Better late than never right?! HAHAHAHA!!
I'll start with the festivities first, and then I will get into the recipes and photos!!
This year we had dinner at my parents' home, and my dad made his traditional turkey in a garbage can! I made my fab sweet potato casserole, and bacon mac & cheese.. We had Nery's mom's mashed potatoes, Lula's green bean casserole and my mom made yummy yummy corn bread casserole!!!! {I feel like I'm missing something} Then for dessert we had apple pie, pumpkin cheesecake, and chocolate pralines!
For those who don't understand what turkey in a garbage can is, basically it's a recipe my dad picked up in the scouts and is a faster, more efficient way to cook a turkey, and the turkey comes out amazingly juicy!!! In a nutshell, my dad lays out some aluminum foil on the ground, and uses a stick/dowel of some kind to hold the turkey above the ground and a bundt cake pan to hold the marinade {and this year some veggies and fruits that my mom later used and blended into the gravy!} At the top of the dowel there is a ball used to support the turkey - the ball sits inside the turkey instead of stuffing - then the cured aluminum garbage can goes upside down, over the turkey with hot coals on top of the can and around the bottom.. The turkey cooked for about 3.5 hours and was so deliciously moist the turkey broke in half!!! It was so yumm yumm yumm!! Definitely the centerpiece of our dinner!
I love spending time with my family, they are everything to me and getting to spend the holidays with them is my favorite part of the holidays {even though we see each other frequently the holidays make it extra special!!}.. My parents were there {obvi, as dinner was at their house!} Nery, Sofie, and my brother.. My cousin's Lulu and Marie Anne with their loves and their uncle, one of my dad's clients and his family. We always have a great time when we get together!
Sofie had her very first Thanksgiving meal this year! Last year she was only 3 weeks old{ish} and was a breast milk only baby at that time.. This year, her first actual Thanksgiving food was consisted of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and ham.. The turkey wasn't ready yet, and it was getting late, so she had cold cuts, but it's better than nothing.
Here come the pictures of the evening!!
Enjoy!! ❤
Warming the coals and the garbage can!
Fruits and veggies for the gravy!!
Besitos for Lala ❤
Eating things she shouldn't eat!
Waiting for daddy to bring her shoes!
OF COURSE she had to find the dirt patch to sit in!
If you look really really close, you can see the leaf in her mouth!
Dowel, ball, and bundt pan with the veggies, waiting for the turkey!
Daddy's clients from Trinidad
Pouring in the marinade!
Ready to cook!
The boys putting the coals on the garbage can/oven
They have the same face
Love her ❤
Frozen strawberries and champagne!
My little fashionista
Primas!!!!
She loves her padrino!
Sofie's first Thanksgiving meal
Don't touch my food
Mmmmmm
HOORAY THANKSGIVING!!!
Two of my favorites!!!
Love how they sing together!!
Sofie loved it!!
❤ ❤ ❤
Sisters and their misters!
Prepping to free the turkey!
It broke!!!
So juicy and yummy!!
My sweet potatoes!
Besitos papi!! ❤
- - - - -
Let's start with the sweet potato casserole since I've made it before and it was the easier dish for me to make, since I've made it before and I don't want to spend too much time on it because I really enjoyed the mac & cheese and it's a little more involved than the sweet potatoes {at least I think it is!}!!
I have shared this recipe before in my Food For Thought post, but I don't mind sharing again!
Sharing is caring!!!! You can also find the recipe we use for the corn bread casserole!
This Thanksgiving, I made sure to take step-by-step photos to share with you!
Old-Fashioned Sweet Potato Casserole
I got this recipe from "The Taste of Home Cookbook", but tweaked it a little by adding the apple and I generally eyeball the spices =)
Ingredients
- 4 Pounds sweet potatoes (about 5 large), peeled and cubed
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 apple, peeled cored and cubed
Topping
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans **
1/2 cup melted butter
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1) Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain.
2) In a large mixing bowl, mash the potatoes. Add the milk. brown sugar, butter, egg, cinnamon, vanilla, allspice, salt and nutmeg; beat until smooth. Transfer to a greased shallow 2-1/2 qt. baking dish.
3. Combine flour, brown sugar, chopped pecans and melted butter in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the mashed sweet potato mixture. Bake, uncovered for 50-55 minutes or until heated through and topping is browned.
** I did notice this time, what I didn't notice the last couple of times I've made this is that instead of using 1 cup of chopped pecans, I started using one pound of pecans. I don't know when I made that "deviation" in the recipe {or even how I made such a HUGE mistake} but I did and I wouldn't change that - makes it extra crunchy and yumm!
The randomness of the sizes of the sweet potatoes made me laugh
This was a little over 4 pounds
Peeled and cubed and into the pot
Covered with water and bring to a boil
Once it boils, make sure to lower the temp on the stove, cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes
All the stuff that goes into the potatoes and topping
I added the butter before I started mashing
Smash smash smash till it's as smooth as you can make it.
Then I put the bowl under the blender and started to blend it
While the potatoes where boiling I premixed the milk, egg and vanilla..
and the brown sugar and spices to help speed up the process..
Hello me!!
Everything added.. just letting it mix!!
Apple, peeled and cored, using my favorite tool -
after my stand mixer
After the apple is cubed, it gets tossed into the potato mixture
This is the butter, flour, brown sugar, and pound of pecans!
This is what the sweet potatoes should like after everything is mixed in..
Smooth out the mixture..
Add the pound of pecan topping
And smooth it out until it covers all the potato
Bake {uncovered} at 350 for 50-55 minutes or until topping is browned
Enjoy!!
Now.........
Bacon Mac & Cheese a la Stephanie Ulloa
{With a little Vanessa Saenz sprinkled in!}
Here is the recipe, as made up and sent to me by my friend Stephanie..
Ok just a small disclaimer that this is probably the unhealthiest recipe on the planet. It puts Paula Deen to shame.
What you'll need:
1 16 oz box of elbow macaroni or whatever pasta you'd prefer.
1 16 oz carton of heavy cream
1 4 oz tub of sour cream
1 bar of cream cheese
1 12 oz pack of regular bacon
1/2 cup of domestic beer (which ever one you want, I used either Sam Adams or Yuengling but I've also done it with Bud Light)
3 sticks of butter
salt
pepper
garlic powder
1 tsp of flour
Optional (1 can of Spam)
Sharp or mild cheddar cheese. I use the giant 32 oz bag, but I like it really cheesy. You can use as much or as little as you like. You can also feel free to use a combination of cheeses. Use about 3/4 of the bag but make sure to leave some for the end.
What you do:
1. Boil water and pasta, stir occasionally until ready. Strain and leave in a casserole dish. Let a stick of butter melt on the pasta.
2. Cut bacon into small pieces. Cook until desire crispiness is reached. If you are adding Spam, chop it up into little pieces and cook as well.
3. In a medium size pot, melt a half stick of butter. (haha...butterbeer) Pot should be a slightly above medium. You don't want this pot to boil.
4. Once butter is melted, pour in beer. Stir and let simmer for a few minutes.
5. Pour in heavy cream into pot. Stir and let simmer. Bring temperature to between medium and low
6. In a separate bowl, pour about 3/4 of the bag of cheese in. Mix in the flour with your hands.
7. Begin adding the cheese/flour mix to the butterbear/heavy cream mix. Stir in until cheese is melting and starts to get kind of stringy. Repeat this process until
all cheese has been used. Stir continuously until desire thinness is reached. Try not to let it stand for too long because it will start to get hard.
8. Pour cheese sauce onto the pasta.
9. Add half of the tub of sour cream and half of the bar of cream cheese.
10. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder as you want. Make sure there is enough garlic powder to give it the flavor but too much garlic powder can make it taste
weird. You might have to add and taste. Mix it all together until sour cream, cream cheese, and sauce are evenly spread through out.
11. Add the last of the cheese on top of the pasta to make like a mac and cheese casserole. Bake at 350 for about half an hour or until desired browning. I tend to
like it a bit crispier and brown, especially along the edges and corners so, you can kind of play this by ear.
Ok, so I didn't follow the recipe exactly as written.. I gave myself a little creative freedom.. I will note where I deviated under the pictures!
First and foremost I cannot stand soggy pasta..
I CAN NOT stress it enough how much I hate it so I didn't cook the elbows as the first step..
I made the bacon first!!
I like it extra crispy, so I let it brown very very well
Then I started on the cream sauce.. First step melt the butter and add the beer
Then, after it's simmered for a few minutes I added the heavy whipping cream
When I bought the ingredients, I couldn't find sharp cheddar, so I substituted mozzarella and made it more like an Alfredo sauce..
Mozzarella mixed with the flour
**Vanessa add**
I bought a small tub of ricotta and lined the bottom of the pan with half of the tub, as you would for baked ziti.. Save the other half for the topping
Since pasta continues to cook after it is removed from the water, I decided to cook it as the butterbeer and cream was simmering, I took the elbows out of the water when it was al dente, which is about 7 to 8 minutes for elbow macaroni {double check the box for exact cooking times}
I removed the pasta from the big pot and transferred the butterbeer and cream into the big pot and then added the sour cream, cream cheese and salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
After the sour cream and cream cheese melted a bit, I added the mozzarella and flour mix
I stirred it until the cheese became stringy
Then I added the elbows
And stirred it until the macaroni was completely covered by the sauce
Then came the bacon!
And into the tray!
I added the extra ricotta, the left over mozzarella and
**Vanessa add on** a cup of parmesan cheese!
Into the oven!
I added the layer of aluminum foil under the pan to catch any cheese overflow.. thankfully there was none!
This is what it looked like after about 30 minutes..
My sweet potatoes, mac & cheese and my MIL's mashed potatoes
I was cooking at home, so I didn't cook either dish the full time because they were going back in the oven at my parents' house so I didn't want to over cook anything either!
Both dishes came out AMAZING!!!!!!! Thanks again to Stephanie for sharing her creation with me! It was a hit at Thanksgiving!!!
Happy Cooking!!
Hugs..
NEXT YEAR I'M EATING AT YOUR HOUSE!!!
ReplyDeleteLOL you're always welcome!!!
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