Thanksgiving in Pictures

Hosting Thanksgiving for 14 while 8 months pregnant was a tad ambitious, but Calvin and I pulled it off!  I wish I had done a better job documenting the night, but I kind of screwed that one up.  I am missing a ton of photos of people, food and fun.  Oh well.  Trust me when I say that dinner was good and we had a great time.  The menu included: turkey (thank you Calvin), rosemary mashed potatoes, stuffing, kale and brussels sprout salad, creamed collard greens, roasted veggies, cabernet cranberry sauce, corn muffins and cranberry, pistachio and dark chocolate cookies. 

Clarissa Makes Applesauce?!?!

Anyone who know me well knows the one food I HATE more than anything is cooked apples. Just the thought alone sends shivers down my spine. Apple sauce, apple pie, baked apples, ugh. My husband says this makes me un-American. 

So here's the dilemma. We have a million pounds of apples from our farm share. We have shared them with family and friends but there are still too many left behind. So for Calvin, because I love him, I am making him some homemade apple sauce. I hope it's good, because lord knows I will not be trying this one myself.

Applesauce

18 apples

1 lemon 

1 cup of water

1 heaping teaspoon of cinnamon

pinch of salt 

1/4 cup of Agave (or sugar is fine too)  

Place the juice of one lemon and a cup of water in a pot.  Peel and chop the apples. 

This is clearly the most annoying part...

 

Place the chopped apples in the pot. 

Add cinnamon, a pinch of salt, agave and stir. 

Place on medium high heat and bring to a boil. 

Then turn the heat down and let the mixture summer for about 20 minutes. Blend with a hand blender, food processor or food mill. Let the applesauce cool before storing. 

Pumpkin (sorry Calvin) Cornbread Muffins

If you're like me, then on your day off you get out of bed at 5:30am (for your sake, I hope you're not like me). After attempting to keep myself entertained by reading for awhile, I needed a new activity. So this morning I am experimenting and making pumpkin cornbread muffins. I'm sure Calvin will be thrilled;). 

 

Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins

Dry ingredients:

1 and 1/4 cup of cornmeal

1 cup of flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of salt 

Wet ingredients:

1 egg slightly beaten

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil or butter 

3/4 cup of canned pumpkin 

1/2 cup of honey 

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl sift together all of the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients. 

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir until just combined. 

 

Scoop the mixture into your paper liners (I use a cookie scoop because it guarantees the muffins are similar in size and it seems to be the easiest and cleanest method). 

 

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

 

Pumpkin Chili

As my husband says, "White people love pumpkin sh*t". And he's totally right. Today I'm using up the rest of our farm share vegetables to make a pumpkin chili in the slow cooker. Pumpkin chili may sound strange, but it's become a yearly staple in our house. The sweetness of the pumpkin is a perfect compliment to lots of spices. I usually make this chili without any meat but Calvin requested turkey.  I also don't normally use any root vegetables, but I wanted to put them to use before they went bad. 

Pumpkin Chili

1 can of Black beans

1 can of Kidney beans

1 cup of Roasted corn

2 Bell peppers

1 Jalapeño (if you want)

1 Onion 

1 small Butternut squash

2 Parsnips

1 can of pumpkin purée 

1 tablespoon of Cinnamon

1 tablespoon of Cumin

1 teaspoon of Cayenne

1 teaspoon of Chili powder 

Cilantro

Lemon or lime juice 

Salt and pepper 

1 cup of water 

Ground turkey 

Brown the turkey in a pan and add to the crock pot. Dice all vegetables. Here's the best part... Put everything in the slow cooker. Cook on low for about 4 hours. Serve with a sprinkle of shredded cheese, a fresh squeeze of citrus juice and some additional chopped cilantro.  

Zucchini Bread

As we get the last of these beautiful zucchinis from our farm share, I knew I had to make zucchini bread at least once. My mama used to make zucchini bread with zucchinis from the garden in our backyard. I don't have a backyard. I don't have a garden. I don't have her recipe. What I do have is this bread I just made, and it's pretty damn good.

Zucchini Bread

2 medium zucchinis 

3 cups of flour 

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

2 teaspoons of cinnamon 

2 eggs 

1 cup of sugar 

1/2 cup of brown sugar*

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3/4 cup of canola or olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8x4 inch loaf pans. 

Trim the ends of the zucchinis and grate (I did this in the food processor but you can just use a box grater). Squeeze the zucchini in a dish towel to remove some of the moisture from them. 

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices in a large bowl. 

In another bowl mix the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla. 

 

Toss the grated zucchini into the flour mixture. Pour the wet ingredients over the mixture and fold until well combined. 

Evenly divided into the loaf pans and bake for 45-50 minutes (check them with a toothpick). 

 

The top should be golden and feel springy. Let them cool in the pan for about ten minutes before letting them cool on a rack  or of your a deadbeat like me and you don't have a rack, just let them cool on the counter. 

 

Store the bread in an airtight container or wrap in foil and freeze for up to three months. 

Roasted Tomatillo and Tomato Salsa

Our farm share this week was an end-of-summer treat. We ended up with a ton of tomatillos and tomatoes. So today's experiment is a roasted salsa. By roasting the heck out of all the ingredients they'll reach their full, sweet potential (and the smell coming from the oven is pretty delightful too). 

Roasted Salsa

tomatillos

tomatoes 

jalapeño

onion

2 garlic cloves 

lemon or lime juice 

cilantro

salt and pepper 

Preheat the broiler on high and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

How pretty does that look?

First husk and wash the tomatillos (they can be sticky). Cut and quarter the tomatoes and tomatillos. Dice one onion. Smash 2 cloves of garlic and add to the pan. Quarter a jalapeño (I removed the seeds and ribs for less heat but you can add them in if you like it hot). Drizzle with olive oil and generously salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until charred. 

Let the vegetables cool for a bit before adding them to a food processor. Add the juice of a lemon or lime and a big handful of cilantro. Purée until you get the texture you like. You can always add water for a thinner salsa if you prefer. Taste for salt and pepper. Store in a jar and enjoy!