Apple Pumpkin Dutch Baby

Patrick and I enjoy a relaxing brunch on the weekends. We have our coffee and watch the birds out the back window have breakfast too! And, if it's Sunday, we browse the paper! Patrick's most favorite breakfast is Buttermilk Waffles with freshly sliced strawberries. But we can't have those every weekend! Since we're in pumpkin season we thought it would be fun to find a brunch recipe with pumpkin. We found a recipe for "Apple Pumpkin Oven Pancake" which reminded of this Gingerbread Spice Dutch Baby recipe we tried last year. Recipe is below!

When pumpkins were first showing up on our CSA this fall I ordered two "pie pumpkins" in consecutive weeks then roasted them both at the same. After they were pureed I used one to make pumpkin ice cream and then portioned the rest into 1 cup baggies for the freezer. Like so:

Sauteed Apple-Pumpkin Oven Pancake from A Harvest of Pumpkins and Squash, online at recipegirl.com
Yield: 4 to 6 servings | Prep Time: 30 min Cook Time: 30 min

Ingredients*

3 Tablespoons butter, divided
4 large apples such as Granny Smith, Gala, or Golden Delicious, peeled, cored and cut into 3/8-inch slices
4 Tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
4 large eggs
2/3 cup canned, unsweetened pure pumpkin purée
2/3 cup whole milk
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
powdered sugar for dusting

   *I cut everything in half to serve just Patrick and myself for brunch

Directions
   Preheat oven to 425°F.
   In a large skillet, melt 2 Tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat. Add the apples and sauté just until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons of the sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon and stir to coat the apples. Remove from heat.
   Place 10 or 11-inch round soufflé or casserole dish in the oven to heat for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the dish from the oven, add the remaining 1 Tablespoon of butter, and tilt the dish to coat the bottom. Spoon the sautéed apples over the bottom of the dish.
   In a blender, combine the eggs, pumpkin, milk, flour, the remaining 2 Tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, the vanilla, and the salt and blend for a few seconds, just to incorporate. Scrape down the sides of the jar and blend again to incorporate.

I was able to use the single server mixing container with our Ninja blender for the batter... saved on cleanup!

   Pour the batter over the hot apples. Bake until puffed and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve immediately.

I personally thought the apples would have been better served as a topping for the pancake rather than baked in it. Patrick, however, would not change anything if we made it again.

Quick "Registry 101" shout out here for our cookbook stand. It seems everywhere I look these days I see a cookbook stand for sale and I would definitely recommend one if you use cookbooks often. When Patrick and I selected ours we wanted one that would fold up so we could store it out of the way (and not have it taking up permanent counter space) and we also liked the ones that featured the plexiglass panel to protect the book.

An Eibl Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve!

Just sharing a house tour of our Christmas decorations. There are also some Christmas prep photos in the post (aka putting up our Christmas tree).

Hope you are enjoying your time with family and friends as much as we are!

The Sunday following Thanksgiving we went to the TROSA Christmas lot and selected a nice 7 foot Frasier Fir tree from the NC mountains to come adorn our living room for the next month.

The week after Thanksgiving we started trimming our tree.

And then it was decorated!

Christmas cards displayed as our table centerpiece.

Snowglobes on our china storage cabinet.

Snowglobes close up

Miniature Christmas trees on top of the kitchen cabinets.

Ribbons and ornaments along the staircase railing.

Wine decorations!

Wine bottle hat and scarf.

Golden poinsettia wine topper with a wreath around our marble wine chiller.

The stockings were hung by the mantle with care... with poinsettias nestled beneath them.

Santa says "Welcome"

Snowman says "Let It Snow"

Looking for more Christmas fun?! Check out these past posts of what we've done in Christmas past...

   2010 Party

   2011 Party | 2011 Decorations

   2012 Decorations

Have a wonderful holiday!

Registry 101: Silicone Baking Cups

Need a last minute holiday gift idea?! They'd be perfect as stocking stuffers!

We highly recommend gifting someone with silicone baking cups. We speak from experience; we registered for this Set of 12 Clear Silicone Baking Cups from Crate and Barrel and love them! We find ourselves using them much more than we probably thought we would.

We've used them for pumpkin muffins, blueberry muffins, and lots of corn muffins when we've made soup the past few months.

Here are some of the benefits:

--make as many as you need and cook/bake accordingly. Patrick and I love this benefit because it means we can use our Breville countertop toaster oven to bake 6 corn muffins (pictured above). Our traditional cupcake/muffin tins are for 12 muffins... so if we wanted to bake 6 muffins we would still have to put them in the oven.

--less waste. With these silicone baking cups you won't need paper cups anymore.

--the options are endless. Recently we've be freezing our chicken stock in the baking cups and after they're frozen popping them all into a ziploc bag. They freeze in 1/4 cup portions so they're really convenient.

Are you done with your holiday shopping??

Crafting Meet Up

A few months ago (actually I think this was from the spring and this post is a victim of black non-blogging days) I had Marianne over for a fun crafting meet up. Obviously I'm not sharing this for the crafting project but rather the brunch we shared! If I remembered what craft project we worked on then I would share. Maybe you're finding yourself in a home getting ready for the holidays with lots of folks and need a quick idea for brunch! This will fit the bill.

You can never go wrong with cinnamon rolls and a fruit-cheese platter for brunch. Actually these are the Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls. I bought them in the store on a whim one day with the intention of having them on hand when something other than eggs and toast was wanted. But my husband wouldn't let me make them! He said something crazy about not liking citrus flavor in the glaze. What nonsense is this?! So, being the good wife I am, I didn't make them for him.

When Marianne and I planned our crafting meet up I knew these would be the perfect thing for us! I provided the rolls and Marianne brought along all the fabulous fruit and a cheese! She had two kinds of apples, grapes, and a cheese (of the cheddar nature, I believe). This was the perfect start for our crafting.

Guess what?! I felt like I was letting you guys down by not filling you in on the craft so I searched through my gmail (google saves the day!) to see if Marianne and I had corresponded about our crafting plans. Unfortunately we did not but I had emailed my mom some pictures of my completed craft project! I also found out that this was in January!!

I finished painting my sewing box!

This is what I emailed to my mom: "As promised here are pictures of my sewing box! Granny brought me the unfinished wooden cheese box last year and I never quite found the time to finish it. Before we moved last year I had put on a base coat of paint but hadn't put any colors on it. 

So when Marianne and I had a craft day last week I started painting to finish it. I'm so excited it's finished and I can store my sewing items in there."

I believe Marianne worked on knitting squares for an afghan she was working on! We were very productive and had such fun that we had quite a few other crafting meet ups!

This will be one of our last posts before Christmas (with one little surprise this afternoon and decorations tomorrow)! Hope you are enjoying some good holiday brunches wherever you are!

Merry Christmas!

2012 Special Christmas Dinner

Here's a post from the not blogging days and catching up with those drafts! This is from last Christmas! I hope it's okay if we still share this. Since it's almost Christmas I thought it was appropriate. 

Patrick and I decided to have a nice dinner at home shortly before the visiting-family-spree began! We lit candles, had some wine, and fixed steak and green beans. 

The highlight of the dinner, however, was indeed the wine!

The Biltmore Estate Merlot was purchased after the proposal! We "aged" this Merlot all the way from April until December!! This wine not only marked the special Christmas holiday but December was half way between the proposal and the wedding.

I'm surprising Patrick with a bottle of the Biltmore Estate Merlot again this Christmas! Do you have a favorite bottle of holiday wine??

Football Brunch

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we found ourselves hosting my parents and getting ready for the UNC-Duke football game. The UNC-Duke football game is traditionally played over the Thanksgiving holiday and hopefully we can make this an Eibl Family tradition! It was a really close game (came right down to the last play!) and there weren't any hard feelings after the game was over.

Kickoff was at 12:30pm so Patrick and I fixed a quiche and baked fruit compote to have at our house before leaving for the game. Last month we finally did a post for our quiche recipe that we love. I also mentioned that the filling always seemed to overflow and we would be experimenting with the filling. We experimented this time; it's not worth updating the recipe yet though! We will keep you informed when we figure out the right ratio of egg and dairy! We served the quiche with a baked fruit compote. This dish was one of my mom's recipes. She usually serves it as a dinner side dish but I thought it was appropriate for brunch on a chilly Saturday morning! Read on for the recipe.

Quiche
One thing we love about the quiche recipe is that it's so adaptable. You can put whatever kind of filling you want in it! On this particular morning we made a classic ham and cheese quiche. We actually utilized leftover ham from the previous day!

Baked Fruit Compote
Ingredients
1 20 oz can pineapple chunks
1 16 oz can peach slices
1 16 oz can pear slices
1 11oz can mandarin oranges
¼ c butter
½ c firmly packed brown sugar
½ c orange juice
2 tbs lemon juice
½ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Instructions
   Drain all fruit.
   Heat oven to 375F. Arrange all fruit in 9x13 baking dish. In small saucepan over medium heat combine all remaining ingredients. Heat and stir until brown sugar is dissolved and butter is melted. Pour over fruit. Bake for 25 minutes or until fruit is thoroughly heated.

And then we went to the football game!

Look at all those smiles!

Too bad Duke lost the ACC Championship game!

"Black Friday" Dinner for Parents

As I mentioned in our last post introducing our meal plan for Friday, Patrick and I planned a smaller Thanksgiving Day meal in anticipation of a larger meal on Friday since my parents would be visiting. There was a whole ham! There were multiple sides and dessert! There was even wine in a carafe! And there were Christmas dishes!

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving I had filled our cabinets with our Spode Christmas Tree dishes. In 2011 we started our collection with a 12pc set (4 place settings) and now we've grown to 12 place settings with various serving dishes!

Our celebratory holiday meal here featured a honey glazed spiral sliced ham, sweet potato gratin, green beans with a mushroom cream sauce and cheesecake with a graham cracker pretzel crust! We served fresh homemade crusty bread alongside the meal. Read on for the recipes!

The Spread


The Drinks


The Table

Crunchy Glaze Spiral Sliced Ham
Patrick and I took the easy way for preparing the ham. We purchased a Smithfield Crunchy Glaze Spiral Sliced ham and warmed it according to package directions. The ham is precooked and presliced. Before it finishes in the oven there is an included glaze packet to smear on the ham for tasty goodness.

Sweet Potato, Spinach, and Caramelized Onion Gratin adapted slightly from Fresh & Green Table cookbook
Ingredients

2 tbsp unsalted butter
¼ c heavy cream
1 c bread crumbs
2 tbsp evoo
2 tsp chopped parsley
Kosher salt + freshly ground pepper
2 cups thinly sliced onions
1 tsp minced garlic
4 oz baby spinach
12 oz sweet potatoes
8 oz russet potatoes
½ c sharp cheddar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Instructions
   Preheat oven to 350F. Rub a shallow 2 qt baking dish with a little butter. Combine the cream with ¾ c water in a liquid measuring cup and set aside.
   In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs, 1 tbsp of the olive oil, the parsley, and a big pinch of salt. Stir well and set aside.
   In a medium heavy nonstick skillet, heat the 2 tbsp butter and the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-low heat. When the butter has melted, add the onions and ¼ tsp salt, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Uncover, raise the heat to medium, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the onions have shrunk and browned in places (some more than others), about 8 minutes more. Add the garlic and stir until softened and fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add all the spinach to the pan and toss with the onions until the spinach has completely wilted, about 1 minute. Transfer the onion and spinach to the gratin and smooth with a silicone spatula into one thin, even layer.
   Peel the sweet potatoes and potatoes. Halve them lengthwise and turn the halves cut-side down. Using a very sharp knife, cut them crosswise into very thin half-moon slices. Put the potatoes in a mixing bowl. Add the cream-water mixture, the cheese, and the remaining parsley, the mustard, ¾ tsp salt, and several grinds of pepper. Mix well.
   Using your hands, lift the potatoes out of the bowl and transfer them to the prepared dish, arranging them as evenly as possible over the spinach and onions. Pour and scrape the liquids and anything remaining in the bowl into the dish and distribute everything evenly, adjusting the potatoes as necessary to even the top.
   Using your palms, press down on the veggies to bring the liquids up and around them as much as possible. Top with an even layer of the bread crumb mixture. Bake in the preheated oven until the veggies are tender when pierced with a fork, the bread crumbs are brown, and the juices around the edges of the gratin have bubbled down and formed a dark brown rim around the edge, 60 to 65 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Green Beans with Mushroom Cream Sauce from Closet Cooking blog

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Serves: 4

Ingredients
1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms* we omitted these
1/2 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, diced
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated
salt and pepper to taste
1 handful parsley, chopped
1 pound green beans
Instructions
   Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in the water for 20 minutes. (we omitted this)
   Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 4-6 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and saute until fragrant, about a minutes. Add the cremini mushrooms and saute until the start to caramelized and turn golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.
   Add the porcini mushrooms and the water they were soaking in to the pan and simmer at medium-high until reduced by half, about 10 minutes.  (we omitted this)
   Add the cream and parmigiano reggiano, season with salt and pepper and simmer until it thickens, about 2-4 minutes.
   Meanwhile steam the green beans.
   Remove the mushrooms from the heat and mix in the parsley.
   Serve the green beans covered in the mushroom sauce.

Cheesecake with Pretzel Crust by The Chew & Michael Symon
Skill level: Moderate | Time: over 120min | Servings: 24
Ingredients

For the Crust
1 1/2 cup Pretzels (ground)
1/2 cup Graham Crackers (ground)
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
8 tablespoons Unsalted Butter (melted)
pinch Salt
For the Filling
24 ounces Cream Cheese (room temperature)
1 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Granulated Sugar
5 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
10 ounces Strawberry Preserves (to serve)
Instructions

   For the Crust: Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the pretzels, graham crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Add a pinch of salt and then press into the bottom of a 13x9 clear glass baking dish. Set aside while you make your filling.
   For the Filling: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the softened cream cheese on medium speed, scraping the sides and the beater occasionally. Next, add the sour cream and continue to mix until combined. Next, add the sugar and continue to mix until combined. With the mixer on low, add the eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing in after each addition. Add the vanilla. Pour the filling over the crust and bake for 1 hour or until the center is no longer jiggly.
   Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let sit for a few minutes while you prepare the jam. In a small sauce pot-melt the strawberry jam over low heat. When it is melted, strain in to another bowl if you prefer no seeds. Pour the melted jam over the top of the cheesecake and smooth out in to an even layer. Let the cheesecake sit out to cool for another 30 minutes to an hour, then slice in to 24 squares while still warm. Refrigerate for a few hours to chill completely.

I must admit after this Thanksgiving weekend I may have finally felt like an adult. I've gone to college and I've gotten married but feeling like an adult really sunk in after hosting parents for an official holiday.

"Black Friday" Appetizers for parents

After Patrick and I enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving Day complete with pumpkin cinnamon rolls, turkey breast, and Catching Fire we welcomed my parents to town on Friday afternoon. They arrived in anticipation of the UNC-Duke football game on Saturday.

You may have noticed that Patrick and I planned a somewhat light menu plan for Thanksgiving Day. We did this because we were planning to have more variety on Friday when my parents were visiting. It's better to fix more things when there are more mouths to feed! Their plan was to get to our house mid-afternoon, relax, and then we'd have a nice dinner. Patrick and I planned to have appetizers ready when they got here so we could have some nibbles and then a later dinner. We had spinach artichoke dip, spicy lemon garlic shrimp, and cheddar biscuits with pecans as the appetizers. Read on for the recipes!

Here's the appetizer spread

Spinach Artichoke Dip from The Chew & Clinton Kelly
Skill level: Easy | Time: 30-60min | Servings: 8
Ingredients
1/3 cup Mayonnaise
1/3 cup Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Sour Cream
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
1 cup chopped Marinated Artichokes (drained and rinsed)
2 cups chopped Frozen Spinach (thawed and drained)
2 tablespoons Roasted Garlic
Salt
freshly cracked Black Pepper
fresh Tortilla Chips (to serve)
Instructions
   Preheat oven to 375 F. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the ingredients and season to taste. Transfer to a small, oven-safe serving dish. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbling and slightly golden on top.
   Serve warm with fresh tortilla chips.

Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp from The Pioneer Woman
Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: 25 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 8
Ingredients*
2 pounds Raw Shrimp, Deveined, Shells On
2 sticks Cold Unsalted Butter Cut Into Pieces
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
4 cloves Garlic, Peeled
1/4 cup Fresh Parsley
1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper
1 whole Lemon, Juiced

   *we halved the recipe
Instructions
   Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse frozen shrimp to separate, then arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.
   In the bowl of a food processor, add cold butter, garlic, lemon juice, salt, parsley, and red pepper. Pulse until combined. Sprinkle cold butter crumbles over the shrimp.
   Bake until shrimp is opaque and butter is hot and bubbly.
   Serve with hot crusty bread. Peel and eat the shrimp, then dip the bread into the butter in the bottom of the pan.

Cheddar Biscuits with Pecans from Martha Stewart
Ingredients
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
30 pecan halves
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
Paprika
Instructions

   Place cheese, butter, flour, salt, and cayenne pepper in the bowl of a food processor; process until a dough is formed, about 10 seconds. Turn dough out onto work surface and divide into two equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a 1 1/2-inch-thick log; wrap with wax or parchment paper and refrigerate until dough is firm, at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
   Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
   Unwrap dough and slice each log crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Place dough rounds on prepared baking sheet 1 1/2 inches apart; gently press a pecan half into the center of each. Brush with egg whites and sprinkle lightly with paprika.
   Bake biscuits until crisp, about 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Then I put Patrick to work stringing up the Christmas lights and his mother-in-law offered to help!

Getting ready for Christmas!

What's your favorite holiday appetizer??

Our First Thanksgiving

After we had a wonderful breakfast on Thanksgiving morning of pumpkin cinnamon rolls, we decided to catch a movie matinee! We couldn't wait any longer to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and it did not disappoint. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving outing.

And now I'll continue with more Thanksgiving weekend recipes as seen on our meal plan.

Before we left for the movies we started a boneless turkey breast in the crockpot. I had a Pioneer Woman broccoli wild rice casserole side planned and honey glazed carrots. After we got back from the movie Patrick decided we didn't need carrots since the casserole had grains and vegetables in it. Throughout the day we worked on putting up Christmas decorations and prepping ahead for Friday. Read on for the Thanksgiving dinner recipes!

Broccoli Wild Rice Casserole from the Pioneer Woman
Ingredients*
2 cups Uncooked Wild Rice
8 cups Low-sodium Chicken Broth, More If Needed For Thinning
3 heads Broccoli, Cut Into Small Florets
1 pound White Button Or Crimini Mushrooms, Finely Chopped
1/2 cup (1 Stick) Butter
1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
2 whole Carrots, Peeled And Finely Diced
2 stalks Celery, Finely Diced
4 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs we substituted regular plain breadcrumbs because they were on hand in the pantry

   *we cut everything in half

Instructions
   Add the wild rice into a medium saucepan with 5 cups of the chicken broth. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat, then reduce the heat to low and cover the pan. Cook the rice until it has just started to break open and is slightly tender, about 35 to 40 minutes Set it aside.
   Meanwhile, blanch the broccoli by throwing the florets into boiling water for 1½ to 2 minutes, until bright green and still slightly crisp. Immediately drain the broccoli and plunge it into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Remove it from the ice water and set it aside.
   Heat a large pot over medium-high heat, then melt 6 tablespoons of the butter. Add the onions and the mushrooms and cook, stirring them occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the liquid begins to evaporate. Add the carrots and celery and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and the mixture begins to turn darker in color.
   Sprinkle the flour on the vegetables and stir to incorporate it, then cook for about a minute. Pour in the remaining 3 cups of broth and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil and allow it to thicken, about 3 minutes. Pour in the heavy cream, stirring to combine. Let the mixture cook until it thickens. Season with the salt and pepper, then taste and adjust the seasonings as needed.
   Add half the cooked rice to the bottom of a 2-quart baking dish, then lay on half the broccoli. (You can do one layer of each or two layers of each. Using a ladle, scoop out the vegetable/broth mixture and spoon it evenly all over the top. Continue with the rest of the sauce, totally covering the surface with vegetables.
   Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, then pour it into a separate bowl with the panko breadcrumbs. Toss the mixture together to coat the breadcrumbs in butter, then sprinkle the breadcrumbs all over the top.
   Cover with foil and bake the casserole for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and continue baking for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Sprinkle on the parsley after you remove it from the oven.

Crockpot Turkey Breast from Pinterest & Jamie Cooks It Up blog

Ingredients
1 (5-6 pound) turkey breast we had a much smaller turkey breast; cook accordingly
1/2 C orange juice (you could also substitute chicken broth)
1 (14 ounce) can whole cranberry sauce
1 (1 ounce) package Lipton Onion Soup Mix
salt and pepper
Instructions

   Make sure your turkey is completely thawed. I let mine hang out in the fridge for a couple of days after I purchase it frozen. Set it on a pan, so you don’t have juices running all over when you open up the bag. Cut a hole in the top of the bag and remove the packaging. Some turkey breasts come with a gravy pouch inside, be sure to remove it if yours happens to come with one. 

   Place the bird in the crock pot. Combine 1/2 cup of orange juice, one can whole berry Cranberry sauce, and one package Lipton Onion Soup mix. Pour them over the turkey breast. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the top. Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 8-9 hours (since we had a smaller breast we cooked on low for about 6 hours) or until a meat thermometer stuck into the center of the bird reads 180 degrees. 

   Remove the turkey breast to a plate and cover it with tin foil. Let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then carve it (or shred it) up and enjoy.

We served our first Thanksgiving meal on our fine china!

For some reason Patrick doesn't like to wait for the table to be set to take pictures.

The newlyweds on Thanksgiving.

I mentioned earlier we worked ahead for some of our Friday dishes and here's a peek at the mess they made! More recipes to come!

How do you handle messes in your kitchen?! We try to practice the "clean as you go" method but that doesn't always work out as you can see!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

This week on the blog I will feature recipes that were made over the Thanksgiving holiday. Visit this post for our proposed meal plan. I will share the recipes in the order that we made them. Of course the first one will have to be breakfast on Thanksgiving Day! Tomorrow will be Thanksgiving dinner and meals we had on Friday and Saturday will follow throughout the week.

We stayed in Durham for Thanksgiving and hosted my parents for the weekend. Since this was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple I wanted us to make something extra special for breakfast. After some googling I decided that Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls would be a fun breakfast recipe. Even the dough is homemade in the recipe so that meant we would have extra bonding time in the kitchen. It was so nice to have coffee and work on making the pumpkin cinnamon rolls together.

However I'm not sure this will become an annual Thanksgiving tradition. If it is we will have to make the recipe beforehand and freeze them at some stage so we can have breakfast before noon! Once the dough is made, it must rise and then the rolled dough must rise, and probably some more rising... so much rising! So time consuming but so good and so worth it!!

Anyway read on for the recipe and some pictures at the end! The recipe is from Cooking Light.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 bun)

For the buns
1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/4 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Cooking spray
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
For the glaze
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation
   To prepare the buns, dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand for 5 minutes. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Add 2 cups flour, pumpkin, and next 5 ingredients (pumpkin through nutmeg); beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of the remaining 3/4 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel tacky).
   Place the dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 45 minutes or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into the dough. If an indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.)
  Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.
   Punch dough down; cover and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough into a 12 x 10-inch rectangle on a floured surface. 

   Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Roll up the rectangle tightly, starting with a long edge, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam and ends to seal. Cut roll into 12 (1-inch) slices. Place slices in a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 25 minutes or until doubled in size.

   Preheat oven to 375°. Bake the rolls at 375° for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

   To prepare the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon water, and vanilla extract in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Drizzle glaze over buns. Serve warm.

Does your family have a traditional breakfast for Thanksgiving??