Good morning, Statia!

For the first time in years we had dinner at our house last night...tough deciding what my favorite dish was but I'd have to say the wine, followed by my mom's recipe for stuffing (cubed white bread, onion, celery, butter, white wine, s&p, thyme) and sweet potatoes (whipped w/butter, cinnamon, br sugar--topped with butter, br sugar, cinnamon, walnuts then baked). Oh! Suddenly my appetite is back.... :-)

I agree with Budman: the '81 Ch Margaux was PDG.
My daughter's pecan tart was a close 2nd.
M

I hosted my first Thanksgiving this year and everything went better than I could have expected. Turkey was moist inside and crispy out. Blueberry pie was commented to melt in your mouth. I made so much food you all could have come on over and there would still have been leftovers!!

That said, I tried a new recipe (always a risk when entertaining) from the Durgin Park Cookbook I picked up in Boston last week. It was for Scalloped Tomatoes and though it took a while to make - SO worth it!! It got raves and I loved it too, which makes it even more gratifying!!!!

Hey tpatricco...
How about the recipe for Stuffin' Muffins!
They sound interesting!!!

After traveling 5000 miles to purchase the appropriate cookware, I HAVE to say my wife's apple tarte tatin. A surprise second was the warm kale and onion salad. Everything else was good too, just not surprisingly so.

Went out to dinner to an Indian resto- fave was tandoori salmon :)

We also had Rachel Ray's Stuffin' Muffins this year and they were a huge hit...everyone gets to have some of the crispy part! Worst part was about 2 hours ago when I went to have some leftover turkey (we had tons left over) and SOMEONE (probably my BIL) didn't put the top on the tupperware properly so when I took it out of the fridge the whole thing fell on the floor...so no turkey sandwiches for us!

It would have to be the stuffing. It is my great great grandmother from Ireland's recipe.
I look forward to it every year! I do enjoy the yams too, and yes it is the recipe with marshmallows!!!

Spouse and I ate out yesterday -- a first for Thanksgiving. My favorite dish was the skin-on mashed potatoes. (You know those babies are real!)

The local oysters! They just came into season recently (opened the beds) so the Oyster Stew and Oysters Rockefeller were divine!

Our coastal oysters are much smaller and saltier than Gulf oysters.

Tomorrow? Our annual Oyster Roast!

My stuffing. Cornbread, with little bits of cherries, apricots, apples, and raisins in it. Thank goodness there is plenty left over :)

Statia - When asked this question, my frisky Yankee replied..."you"...LOL ((L))

My sausage and foccacia stuffing and my fresh cranberry-citrus relish :)

TxTravelPro & ckfior, The Stuffin Muffins were great in the center of a delicious bowl of turkey soup for lunch today too!

The recipe is from Food Network chef Rachel Rey's "Thanksgiving in 60" special. (Her normal series is 30 minute meals)

Here's the link:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci..._29101,00.html

Here's the recipe from the link as well:

Apple & Onion Stuffin' Muffins
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 stick butter, softened
1 fresh bay leaf, available in produce department
4 ribs celery and greens, from the heart, chopped (save time and purchase celery already washed, trimmed and cut into sticks, this makes chopping fast work)
1 medium to large yellow skinned onion, chopped
3 McIntosh apples, quartered and chopped
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
8 cups cubed stuffing mix (recommended: Pepperidge Farm)
2 to 3 cups chicken stock, available in paper containers on the soup aisle

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil to skillet and 4 tablespoons butter. When butter melts, add bay leaf and add the vegetables as you chop them, celery, onions then apples. Sprinkle the vegetables and apples with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Cook 5 to 6 minutes to begin to soften vegetables and apples then add parsley and stuffing cubes to the pan and combine. Moisten the stuffing with chicken broth until all of the bread is soft but not wet.

Butter 12 muffin cups, 2 tins, liberally with remaining butter. Use an ice cream scoop to fill and mound up the stuffing in muffin tins. Remove the bay leaf as you scoop the stuffing when you come upon it. Bake until set and crisp on top, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove stuffin' muffins to a platter and serve hot or room temperature.

These were really easy & came out great! As I mentioned, they were delicoius with soup the next day too.

:) Enjoy! Trish

Oh my gosh Trish, thank you for that muffin receipe. And I told myself I would not eat again for at least a week LOL. This receipe sounds so easy and so very very good. I can hardly wait to fix it!

Me again, actually what I meant was I can hardly wait to eat them!!!!!

Thanks so much Trish!

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Warm Chutney Dressing FABULOUS!!!!
Recipe courtesy Devon Delaney -- Sara's Secrets MORE SAVORY THAN USUAL

Prep Time: 15 minutes  Cook Time: 30 minutes  Yield: 8 servings 
Salad:
4 medium-sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup raw green pumpkin seeds (also known as pepitas)
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped scallions (green and white)
1 cup julienned roasted red pepper

Dressing:
6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup mango chutney
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup olive oil

Make the Salad:
1 Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a roasting pan, combine the potatoes, 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, rosemary, salt, pepper, cumin and ginger. Stir to combine and bake until the potatoes are fork-tender and golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.

2 Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and cook, stirring, until toasted. Transfer the seeds to a plate and season with salt and pepper.

3 In a small bowl, combine the cranberries, scallions, and red pepper and set aside.


Make the Dressing: Prepare the dressing by combining all the ingredients (except for the olive oil) in a small saucepan and heat. Remove from heat and whisk in the olive oil.
Assemble salad by gently tossing the roasted potatoes with the red pepper mixture. Add enough of the dressing to coat and garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds. Serve with extra dressing on the side.

wow - thanks for the thread, the ideas and the great sounding muffin recipie....I cam't wait to make them.....has anyone evr tried freezing them? It would be great to pop one into the microwave to have with the occaisonal chicken breast?????

Seafox, I haven't tried this particular recipe for the muffins, but have frozen similar ones, and have had excellent results! I wrap snugly in heavy foil, then insert into a freezer bag....... just like fresh if you take them out of the foil and thaw unwrapped.

I tried a new recipe this year that came from my book group's brunch: a cold salad of peas, pecans, and shredded cabbage, with a light curry dressing. Everyone loved it!