Tue Nov 20, 2012
I have a fair amount of friends who stay put for Thanksgiving, making holiday meals for just two or three people. I'm so accustomed to cooking for a crowd, I wondered what it would be like to make a Thanksgiving dinner that was a reasonable size for a couple. A whole turkey would probably be overkill, and ensure you'd be eating nothing but bird for at least a week straight. Thinking smaller, but not venturing into "Thanksgiving chicken" territory, I thought why not just cook the turkey breasts, but that seemed a little lackluster with no allure of holiday flare. So then I went a step further and created this turkey breasts with cranberry stuffing.
More and recipe after the jump >>
Tue Nov 13, 2012
Last year I discovered that I liked burssels sprouts. Actually, not only did I like these tiny bitter cabbages that were once an arch-enemy, but when they got all crispy over the high heat of the grill, I couldn't get enough. I knew I could make them better though, and when you want to make something better, what better place to turn than bacon!
More and recipe after the jump >>
Tue Nov 6, 2012
Thanksgiving is nothing without tradition, and I have my tried-and-true turkey recipe I make each year without fail. There's another tradition that has developed more recently though, one of a full Thanksgiving meal made about month prior to the holiday, where I gather my friends and turn them into human guinea pigs to taste test new turkey and other recipes I've been developing for the blogs. This annual event is now about five years old, and with each passing year, finding a new and unique take on grilled or smoked turkey has become more challenging. I've increasingly been turning away from the traditional notion of holiday birds and to doing more inventive incarnations, like this Cajun smoked turkey.
More and recipe after the jump >>
Tue Nov 22, 2011
Mashed potatoes are always on our Thanksgiving table—my sister could have it no other way. Through her life, she's be a die-hard lover of smashed spuds, which brought an extra sense of accomplishment when she deemed my mashers the best ever at our last Thanksgiving dinner. That beacon of pride has stuck with me, but at the same time left me questioning, if I've created the best in the my sister's eyes, where do I go from here? Easy answer, mashed sweet potatoes!
More and recipe after the jump >>
Tue Nov 15, 2011
Thanksgiving has come to represent not just the tradition of my family coming together for a meal we're bound to eating for days, but also the pre-Thanksgiving meal I share with my friends where we enjoy the spoils of my seasonal recipe testing. While I'm keen on keeping a set of solid recipes I make every year with my family, the friends meal is consistently different, which breeds comfort in its own way. For one thing, there will always be a smoked turkey, but the need for a different variety each year makes this an incredibly fun part of the meal to experiment with, most which turn out great, like this honey-brined and smoked turkey.
More and recipe after the jump >>
