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A Nontraditional American-Canadian Thanksgiving

27 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by in Dinner, Meal

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Earlier this year, my husband and I moved to Vancouver, BC from the United States. While I am Canadian, I’ve never lived in Canada. We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving in early October with family in Princeton, BC. Because we already ate one turkey feast, I wasn’t going to cook another one for American Thanksgiving. But, traditions are traditions. Who says you can’t have 2 turkey dinners in one season. So, inspired by some Canadian friends, I decided to go all out and cook up another feast, in honor of American Thanksgiving. However, I took the opportunity of this being our second turkey feast of the season, to experiment and try something new. The result – a very nontraditional, extremely savory and delicious, American Thanksgiving in Canada. Over the next few days, I will post the various recipes from this unique feast. But here’s a glimpse of the amazing food:

  • Roasted Butternut Squash, Onion & Garlic Dip with Crackers and Brie Cheese
  • Tandoori Turkey with Tandoori Masala Gravy
  • Cranberry Apple Chutney
  • Roasted Tandoori Potatoes
  • Kale, Parmesan & Roasted Pumpkin Seed Salad
  • Yams, Lentils & Black Beans
  • Apple Crisp

 

 

 

Gobble, Gobble

27 Friday Nov 2009

Posted by in CSA, CSA Meal Plan

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Wednesday night, with less than 24 hours before Thanksgiving, Rex and I decided to forgo a meal with our good friends, John and Sutton, for an at home feast. This was not an easy decision, after all the more the merrier. Well, last week I came down with a cold, which I gave to Rex. Wednesday evening we were both still had runny noses and a cough (not exactly the best way to start one of our favorite holidays). So instead of infecting our friends with our bug, we opted for a quiet Thanksgiving meal at home. That meant, Wednesday after work I had to run to Whole Foods and gather additional ingredients for our feast. Luckily I found one of the last 9 lb. free-range turkeys. (I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t find a small organic turkey, but at least I found an antibiotic-free, hormone-free free range turkey at such a short notice. The 9 lb.-er would have to do.) I shoved the turkey, along with some sweet potatoes, and brining kit in my backpack and made the 1 mile walk home. I felt so giddy – like a little school girl excited to come home, in anticipation of the holiday – but instead of books, I carried a turkey. What a funny sight! I completely underestimated how heavy a 9 lb. turkey and several pounds of sweet potatoes can be. Oh well, I’ll have a story to tell my kids one day – how I walked 1 hour in the cold with a turkey in my backpack!

Well as you can tell by the pictures, our turkey dinner turned out to be quite a nice little feast. After 5 years of being married, we’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving just the two of us. While we may have been recovering from colds, we made the most out of the holiday. Having never cooked a turkey, I was quite intimidated, but called my sister and my mother multiple times for instructions. Rex and I also found youtube to be quite helpful.

Our meal consisted of the following recipes. The sweet potato dish is a recent tradition in my family. The cranberry salad dates back to my dad’s childhood – an old classic American recipe of my grandma’s. And the roasted brined turkey is my sister’s favorite way to prepare a turkey. In an effort to use as much of my CSA vegetables as possible – I made a sauteed brussel sprout and green bean dish, and a variation of apple crisp.

Kim & Rex’s First Solo Thanksgiving Meal

Roasted Brined Turkey with Dried Herbs

Streuseled Sweet Potato Casserole

Green Beans & Brussel Sprouts with Balsamic Shallot Butter

Cranberry Salad

Cranberry-Apple Streusel Crisp