Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope you have a great holiday full of joy and love! That your day is everything you want it to be!
We’re in full celebration mode over here and I’ll be back on Friday with a Thanksgiving recap.
To help you get through some leftovers without losing your mind, I have a few suggestions:
Stuffing Fritatta (my favorite!)
Happy Thanksgiving!!
When Thanksgiving rolls around everyone starts talking about wine pairings. What is the perfect wine to go with the big dinner. Some how beer kind of gets glossed over and I’m not sure why. Today we’re changing that! I’ve got a post for you about pairing beer with Thanksgiving dinner!
Since I’m not super knowledgable when it comes to beer, I turned to someone who is. Let’s give a warm welcome to Colin! Colin is currently a sous chef at Deepwood restaurant and a brewer for the soon-to-be Born Brewing Company, here in Columbus, OH. To quote him, “I’ve been a beer fanatic for about six or seven years now, and a insufferable food snob since I was fifteen.” You can stalk him over on Twitter at BrewerBornBrew.
Like different types of wine, each beer variety has a certain set of general flavors and aromas that you can expect from it, Stouts are roasty dark flavors like coffee and chocolate. Brown Ales are toasty-chocolate-caramel, Pale Ales and IPAs are variations on sweet pine-citrus-tropical fruit while lagers tend to be crisper and cleaner finished vs their ale counterparts. Belgian beers exhibit a range of flavors and aromas all their own, the Belgians utilize funky yeast and aren’t afraid to add spices and herbs to their beers.
It’s Thanksgiving week! We’re getting down to the wire and now is when all the big prep starts to take place. Today is my last “free” day, starting tomorrow I’ll be cooking each day all the way until Thanksgiving day.
After that I’m not cooking again until at least Saturday!
Maybe. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
This year I’m making my own stock. I use a lot of chicken stock here at the HQ, however we do not eat enough meat for us to keep ourselves supplied with our own stock. I’ve been saving up bones in my freezer so that I would eventually have enough to make stock.
I finally have enough! Whoo!
Here’s a run down of how I’m spending the week:
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Scioto Valley Furniture is a local furniture store here in Columbus. This year they put together a cookbook specifically for Thanksgiving using recipes from Columbus locals.
I was asked if I wanted to submit a recipe and my answer was, “of course!”
Along with recipes for the big day there are also wine and beer pairing suggestions.
Head over to Scioto Valley’s site to download the recipe book!
For locals, there’s a coupon at the end of the book that you’ll be able to use at Scioto Valley Furniture!
As I mentioned before, I love Thanksgiving! I’ve discovered a few tips and tricks over the years that have made the big day run a little smoother.
You can prep and chop veggies ahead of time. Sometimes this can be the task that takes us the longest! Getting all the carrots, onions, and celery chopped for all the dishes we’ll be making. By prepping them a couple days in advance, this saves us time on the big day.
Brine, brine, brine! Learn to love brining that bird! It is a great way to provide additional flavor along with ensuring the bird stays juicy and delicious.
Some dishes can be made ahead and the only thing you have to do on Thanksgiving is heat them up! Think about everything that you plan on making and decide which dishes you can make ahead. Stuffing, sweet potato casserole, pies, green bean casserole are all things that can be made the day before. Again this will save you lots of time on Thanksgiving day along with helping you keep your sanity.
For those of us in the US, Thanksgiving is fast approaching. Less than two weeks away! I fully admit that this is my super favorite time of year.
The last four months of the year are an amazing time! September is full of embracing the fact that Fall is kicking off.
October is about taking joy in the leaves changing and the air getting cool.
November is all about Thanksgiving!
December is all about the holidays and enjoying loved ones.
My heart grows big during this time and I’m pretty much happy all of the time.
Thanksgiving I love because I love cooking. I get to cook a huge meal and prep and prepare for it all week long. For someone like me, where cooking is therapy, this is the best time of year!
I’m making my list and will go grocery shopping this week to pick up supplies. Next week I’ll pick up my turkey!
Hi gang! Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a great holiday season and are ready to start the new year with vim and vigor! We totally are, I have lots of plans and ideas that I need to get more organized and laid out. Then I’m ready to tackle them to make 2011 the best year yet!
Our holiday vacation is dwindling rapidly and the past few days have been really low key here at the HQ. We typically keep things pretty low key but this year has been even more so.
I had big plans for productivity on Friday, however the universe had other plans resulting in Scott and I spending the entire day dealing with the outcome of an unfortunate incident that happened.
I’ll explain more at another time because right now this post is about celebrations and newness, not ickiness.
Friday evening we had lobster tails for dinner.
Cutting lobster tails is a pain in the butt. The shells fly everywhere and they can be tough to get through. Therefore I have passed the torch off to Scott and had him cut the tails. Sorry to subject you to a dirty dish rag, I had just wiped off my pizza stone.
Hi gang! I hope you all are doing well and had an even better holiday! As you can see OHC has been laying low and taking it easy which is the way holiday vacations should be spent. I’m sad that we’re on the tail end of it though!
We’ve opened all our presents, stuffed our faces, and our goal is to make sure we spend more time in our jammies than out of them. So far this plan is working out well! A brief glimpse of how our holiday vacation looks and then it’s back to relaxing for me!
Spinach, sundried tomato, and goat cheese stuffed chicken breasts was Christmas day dinner.
Go Team!
Mmmm Beer!
Bonus points if you know what game this is! Except for you Nicole, because we’ve already talked about it!
Mac ‘n Cheese with beer and bacon!
Cooking and cooking and cooking.
My very ridiculous and most awesome new hat. It’s warm and toasty! I refer to it as my babushka which is not the right term but full of fun to say.
I came across this article by Nutritionist Eats via Lori and it’s my favorite healthy holiday related article yet. It talks about taking time to actually celebrate the holidays.
How many articles have we read this year that are full of the standard:
Dude.
You can only read so much of that before you want to scream, “BUT it IS the holidays! Good grief let’s have some fun already!”
You know I’m right.
Listen I’m not saying you should be, “Eff it all, it’s the holidays!” And start having iced bacon cookies (my idea, if you use it at least give me credit) with your coffee every morning until January 3rd. But I am saying, take the time to actually enjoy the holidays. It is festive and it is about fun and family and joy. So be joyful!
It’s no surprise that the holidays are my favorite time of year! When September rolls around I’m bouncing off the walls excited because the second half of the year is the best! In November I start itching to get Christmas decorations up because I love them so much! They make the house festive and so warm and cozy. Sometimes I put them up before Thanksgiving.
Yes I am that person.
When Scott and I first started living together he was taken aback by how much holiday decorations I wanted. Eventually my collection built up and each year he would haul out all five tubs of holiday decor. I would squee with delight as I unloaded the items, “Oh remember this?” “And look at this one! It’s one of my favorites!”
I put up lights where ever I can and I also put up a lot of trees. I love Christmas trees and adore the way they make my house look and feel.
