Eating Like There’s No Tomorrow….

….on Thanksgiving…..

So, I’ve mentioned that hubby and I was having a little Thanksgiving party…. I was the main chef making some stuff the day before and making some on the day itself. My brother and Qi offered to make cookies. Seyda offered to bring Buffalo Shrimp and Su Boregi (a yummy Turkish dish) and hubby’s friend from work brought Rice Pilau and some Cheesecake. There was so much food, we had even had leftovers! I don’t mind slaving in the kitchen for hours preparing food on holidays. I love entertaining…love having friends over and definitely love feeding making dinner for them! =)

Here’re some pictures of what were served on my Thanksgiving. We served everything on the kitchen counter (Bottom Left) and ate thanksgiving buffet style with guests sitting where ever they find a seat. Yes, it was a non-traditional thanksgiving dinner……. no big roasted turkey and no large table with everyone sitting around the table in one room! =p

I made some Savory Palmiers (Bottom Right) using store bought puff pastry and filled it with chopped olives, chopped sundried tomatoes, mozzarella & parmesan cheeses and salt & pepper! It turned out very well! =)

 

Crab Salad in Phyllo Cups (Bottom Left). The phyllo cups were so petite, it was so cute. You could make your own phyllo cups, but I bought it ready made from the store. It came in a box of 15 for about $2-$2.50. It was even baked; all I did was make the crab salad by mixing lump crab, chopped celery, chopped cilantro, mayo, salt and pepper! This was another delicious appetizer! It was cleaned very quickly!

Korean Shrimp & Scallion Pancake (Bottom Right). I will post the recipe soon! In the past, I have made this using store bought Korean pancake mix from the store. A friend told me it was easy to make it from scratch. After Googling and trying a few different kind of recipes….I found one I like the best! The pancake is definitely best served immediately after cooking. As I made mine a few hours in advance, I thought they weren’t as tasty as the fresh off the pan ones.

My main highlight was the Roasted Duck (Bottom Left). Instead of roasting a whole big fat turkey, I decided to roast a whole duck. I forgot to take a picture of the duck before I cut them up in pieces (yes I did let the duck rest for about 20-30 minutes). I have never bought an uncooked duck before and found out that they cost MUCH more than the 2 other poultries; chicken and turkey. I paid about $2.50/lb for the duck and that duck was about 6-1/2lbs. Chicken was about $1.20/lb and turkey was about $0.49 - $0.99/lb. I cooked the duck for about 2-1/2 hours and I served it with some Cranberry Pomegranate Orange Sauce. I thought the duck was ok…perhaps a little on the dry side? Yikes!!!!

Although the Thanksgiving dinner was not quite a traditional one….I decided to sort of stay within the tradition and still serve turkey. Turkey Meatballs seasoned with some cumin. I thought they were delicious and perhaps will share that recipe next time I make it again.

Hubby invited some of his Indian friends from work and I thought roasted chicken would be a good alternative in case they don’t eat duck or turkey (Bottom Left). I was right, they don’t eat duck. Not wanting to roast 2 whole uncut poultry, I decided to cut the chicken up into pieces. I marinated the chicken in some honey mustard for 2 days. My brother and Qi loved the chicken dish.

Seyda brought over some Buffalo Shrimp (Bottom Right). Simply yummy. Who would say no to shrimp and buffalo sauce, right? =) Thanks for making this, Seyda! I know Kelvin had plenty!! =P

Su Boregi, a Turkish pastry (Bottom Left) which reminds me of lasagna…but not quite. Seyda made this dish (well..per my request). She’s made it many times before when we go over to her place for dinner and I love it every time! She made this with some spinach and feta cheese filling. YUMSS!!Here’s a little explanation adapted from Wikipedia; “Su böreği ("water börek") is one of the most common type of Borek. Layers of dough are boiled briefly in large pans, then a mixture of feta cheese, parsley and oil is scattered between the layers. The whole thing is then brushed with butter and laid in a masonry oven to cook.”

Garlic Green Beans (Bottom Right). This is pretty self explanatory; Garlic + Green Beans + Oil + Salt. Did not want to do green bean casserole which would be far richer since I made it for last year’s Thanksgiving!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes (Bottom Left). Again, another self explanatory dish; Sweet Potatoes + Olive Oil + Salt. I wanted to do Candied Yam/Sweet Potatoes (my favorite) but thought I left it simple since the sweet potatoes were pretty delicious and sweet just like that!

Mashed Potatoes (Bottom Right). Boring stuff, I know!!! But I wanted some kind of easy to make starch for dinner. Sad to say, I either over-estimated the potatoes or there were more other yummy stuff that guests did not want plain old mashed potatoes or it was simply just not great. I would like to think that there were other yummy food, my guests decided to skip the mashed potatoes! I have quite a bit left…………….about half that casserole bowl to be exact. =(.

 

Cookie platter for dessert (Bottom Left). My brother and Qi made some delicious butter cookies with strawberry jam (Left in picture). I will request the recipe from Qi next time and post it here. The cookies are best piped into super mini cupcake liners. They should be petite and are supposed to be a one-bite size. I only have mini cupcake liners at home, hence a slightly large cookie which also took a little longer to cook. It was still very addictive nevertheless. One is not enough!!

I made some Sweet Cinnamon Palmiers (Right in Picture) by using puff pastry. A box of the frozen Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry came with 2 large sheets of puff pastry. I used one to make savory palmiers, and the other, the sweet ones. These were simple to make and was definitely a hit among my guests. I was (definitely) surprised; something so simple would be so well liked! I will remake this and share the easy recipe next time! =)

Jackfruit Cheesecake / Tart (Bottom Right) which I made the day before. Glad to say, my guests loved this. Yay! I’m super pleased as this is my own recipe!! =)

We ended up eating leftovers and turning them into a new dishes the next couple days. As my brother and his gf were in town the whole week………..I ate so much. Too much to tell you the truth! I think I would definitely break the scale if I hop on it now! I’m gonna give myself a few days before weighing my damage and see what Thanksgiving have done to my weight and waistline. Not to mention, all of a sudden…..I’m having a pimples breakout……Must be too much food and wine last whole week!!!! Arghhhh!!! Food intoxication!!!!!!!!