Category Archives: Thanksgiving

Potato Roses Wrapped in Bacon

Hi Everyone,

I hope your Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful and you made wonderful new memories to add to your Thanksgiving full of gratitude and blessings.

We had a terrific Thanksgiving and this year our son was able to come home for the holiday.

The last time we were all together for Thanksgiving was 2017. Four years is a long time to wait but our son either had to work on call at the hospital, then the pandemic started and last year Bob and I had Covid during Thanksgiving so this year was an extra special blessing for all of us.

I posted my complete Thanksgiving menu the other day in my previous post and below are a few additional pictures showing some of our finished courses and side dishes along with our dinner plate and a sample of our Thanksgiving meal.

**Italian Wedding Soup with escarole and mini meatballs…**

**Stuffed artichoke with kalamata olive bread stuffing**

The side dish that was enjoyed the most was my new addition to the menu- “Potato Roses Wrapped In Bacon”…big, big, hit.

Some of you may remember my apple dessert roses or my pasta roses and this is the same idea. (I posted the “Roses… Sweet and Savory” entry in the link below…)

Roses…Sweet and Savory

The potato roses are easy to prepare and make a lovely addition to your dinner plate and the taste is out of this world. I used Russet potatoes but you can use Yukon gold because they are smaller and might give you a better petal size for the rose.

My favorite thick-cut bacon is mail order from Amana Meat Shop and Smokehouse but you can use any bacon you prefer.

The link below is for the Amana Meat Shop website in case you want to browse their products.

(https://www.amanameatshop.com/product/amana-smoked-bacon/smoked-bacon)

I combined a few recipe tips from Tasty and Allrecipes sites and here is the recipe that I used. I hope you try these potato roses and they are a hit at your next special occasion dinner. Enjoy!

Potato Roses Wrapped In Bacon

Ingredients:

5 Yukon gold or Russet potatoes, halved
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon salt
12 strips center cut bacon
fresh thyme, to garnish
grated cheese of your choice, to garnish

Equipment:

muffin tin
Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400˚F
Using a mandolin or deli slicer and a hand guard, thinly slice the potatoes into a large mixing bowl. (My deli slicer was on opening #2- not too thin but pliable)
Add olive oil, garlic powder, thyme, rosemary, pepper, paprika, and salt to the sliced potatoes and toss with tongs until evenly coated.
On a cutting board, lay out a long strip of bacon vertically (if the strips are too short than you can overlap two pieces).
Line the bacon with the sliced potatoes (I use 7-8 pieces of potato per rose), making sure each potato is overlapping.
Starting at one end, gently roll up the bacon, creating a potato rose.
Place the rolled potato roses in a greased muffin tin. Repeat with the remaining bacon strips and potatoes.
Bake for 20 minutes. Cover the roses with tin foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Remove foil.
Top the roses with thyme and grated cheese. Bake for an addition 5-10 minutes uncovered.
PLEASE WATCH THE BACON– some ovens run hot, so check the bacon and cook to your desired liking. It’s always better to start with less time and you can add a few minutes if you choose crispier bacon….

_____________________________________________________

Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Stay well,

Diane

Please ask your family and friends to “follow”, “like” and “share” DishingwithDiane.com

Once you become a member, you’ll never miss a post…

Also, continue to send me your comments, I love hearing from you.

******************************************

We finished our Thanksgiving with a special “birthday cake” dessert for our son to make up for the two years of birthdays we couldn’t celebrate in person.

Thanksgiving Preparation 2021…..

2 Replies

Hi Everyone,

Well, the count down is on and we are all getting ready for Thanksgiving 2021. I am so excited this year because my son is coming home for the holiday.

Last year, Bob and I slept through Thanksgiving with a high fever and no sense of taste and smell when we contracted Covid 19- not a good memory.

But this year, we are grateful that we are well and we can see our son and the full menu will be served. My menu this year is listed below…

We couldn’t decide on our favorites so I decided to make scaled-down versions of each item so there is more variety and not a week’s worth of leftovers. (Have to save room for the turkey soup with tortellini the next day for lunch).

Thanksgiving 2021 Menu

Antipasto

Assorted cured meats and cheeses served with a Prosecco Holiday Toast

1^st course

Italian Wedding Soup (or to us – “Uncle Vinny Soup”)

2^nd course

Sweet potato gnocchi with sage butter sauce

3^rd course

Roasted Turkey

Sage Cornbread Stuffing

Cranberry/Orange Compote

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Sweet Potato Casserole

Potato Roses

Homemade Turkey Gravy

Glazed Rainbow Carrots

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries and Walnuts in a Dijon Mustard / Bacon Dressing

Roasted Asparagus with Pumpkin Gouda Cheese

Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Artichokes

4^th course

Vertical Pear Salad with Mixed Greens, Cranberries, Pecans and Goat Cheese

Dessert Course

Apple Cake

Pumpkin Amaretto Pie

Apple Cider Donuts

Butterscotch Ice Cream

Warm roasted Chestnuts

I was cooking today in preparation, and I decided to share some recipes as I go along in case you wanted to add them to your menu.

Have a wonderful, safe, Happy Thanksgiving

____________________________________________________

Vertical Pear Salad

**THIS PHOTO WAS FROM THANKSGIVING 2018**

This has to be the easiest salad to pull together and the best presentation….

In a large bowl add your choice of mixed greens (I love to use fresh baby spinach for this salad), cranberries or pomegranate seeds, pecans (optional), and goat cheese. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon vinaigrette*.

* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice whisked together with 1/3 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper – ADD ON OPTIONS- 2 cloves of fresh crushed garlic or 1 tsp of Dijon mustard.

Slice a pear into 3 sections and add some salad to each layer and attach the sections together with a large bamboo toothpick (can be purchased at any large chain party store). Once the pear is secured altogether, add a little extra salad to the plate and drizzle the entire pear with honey. — Guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser.

_________________________________________________________

Sage Cornbread Stuffing

8 cups coarse fresh breadcrumbs (from a 1-lb white loaf with crust removed)

4 cups coarsely crumbled buttermilk corn bread
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
2 medium onions, finely chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1 turkey liver or 3 chicken livers (2 to 3 oz total), trimmed and finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped celery
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup turkey giblet stock or low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Spread all breadcrumbs in 2 shallow baking pans and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven until dry, about 15 minutes total. Cool crumbs in pans on racks, then transfer to a large bowl and stir in parsley, sage, salt, and pepper.

Melt butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, and then add onions and liver and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Add celery and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl with crumbs and toss well. Add eggs, stock, and cream and toss well.

Transfer stuffing to a buttered 2 1/2- to 3-quart shallow baking dish. Bake, covered, in middle of oven 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until browned, about 30 minutes more.

Cooks’ note:
• Stuffing can be assembled (but not baked) 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before baking.

Sour cream cornbread

1 cup All-purpose flour

¾ cup yellow cornmeal

¼ cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1-cup sour cream

¼ cup whole milk or Buttermilk

1 egg (beaten)

2 TBSP melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In a bowl, mix 1-cup all-purpose flour, ¾ cup yellow cornmeal. ¼ cup sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, and ½ tsp each baking soda and salt. Stir in 1 cup sour cream, ¼ cup milk, 1 beaten egg, and 2 TBSP melted butter.

Pour into a greased, 8-in square pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until a pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cut in 16 squares. Best served warm.

_____________________________________________________________

Stuffed Mushrooms

INGREDIENTS:

16 Mushroom caps

½ cup finely chopped onion

2 garlic cloves peeled and minced

3 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP butter

¾ cup grated cheese

½ cup breadcrumbs

Salt & pepper

(1/4-cup parsley –optional)

½ cup water or chicken stock

Wipe the mushrooms with a clean damp towel and remove the stems. Cut off the root end of the stem, and coarsely chop the rest. Heat the 3 TBSP olive oil in a heavy saucepan and cook the onions with 1 TBSP butter, add the garlic and chopped mushrooms stems. Sauté until tender & just beginning to brown—5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the breadcrumbs, cheese, salt & pepper and mix well. Place the mushroom caps flat in a baking dish already coated with cooking spray. Spoon the filling into each cap. Drizzle the tops with olive oil and fill the dish with ½ cup water.

Bake for 30 minutes @ 350 degrees or until mushrooms feels soft when pierced with a fork.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

___________________________________

I hope you enjoy these recipes and have a wonderful holiday and make special memories you can hold dear to your heart for years to come.

Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Diane

Please ask your family and friends to “follow”, “like” and “share” DishingwithDiane.com

Once you become a member, you’ll never miss a post…

Also, continue to send me your comments, I love hearing from you.

Sweet Potato Ricotta Gnocchi in a Roasted Acorn Squash

2 Replies

Hi Everyone,

Hope all is well. I can’t believe we are two weeks away from my favorite holiday- THANKSGIVING!

I just love Thanksgiving, no pressure of gift-giving, a great meal and desserts, and a great time of the year – I enjoy the Fall season.

This year I am especially thankful because I passed my 1,000 days from a heart transplant and I am feeling well, and my son will be able to visit for the holiday this year.

Last year I slept through Thanksgiving because Bob and I were stricken with Covid. Thankfully we recovered without hospitalization and life is good. I do pray that the pandemic comes to an end soon and life returns to pre-pandemic 2019 days… I am hopeful and waiting for the day when we can all gather once again without worry or fear….. Be safe!

Now on to the recipe I want to share with you …

Every year on Thanksgiving, for our first course, we have chicken soup with escarole and meatballs, which some would recognize as Italian Wedding Soup. In our home, we lovingly call it “Uncle Vinny Soup” because that was my Godfather Vinny’s favorite soup and he would be happy if you served it every day even on the hottest day of the summer he loved it so much. He was thrilled when we named the soup after him.

The link below is for the soup and the story.

Uncle Vinny’s Soup

If I don’t add a small pasta to the soup such as Acini de Pepe, then we have the second course as a complete pasta course and usually, it is a small taste of either a filled pasta such as tortellini or stuffed rigatoni.

When I was growing up we had the soup with the pasta and then an additional pasta course after that. There was no such thing as skipping courses.

A few years ago, I decided to combine both a pasta dish and a side vegetable as my second course and it was Sweet Potato Ricotta Gnocchi in individual Acorn squash.

Acorn squash is usually small and you can pick out the smallest size you can find and add a small amount of pasta. This is an eye-catching presentation served in the squash with a delicate butter sage sauce.

This looks so beautiful when served and it is a lighter course so that you are not full before the “main event” of the turkey.

I have to say that in an Italian home and I do hate to admit this, but the turkey is usually not the featured attraction (at least not when I was growing up). There was the antipasto, the soup, the pasta, then the turkey and many sides, a salad, followed by fruit and nuts, and dessert which included apple pie, pumpkin pie, coconut custard pie, and Italian pastries with after-dinner liquors and espresso. It is a full day of food and a marathon of eating.

I have reduced and altered the menu quite a bit over the years but still include all my family’s favorites.

I just wanted to share this recipe in case anyone wants to add something different to their Thanksgiving table this year. I made homemade sweet potato ricotta gnocchi but there are so many packaged and frozen varieties of pumpkin, sweet potato, or butternut squash gnocchi, or tortellini in stores that you could use either one of them to save some time.

I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it.

**********************************

Sweet Potato Ricotta Gnocchi

By combining the sweet potatoes with ricotta, you retain the flavor and end up with pillowy soft gnocchi, just what gnocchi should be!

Ingredients:
2 Pounds Sweet Potatoes
2/3 Cup Ricotta Cheese (Full Fat Is Best)
1 Large Egg Yolk
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Finely Ground Black Pepper
1 1/4 Cups All-purpose Flour (Approximate)

Browned Butter Sage Sauce Ingredients:
1 1/2 Sticks Unsalted Butter
20 Fresh Sage Leaves
Salt & Pepper- cinnamon and nutmeg

To Serve:
Freshly Grated Parmesan Or Pecorino Cheese, a dash of cinnamon, and some fried sage leaves.

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Prick the potatoes with a sharp knife and place them on a baking sheet.

Bake until very tender, about 55 minutes to an hour.

Cool slightly, cut in half, and scoop out the pulp with a spoon.

Use a potato ricer to mash the potatoes into a bowl. (You should end up with approximately 2 cups of sweet potato pulp.)

Add the ricotta, egg yolk, and salt, and pepper and mix well.

Lightly flour a baking sheet and set it close to your work area.

Adding about 1/2 cup of flour at a time, add just enough to create a workable dough.

Take a fist-sized ball of the dough and roll it into a 1-inch roll on a lightly floured counter.

Use a sharp knife to cut the roll into 1-inch pieces and set it aside on the floured baking sheet.

Cooks Note: you could get fancy and roll the piece of dough over the back tines of a fork to get the desired lines or leave it as is to look like little pillows.

Continue to work the rest of the dough in this same manner.

Refrigerate the gnocchi on the baking sheet until ready to cook.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In the meantime, place the butter in a small saucepan and allow it to foam.

Add the sage leaves and season with salt and pepper and continue to cook until the butter is lightly browned, and keep warm.

I add a dash of nutmeg and some cinnamon to taste to the butter sauce.

Cook the gnocchi in the boiling water just until they rise to the surface.

Use a slotted spoon to remove them to a heated platter.

Pour the sauce over the gnocchi and gently toss to coat.

Serve immediately offering grated cheese at the table.

Roasted Acorn Squash

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Remove the tops of the squash and scoop out the seeds.
Rub the insides of the pumpkins with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Place on a baking sheet. Bake for 20- 30 minutes or just until tender to touch but not falling in.
Scoop the gnocchi into the acorn squash shell and add some shredded gruyere cheese to the top.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling. Remove from the oven…dig in!!

Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Diane

Please ask your family and friends to “follow”, “like” and “share” DishingwithDiane.com

Once you become a member, you’ll never miss a post…

Also, continue to send me your comments, I love hearing from you.

Apple Cake

2 Replies

Click on the photo to enlarge and then the back arrow to return to the original size.

Hi Everyone,

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.

I posted a picture of my apple cake to Facebook and I have been receiving so many requests to post the recipe.

I just had to share it with all of my members.

It has to be the easiest cake recipe I ever made.

This was my go-to cake for every bake sale when my son was in school back in the day (he is 29 years old now. I won’t do the math, the number of years fly by too quickly).

Anyway, simple ingredients and tastes great every time. I made it as part of my Thanksgiving desserts and Bob was beyond happy. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.

APPLE CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of sugar
½ cup of vegetable oil
2 eggs
¼ cup OJ
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 ½ cup flour
1 ½ tsp. Baking powder
¼ tsp. Salt

_______________________________

3 medium-size Macintosh apples (peeled and sliced)

_______________________________

¼ cup sugar & 1 tsp. Cinnamon – blended

PROCEDURE:

Beat the first 8 ingredients until smooth
Pour ½ the batter into a greased and floured tube pan
Layer with half of the apples
Sprinkle with the sugar/cinnamon mixture
Add remaining batter
Add remaining apples
Add remaining sugar/cinnamon mixture
Bake at 350 degrees for one hour
Cool on a rack and serve with a coating of powdered sugar

*******************************************************

Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Stay well,

Diane

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Ask your family and friends to share, like, comment and join DishingwithDiane.com and become part of the family!

Once you become a member, you’ll never miss a post.

Also, continue to send me your comments and emails, I Love hearing from you.

All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my photos without prior written permission. Thank you!

Since I am sharing, I wanted to share this slideshow of my

Thanksgiving meal for 2019.

If there is a recipe that interests you, please let me know….

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thanksgiving Holiday

5 Replies

(Click on PHOTO to enlarge and then hit the back arrow to return to original size).

Hi everyone,

I was so busy shopping & cooking for the holiday that I didn’t have time to post my Thanksgiving tablescape, so here it is. I thought it was so sweet that so many of you sent me emails to see if I was okay because the post wasn’t up on Thanksgiving. I am fine, thank you.

I hope you all had a very lovely Thanksgiving with your family and friends. This year for us it was only dinner for two; our son could not be with us this year.

Although, if you saw what I cooked, it looked like dinner for 20. I love, love, love Thanksgiving. It has been my favorite holiday since I was a child. Even though we were only two, I prepared all the traditional foods for this holiday. I just couldn’t eliminate anything.

(I’ll post some food pictures at the end of the post).

Every year after cooking for two days, I say that I am going to cut down on what I prepare for the next year and then while food shopping, my Italian gene kicks in and I go overboard.

Every dish I prepare is a memory and a link to when my family was still here with me. How I wish those days could come back.

The only thing I did change this year was the size of the turkey because it was only Bob and I.

This year my Thanksgiving tablescape was completely different from years past.

I usually have solid dinnerware in fall colors with matching chargers along with turkey accent plates and platters. Some autumn colored votive candles and autumn leaves scattered around the table on a leaf design tablecloth. Not this year….

This year something new caught my eye.

Pumpkin designed dinnerware.

Every Fall catalog that I received from either Pier 1, William Sonoma, Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn had pumpkin designed dinnerware; but one pattern really caught my eye and that was from Pier 1 (Pier 1 has become my 2nd home these days).

What attracted me the most to the dishes was the glazed crackled finish giving it some Old World charm. The dish is an off white crackled background with pumpkins and vines in soft colors of orange, beige and olive green.

Now a photo of the complete set…

I bought a pumpkin tablecloth last year that I never used that I thought would look great with these dishes since it had a similar pumpkin and vine design.

I am using my annual Thanksgiving napkins in assorted autumn colors and a bronze pumpkin napkin ring.

Since you all know by now that that primo course of our Thanksgiving menu is “Uncle Vinny soup”; I am keeping with the pumpkin theme and using a glazed ceramic pumpkin soup tureen with matching pumpkin soup bowls. The soup tureen and bowls are sage green in a glazed finish.

(I didn’t display the soup bowls in my pictures so you could get a good look at the pumpkin dishes; but we used them during dinner).

This is my go to soup tureen for this holiday. I should just rename this the “Uncle Vinny soup tureen & bowl set”, since I only use it once a year for this soup.

The chargers I chose are the same ceramic chargers in solid autumn colors that I use every year. They are just perfect for the holiday. I have had these chargers for many years and they are in assorted colors of olive green, gold and bronze.

At first I was undecided if I wanted to use a placemat and then after going through my collection, I decided to use a woven placemat with autumn colors of gold, bronze, rust and brown .

I am using my everyday flatware in a gold and silver.

The glassware I selected were gold goblets; another Thanksgiving favorite. Unfortunately, while taking them out of the box, we discovered that two were broken. Since I didn’t have enough remaining to set the table, I quickly switched to a plain clear goblet.

Just to show you the gold goblet, I took a picture and Bob and I used them for a cocktail. (About that later).

Now for the centerpiece. Every year I use my ceramic cornucopia as part of my centerpiece. This year I decided to put the cornucopia in a natural basket along with pumpkins, chestnuts and the most beautiful candles.

I had to buy these candles as soon as I saw them because the colors match the colors in the dish perfectly.

I placed pumpkin votive candle holders on each side of the centerpiece with a pumpkin spice scented candle. The house smells wonderful.

You know I love candles.

I am using pumpkin salt & pepper shakers,

and a ceramic pumpkin napkin holder.

I am finishing the table with autumn table scatter,

and mini ceramic turkey salt & pepper shakers.

Many times I use salt and pepper shakers for accent pieces on the table to carry the theme and not for salt and pepper.

Place Setting

Bob and I toasted the holiday with an Apple Cider Bellini– just delicious!

The recipe is very simple. Rim your glass with cinnamon sugar, fill the glass half way with apple cider & top it off with Prosecco. Garnish with a thin slice of apple.

Here are pictures of my Thanksgiving 2015 turkey, dinner plate & dessert plate.

Of course we started off with Uncle Vinny soup.

Along with the turkey, we had sage stuffing, sweet potato casserole, stuffed mushrooms, mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, green beans with almonds, cranberries and toasted breadcrumbs and homemade gravy.

And lets not forget dessert…..

Sweet potato pie infused with rum topped with whipped cream.

This was my first attempt at this pie and Bob loved it.

with an ice cream cannoli on the side.

My annual “guest” to the table is a stuffed animal my Dad gave me and I display it every year. It’s a turkey holding an “Eat Ham” sign.

Shopping in Hallmark with my Dad one day, I thought it was so cute. Next thing I knew, Dad bought it for me and brought it as his guest for Thanksgiving.

It was a great meal and now I look forward to making turkey soup and turkey pot pie.

My wish for you are many blessings and I hope your blessings last a lifetime!

Be grateful for the precious gift of family, good friends, good food, a home and good health.

My sincere best wishes always.

Table Details

Pumpkin tablecloth from Kohl’s

Autumn napkins from Bed, Bath and Beyond

Chargers from Bloomingdales

Basket from Michael’s Arts and Crafts

Placemats from Homegoods

Pumpkin napkin rings from Amazon

Pumpkin napkin holder and salt and pepper shaker- had them too many years to remember

Mini turkey salt and pepper shakers from Crate and Barrel

Pumpkin dinnerware from Pier 1

Pumpkin votive holders from Pier 1

Glazed pumpkin soup tureen and soup bowls from Crate and Barrel

Flatware – my every day silver and gold set

Table scatter from Pier 1

Gold goblets from Sur La Table

Plain goblets from Marshalls

“Eat Ham” turkey plush from my Dad

Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Diane

Please ask your family and friends to follow DishingwithDiane.com either on facebook or sign up for emails directly from the web page.

Once you become a member, you’ll never miss a post…

And please continue to send me your comments, I love hearing from you.

Dishing With Diane

RECIPES AND TABLESCAPES FOR ALL OCCASIONS… BECAUSE EVERY DAY IS A CELEBRATION!

Category Archives: Thanksgiving

Potato Roses Wrapped in Bacon

Diane

Thanksgiving Preparation 2021…..

Diane

Sweet Potato Ricotta Gnocchi in a Roasted Acorn Squash

Diane

Apple Cake

Diane

Thanksgiving Holiday

Place Setting

Table Details

Diane

Diane

Share this:

Like this:

Diane

Share this:

Like this:

Diane

Share this:

Like this:

Diane

Share this:

Like this:

Place Setting

Table Details

Diane

Share this:

Like this: