Not Just THE Dinner, But Appetizers. And also Desserts.

when we do our thanksgiving, we usually have a later kick off time. partly so i have more time during the day to get things prepped, partly so people who have earlier obligations can get two meals into one day, and also partly so we have time to digest the huge brunch we've eaten.

so dinner isn't ready until 7ish (there's always a little lag time getting the last details sorted out). to keep the "hangry" levels at bay (mine and the guests), i always make sure to put a table of appetizers out for people to snack on. plus it gets the crowds out of the kitchen and into the living room. and i get a little more elbow room. 

and really, appetizers are one of my favorite parts of planning a meal. i try to come up with ones that will compliment the flavors of the meal to follow. this year i tried a few new things.

i read a recipe for "sweet potato casserole bites". basically a sweet potato cut into circles, roasted, then topped with a marshmallow, broiled until brown, and given a candied pecan topping. it was  a little sweet for my taste, but they got devoured! maybe next time i'll make these as a dessert....not an appetizer...

i realize this is very 1950's house wife of me, but i really do love a good cheese ball. especially served with apples. i'm a sucker for the sweet and savory combination. this particular cheese ball was a mix of cream cheese, white sharp cheddar, toasted pecans, and a few simple seasoning. i coated the entire thing with cranberries. they added a nice sweetness, but more importantly. it looks so festive! the granny smith apples provided a nice tart vehicle for the sharpness of the cheese. 

one of the stand-by snacks we always have on hand is hummus and pita chips. i tried an autumnal twist on this. pumpkin-rosemary hummus. with cinnamon pita chips. the combination of the pumpkin and chickpeas pureed together made for a wonderful texture to this dip. personally i am a huge fan of rosemary, so really enjoyed the extra level of flavor that it added. i made this a few days ahead of time, to really let the flavors blend together. 

thanksgiving isn't thanksgiving without running the full marathon of eating. which means the meal must have bookends. where there are appetizers, there must also be....desserts!

i have a deep and abiding love for small desserts. in the past if i made an entire pie or cake? hardly anyone would touch it. it was too intimidating. nobody wanted to be the guy that cut into an untouched pumpkin pie. nobody wanted the guessing game of "what size slice is the right size". so i started making mini-desserts. one and two bite versions of the classics. these have been much more successful!

instead of pecan pie, i made "bourbon pecan bon bons". toasted pecans chopped up and mixed with graham cracker crumbs, caro syrup, brown sugar and maple syrup. with just a touch of bourbon for flavor. formed into golf-ball sized pieces and dipped in dark chocolate.

as a child i always loved pumpkin pie. but then as an adult i found....pumpkin cheesecake!! WAY tastier. but sooooo overwhelmingly rich. i always found the ratio of crust-to-cheesecake to be way heavy on the cheesecake side. i make these little guys in mini muffin tins. and make sure to add a little extra crust mixture for a better crunch. and no graham cracker crumbs here. that crust is ground up ginger snaps! they add a wonderful spice to the flavors in the pumpkin.

i have made mention of my love of all things muffin-cup sized. that's how i roll with my apple pies (the dessert tony always requests). crust formed into muffin tins, and filled with sweetened and spiced apples. apple pies can be messy. you slice into one, and the crust crumbles. or the apples slip out. but with these, every one is it's own self contained unit!  my pie making had a few years of test batches before i finally got a recipe i was pleased with. a few lessons i've learned: the crust should have an equal ration of butter and shortening (butter for flavor, shortening for flakiness), the moisture in the crust should be part ICE COLD vodka (it evaporates quickly in the oven and adds to the flakiness factor), the apples should be a mix of granny smith and braeburn, and the tinniest pat of butter placed on each mini pie before baking makes them extra tasty! sidebar-these little guys the next day? with a cup of coffee? BEST BREAKFAST EVER. 

last but not least, the multi-task recipe. i wasn't sure if this should be an appetizer or dessert. it can really be served anytime. with anything. it is the best of all worlds. candied bacon. is it meat? is it candy? it is all!!!!! thick cut bacon dredged in brown sugar and cayenne (i like a little spice). baked at 400F on a rack so the fat drips away and the bacon gets nice and crisp. i was hoping if i served these as a dessert? people would be so full they wouldn't have room. and i'd have leftovers. foolish me. i forgot the way the human stomach works. there is a separate compartment reserved....for bacon. not a piece was left.

thus concludes another calorie-filled holiday!!! luckily mother nature has thrown some gorgeous weather the way of northern virginia. which is good, cause i'm going to need a few hours on the bike to justify all of this deliciousness! 

THE Dinner

ok. we all know i go crazy when i'm hosting a dinner. so you can imagine how absolutely insane thanksgiving is here at la casa de gaio. it doesn't matter if we only have one guest, or two dozen guests, i always make WAY too much food. but i can't help myself. i want all the wonderful things all at once. and besides, my second favorite day is the day after thanksgiving. the day i like to call "sit in your jammies and stuff your face with leftovers day". so i like to ensure i have plenty of options.

to give a run down of our feast, let's start with the heavy weights-the meats. personally, i feel it's a moral obligation to have turkey at thanksgiving. since we had a smaller crowd this year, i just got a breast. brined over night and roasted in the afternoon. i highly recommend brining to anyone who has issues with dry turkey. this technique has always served me well. i also make a rub of butter, sage and thyme that i work UNDER the skin of the turkey before i roasted it. this beautiful bird was amazingly tender and juicy. and super flavorful too. and bonus, the herbed butter made for very tasty drippings that went into a gravy!

for tony's birthday this year i got him an electric smoker. which is the perfect vehicle for his favorite....brisket! we've had many a trial and error with this tricky cut of meat, but i think we've figured out the best way to get the right flavor and texture. i give this sucker a nice dry rub of spices (mostly black pepper, salt and paprika) the night before, and smoke it low and slow for the better part of the day. i always harvest the drippings and mix them with cider vinegar, stout beer and apple cider to make a sauce. it's similar to a barbecue sauce, but with the flavors of the smoke and spice.

i fully admit that the turkey and brisket were more than enough to feed our dinner crowd, but, i've been craving ham. so what the heck, i added that to the menu too! to save oven space, i cooked a quarter spiral ham in the crock pot. very simple. a rub of brown sugar, honey and dijon. and then a 1/2 cup of ginger beer in the bottom for moisture. 4 hours on low? and a third very tender and tasty option for the carnivores. i'm not sorry for my gluttonous decision to add this dish. it ended up being my favorite!

instead of mashed potatoes, tony has introduced me to a different tradition for thanksgiving spuds. pirogues!

and these aren't your freezer aisle Mrs. T's nonsense. each of these little pillows of love that are filled with mashed potatoes and cheese or sauerkraut and onion are lovingly crafted by hand. this comes from a recipe that tony has from his grandmother. and i will forever be grateful to him and his family for brining it into my life!

tony and i spend an entire day getting these assembled and lined up for the holidays. it's like a small army. an army of deliciousness. we always make a second batch and freeze them for christmas!

call it dressing, call it stuffing, call it whatever you want. it's one of my favorite thanksgiving sides. i made mine a little on the sweet side this year, to compliment my ham. for the bread i used toasted hawaiian rolls. and added a few diced apples (lovingly diced by my mom's hand...thank you mom). then the usual celery, onion, sage and thyme for that quintessential thanksgiving flavor!

one of my "absolutely, no question, must have" side dishes is macaroni and cheese. seriously. if i am given a last meal on my death bed? it will be macaroni and cheese. i have a bajillion different ways of making it. with buffalo sauce and chicken. with brie and figs. with bacon and pears. but my be-all-end-all-favorite is the recipe i make for thanksgiving. three different kinds of cheeses: gruyere, smoked gouda and sharp cheddar. all melted into a sauce of milk that has been thickened with a roux of butter and flour. a little salt, pepper and nutmeg (trust me, it's subtle but makes a difference). i add about a 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and a pinch of sugar to the mix. and top the entire thing with crispy onions. you know the kind you put on green bean casserole? the whole thing tastes like a hug. a big, warm, comforting, "everything will be alright now" hug. this dish may be the reason we keep hosting thanksgiving. so i can have the excuse to make this.

speaking of crispy onions.....i do love me a green bean casserole. i mean c'mon. let's look at the name of the blog. it's sort of a given that i would make this classic for our meal! nothing fancy, i pretty much just follow the recipe on the back of the little crispy onion container. but i do make sure to use fresh steamed green beans, not the canned. i just think the color green is so much prettier when i do!

and last but certainly not least, the rolls. not that they're needed with everything else...but i feel they are sort of expected. and they make such a wonderful vehicle to soak up that gravy made from the turkey drippings. and they smell so wonderful when baking!!! which reminds me, a HUGE thank you to tony for the addition of the double oven to the kitchen. it made preparing so much easier this year. i was baking my rolls and roasting my turkey....AT THE SAME TIME. mind. blown. dinner. saved. stress. reduced.

as if this wasn't enough, one of our guests brought sweet potatoes and a cranberry/blueberry/cabernet sauce (which i need to get the recipe for). and another guest brought lil smokies. which.....holy cow...those things are addictive. i ate like twenty. all in all it was an meal of epic proportions. and i regret nothing!!!!  though by the end pretty much everybody was in food coma. even the princess.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

i know, that phrase usually that means christmas. but i'm actually referring to my most favorite of holidays. thanksgiving!!!!!

a truly wonderful holiday that focuses on the true joys of what it is to be alive. eating, drinking, and enjoying the company of loved ones.

for years tony and i have had the tradition of opening up our home to anyone who wishes to share our table. and we make a day of it!

now this day is a marathon, not a sprint, so we have to start off with a solid base in our tummies to prepare for the day ahead.

so here's a focus on our thanksgiving brunch.....

in my home growing up, my dad always made a citrus salad. a simple fruit salad of navel oranges and pink grapefruits. it was one of my favorite things to eat this season when i was a child. sadly, i've developed an allergy to citrus, so i don't make it often. but i feel this is a special occasion, so rules and caution go out the window!

this year i actually have my parents spending the morning with us, so dad was nice enough to put together the salad for this morning. doesn't it just LOOK refreshing?

as for beverages, tony likes a nice and spicy bloody mary, so i make up a batch of my "bloody marylands"-a mix of tomato juice, lemon juice, horse radish, worcestershire sauce and a healthy shake of old bay. a little tito's vodka (or not for those who don't prefer) and we're good to go!

i love a good breakfast casserole. they're easy to throw together the night before and keep in the fridge so i can just pop them in the oven the next morning. easier with mom here to dice all the onions and peppers! this one has layers of cubed and toasted pumpernickel bread, sage sausage, cheddar, onions, peppers and mushrooms. all baked into a base of milk, eggs and seasoning. hearty and delicious!

now.....the best part of the meal.....dessert. breakfast dessert. nothing makes the house smell quite as good as fresh baked cinnamon rolls. and as i mentioned in a previous post, i'm all about adding pumpkin to EVERYTHING this time of year. so oh yes, we have pumpkin cinnamon rolls. with a very generous topping of cream cheese frosting.

i went a little crazy with the filling of this batch. instead of just the usual butter, cinnamon and brown sugar, i added pecans. and cranberries. and golden raisins. it's a lot going on in one roll. but....omg....are they good.

so with a full belly i am ready to get in the kitchen and start the preparations for tonight's festivities!! ok, i'll be honest. i'm actually ready for a nap. but AFTER that, i'll be getting the turkey prepped and the green beens into a casserole! i'll post about dinner later!

La Antigua, Guatemala Pt 4-COFFEE

one of the things this regions is best known for, is it's coffee. being a lover of the bean, i was very excited to try the nectar straight from it's source! sunday morning we met up with a small group to go on a tour of one of the local coffee plantations in the neighboring town of san miguel escobar. 

de le gente roughly translates to "of the people". it is a co-op of coffee farmers that share a large plantation just outside of antigua, on the slopes of volcan agua. 

our farmer/tour guide's name was freddy (on the right). joe (on the left) was his translator. they walked us through the fields of coffee bushes. they explained the process of growing coffee from seed to harvest.

workers returning from the fields with their crops. to keep the fields as useful as possible, the workers will plant crops such as corn, beans, citrus and (yay) avocados amongst the coffee bushes. this ensures that all year round there is a viable food and money source.

i hav absolutely no clue what this tree is called. but it provided an absolutely lovely splash of color!

a scenic view over the forest of coffee bushes. blue skies. mild weather. the peak of a volcano in the background. another gorgeous guatemalan day!

most of the coffee berries were still to green to be picked. we were a few weeks shy of harvesting season. here one lone ripe berry shows the ideal color the farmers will be looking for.

a basket of coffee beans after they have had their shells removed, and have been dried by the sun.

this is what the coffee bean looks like after the husk has been removed. it's ready for roasting!

tony roasting beans old school....on a stone plate over a wood stove.

tony grinding the beans on a granite slab. most of these steps are done off-site with more modern machinery. but....they like to teach the tours to do it the traditional way.

the fruits of our (well, tony's) labor! a very rich dark coffee. freshly roasted/ground and brewed. now i'm going to expect tony to go through the same level of effort every morning for my coffee. no more k-cup nonsense. i want the real thing.

i will say the experience has given me a new appreciation for what goes into a cup of coffee. something so simple that people take for granted.

La Antigua, Guatemala Pt 3-The Zipline

saturday in antigua was one of the things i was looking forward to the most. ziplinning!!! it's been on my list of "things to do before i die" for quite some time. and this was my chance. 

we took a little shuttle up to a hill top restaurant/resort just above antigua. the company has set up a course with 11 ziplines, various rope bridges and some rather intimidating ladders. now, i've never had a fear of heights. so the idea of dangling off of a wire 300 meters above the ground didn't really bother me. but the sight of the ladder going up  those 300 meters? that i had to climb? in hiking boots? THAT freaked me out. but one rung at a time.....i managed to get from the bottom to the top. and from there could hook onto that wire, and fly!

here we are all suited up and ready for flight! the team that ran the operation was efficient and thorough. i always felt safe under their care. they were very careful to explain the entire process to us, and ensured us that safety was their number one priority!

it's hard to see, but that little dot in the middle of the trees? that's me! i'll admit the first of the 11 zip lines i was so worried about getting everything right, i hardly had time to enjoy the experience. but i quickly got the hang of it. where to put my hands, how to hold my legs, how to stop. it all happens so fast that it's like a blur. but after that first one? i was able to fully enjoy that feeling of speed and momentum. and it was wonderful!

here's tony, coming in just behind me. he may have enjoyed it even more than i did!

landed safe and sound! this course had a break system that made stopping pretty fool-proof. most places you have to manually slow down and stop at the end. it was a relief not to have to think about the mechanics!

he managed to get a little video clip of me landing after one of the rides.

the last of the 11 ziplines was the longest/highest. 600 meters long. it offers a beautiful view of the surrounding areas. the skies were clear, so you could see all three volcanos in the distance. and the lush canopy of trees below.

La Antigua, Guatemala Pt 2-Pacaya

friday morning, our first full day in antigua, we met with a group of about 20 (other wedding guests from out of town) to take a bus to the nearby volcano "pacaya". we drove for about an hour to get to the start of the volcano's summit.

the parking lot was filled with locals who were offering horses to the tourists. they called them "taxis". and these guys were AGGRESSIVE with their offers. they would look for the most out-of-shape gringos in the crowd and stalk us the entire way up the mountain. the elevation is pretty high up here, around 7,000ft above sea level. so my weak virginia lungs needed to take frequent breaks. every time i would stop a young man on a horse would appear at my side saying "taxi? you look like you need a taxi.....". they underestimated my stubbornness. and i'm happy to say i made it up the volcano horse-free!

there were also small children crowded around the bus offering walking sticks as people got off. probably a dozen kids, under the age of 12. all chanting "stick? stick?" as we walked towards the trail.

here's the map of our trek. 2.8 kilometers doesn't seem so far. and it's not SUPER steep. but it is uphill. and that air gets pretty thin pretty quickly. so it took our group about an hour and a half to get to the top.

the vegetation is lush and the soil is dark. pacaya is an active volcano, it's last eruption was just last year. you can still see remnants of the ash as you walk along.

stopping at one of the overlooks for a photo op!

it was rather misty that day, but we lucked out and had a few breaks in the clouds to get pictures of the scenery.

there are expansive stretches of lava fields. dark and crumbling rocks with vents of steam coming through. at this point you have to be careful of where you step. the lava rocks give out under the feet easily. it's like walking through aquarium gravel. and some of those spots are definitely hot enough to burn you if you fall into them.

the vents are so hot, you can roast a marshmallow in them!

snacking on an ooey gooey marshmallow toasted in the steam vent of a lava field on the side of an active volcano. that moment? totally makes the hike worth it!

this side of the volcano is completely devoid of vegetation. it is an eerily beautiful and alien landscape. i will never know how our guide knew where he was going. there are no landmarks and the mist was rolling in pretty thick. but he marched us through the loose rock and took us on a little detour to show us something new.

this is the start of a lava tube, a sort of cave that is formed when lava flows slowly underground. this one has been cool for centuries, but the cave remains!

this was taken inside the lava tube looking up. 

it was an amazing hike, full of wonderful sights and experiences. we got back to antigua tired, sore and HUNGRY. we ended our afternoon with the most amazing black bean soup and quesadillas at a little restaurant called "cafe sky". they have a rooftop deck that offers a beautiful panoramic view of the city and it's surrounding hills. a fantastic way to end a fantastic day!