Tag: holidays

Thanksgiving Ideas

Thanksgiving Ideas

So we are rapidly approaching Thanksgiving! This year is going by crazy fast but I’m excited to eat, give thanks and hang out with family. If you’ve been around my blog you’ve seen many Thanksgiving feasts from previous years. It’s usually the same stuff with 

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving 2015

I have 6 years of Thanksgiving blogs on Unrivaledkitch, which to me, shows my commitment to being there for my family and I am truly grateful that I have been able to take on this tradition for the ones I love and to share these 

Thanksgiving Gratitude 2014

Thanksgiving Gratitude 2014

Better Late than never….

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I love Thanksgiving! It is truly my favorite meal to make of the year, not because we have the same traditional things, but because it’s tradition to be together with my family. I am so glad we get to keep this tradition alive and thriving with my nieces. This Thanksgiving was also my brother’s birthday, so it was an extra-special occasion.

 

My sister and I braved the grocery stores on Wednesday morning so I could get all the ingredients for a meal that pretty much fed us for what seemed like a week, but that’s the best part of Thanksgiving–cook for a day or two and then either just reheat and eat or think of something else to do with the rest. I’m glad my sister came with me to the grocery store because I really dislike having a cart and having to maneuver one when the stores are super crowded, so she took care of that for me, which was a great help! Thanks, Keek.

 

So after a few stops and various places with enough groceries to just pack the fridge almost to explosion, I had a good idea of what we were going to enjoy. I’m not the type of person to ponder the menu a month or even a week in advance, I just looked at the ingredients and made things, which is my favorite way to cook. I’m grateful I have a family that pretty much let’s me have full reign over what we eat for Thanksgiving, trusting and knowing I’ll make those traditional dishes that they like each year while incorporating some new ones.

 

So here it is, Thanksgiving 2014 from Unrivaledkitch. I hope your families and friends feasted over great food, good company and tons of togetherness and gratitude. I’m grateful for all of you who take a gander at my food musings, for all the support, and I wish you a very happy holiday season.

 

Here are the past 4 years of Thanksgivings documented on Unrivaledkitch.com I love that these memories are here for me to look back on.

2010 2011 2012 2013  003020 012  026 028 029 030 031  043 045 050

019 061

 

 

Thanksgiving 2014 Menu

 

Celery Root Soup with Spicy Sausage, Crispy Pancetta and Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Herb and Citrus Brined Turkey with Roasted Vegetable Turkey Gravy

Celery, Scallion, Olive, and Zucchini Turkey Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes

Candied Yams with Bruleed Marshmallow

Green Bean Casserole with Fried Onions

Roasted Asparagus

Roasted Mushroom Medley with Fresh Thyme and Garlic

Red Potato Gratin with Button Mushrooms, Roasted Leeks, Kale and Parmesan Mozzarella Bechamel

Granny Smith Apple,Green Anjou Pear and Melted Date Cranberry Sauce

Crookneck Yellow Zucchini, White Zucchini and Green Bean Casserole with Celery Root Cream and Sausage

Hot Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Raisins and Granny Smith Apples with Brown Sugar Caramel Cream Sauce, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Whipped Cream

 

Mom, Dad and Grandma’s Contributions

Honey Baked Spiral Ham

Deviled Eggs

Spinach Dip, Pimento Cheese, Green Onion Dip and Vegetable Platter and Crackers

Bachan Jello

Pumpkin Pie

Carrot and Banana Muffins
What a delicious feast! Thank you everyone for sharing in this gratitude filled holiday.

Cheers

Unrivaledkitch

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving 2013

  After a week of working hard, teaching yoga and witnessing the effects of the holidays on children in my classes, it was really interesting to see the shift in their attention and mood, as well as in their parents’ or caretaker’s moods. When the 

Hanukkah 2012

Hanukkah 2012

Holiday time is upon us. I’m sure that everyone’s kitchen is so busy this time of year—I know mine is. Maleeya celebrated her 2nd Hanukkah this year and I decided to whip up a few delectable dishes to make lighting the candles a little more 

What We Ate on Thanksgiving

What We Ate on Thanksgiving

Here we are, giving thanks for this extreme bounty of food and great times. I’m so lucky to have so much love in my heart. This is the menu I prepared for Thanksgiving day. I hope you enjoy the photos and had a magnificent feast yourselves.

Seasons Greetings 🙂




Menu prepared by yours truly

Roasted lemon and herb sweet brine turkey
Roasted zucchini, scallion and olive pork stuffing
Braised sausage with red Swiss chard and kale potato gratin
Roasted asparagus with garlic, red pepper flakes and crispy pancetta
Green bean casserole with soaked “buttermilk” fried onion strings
Beef and tart apple dressing with roasted carrot shreds
Homemade cranberry jelly
Roasted shallot cream corn
Bacon and gorgonzola shrimp
Mashed potatoes
Fall aromatics and roasted giblet gravy
Garlic bread sticks
Basil, spinach and green olive tapenade
Arugula and spinach salad with roasted spicy baby bellas, feta cheese, tomatoes and avocado in honey balsamic dressing
Brown sugar and marshmallow candied yams

Additions brought by family members and friends included dips, snacks, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, carrot cupcakes and ham. Some of my dishes weren’t photographed.

Over indulgence to the max. I could probably do with running a hundred miles, but I won’t.

Time to finish my menu for my brother’s 25th birthday party. I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend.

Cheers-

Unrivaledkitch

My Mom, My Grandma Ruth, My Bachan… and My Sister’s first mothers day… Feast

My Mom, My Grandma Ruth, My Bachan… and My Sister’s first mothers day… Feast

These women are the core of my heart. They have taught me more then I could ever imagine. My family is created of these die hard matrons who make everything in their lives about their families. These are the people who taught me my love 

Easter Dinner

Easter Dinner

Easter was really wonderful I hope you all had a beautiful day with loved ones or just a relaxing day of rest. I know not everyone is allotted that time but i hope you were or if not you get a day like that soon. We 

Happy Hanukkah

Happy Hanukkah

As you all know by now I’m interested in all things food. Especially holiday food… I love the laughter, togetherness, and honest good will the holidays have to offer and I’m very fortunate to be able to share these times with my family and friends and even show them off a bit to people less suspecting. I show my appreciation for people in different forms of food. Nothing I make doesn’t have my soul in it… But I feel like that wasn’t always true…I remember mindlessly trying to keep my mind in things that I couldn’t love every day like sandwiches. slicing deli meats, and scooping store bought gelato but I tried every day. I would wake up in a daze of something and try for the life of me to make a difference every time I made something. But it got tired and even if you love something more than anything there is no way that some how you have to have a break from it. I got to that point I needed a break. I needed my creativity to live inside me once again. And by powers unbeknown to me I’ve been able to show what I love to myself 1st and foremost and then to others. I love cooking more than anything but unfortunately sometimes you end up resenting things that you never knew you could. I’m glad I’m away from that environment. Anyway I woke up this morning well seeings as I don’t sleep till 5 am, this afternoon… I decided that I wanted to make some kind of 1st night of Hanukkah dinner. Which was good because I came to find out that we were supposed to be going out to dinner with my mom and dad and grandma anyway so they could just come over for dinner instead. I’m not Jewish just so you know. But I grew up with plenty. So I’m familiar with some of the customs but not all of them and i can’t really say at all that this was a traditional anything because I’m not traditional at all but I googled some stuff and i saw some recipes that I thought I could make pretty tasty and this is what came out.

Menu… Homemade Three apple sauce Potato,carrot, and zucchini kugel Sweet pea, mint, and chive with roasted tomato Spaetzle Lemon thyme roasted whole chicken Potato Latkes with horseradish Avocado, Cucumber, and sliced almond mixed green salad

So anyway to say the least the meal was put together last minute, there were lots of lovely apples at the store. So apple sauce seemed natural. Though I’d have to say I could of blended it much less but i was pulling something out of the oven and forgot about the blender… opps… I used golden delicious, fuji and granny smith cinnamon stick and some brown sugar. Kugel! which I can only describe as potato stuffing kinda I don’t know I thought it tasted nice with a little extra love in it. I’ve made Spaetzle before but in a kinda Italian way with meat sauce. So I thought the peas were really interesting kinda strange pasta dish haha I think so did everyone else. But I’ll eat it… I love peas and mint. That’s one of my favorite raviolis…   I’m pretty good at roasting a whole bird. This one was really tender and lovely. I love lemon and thyme. Latkes are wonderful. I made them pretty crispy but they were still really tender in the middle i like that contrast and I love horseradish anything. so all together I would say a successful 1st Hanukkah dinner put together by yours truly

My Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving

I believe in over indulgence on thanksgiving and I don’t really make any excuses on this day.   The dishes on holidays are so intense. My kitchen is immaculate which is insane because it was a complete disaster all day. Lots of family lots of