Harvest Fruit Salad: Thanksgiving Side Dish

This is one of my favorite Fall fruit salads. In fact, I just made it for Middle's Woodland Theme Baptism Luncheon. This also makes a great side dish on Thanksgiving, because let's face it one of the hardest things about Thanksgiving dinner is deciding what sides to make. I mean we all know the main players. That is a no brainer.

Turkey-Check.
Potatoes-Check.
Gravy-Check.
Rolls-Check.
Pie-Check.

But alas, what to do with the other sides. There are so many to choose from. How does one narrow down what to make?

Well I am gonna help you at least narrow down one. This salad is nice to have on the Thanksgiving table. It pairs up great with my favorite Spinach Apple Salad.

This Harvest Fruit Salad is a great addition to Thanksgiving dinner.

Harvest Fruit Salad

6 cups diced apples
2 cups halved red or black grapes
1 pomegranate, seeds only
1 cup walnut pieces
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 water
1 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla

First prepare all the fruit.

Aren't pomegranate seeds gloriously lovely??

Place all of the fruit into a large bowl.

Now make the sauce.

Combine the sugar, flour, and water in a saucepan. Heat over medium high heat until it boil lightly and starts to thicken. When it thickens, remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

Let it cool for about 5 minutes. Then pour it over the fruit and evenly coat.

Then stir in the walnuts.

With everything all mixed and pretty all you need to do is serve it up.

Now that will make your mouth happy and your Thanksgiving dinner complete.

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Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie with Gingersnap Crust (Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week)

Just like I promised yesterday, I have dessert for you today.

Well not really. I have the dessert recipe. Sorry if I got your hopes up with the promise of dessert.

This recipe is practically as good as the real pie, and it is one step closer to the real pie. Ya' just have to make it.

No biggie.

Today on day 5 of Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week it is all about the dessert. Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie with Gingersnap Crust.

I made a version of this pie the very first time that I hosted Thanksgiving. It was rather exhilarating. My plan was for it to be the "cherry on top" of my Thanksgiving dinner "sundae". I was more than a little nervous that it was going to be a big dud. A dud on top of a dinner dud.

Sometimes when I am anxious I get a little glass half empty, with a leak in the bottom. A girl's first Thanksgiving will do that do her.

Good news, both turned out pretty good. The pie, being the perfect ending.

Originally what drew me to this pie was that is was only part pumpkin pie. I do not care for traditional pumpkin pie. I do however, love cheesecake, which I have on many, many, many occasions declared. Most recently on the oh-so-delightful Gingersnap Cheesecake Bars.

I fully believe that cheesecake can make almost anything even better.

That goes for pumpkin. That goes for pie.

The gingersnap cookie crust doesn't hurt things either.

Oh and don't forget the whup cream... yep I said whup. I love whup cream.

I wish Thanksgiving were right now and that this pie was in front of my face. Oh well, I guess I will have to show some patience.

I hope you enjoy it!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie with Gingersnap Crust

indgredients:
crust-
1 lb gingersnaps, crushed
8 Tablespoons butter, melted
2 Tablespoons sugar
pie-
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 15-ounce can of pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3 eggs
3/4 cup half and half
3/4 cup broken walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate covered Health bits
1/4 cup brown sugar
whipped cream

To make the crust, combine the gingersnaps, butter, and sugar until completely mixed. Press firmly into a 9" pie pan. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine cream cheese and the 1/3 cup sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then  stir in the orange zest. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

Next make the pumpkin filling. In another bowl, combine pumpkin, the 3/4 cup sugar, and the 2 Tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice. Add in the eggs and beat lightly. Then mix in the half and half.

Spread the cream cheese mixture over the crust carefully. Then pour the pumpkin mixture over the cream cheese layer. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the walnuts, Heath bits, and brown sugar. Sprinkle the mixture over the top of the pie and cook for another 30 minutes, or until the middle is set.

Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate the pie for at least 2 hours.

Top with whipped cream before serving.

Thanks for joining me for Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week.

I hope some make your menu, or at the very least your 

Pinterest Thanksgiving Menu board for next year...

or you know for whenever you are hungry.

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Spinach Apple Salad (Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week)

One week until Thanksgiving! Eek, I am so excited. I love Thanksgiving. I have been making menu plans and I have been getting some last minute Thanksgiving table stuff ready. My brain is fairly busting with things I want to do that are NOT going to get done in this next week.

In the long run, the extra stuff doesn't matter. I will be with friends and family. There will be yummy food. I have a lot to be grateful for. I have everything I need.

Life is good.

You know what else is good...

Do you like that lead in?

Today for Day 4 of Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week I am sharing the recipe for my very favorite salad. I eat this salad all year long. For several years, this salad has made it to our Thanksgiving table. I am not always a fan of the heavy vegetables you tend to find at the Thanksgiving table. I added this salad to our menu because it gave me a chance to balance out the turkey and rolls (which I have an affinity for) with some veggies that are not warm carrots.

I rather loathe warm carrots...okay so I don't like any carrots...

I do love salad. Especially when that salad has candied pecans, apples, and bacon. Yum.

Yep, this is the kind of veggie I like. No comments about if this really can be considered a veggie side with all that bacon. Don't burst my bubble. Let's just call it a vegetable.

See, there is lots of spinach. Yeah, it counts.

Seriously so yummy.

This salad is a nice surprise at a Thanksgiving table, and it is a crowd pleasure.

Spinach Apple Salad

 printable recipe

salad ingredients:
1 bag of baby spinach
1 red apple, diced
1 cucumber, diced
3/4 cup craisins
1 cup pecan pieces, candied*
4 strips bacon, cut in pieces and cooked

dressing ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Combine all of the salad ingredients.

To make the dressing, combine sugar, vinegar, paprika, onion, Worcestershire, and oil. Shake the dressing until the oil is completely mixed in. Then add in the poppy seeds. Shake again.

Drizzle the dressing over the salad. Serve immediately.

*To candy the pecan pieces, cook them in a small frying pan with 3-4 Tablespoons of sugar. Stir the the pecans constantly, coating the pecans in the sugar while the sugar melts. When the sugar liquifies, and coats the pecans completely, they are done. From the pan, dump them out on a cutting board and let cool. Breaking the pieces up if necessary.

Come back for more Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week tomorrow.

I think it is finally time for some dessert!

See ya tomorrow for some pie.

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Dinner Rolls (Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week)

Day 3 of Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week is upon us.

Quick recap. Day 1 was the completely delightful Garlic Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes. Day 2 was the bacon loaded Brussel Sprouts with Bacon, Garlic, and Onions.

Today, the carb gods are upon us, and there are Dinner Rolls.

Here is a not so secret secret. I love myself really good rolls. Heck, I love myself some really good anything bread.

Here is another secret, that you may not know about me...

On Thanksgiving, I go light on pretty much everything but three things. Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, and Rolls. In fact, I have been known to forgo a slice of pie just so I can have another roll. Yeah, I take my roll-eating pretty seriously.

Now that you know that, we can proceed and you can feel secure and trust me when I say these rolls are super yummy. You know since I am practically a roll professional and all.

You can feel confident about showing up to a Thanksgiving meal with these.

Happy carb eating!

Dinner Rolls 

ingredients:
3 cups warm water
2 1/2 Tablespoons yeast
4 eggs
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon Salt
10 cups flour

Instructions:
Pour the warm water into a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, until the mixtures is foamy. Whisk in the eggs, butter, sugar, and salt. Whisk until everything is well mixed.

Add the flour in two cups at a time, stirring now with a wooden spoon. Once the flour has been mixed in, knead the dough while it is in the bowl. Knead for several minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour.

Once it has risen, punch the dough down. Dump on the counter. Divide the dough into 3 equal sections. Roll each section into thick pizza like rounds. Cut
into 8-10 equal pieces. Form the pieces into rolls.

Place them in lightly greased baking pans. Place the rolls right next to each other, touching. Let them rise for another 1/2 hour.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Butter the top of the rolls when they are done.

Come back for more Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am sharing my very favorite Spinach Salad recipe.

See ya tomorrow!

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Brussel Sprouts with Bacon, Garlic, and Onion (Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week)

Welcome to Day 2 of Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week.

Did you check out the Garlic Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes I shared yesterday?

Do you like how I said "check out", like they were the Ryans (Gosling and Reynolds) just walking down the street?

Speaking of Ryan Squared (that is what I am calling them from now on)...I couldn't help myself...

That is my way of trying to brainwash nicely suggest that you need the recipe for these Garlic Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes from yesterday.

Did it work?

Do I need to make another "Hey Girl" for today's recipe?

I will if you need me too, but I have a feeling the fact that there is bacon in these Brussel Sprouts will be all that you need to be convinced of the glory that is this Thanksgiving side dish.

See that bacon?

Brussel Sprouts have a bad wrap. Do you like them? Have you tried them?

I hadn't tried them until a year ago. With this very dish in fact.

I felt like I had done myself a disservice waiting that long. They really are rather tasty. Add bacon, garlic, and onions, and well, how could they be anything but yummy. Oh and there is butter involved.

So yeah, this side dish is pretty healthy...

...chirp...chirp...

Okay not so much healthy. Seriously, though, I kind of feel Thanksgiving is the one day a year where you can just indulge, okay that and your birthday.

So bacon and butter, I welcome you. Thanks for joining our Thanksgiving feast.

I hope the pictures above inspire you to try these Brussel Sprouts...uh I was talking about the pictures of the veggies. Geez guys! Hehehehe.

Give them a try. You will be surprised at their yumminess.

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon, Garlic, and Onion

1 lb brussel sprout, cut in half (top to bottom)
4 strips of bacon, cut up
1/2 large onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 Tablespoon unsalted butter

In a large skillet, fry up the bacon pieces.

Remove bacon from the pan and drain on paper towels.

Over medium high heat, melt butter in the same skillet with the bacon drippings. Cook the onions in the pan for several minutes until they are translucent. Then add in the garlic and cook for another minute, making sure not to burn the garlic.

Push the onions aside in the pan and place the brussel sprouts cut side down into the bottom of the pan. Cover the pan and cook over medium heat for 7-8 minutes. They will be bright green and tender.

Once they are cooked, add in the bacon and stir the brussel sprouts until coated evenly.

Serve warm.

Come back tomorrow for more Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week.

I will be sharing a recipe for my favorite Dinner Rolls.

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Garlic Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes (Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week)

I am really rather fond of Thanksgiving. Like a lot. A lot. A lot.

Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday to host.

Since I love Thanksgiving so much, this week on the blog I am dedicating the whole week to Thanksgiving Food. I am am declaring it Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week.

All week long, I am sharing some of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

What better Thanksgiving recipe to kick of the week, than the tried and true staple side, Mashed Potatoes.

"Ma, these potatoes are so creamy."  (Name the movie...we haven't played this game in awhile. By the way this is one of my favorite movies of all time).

Back to the Mashed Potatoes.

Let me clarify though, these are not your average potatoes. There is a little something extra in there...and it is not just the love.

The little something extra is both garlic AND cream cheese. I tell you what, this will change your potato-eating world. I also have a couple of tried and true tricks to make your mashed potatoes packed with flavor.

Since we are running out of time until Thanksgiving, I will dispense with my normal witty banter and endlessly flowing chatter, and we will get right to how to make these to.die.for. potatoes.

First, let's share my secret weapon for making flavorful potatoes. My secret weapon...chicken stock. Instead of boiling my potatoes in strictly water, I boil them in mostly chicken stock with only a bit of water added in. This totally locks in some great flavor. Another flavor secret weapon is that I add the minced garlic to the chicken stock as the potatoes are cooking.

All that mingling in one big pot makes for one awesomely flavorful batch of mashed potatoes.

I never make mashed potatoes any other way. Ever.

That is saying something.

Now that I have shared my secret flavor weapon, let us get to this recipe for Garlic Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes.

I know they will make many a Thanksgiving Feast partakers happy.

SO, Let's Eat! ENJOY!

Garlic Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Printable Recipe

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
5-6 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 cups chicken stock
water
1 1/2 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 oz cream cheese, softened

Instructions:
Place the potatoes in a large stock pot. Add the chicken stock. Add enough water to cover the potatoes ( for me this is usually about 1 cup). Add in the garlic and salt. Bring to a boil. Keep the potatoes at a boil until they are easily pierced by a fork. Depending on the size of the potato cubes, this could be anywhere from 20-30 minutes. Check frequently.

Once the potatoes are cooked. Drain the water from the stock pot. Some of the garlic will drain with the water, that is okay. To the hot potatoes, add the butter and the cream cheese.

Mash. I prefer to use a hand masher because I like lumps in my potatoes. If you like your potatoes as smooth as silk, use an electric hand mixer.

Add more salt if needed.

Serve warm with additional butter, because you can't have too much of that.

Come back tomorrow for more Thanksgiving: Let's Eat Week.

I will be sharing a recipe for Brussel Sprouts.

Don't be hating on the Brussel Sprouts.

I dressed 'em up with some bacon.

Bacon makes everything magical, even Brussel Sprouts.

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The Recipe Critic,