Thanksgiving Dinner at Pam's

We had a Thanksgiving dinner with Zach's siblings, his mom, her husband, and some of their friends.  Pam had to work a ton the day before, so I went over to their house the morning of the feast to help out.  I took these photos primarily to make Zach hungry so he would hurry up and come over:

Five-Spice Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pretty table

Cider and Sage Butter Turkey

Amazing bread recipe via Anna's Pinterest (recipe at http://www.simplysogood.com/2010/03/crusty-bread.html)

We also made Rosemary-Garlic Scalloped Potatoes, Sweet Potato Stuffing with Sausage, and a broccoli dish with bacon, vinegar, and toasted almonds.

BLT Sandwich and Hearty Winter Soup

When I told Zach I was doing this blog thing with all of the food pictures from my phone, he sent me this picture from his phone:

 

Our table looks much nicer with fancy wedding gifts on it: placemats, silverware caddy, pepper grinder

This is one of Zach's favorite meals that I have ever made.  Also, one of the more American meals I have ever made of my own free will.  Not that he doesn't like the normal foreign fare, he just really liked this sandwich.

I had the day off and had this waiting for him when he got back from work.  A BLT made from homemade bread, tomatoes from our garden, thick-sliced bacon, sriracha aioli, and some sort of lettuce (duh).  And Hearty Winter Soup made from butternut squash from our garden, potatoes, chicken (freezer--past manager's special), smoked sausage (current manager's special), and corn.  And iced tea, because you can't have such an American lunch without iced tea.

Wedding Cake

This was our wedding cake, made by my friend Cassandra.  This picture doesn't do it justice:

 

Henna designs

It was a ginger-orange cake, and there were also chocolate-espresso sheet cakes at our wedding.  They were gooooooooood.

Turkish Breakfast

Nothing is better than Turkish breakfast on a warm summer morning.  Remember, these are old pictures from my phone.

 

Menu:

Bread (Italian bread from Kroger is the closest to Turkish bread that I've found)
Feta Cheese
Olives
Sliced Tomatoes
Sliced Cucumbers
Yogurt
Sliced Avocados (not a normal part of Turkish breakfast)
Jam
Turkish Tea

Green Tomato Canning

We had way too many green tomatoes at the end of gardening season.  I wanted to make/can green tomato salsa and chutney, and had a hard time finding recipes for the kind of salsa that I wanted.  Though I usually don't use recipes for anything, when it comes to canning I am much more careful.  So I ended up combining a bunch of different recipes to make sure I had the acid levels, salt levels, and processing times right.  I think it turned out okay.  I gave little jars of these away for Christmas gifts.

(in my messy office)

 I started off with the same base for both: green tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, garlic, salt.  Cooked together, cooled then pureed.

For the salsa, I added to the base:
Cilantro
Lime juice
Citric Acid
Cumin

For the chutney, I added to the base:
Cilantro
Coriander
Tamarind paste
Cider Vinegar
Raisins

I wish I had written down amounts for next year.  I guess I will have to figure it all out again.  One thing for sure: I will never can regular salsa again.  This is so much easier, and I like it a lot more.

Food Photo "Mystery"

I found this food picture on my phone and couldn't remember what it was for:

I looked at it more closely.  Okay, what is in this picture...some sort of fresh salsa, maybe a mango salsa.....rice and beans....coffee....why is there a cup of coffee at the stove?

Aha, this must have been taken to make Nathanael come over.  My brother will come over to our house if there are rice and beans and/or coffee.  End of story.  He forgets that Zach will make him do work.  All he remembers is the food and the coffee.

Eggs Cooked in Avocado Rings

We saw Zakarian make eggs cooked in rings of avocado on Next Iron Chef last season and decided to try it:

Egg in avocado ring, egg in pepper ring, toast, apple butter, avocado slices, sauteed pepper slices, fruit salad, coffee

You slice the avocado, leaving the skin on.  I think I got two slices out of one large avocado (because, let's face it, avocados are too expensive for each of us to have one to ourselves).  You put them in a pan and crack eggs into the holes.  Then end.  Pretty simple.  Cover them while they cook so that the top of the egg is done and you don't have to try to flip them.

Since I had a ton of yellow peppers on hand (Meijer manager's special), I did the same thing with some peppers....thick slices, crack eggs, cover while cooking.

They look really great on the plate, but to be honest, this wasn't my favorite.  Raw avocado is infinitely better than cooked avocado, in my opinion.  The peppers were good, though.