Thanksgiving Recap

Thanksgiving turned out great! I ended up spending an awful lot more time cooking than I expected, but it was a lot of fun. The food looked beautiful and tasted delicious - here is an updated menu:

Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Smoked Gouda
Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onion, and Hazelnut Pizza
Cornbread, Apple, and Hazelnut Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes with Kale and Garlic
Cranberry Sauce
Brussel Sprouts with Hazelnuts
Glazed Carrots
Roasted Delicata
Rosemary Sea Salt Rolls
Pomegranate [not so 100-mile, but someone was nice enough to bring it and it was delicious!]

Oh yes, and of course the turkey... the boys spent most of the time before the meal outside tending to the deep fryer. This worked out well as it left more of the soup, pizza, and wine for us girls.  :)

Cranberry sauce was the first thing I started with - I absolutely love cranberry sauce, but I'll admit I was a little apprehensive about not having my traditional cranberry sauce shaped like a can. Aren't the cranberries absolutely beautiful? Most recipes call for orange juice or just plain water, but since water sounded boring and oranges don't exactly grow in Oregon I decided to go with apple cider. Yum!



Cranberry Sauce Cooking

I forgot to take pictures of the cornbread I made for the stuffing, but that's ok. I did remember to take a few other photos of the finished products though!

Roasted Delicata, Cornbread Apple Hazelnut Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes with Kale and Garlic

Roasted Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onion, and Hazelnut Pizza

Sara's Roasted Red Pepper and Smoked Gouda Soup

The Feast!

I wish it was Thanksgiving again just so I could re-eat this meal! But really, this year there are so many things to be thankful for and I appreciate the chance to share delicious food in the company of great people.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving - now on to Christmas!

100-Mile Thanksgiving

It's been nearly a year since I first had the idea to start writing about food. A lot has changed since last winter - we now live out in the country (yes, I can see horses out my window and we have chickens out back... it really is the country). This year we decided to participate in one of the local CSA (community supported agriculture) programs. We signed up with a farm nearby - Denison Farms - to receive a box of fresh vegetables and fruits each week and it has been amazing.

I've always enjoyed cooking but without being forced to try new things I realized I was sort of stuck in a rut - stir fry, pasta, enchiladas, some sort of soy protein, and repeat. I couldn't do that once we started getting the Harvest Boxes. All of a sudden we had fennel and fava beans and kale  - all things I would never normally buy in the grocery store. The past six months have naturally lead me to incorporate more and more local foods into my diet, so this year for Thanksgiving we have decided to do an all (or as much as possible) local meal.

On the menu so far:
Turkey from Afton Field Farm (or if you're me, Field Roast... I need some sort of protein!)
Cranberry Sauce (Oregon coast cranberries and Corvallis apple cider)
Cornbread, Apple, Hazelnut Stuffing (Cornmeal from Washington, Apples and Hazelnuts from Corvallis)
Roasted Delicata Squash (Denison Farms)
Squash, Caramelized Onion, and Hazelnut Pizza (Big River pizza dough)
Mashed Potatoes with Kale and Garlic (Denison Farms)
Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake (Cream cheese from Eugene, cranberries from the Oregon Coast)

This year I am particularly thankful that I live somewhere with so many local food options! Pictures of the meal to follow shortly!

Happy Thanksgiving!