Yesterday’s Thanksgiving dinner may have trumped all previous Thanksgiving dinners. No joke.
My dad and I split cooking duties for the most part, though my mom made the cranberry salad.
Jello + cranberries + sangria + whipped cream + nuts. Yum!
My contributions:
Roasted Brussels Sprouts. So simple. So delicious. Just chop of the bottom and outer yellow leaves of the brussels sprouts, and cut them in half. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread into a single layer on a baking sheet, and cook at 425 for 25 minutes!
Cranberry Apple Quinoa, recipe courtesy of Whole Foods. I didn’t stuff it into an acorn squash, because we didn’t need any more food, and used half a Fuji apple instead of dried apples, but those were the only changes I made. I’ve never cooked quinoa with fruit juice before, and it turned out great! Slightly sweet and slightly tart, with the veggies adding a nice bit of ‘crunch.’
Leftovers from last night are on today’s dinner menu, and you better believe that the quinoa is going to be the star of my plate!
My dad’s contributions:
Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Bananas with Pecan Streusel, courtesy of epicurious.
The requisite Pillsbury crescent rolls.
And the turkey and plain mashed potatoes with gravy. Which I somehow forgot to take a picture of. Probably because I didn’t eat turkey or gravy, and only a smidge of mashed potatoes.
We had a mini photoshoot pre-dinner:
Food blogger in action!
Me, sister Marisa, parents, and grandparents.
My plate:
A little bit of everything.
And some pecan pie, of course. I love everything pumpkin, except pumpkin pie. So I went with the pecan instead!
After dinner, we played a new card game: Five Crowns. It is kind of like rummy, but with 5 suits of cards instead of the usual 4. I lost miserably, but it was tons of fun. Annie even played with us:
She wasn’t winning, either.
How was your Thanksgiving?
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Annie is so cute! Looks like a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I love your family photo!
Everything looks fantastic! I’m going to try that quinoa recipe! I just bought a huge 4lb bag of quinoa!
Adorable dog!!
Let me know what you think! Especially if you put it in the squash, since that’s the part I didn’t do.
wow- everything looks amaaazing. and adorable family
Looks so good! Love brussels cooked like that
WOW! Everything looks so good. Lucky Minnesota to have pulled the Grandma & Grandpa card this year. Aren’t they the dearest?
Yes, I loved getting to spend some more one-on-one time with them!
The brussel sprouts are my favorite. Any leftovers?
Yum!
I finished off the brussels sprouts the very next day. It sounds like Maddy might be making some, though…
Julie, you are so cool! Your menu is amazing! I can’t wait to have more leftovers tonight – and I’m going to make some roasted brussel sprouts a la Julie!
Thanks, Maddy! Let me know how you like them.
Your Thanksgiving day spread sounded pretty amazing too! We’ll have to do a holiday together once Dan and I move to New York.
I’m the same as far as pumpkin goes – love everything but the pie! How funny right? Pumpkin bread might be my fave. Everything looked delish!
Your family is too cute. And it looks like a great Thanksgiving! I’ll have to check out that quinoa dish
I have tried 7 or 8 Whole Foods recipes in the past few months, and not a single one has failed me. They are all excellent!
WOW everything looks so good. I think the best parts are your brussels and the sweet potatoes (droool). Great Thanksgiving