Happy Belated Thanksgiving All

The last two days have been filled with planning the Thanksgiving meal, shopping for the Thanksgiving meal, cleaning the house in preparation for the Thanksgiving meal, and finally cooking the Thanksgiving meal, oh and there was some work in there, a healthy portion (or not so healthy portion) of TV watching, a touch of sleeping in and the whole sticking the cat business too. It was actually really quite enjoyable. Very easy going and laid back planning this year, not so much multitasking. I need less multitasking in my life.

Since this year it was just us and my parents, I didn't get into any fancy plating or special dishes. Mainly just staples that my parent's enjoy.

This year's menu included:

Mixed Greens Salad with Balsamic Vin, Bosc Pears, Persimmons and Blue Cheese (this is as fancy as it gets folks)

Prime Rib Au Jus - my father's favorite meal and no special occasion can happen without him getting some.

Sauteed Mushrooms with Thyme and Garlic - imagine Costco container o'white buttons all sliced up with a little olive oil, 4 huge garlic cloves, a few thyme stems tossed in (obviously taken out before serving) and a splash of rice vinegar, cooked down until almost dry. And now imagine the dish emptied by my father even after he consumed at least a 16 oz Prime Rib portion. :-( no leftovers

Green Beans - provided by my father which were lightly boiled in chicken broth and coated in olive oil (low sodium diet for mom requires some thought into adding flavor without salt).

Baked Potatoes - made for my father (who ate too much meat, mushrooms and rolls that he couldn't eat a potato). Scrubbed russets were smeared in butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper and wrapped in aluminum foil. Baked mostly through before the roast was put in, and then warmed with the last 20 minutes with the roast.

Sweet Potato Souffle with Bacon and Rosemary - Mom found a recipe in a magazine and it was really good. Not too sweet, with a great balance of flavors. The rosemary very elegantly perfumed the dish. I must get the recipe from her.

Herbed Dinner Rolls - Soft and buttery, with hints of basil and thyme. There were 4 of us, I made 24 rolls, they are all gone (my father took half of them home)

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce and Chantilly Cream (that's slightly sweetened and vanilla flavored whipped cream to you, but it sounds fancy don't it!) - This was a HIT! Pumpkin Pie flavor, not too sweet (even with the caramel), moist and very tender. I tried to do a little photo shoot so once I work with those photos I'll post my edits to the recipe.

Pumpkin Pie - Eric was scared of the unknown that is bread pudding, so I made him a pie. He's had bread pudding before, and has enjoyed it, so I don't know what his problem is. Oh yes I do, change... he doesn't like change, and his mom makes pie on Thanksgiving so he must have pie! Needless to say the pie went untouched as the bread pudding was such a success. I do believe I'll have some for breakfast.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving all!