Baking for Turkey Day

I am so ready for Thanksgiving I can hardly stand it. As much as I enjoy being with my family on Thanksgiving, I was really looking forward to waking up this morning and spending the day in my favorite room of the house...my kitchen. I was able bake all of my goodies a day ahead of time so my stuffing can have my full attention tomorrow. I decided to make my pie dough first since I had doubts on how it would turn out. I have only made a homemade pie crust a couple of times and I have not yet been 100% satisfied with the results. Since I made it first, I still had time to recover if I blew it. Yesterday I went shopping for a pastry cutter. Of course I could have used a fork, but I am a serious baker and I need a pastry cutter, right? (Truly, I needed it to rev up my confidence and at least make me feel like I knew what I was doing.)

Here is my beautiful dough all rolled out. Still working on getting it to a perfect circle. Please disregard my overuse of flour...for some reason it looks like way more in the picture than was actually used. I swear I used a lightly dusted surface, it just all squished out to the sides.

I was worried about getting the dough from the counter to inside the dish without tearing or breakage, but I just folded in to a small square and gently folded it out into my dish (inherited from my grandmother by the way). Be patient and it will work perfectly. After all my googling for the perfect pie dough, I ended up using Ina Garten's. It worked out great!

Here I decided to get creative and decorative and use one of my fall cutters from last year (that I just had to have) to cut small flowers around the edge of my pie. Nice touch I think.

I poured my filling into my crust and outlined some pecan halves I had as extra to make it "holiday worthy". I was a little disappointed that the filling did not come all the way to the top of the crust. The recipe said it was for a 9 inch pie plate...I guess that is what I get for testing a new recipe. I used the recipe from the Pie Winner from Martha Stewart's Pie Contest this year. Obviously I used a different dough, and I also left out the toffee bits, but most of the same principles still apply. Time for baking.

Here we are. The finished product. Don't be too critical, it's my first homemade pecan pie. I hate not knowing what the center looks like, but maybe I'll take photo's tomorrow when it is getting enjoyed...I figure running or dense, Brian and I will eat it.


Ok. Moving on to the Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting. I was inspired to make this cake by the November/December 2009 Cooking with Paula Deen magazine. By the way, you should totally spend the $4.99 on this one because there are tons of good looking recipes in there. I have all of her magazines this holiday season (and last) and I have found the most potential in this one. I started the batter with my new hand mixer that I also bought yesterday...I have had my other one for 4 years and not that they ever go bad, but mine broke and I use that thing all the time. I have a fancy Kitchen Aid mixer, but sometimes you just need the ease and convenience of the good ole hand version. It was quite a difficult purchase by the way, who knew there were so many options and price ranges. I almost bought an $80 9-speed version until I woke up and realized that I would never need 9 speeds. 5 are fine, thank you, and only $40.



Added the wonderful pumpkin now...and oh how the smell is filling my kitchen. Oh, maybe that was my new Orange Pumpkin candle. Lovely.



Ok, my cake is in the oven...what to do...what to do. Oh, I'll make some sugared cranberries and rosemary that I already have on hand to decorate my cake! No, I unfortunately did not think of this myself...thanks Paula.


Ok, they are baked and gorgeous. Didn't quite get them on to my cooling rack like I wanted, but it's hard to do without my hubby to help. They do look gorgeous though don't they...


Here we are...the big Ta-Da. It looks so divine...I can't wait to cut me a slice tomorrow.


Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Sunday Night Dinner

With my brain obsessing over Thanksgiving treats, I had the most difficult time deciding what I wanted to make for our Sunday night meal this week. Since the summer, Brian and I have really been treating ourselves to wonderful Sunday dinners that we look forward to it each week (probably due to the nice bottle of wine we have as well). I finally decided on Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Roasted Carrots and Parsnips, Garlic Bread, and a Simple Salad. I bought 2 1lb Pork Tenderloins for roasting, 1 for dinner on Sunday and 1 for dinner on Tuesday. Leftovers will make a great sandwich!

This meal is so easy...I started by prepping my

veggies and then prepping my pork. I put them

in the oven at the same time and while they were roasting, I prepared the bread and the salads. Also, since I seared the tenderloins in the skillet I was left with some wonderful pan drippings that were screaming at me to make a gravy, so I got out some butter, flour, chicken stock and thyme and I whisked it up quickly. Everything was done 25 minutes later and Voila...dinner is served.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin

2 1 lb Pork Tenderloins, trimmed of excess fat and silverskin

Salt, Pepper, Paprika

Canola Oil

1/2 cup Water

I sprinkled Salt, Pepper, and Paprika all over each tenderloin then tied them up with kitchen twine so they would cook evenly. I drizzled some oil in my skillet and seared each side of the tenderloins and set them on a rack for roasting. (Let me just add that I had to sear them seperately because I do not have a large enough skillet to sear them both at the same time...Also, I had to make-shift a roasting pan because I do not own one. I just took a regular baking sheet and put some water in it then set a rack over it for the pork to sit on, this of course would not work for your turkey...but my pork turned out delicious!) I roasted them at 425 degrees for about 20 - 25 minutes, basically until the internal temperature read 150 degrees. (mine read 149...) Then I took them out and LET THEM REST. This is very important...all those juices have to come back together. Do not slice it for 10 - 15 minutes please. It will be wonderfully juicy and slightly pink...just perfect.

Roasted Carrots and Parsnips (recipe inspired by Ina Garten, Back to Basics)

1 lb Carrots, cut diagonally in large pieces

1 lb Parsnips, cut diagonally in large pieces

1 1/2 tbls Olive Oil

1 tsp Kosher Salt

1/2 tsp Freshly Ground Pepper

1 tbls Fresh Parsley, chopped

Begin by peeling the carrots and parsnips and cutting them diagonally in large pieces. Place the cut pieces on a baking sheet and toss with oil, salt, and pepper. Roast on 425 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes, tossing frequently. When they are soft and tender, remove them from the oven and toss with chopped parsely.

Stuffing vs Dressing

It's that time of year again when the scent of sage and poultry seasoning fills the air with a hint of pumpkin pie spice in the background. I love this particular week of the year because I spend so much time researching recipes and thinking of ways to spice up traditional favorites. This year we are spending Thanksgiving Day with my family and I am making the stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, and pumpkin pie (and if I get crazy a pecan pie too). I have decided to steer away from my family tradition of dressing this year and make a stuffing to go along side our turkey. I have always been confused on stuffing vs dressing, but I think my definition now is pretty good. I know technically stuffing should be cooked inside the bird, but really that is just setting you up for disaster. Either your turkey is going to be overdone with great stuffing or you are going to have a great turkey with underdone stuffing meaning salmonella may be lurking in there...not good. So, I have moved towards defining the two not by the way they are cooked, but by the ingredients involved and how they are used. To me, stuffing is a little dryer and the bread stays cubed and defined with a little bit of broth for moisture and any other ingredients you desire. Dressing on the other hand is a lot more moist and dense. The bread, whether it be cornbread or biscuits or a combination of both, absorbs a lot of broth and is packed tight with other ingredients. Anyway, Brian grew up on stuffing and I grew up on dressing, so it is a discussion each year as to which is better. Naturally, I vote for dressing and Brian votes for stuffing, but maybe if I make a moist stuffing this year it will be a new tradition in our family, a combination of each of our traditions if you will. More to come once I start cooking next week...I have taken off Wednesday to begin a full day of baking and getting things ready for cooking on Thursday.