Friday, November 09, 2007

Thanksgiving Recipes


The day after Halloween I saw a Christmas commercial on TV. Macy’s (my home away from home) had their tree up on Oct 12th. Oct 12th!! Is it just me, or is Christmas coming earlier and earlier each year? Not, mind you, that I’m complaining. I am a total Christmas junkie. But I feel bad for poor Thanksgiving, kind of like the middle child getting lost between the creepy little brother Halloween and the sparkling older sister, Christmas. I love Thanksgiving. The idea of taking a moment each year to truly be thankful for all that you have. So much of our lives is spent reaching for the things we don’t yet own, haven’t yet achieved, aspire to be. Once a year it’s just nice to look back and realize how grateful we really are for what we have.

Oh yeah, and I love the food, too. :) Gemma’s diet does not exist on Thanksgiving. Or the days leading up to it, filled with pre-holiday baking. Or the leftovers days afterward. Okay, pretty much all of November. Sadly, my idea of cooking is reading the heating instructions on a frozen dinner, so in my family I usually get the task preparing the drinks and snacks. I know it’s a little early, but in honor of giving poor neglected Thanksgiving a little face time, here are a couple of my favorite recipies:

Sugared Pecans:

INGREDIENTS

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

1 pound pecan halves

1 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon


DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Grease one baking sheet with butter.

In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg white and water until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

Add pecans to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the sugar mixture until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake at 250 degrees F for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.



Hot Butterscotch Chocolate:

INGREDIENTS

2 oz. Butterscotch Schnapps

0.5 oz. Amaretto

1 Instant Hot Cocoa Packet


DIRECTIONS:

Make hot cocoa in a coffee mug according to the packet directions. Add the other ingredients and stir well. Garnish with a layer of Whipped Cream if desired and serve.



Cranberry Craze Cocktails:

INGREDIENTS

3 oz. cranberry juice

2 oz. orange juice

1½ oz vodka

dash of lime juice

lemon lime soda

frozen cranberries


DIRECTIONS

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine cranberry juice, orange juice and vodka. Shake sharply and strain into a glass filled with ice. Top with soda, then squeeze a dash of lime juice and sprinkle with frozen cranberries.

To make them virgin for the kids, just leave out the vodka!



Anyone else have recipes to share? Hey, if they’re simple enough, I may even give them a whirl this year.


~ Gemma “Trigger Happy” Halliday


P.S.

Don’t forget about the great contest we’ve got going on. I’m giving away a signed copy of UNDERCOVER IN HIGH HEELS along with a set of high heels shoe themed wine charms – perfect for entertaining this holiday season!

Bring a friend to play on our blog and you’ll be entered to win a fab prize from moi! We’ll be drawing one winner at random from our prize hat on November 16th. Every time you comment on our blog between now and Nov 16th, your name will be entered in the hat. BUT, if you tell a friend and she posts on our blog that you sent her here, you’ll both be entered in the hat TEN TIMES! Good luck!!

25 comments:

CrystalGB said...

Great recipes. :)

Jana DeLeon said...

Gemma - I get these weird html messages when I view your post. The content is there, so I'm not sure if it's just me......

I am so making some of these. And yes, Christmas does come earlier every year it seems, but that is only fair since it takes so darned long to put out those decorations. :)

Kathy Bacus said...

I'm not your basic success story in the kitchen but I think even I can make these recipes, Gemma. They sound nummy!

BTW, I have the same html content, too.

Happy Friday!

~Bullet Hole~

Gemma Halliday said...

Help, my computer's possessed! Okay, I'm gonna try something else and see if it fixes the html-ish stuff. Let me know, k? 'Cause I can't see a thing.
Hmmm... maybe I need to pull out those pink reading glasses...

~Gemma

Anonymous said...

Weird. The posts show up fine for me.

I love Christmas, too, but I really could live without commercials and such until closer to Thanksgiving. :)

Christie Craig said...

Gemma,

Okay... I'm with you, Thanksgiving needs some face time. And . . . oh yeah, I love food too.

Thanks for the recipes. I think I'll try those pecans. Yum!

Crime Scene Christie

Gemma Halliday said...

Glad to know I'm not the only one not seeing things, Tori!

CC - they are SO good. I have an easy recipe for candied walnuts somewhere, too. Yum! I'll try to post it if I can find it.

~Gemma

ChristyJan said...

These recipes sound great! I can't wait to try them all. ThAnKs!

Jenyfer Matthews said...

I just saw a nice looking recipe for a pumpkin dip - basically canned pumpkin, pumpkin spices and cream cheese whipped together, served with graham crackers. Yum!

Estella said...

These recipes sound great. Now if I can find the time to try them..........

Anonymous said...

Mmm. Those recipes sound delicious, Gemma.

I'm with Jana, though. I see the same weird HTML script errors.

Maybe those ghost chickens are to blame.

Eeeps!

LOL.

Faye

Gemma Halliday said...

That's it, Faye, I blame the ghost chickens!

Jenyfer - that sounds like yum dip. I wonder if I could just add some generic pumpkin pie spice mix to it. I may give that a try this year.

~Gemma

Stacy S said...

Great recipes. I see the same weird messages too.

Minna said...

Nice recipes!

Jenyfer Matthews said...

I'm sure that the pumpkin spice mix would be fine, Gemma - just so long as there is some of that in there!

Lucy said...

Those recipes look good. Thanks for sharing.

(And I'm seeing the html codes too.)

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Pumpkin Dip:

One can pumpkin

2 blocks cream cheese, softened

Sugar and pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg if you want to do them separately) to taste.

Whir together in blender or food processor

Serve with graham cracker sticks, or ginger snaps, or vanilla wafers.

Gemma Halliday said...

Thanks for posting the recipe, Jenyfer. It sounds awesome with ginger snaps!

~Gemma

Unknown said...

Great Recipes I may just try that one with the pecans, sounds good. I always make pecan pies on the holidays, so I may try the snacks this year.

Anonymous said...

The butterscotch cocoa sounds great. Can't wait to fix it and sit in front of the fire with a good book.

Enchanted by Books said...

I can't wait until Thanksgiving! Thanks for the recipes. :)

Michele L. said...

Oooo....my mouth is watering Gemma at the wonderful recipes! My cousin makes this wonderful cheese cake pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving that is just fabulous! I have to get her recipe!

You have an awesome Thanksgiving Gemma!

Michele L.

Lily said...

Gemma... that Butterscotch recipe looks good :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this contest... I have never read any of your books.

I was sent here by Lila N :) who really likes your blog.

Lily said...

I really like it when people share their special recipes.

I am anxious for christmas!

I also saw those weird HTML things...