Our Thanksgiving in New York

This Thanksgiving was the first year I have spent without my parents.  It almost didn't feel like Thanksgiving, but my husband is so great about making sure I am happy no matter where we are or who we're with.  Here we are at The Anderson's :)

We almost decided to just make reservations at a restaurant because we definitely didn't want to cook a big meal for just the two of us, but a friend of his invited us to go have dinner at his place with he and his wife so I was excited about that.  I knew it would feel more like the Thanksgiving I'm used to, being in someone's home with home-cooked food!  They said they were going to cook the turkey, stuffing, homemade mashed potatoes and a dessert.  I really had my heart set on cooking a sweet potato casserole before I even knew what they were making so when my husband told me they are making mashed potatoes, it didn't even register to me that would mean we are having 2 potato dishes and no veggies! Oops!  Oh well, so the dip I made I found on Pinterest, of course!  Here it is with recipe and pics! So YUM!!


Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

What you need:

• 1 12oz package fresh cranberries
• 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 small jalapeno pepper
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Dash salt
• 2 8oz packages cream cheese

 First you want to chop the cranberries.  I used my Ninja as my chopper.  You can use some sort of chopper or just chop them yourself, but you don't want them to be all mush.  Chop those then throw them in a bowl.  Cut the jalapeno and remove the seeds then chop it along with the cilantro and green onion.  Add all of the ingredients (except the cream cheese) into the bowl with the cranberries and mix.  Cover and store in the fridge for at least 4 hours because the sugar needs time to soak into the cranberries and break up their bitter taste.  I just did this the night before and let it sit all night.

 I love how pretty it looks! Looks like Christmas in a bowl!  After the mixture sits for 4+ hours, get a big enough plate or dish and spread both of the cream cheese packages as evenly as you can.  Pour your cranberry mixture all over the cream cheese, but one lesson I learned was to NOT pour on the juice it makes.  Seems like a good idea at first, but just makes a mess when trying to eat it later.  The recipe I read was to serve with Wheat Thins, Ritz Crackers or Tortilla Chips, but I would only recommend using Wheat Thins or something equally "strong".  We ended up bringing home the leftovers of this dip and we only had Ritz Crackers to eat it with and they broke every time I "dipped"! But oh my goodness, this dip is SO GOOD!!

Ok next: Sweet Potato Crunch

I found this recipe online, searching for a sweet potato dish to make and it came out really good even though I was missing one ingredient and a little short of another.

What you need:

• 3 large sweet potatoes
• 4 tbsp of butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1 tsp vanilla (what I was missing)
• 1/2 cup sugar

Topping:

• 1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled (what I was about a tsp short of)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup chopped pecans (I used chopped walnuts)

Bake sweet potatoes at 350 degrees until tender, about 45 mins- 1 hour.  Mash potatoes and remove outer skins.  Combine potatoes and next five ingredients in a mixer.  Spread in baking dish.


For the topping:  Mix and spread over potatoes.  Bake until hot.

 

 

I don't have a picture after I baked it, but it was super yummy!! And so was this turkey :)

 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!