tastes better when the broth has had time to thicken.
I also made some Brown Soda Bread to eat with the Irish breakfast and the stew. Soda bread contains flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, butter and buttermilk. My version also had raisins and caraway seeds for extra flavor.
Soda bread is traditionally served with Irish butter and/or jam (I’m a fan of black currant jam, yum!)
We were pretty darn full from the stew and Irish breakfast but there was still dessert to be had. I went off of the traditional for dessert, making a Black and Tan brownie based off of a Cooking Light recipe, but made them in a 9×9 pan and cooked them for 45 minutes. I also cut them into huge pieces, making 9 total.
They were served with a scoop of ice cream and some Irish coffee and tea. The phrase Black and Tan comes from the nickname given to English soldiers that came to Ireland to suppress the 1916 Easter Rising, which eventually became the name of a half Guinness and half Bass beer in America. Black and Tans really aren’t popular in Ireland, but they still make a cute idea for a brownie! (I decided these yummy brownies needed their own post. Check it out here)
My family seemed to really enjoy the meal. The Irish breakfast was a big hit but I think the Irish soda bread was the real star of the night. My grandpa even requested to take some home with him. I am glad we were given the chance to sit down, enjoy some Irish food, and talk about Ireland again. Now, to plan our next trip over there…
I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years Eve! I have just come back from a wedding to ring in the new year, the perfect way to end 2011. This past year has been filled with many wonderful people, experiences, and of course, food. As I continue to progress in my cooking, I have a few blog-centric goals for 2012:
1. I hope to become more comfortable making up my own recipes more often.
2. I want to further develop my photography; I have made leaps and bounds from where I began, but I still have a long way to go!
3. Despite my love for pasta and baked goods (which is going nowhere), I hope to make more healthy choices in my ingredients during the year.
Looking back at the posts I created during the year, I wanted to share some of the most popular recipes on my blog in 2011 (by page views).
I love food blogging; I thought you should know. Not only it is so rewarding to try making a new meal most nights, but the people you interact with along the way are pretty amazing. I was given the opportunity to attend a Philly Area Food and Drink Writer Meet-Up over the weekend, hosted by R2L Restaurant and organized by La Phemme Phoodie and Visit Philly/Philly Homegrown. Not only was it a chance to meet some of people behind a bunch of local blogs I read all the time, but we were also given food photography tips from Eric Mencher, who has a good 35 years of food photography know-how.
Upon entering the 37th floor of Two Liberty, we were each handed a glass of champagne, a great start to my afternoon! R2L let us try some of their fantastic hors d’oeuvres: tuna skewers, smoked salmon, truffled flatbread, and my two absolute favorites truffled risotto bites and lobster mac and cheese. Swoon. If you’ve never been to R2L I’d strongly suggest getting there as soon as possible. You stomach will thank you. On top of all of these tasty bites, we were also given sips of two cocktails, their signature R2L-Evation (gin, parfait amour, luxardo, fresh lemon, cherry) and a sidecar (hennessy vs, pallini limoncello, cointreau, fresh lemon), both which were refreshing and so tasty.
After snacking and hearing a bit about Philly Homegrown, Visit Philly, and even a hello from R2L Chef Daniel Stern, we were given a workshop by Eric Mencher which was so helpful. The best part was yet to come though, R2L plated many different meals for us to try to photograph in *gasp* natural sunlight. I was giddy. I live in a tiny condo, with very little natural sunlight. I never get to photograph in natural light! Not to mention, the food was beautifully plated. I was excited to try my hand at photographing these gorgeous plates. We were given the opportunity to photograph the following:
Gingerbread cakes with ginger marshmallows and cassis pate de fruit
Chocolate chip cookies, Chocolate fudge pecan cookies & Gingerbread cakes
Blueberry lemon tarts with lavender marshmallows
Chocolate Eclairs & Huckleberry buttermilk panna cotta with green tea streusel
Huckleberry buttermilk panna cotta with green tea streusel
How’d I do? 🙂
Last but not least, we were allowed to partake in the dessert cart, which we all promptly devoured.
This used to be a chocolate peanut butter cup
Chocolate chip brownies and cinnamon hazelnut blondies
We even left with a nifty goodie bag including a “Who’s Your Farmer?” apron from Philly Homegrown (I desperately needed an apron, thanks!!) and a Visit Philly beer coozie, plus more helpful information on Philly Homegrown.
The event was a huge hit. I left with new knowledge on how to take a nice photograph, I was able to meet some amazing other local food bloggers, I ate myself silly, and left with a true appreciation of (and slightly envy of those who have) natural sunlight in photos.
Thanks again to La Phemme Phoodie, R2L, Visit Philly, and Philly Homegrown for a fantastic and informative day!
I can’t believe I’ve already been back from Ireland for a month. I meant to write a post about my experience as soon as I came back and kept forgetting to sit down and write it. So here is my severely delayed post. It is really stilted and not well written, so bear with me…
We took a red eye flight to Ireland and landed around 9:30 am. So where would our first stop be?
The Guinness Brewery at St. James Gate of course! The tour was pretty extensive, teaching you about the ingredients, the history of Guinness marketing, and much more , but the best part was learning to pour the perfect pint.
Waiting for the beer to settle
It’s all set to be topped off
The Perfect Pint
My boyfriend and I, jet lagged but enjoying the perfect pint
Guinness really does taste different in Ireland (and definitely for the better!). I am actually a fan of Guinness, but since tasting it on this trip, I’ve been reluctant to order it in the U.S. because I know it won’t taste the same. Sigh.
The next stop was to grab some food at a pub down the street from our hotel.
Only the Irish would serve Shepard’s Pie (meat and vegetables topped with mashed potatoes) with a side of more potatoes. The meal wasn’t anything to write home about, but it was our first meal in Dublin so I had to include it.
While in Dublin, we also went on a tour about the 1916 Easter Rising, which was really interesting. The Rising, although unsuccessful, got the ball rolling on Ireland’s independence from Great Britain. The tour brought us down O’Connell Street where the majority of the Rising took place. You can still see damage caused during the Easter Rising on the statue at the beginning of O’Connell Street.
Bullet hole on bottom right
The sword has been blown off
I had my first Magners/Bulmers at a pub off of O’Connell Street. It was tasty, but I can’t really imagine drinking more than one of those in a sitting, it’s really sweet!
We then traveled to Belfast. While there, we went on a bus tour of Belfast, which included a lot of information about the Troubles. They even showed us the peace line and a lot of the murals around the city.
Before leaving, we had to make sure to go kiss the fish! They say if you kiss the fish, you’re sure to return to Belfast.
Little fun fact: The Titanic was built in Belfast at the old Harland and Wolff site. We went to see the dry dock where the titanic sat before her maiden voyage.
Close up of the dry dock
And yes, I did take photos of photos. It shows you the Titanic actually sitting in the dry dock.
Belfast is very proud of the Titanic, but many people always ask them why. Their response? “She was fine when she left here.” Hehe.
We then drove up the Northern Coast of Northern Ireland, which is absolutely beautiful.
In Northern Ireland, I had my first Ulster Fry! An Ulster Fry is the Northern Ireland version of an Irish breakfast. All that food below it for one person. A traditional Ulster Fry includes rashers (bacon), 1 egg, bangers (sausage), grilled tomato, potato bread (which is more like a hash brown to us Americans) and mushrooms.
Imagine eating this every day. Whew.
Continuing our touristy trip, we went to a rope bridge that used to lead to one of the best locations for salmon fishing. But it’s been over fished so there really aren’t any left.
This bridge used to be only a single handrail and large gaps between the slats. Eek.
This seems much safer!
It’s 23 meters above the water, and and 20 meters long.
So after that little adventure, we needed a drink. Off to the Bushmills Distillery!
The distillery was unfortunately shut down because of the August holiday, but it was nonetheless an interesting tour. We were able to taste at the end, and I have to say I am still not a whiskey aficionado.I did enjoy the hot toddy though.
We also stopped at Giant’s Causeway.
Legend has it that the Irish warrior Finn McCool built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish counterpart Benandonner.
Giant’s Causeway was actually formed by an ancient volcanic eruption, making 40,000 interlocking basalt columns. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea.
See how they look like stepping stones?
We wanted to check it our from above, so we headed up.
So. Many. Stairs.
But the view was worth the effort!
Next stop: Dunluce Castle.
The castle dates back to the 13th century.
It is so close to the edge of the cliff that parts of the walls have fallen into the water below.
We stopped in Donegal and headed to the hat factory: Hanna Hats.
We picked up a few souvenirs.
We spent the night in Kinsale, what a gorgeous town!
Here’s a (modified) Irish breakfast. A traditional breakfast has rashers, bangers, 1 fried egg, black and white puddings, tomato, mushrooms and baked beans. I really wasn’t a fan of the black and white puddings, so I started asking for my breakfast without them when I could.
We then ended up in Limerick to visit some family and visited Adare Manor while we were there.
We also visited the Cliffs of Moher. What wonderful views!
One of my cousins, Aisling, baked this beautiful cake for our arrival. She is ten, and bakes better than I can ever hope to! Just look how amazing this looks!
We once again headed to Northern Ireland to visit the farm that my grandfather grew up on.
View from the farm
It is still in use today, and is primarily a dairy farm.
When I last visited (I was about 10), I was asked to go collect the eggs from the hen house with my cousin. She dropped an egg, but they blamed me, the American!
We also went to see my grandfather’s old school. Yes, that is a tree growing straight through it.
Sadly, we were at the end of our journey. We flew out of Dublin, so we spent our last night in Ireland at the iconic O’Donoghues.
I had an absolutely wonderful time in Ireland. My family was so accommodating and were fantastic tour guides as well. Although it took me 15 years to return from my original trip, I hope the next time I visit is much sooner than that!
