Thankful

My sister and I have officially "hosted" Thanksgiving for the past 7 or 8 years. Back then, our mom passed down a special family tradition. Each year we cook the basics, but we always find new and exciting recipes to try. Some things are staples, of course, like mom's pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes (yum!) and I do believe the clam dip is becoming one as well. Other than that, we experiment. We always have at least two appetizers, then soup follows, then the main course, and finally dessert. We make EVERYTHING from scratch...even the caramel (ok ok this year we didn't make the ice cream or the whipped cream). But there is no skimping here. And we don't try to make our food low fat or with less calories - no way. On Thanksgiving we're all about fresh, fattening and full of flavor. This year's menu looked like:

Appetizers
Crab Cakes with Red Chili Mayonnaise
Clam Dip with Sourdough

Soup
Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Mushrooms and Chives (I couldn't find any pumpkins however, so this ended up being squash soup - not your everyday squash but some that looked sorta like pumpkins so I figured what the heck)

Salad
Romaine with Cranberries, Oranges and Goat Cheese

Main Course
Porcini-Rubbed Turkey with Shitake-Madeira Gravy
Artichoke, Sausage and Parmesan Cheese Stuffing
Chive and Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Haricots Verts with Herb Butter
Maple Glazed Carrots
Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry Sauce

Dessert
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Tart with Caramel Sauce
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

This year, the food was truly a group effort. Kellie, Richie (my bro) and I along with our sous chef Ethan really knocked it out. We listened to music and cooked pretty much all day Wednesday and then most of Thursday. Kellie and Richie made the crab cakes. I wasn't happy with that selection as an appetizer because we made them a few years back and they weren't that good. This year though, this recipe, these cooks, these crab cakes were AMAZING. They were so damn good. Really, everything was delicious!

So of course I was extremely thankful for the fabulous fare, but on top of it, I was and am so extremely thankful for the beautiful family and wonderful friends I am blessed with. Ethan said it best when he read a Thanksgiving prayer:

Heavenly Father, on Thanksgiving Day
We bow our hearts to You and pray.
We give You thanks for all You've done
Especially for the gift of Jesus, Your Son.
For beauty in nature, Your glory we see
For joy and health, friends and family,
For daily provision, Your mercy and care
These are the blessings You graciously share.
So today we offer this response of praise
With a promise to follow You all of our days.
We pray in Jesus name, Amen.

A couple pics to follow - my flash drive is currently MIA.