Non Traditional Thanksgiving

I know it's been an eternity.  I haven't fallen off the face of the earth just wrapped up in the usual holiday craziness.  As I previously stated, with only three of us in the house we decided to do a non traditional Thanksgiving dinner the day before Thanksgiving.  Overall, it was a very successful meal, but some of the recipes need a little tweaking.  


Dinner consisted of a fabulous orange glazed pork tenderloin with a sauce made from the drippings, mashed potatoes, a green bean casserole, rolls, a jello salad (I'm LDS aka Mormon and jello is almost a must at every meal), chocolate pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream, and pear cranberry gingersnap crumble.  

I love orange juice, but I'm not always a huge fan of orange flavored things.  I really loved this glaze.  It had great flavor and the rosemary added a nice bold flavor to the glaze and sauce.


Mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls and jello salad aren't anything super special, so I'll just skip ahead to the really good stuff.


I was SO excited about the chocolate pumpkin pie.  I found this recipe when I was watching The Chew one day.  I thought to myself what could be more perfect.  Chocolate is great and pumpkin is great, so the two together must be fabulous!  It was ok, but I didn't love it.  I'm not sure if there was too much chocolate, though I don't know how that's possible, or if I did something wrong in execution.  The pie did seem to taste better after a day or two.  I'd like to try it again, but maybe adjust how much chocolate is used.  If anyone decides to try it let me know how it turns out and what you think.

I was equally as excited about dessert number two.  I discovered this recipe from my friend Katie.  It is a pear, cranberry, gingersnap crumble.  I may have put too much of the crumble on top, but the taste of it is absolute heaven.  The pears stayed firm, which is how I like them, but for some reason the cranberries stay whole and firm instead of bursting when they were cooked.  They did pop in your mouth when you bit into them.  It was excellent and probably my favorite thing of the whole meal.

It was fun to try some different recipes.  All of the traditional fall flavors were there and present, but in non traditional recipes.  


As Christmas quickly approaches, there will be more cooking adventures coming. Stay tuned for red velvet whoopie pies and cake, pecan pie and my first experience cooking a prime rib.  This is a great time of year to share wonderful and memorable food experiences with family, friends, and all those that we love and care about.  


Happy Christmas and Happy Cooking!