Thanksgiving Offerings

Happy Monday After Thanksgiving! I hope everybody had a great holiday and a wonderful weekend. I know I did; the Hubby and I stayed in town and headed over to the in-laws house for the feast. Skipping the traveling this year allowed us to free up time for more cooking, yard work, the Ohio State game and general merry-making.

Now, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you’re expecting to see my super fabulous Thanksgiving meal, so I’ve decide to play the unpredictable card and withhold my goodies. Besides, if you’ve seen one Thanksgiving, then you’ve seen them all. Eventually, they all start to look-alike. Alright, I guess that’s the most stereotypically thing I’ve ever uttered so it may be time to come clean and tell you the truth. I didn’t take any pictures of the actual meal, other than the initial salad bowl and rolls. Oh, the horror! I know, I’m the worst food blogger ever or quite possible the most healthy of the Healthy Living Bloggers for not showing you exactly how I stuffed my face and overate on Thursday. No heartburn though, so do I get bonus points?

Just to prove I’m not completely disappointing in the photo department, I’ll share what I brought to Thanksgiving since I did manage to snap pictures before I left our house, plus my most recent CSA haul. What’s more fun than that, and please don’t say, “Thanksgiving.”

Before I get started, let me refresh your memory. Prior to the eating frenzy (oh wait, that’s every weekend for me), I was hoarding squash like a good hoarder should.

There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come out with it. The baby Acorn didn’t make it. I took all necessary steps to save him, but sadly he extinguished a week, or really two, ago. It feels like a lifetime, but let’s have a moment of silence…bow your head please; it’s only right.

His parents fared much better though.

Intent on my plan to stuff them full of goodness, I halved and roasted my acorn squash. While they were baking, I whipped up my “stuffing,” which was Moroccan themed veggies and couscous.

It was a beautiful dish and for those brave enough to try it, delicious as well.

It was stuffed with cayenne pepper, carrots, celery, chickpeas, couscous, cumin, garlic, onions, paprika, raisins, salt and turmeric (alpha order rocks my world). It was pretty much a non-Thanksgiving-esque meal, but still good and my main course, alongside some bread, brussel sprouts, cranberries, mashed potatoes and salad.

Returning to the traditional side of Thanksgiving, I also brought along a homemade (crust and all) Apple Pie because they are my father-in-law’s favorite and my specialty.

Before I cap it off, I like to dot my apply pie with tabs of fresh butter, bearing in mind, this is one of the times when you have to use butter. Olive oil won’t cut it here.

Three tries (specialty revoked) and several strands of curse words later, the Hubby stepped in and finally got the top crust complete, so we didn’t have to bring a Na-Ked pie to the party. Sheesh, that would have been embarrassing.

In the interest of healthy eating, completely ignoring the obvious pats of necessary butter, I did skip the traditional cup of sugar and opted for a sprinkling of raw sugar and a spoonful (or three) of honey. It’s safe to say, “I still got it,” even if I did need the Hubby’s help with my top crust.

I was planning on stopping there. One pie and some stuffed squash is more than enough to gain entry at the in-laws. Hell, they would have been happy with the pie, but my CSA had other plans. How quickly you turn on me; damn you, you evil CSA!

Week four of the Winter CSA brought me some garlic (no surprise there), a Kohlrabi, some odd greens perhaps mustard greens, a moss like substance (any ideas? Bueller?), and drum roll please….a pumpkin pie pumpkin. When I grabbed my half of the share, my first thought was, “You gotta be fucking kidding me,” (If you think what I say out loud is bad, you should hear the foul words running through my mind.) followed closely by, “A pumpkin. Another damn pumpkin.”

Someone, somewhere is seriously mocking me, and they might be named Karma or maybe even just Irony, since I have ridiculed and complained about pumpking countless times now, and each time my CSA throws a curve ball my way. Bastards, and I’m sure it’s normal to curse inanimate objects. My CSA is the crazy one; not me.

Once I got over the initial shock, I figured I was stuck making a pumpkin pie as well. Really, what else am I supposed to do with a mini-pumpkin days before Thanksgiving? It’s a rhetorical question (yes, they still require a question mark), so if you have a better idea, it’s too late now.

Of course in typical fashion, my mini pumpkin didn’t actually produce enough puree for the pie, so I had to roast a butternut squash late Wednesday night in order to compensate for the lack of pumpkin. I read somewhere this is a good idea and typically canned pumpkin is truly a combination of pumpkin and squash, so it seemed fitting. Quick, someone look at a can of pumpkin, and tell me this is accurate.

All in all, it didn’t turn out too bad, even though I’m not really a fan of all things pumpkin. I even tried a bite of the pie, and it was definitely edible. I didn’t spit it out or anything, but I wasn’t blown away either. I guess me and pumpkin aren’t friends. In any event, the Hubby is happily putting away the leftovers since he seems to think it turned out just fine. Then again, he actually likes pumpkin pie. What a weirdo, even if he can make a pie crust.

What did you make for Thanksgiving? Encounter any curve balls along the way? If so, how did you adapt?

P.S. I will be announcing the giveaway winner at the end of the week, so stay tuned.