Hunting and Gathering

Now that Kenzie's birthday has come and gone I can now turn my attention to Thanksgiving which we are hosting this year. So this week I have begun the process of hunting down and gathering at least one new recipe to throw into our Thanksgiving meal. We do all the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, etc. But I like to try at least one new dish/dessert.
While in the grocery store checkout lane I picked up the Pillsbury recipe booklet for Thanksgiving dishes. I am easily distracted by the brightly colored pictures of yummy food. Sometimes I think I may have adult ADD but I guess the correct term would be procrastinator. Looking for recipes is much more interesting than grocery shopping or folding laundry, but anyway, I digress.
The point of this post is to share some recipes, so here are some side dishes and a dessert from the booklet that sounded yummy, I haven't tried them yet though.


Green Beans with Colored Peppers

1 bag(22 oz.) frozen whole green beans
1 TBSP. lemon juice
2 tsp. Dijon Mustard
1 TBSP chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 TBSP olive or vegetable oil
1 Medium red bell pepper cut into strips
1 Medium yellow bell pepper cut into strips
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper if desired

In a 12 inch skillet, cook green beans on stove top as directed on bag. Drain, place beans on a plate and loosely cover to keep warm. Meanwhile in a small bowl, mix lemon juice, mustard, basil and thyme, set aside. Add oil to same skillet, heat over medium-high heat. Add bell peppers, cook 6-8 minutes, stirring frequently until just tender. Add green beans and lemon mixture to peppers; toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt; cook 2-3 minutes stirring frequently. Serve sprinkled with with freshly ground black pepper.

Roasted Harvest Vegetables

4 Medium carrots cut into 1 inch pieces
4 Medium parsnips (about 1lb.) peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices (3 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
4 tsps chopped fresh or 1 1/2 tsps dried thyme leaves
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 lb butternut squash peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 1/2 chunks (6 1/2 cups)
Fresh thyme sprigs if desired

Heat oven to 425 degrees. In large bowl place carrots, parsnips, and half of each of the oil, chopped thyme, salt and pepper; toss to coat. In ungreased 15x10x1-inch pan, spread mixture in single layer. Bake 15 minutes.
Meanwhile in same large bowl toss squash with remaining oil, chopped thyme, salt and pepper.
add to pan and stir to combine vegetables. Bake 35 to 40 minutes longer, turning vegetables twice with pancake turner, until vegetables are tender. Spoon into serving bowl or on platter, garnish with thyme sprigs.

Turtle Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust
1 1/2 cups thin chocolate wafer cookies crumbs (about 30 cookies)
1/4 butter or margarine melted

Filling
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsps pumpkin pie spice
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin-NOT pumpkin pie mix.
4 packages (8oz. each) cream cheese softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
5 eggs

Topping
1/2 cups chopped pecans toasted*
2 oz bittersweet baking chocolate coarsley chopped
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1 cup caramel topping

*to toast pecans, sprinkle in ungreased skillet. Cook over med-high heat 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently until pecans begin to brown, then stirring constantly until light brown.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap foil around outside of bottom and side of 9-inch springform pan to prevent drips. Spray bottom and 1 inch up side of pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix cookie crumbs and melted butter. Press crumb mixture on bottom and 1 inch up side of pan. Bake crust 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool at room temperature 5 minutes. Refrigerate about 5 minutes or until completely cooled.
Meanwhile, in another small bowl, mix flour pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin and set aside. In large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth. On low speed, beat in eggs, one at a time, just until blended. Gradually beat in pumpkin mixture until smooth. Pou filling over crust. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes or until edge of cheesecake is set but center still jiggles slightly when moved. Run knife along edge of pan to loosen cheesecake. Turn oven off. open oven door at least 4 inches and let cheesecake remain oven 30 minutes.
Cool in pan on cooling rack 30 minutes. Refrigerate at least 6 hour or overnight before serving.
Just before serving, sprinkle pecans over top of cheesecake. In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate and oil uncovered on high 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds stirring every 15 seconds until melted. Drizzle chocolate over pecans. To serve, run knife around outside of pan to loosen cake and carefully remove sides of pan. Drizzle caramel over each serving. Store covered in refrigerator.