Thanksgiving - Dinner

And here's the doozy: The big feast. Prior Thanksgiving feasts have heavily featured food baked in ovens. For example, the cider scalloped potatoes we made in 2010 obviously required baking. You just don't get that kind of gooey cheese without a working oven. In 2011, we made at least four dishes in the oven: Cornish hens, Brussels sprouts, green bean casserole, and cider scalloped potatoes. Oh, and this year? Found out the day before that my parent's oven was down for the count. Only the broiler was working.

Thanksgiving - Lunch

In addition to making a quicker, less labor-intensive breakfast for Thanksgiving 2012, we also prioritized making a quicker, less labor-intensive lunch. Of course, as in prior years, we heavily featured cheese and wine.

Thanksgiving - Breakfast

By now you all know that my family knows how to rock out Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving 2011 was exhausting -- my sister and I were on our feet all day. We cooked so much for Thanksgiving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert last year that we didn't get any time just to spend with our family. This year, we wanted to spend more time with our family, and consequently went for much, much easier recipes. Let's begin this Thanksgiving review with our fast and delicious breakfast, cooked entirely by my sister while I took the role of sous-chef.

Thanksgiving - Dessert

So, we finally (a full 2 months and change later) reach the end of the Thanksgiving meal: dessert. Last year, sis and I planned a delicious dessert and then forgot to ask the parents to stock the ingredients. Whoops! This year, we made up for that mistake in grand style. While sis and I are (obviously) great cooks in general, I think that dessert this past year was by far the best part of the day. We made parts: figs with goat cheese and peppered-honey and olive oil blood orange red navel orange cake.

Thanksgiving - Dinner

And so, after cooking and eating all day, we at last came to the final non-sweet meal: dinner.

Thanksgiving - Lunch

Following up on our prior entry, it's time to review Thanksgiving lunch! My family loves to graze. So, almost every mid-day meal at their house begins the same way: with a delicious vegetable and cheese assortment. The holidays are definitely no exception to this rule.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Somehow, we still had room for dinner. One of the highlights of the evening was the eggplant (classic Thanksgiving dish, yes?). We ended up with eggplant simply because we wanted to try a new vegetable. It was one of our best decisions--the only downside was figuring out what to do with the leftover miso. The boy was in charge of making the "paste", and he got it done quickly and efficiently. The eggplant turned out marvelous. I used to be scared of eggplant, but now I know the trick: get the skinny ones, or Japanese eggplants, and leave the big fat ones alone. A whole lotta eggplant (1/4 of the recipe) is 115 calories.

Cranberry Meatballs and Goat Cheese Crisps (Thanksgiving)

Lunch on holidays in our family is always snack-oriented rather than meal-oriented.  This year, in addition to our usual cheese and vegetable assortment, we whipped up some cranberry meatballs and goat cheese crisps.

Sour Cream, Cheddar, & Chive Potato Waffles (Thanksgiving)

My sister, myself, and the boy made every meal for the family this past Thanksgiving, and it was unbelievably fun. We started off breakfast with sour cream, cheddar, and chive potato waffles and an omelet stuffed with a mix of vegetables and cheeses (no recipe here, we just got excited). My sister took care of the omelet, and I took care of the waffles. The batter for the waffles did seem a little runny at first, but the final product had a great texture and taste. They were also extra-easy to make, even for a waffle newbie. I'd never actually made waffles myself before (how is that even possible??) and they were a cinch.