Thanksgivings - 11/22/2007

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! One result of having divorced parents is that I have to celebrate all of the holidays twice (good for presents, bad for the waistline). In previous years, I have enjoyed two full Thanksgiving dinners separated by about an hour, but this year was a little different. My mom was shooting for a non-traditional Thanksgiving brunch this year. Last night we put together a sweet potato bake, almond-banana bread, sausage bread, waldorf salad, and a Texas sheet cake. This morning, we assembled a mulled cider, sausage-stuffed mushrooms and pina colada pancakes (version 2 for those keeping count).


This time around, I put shredded coconut and coconut milk into the pancake batter. The "syrup" is made from pineapple preserves that were heated to make them more liquidy. For further topping, I put a dollop of whipped cream and some toasted coconut. Next time, I will thin out the pineapple preserves with some water, but these turned out delicious anyways. Worth noting is that I used a gluten-free pancake mix because my mom has a gluten allergy. Usually, these mixes come out rather gritty, but I could not tell the difference with these.

After brunch, I had a 3 hour reprieve until Thanksgiving dinner. At dinner, we had the usual delicious fare: turkey, gravy, potatoes, sweet potato pudding, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie, chocolate bread pudding (made with croissants for extra buttery fatness), and my contribution: carrot cake.


My stepmom and I are big fans of carrot cake, so I thought this would be a nice treat. In the cake and between the layers are also chunks of pineapple for an added twist. On top are candied carrot ribbons made by simmering the carrot in a simple syrup. Special thanks to my mom for helping me asseble this monstocity. I hope everyone else had a wonderful and belt-busting holiday as I did.