Thanksgiving

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. All in all, it was a lovely day. J and I started out by cooking our behinds off the night before. The morning of, after the parade was over, we headed to my aunt's and then spent the remainder of the day at J's mawmaw's. It was a long and fun day for us. I probably had a litte too much fun (*ahem* read: wine), but it totally got me geared up for the holiday season! Time to jump on the Christmas decorating!

In the meantime, here's a couple of my favorite recipes from our T-day contributions.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

my take on the Ocean Spray recipe on the back of a bag of fresh cranberries

• 1 bag of fresh cranberries
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1 cup sugar
• cinnamon (I didn't measure, I just tossed some in)
• orange zest (again, no measuring)

Rinse cranberries and remove any white berries. Bring water, bourbon and sugar to a boil. Stir in cranberries and bring back to a boil. Lower heat and stir in cinnamon and orange zest. Boil gently for 10 minutes. While it's cooking, gently smoosh some berries against the side of the pot to break them up and thicken the sauce. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Allow to cool completly before transferring to serving dish/container.

Spiced Candied Pecans

• 3 cups raw whole pecans
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sugar (I use more - we like 'em sweeter!)
• cinnamon, to taste
• allspice (or pumpkin pie spice), to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 300 F. In a large bowl, mix pecans with egg white and vanilla - be sure all pecans are coated. In a small bowl, mix together remaining dry ingredients then pour over pecans. Mix thoroughly, again be sure that all pecans are coated. Spread in one layer over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 30 minutes. I usually check midway, to make sure all pieces are roasting evenly.