Hello, friends! I hope those of you that celebrated Thanksgiving had a holiday filled with good food, family, and great friends.
As you know, Matt and I spent the holiday up in Pittsburgh with his family. We had a small crew this year – just me, Matt, Matt’s brother Drew, and their parents. We had the best week – so relaxing and fun.
Some snow even joined us for the occasion. It felt more like Christmas than Thanksgiving!
I love spending Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh – I’ve been joining Matt’s family for the holiday on and off since Matt and I started dating back in 2004, and it’s always so fun. Matt’s dad is a big foodie and goes all out with the food; this year’s feast was just as creative as ever!
Every year, we have an official menu for the occasion highlighting the whole feast.
We started with some cocktails! Applewood Smoked Old Fashioneds, using small batch organic rye whiskey from Pittsburgh’s Wigle Distillery. Matt’s dad used a hand held food smoker to add smoke into the whiskey bottle. You could definitely taste a hint of smoked goodness! Yum.
As for the food, our starter was a Wild Mushroom Soup with Sherry & Thyme (click for the recipe he used) with a drizzle of white truffle oil on top. I LOVE anything truffle. It adds the most amazing flavor! We all loved this soup.
Next up, continuing with the smoked theme, we had Mesquite Smoked Salmon Sashimi with Dill Cream. This was made simply by purchasing some sushi-grade salmon, and then using the hand held food smoker to put some smoke into a glass that went over the salmon. Unique, right?
It was REALLY good! The smoke added a ton of flavor – and made it look cool when you took off the glass. 🙂
For our “palate cleanser” before the main event, we enjoyed some hard cider! We all went downtown to buy this at the Allegheny Arsenal Cider House & Wine Cellar the day before – really cool, historic place.
The kind we choose was not too sweet – kind of like a lightly flavored champagne. Really good!
Then it was time for turkey! Per tradition, we enjoyed a fried turkey. Fried turkey is awesome – the inside of the turkey is just like a normal baked turkey, just super juicy.
It’s also way faster than baking a turkey – only 3 to 4 minutes per pound! Our 11 pound turkey was done just over a half hour. Sweet! Matt served as the fry master. 🙂
As for the rest of the feast, we had corn pudding (unpictured), and stuffing – Matt’s mom made a fun variety that featured wild rice, apples, and dried cranberries. It was delish!
Roasted veggies – yum:
And some really awesome savory Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes (click for recipe).
These were SO good. Topped with feta, chopped pecans, and some pomegranate arils, just for fun. Such a great combination! Definitely bookmarking this recipe for next year.
My plate:
As for dessert, we had pie, of course! This is Matt’s grandmother’s famous Pumpkin Chiffon Pie, made by his mom. 🙂
Such a fun day. Thank you to Matt’s family for a wonderful Thanksgiving! Tomorrow, we’ll transition from food back to fitness – I’ll share some fun photos from our pre-Thanksgiving feast snowy turkey trot. Plus, a giveaway and some Cyber Monday deals!
Enjoy the rest of your weekends!
