Countdown to Thanksgiving

Day 11: Plan your menu and order your turkey. Thanksgiving is 11 days away, if you haven’t given any thought to what you’ll serve (or bring with you, if you’ve been invited elsewhere), now is the time. Many supermarkets and specialty stores have a two-week sale that runs through Thanksgiving weekend, take advantage of that — and the relatively empty stores — now. (Mind, I say “relatively empty” because some of the shopping craze has already started, especially among the bakers. So if you can’t find something on the shelf, ask; chances are they have it, they just haven’t gotten around to restocking it.) If you need some inspiration for menu, check out my menu for both traditional favorites, and new ideas to shake things up a little. Also make use of cooking TV shows and web sites, such as www.foodtv.com, epicurious.com, and allrecipes.com.

When you’re planning your menu, keep in mind the following:

• The food doesn’t need to be fancy. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it’s all about the family and the food, but you don’t need to go overboard. People look forward to your signature dishes, don’t apologize for making the same menu as last year, or just throw one new recipe in the mix.
  
  
• It’s a long day of eating, don’t go overboard on the appetizers. Something to tide people over is fine, but don’t make a meal of it.
  
  
• The turkey will be large and will be in the oven the longest, and until the last 30 minutes before you carve it and serve it. Plan side dishes that can make use of that half hour of turkey resting time to be cooked or reheated in the oven.
  
  
• If you’re making gravy, that will be happening during that 30-minute turkey resting time as well, so don’t plan on a lot of hands-on sides.
  

Finally, if you’re planning to serve a fresh turkey, order it today.

Great Glazed Cupcake Recipe?

We are having a ladies lunch for my best friend, who is expecting her 3rd baby, in a couple of weeks.

I have a great floral cupcake pan from Pampered Chef (https://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=13837&words=floral%20cupcake) and am looking for a delicious cupcake recipe to use in it. Because the tops have such a pretty flower design, I don't want to cover in frosting. I am open to different flavors.

Appetizer - Proscuitto & Pear

With the holidays coming up, and a couple of events I am hosting or co-hosting, I was looking for some fun, new appetizers. I just came across this deliciously simple looking appetizer. Plus, it looks beautiful! I will be trying this sometime this month and will report back.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/crispy-prosciutto-cups-with-pear?backto=true

Wild food day!

Yesterday was Wild food day. We were busy so postponed it until today. We are having Wild Duck. The best way I found to make wild duck is Orange Duck . Soak the duck in milk for 24 hours to remove the gamey flavor. I make it a little less sweet by adding orange juice instead of Orange Marmalade. I serve with fried rice, egg rolls and baked cream cheese wontons.

Life gets busy, no excuses, but it’s a fact, and as a result, I am hot and cold about blogging. But I try to be responsive when a friend or a client makes a request for a recipe or help with a specific problem. A friend is hosting Thanksgiving and she wants to serve Cranberry-brie puffs as an appetizer.

This recipe comes from my sister-in-law Sarah, and it never fails to impress. Sarah’s recipe calls for whole cranberry sauce, which I often use, but I also make cranberry chutney and fresh cranberry-orange relish around the holidays, so I sometimes substitute those. Another quick fix for these is to use prepared, thawed filo cups. You can bake them just a touch or eliminate the baking altogether. Please note, the baked puff pastry version is superior, but sometimes you’re in a pinch and it’s nice to know you can work with what you have.

An additional plus for the hostess: They don’t take much time to assemble, you can do the assembly the day ahead, then just pop them in the oven at the last minute. Happy hostess, happy guests, what more could you want?

Cranberry-brie puffs

1 package puff pastry, thawed
1 small wheel of brie, chilled
1 can whole cranberry sauce
slivered almonds, optional

Preheat oven to 350°. Roll out puff pastry and cut into 2-inch squares. Place one square of puff pastry in each cup of a mini muffin tin. Cut brie into ½-inch cubes. (Chilled brie cuts easier than room-temperature brie.) Place one cube of brie and one scant teaspoon of cranberry in each cup. Top with slivered almonds, if using. (Can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated at this point if you’ll be baking them later.) Bake for 20-30 minutes, until puff pastry is golden brown and brie is melted. Let cool about 5 minutes before removing from tin and serving as the brie will be extremely hot.

Friday night cocktails and appetizers

My neighbor’s hot artichoke and spinach dip — the best I’ve ever had! — and key lime martinis that tasted just like key lime pie! Part sweet, part tangy, part garlic, part creamy, it was the perfect combination. If you like, for an extra special touch, rim martini glasses with graham cracker crumbs.

Key lime martinis

2 oz vanilla vodka
2 oz liquer 43
2 oz Rose’s lime juice

Combine in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake, let set to chill well. Strain into martini glasses.

Today is National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day. I’m so glad all the fattening desserts have national holidays. What else would I do with my time? How else would I keep my waistline growing?

Besides the flavor and the creaminess, the good news is, it’s a vegetable!

Don’t cheat like I did and eat the cake an hour or two after it comes out of the oven, it’s not worth it. Wait the full six hours, or better, overnight, you’ll be glad you did. Also, my cheesecakes almost always crack when they cool, even when I leave them to cool slowly in the oven. It’s not the end of the world, and that’s how your friends will know that it really is homemade.

Pumpkin cheesecake

1 c ginger snaps, crushed into crumbs
2 T butter, melted
2 T sugar
¼ t nutmeg, freshly grated
8 ozs cream cheese, softened
1 c light brown sugar
16 ozs ricotta cheese
1 15-oz can canned pumpkin
¼ t nutmeg, freshly grated
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350°. In 9" round springform pan, with fork, stir ginger snap crumbs, melted butter, sugar, and nutmeg until moistened. With hand, press mixture onto bottom of pan. Tightly wrap outside of pan with heavy-duty foil to prevent leakage when baking in water bath later.

Prepare pumpkin filling: In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat cream cheese until smooth; slowly beat in sugar until blended, about 1 minute, scraping bowl often with rubber spatula. With mixer at low speed, beat in ricotta, pumpkin, nutmeg, and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Pour pumpkin mixture into crust and place in large roasting pan. Place pan on oven rack. Carefully pour enough boiling water into pan to come 1 inch up side of springform pan. Bake cheesecake 1½ hours, or until center barely jiggles.

Remove cheesecake from water bath to wire rack; discard foil. With small knife, loosen cheesecake from side of pan to help prevent cracking during cooling. Cool cheesecake completely. Cover and refrigerate cheesecake at least 6 hours or overnight, until well chilled. Remove side of pan to serve. Garnish with crystallized ginger.