Our annual Thanksgiving friends get together was hosted at my house last weekend! We did a potluck thanksgiving food theme and everyone's dishes were very yummy =). Every year I would make the Turkey with one or two dishes. This year I added, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Butternut squash soup (I made this last year also), Stuffing, Gravy, and Seasoned Veggies.
I took up the courage and made my very first Thanksgiving Turkey (think 8 years ago?) for our very first year's friends gathering. I was super nervous on how it would turn out because back then, I worked with recipes by the book when I was testing things out. I've mistaken teaspoon for tablespoon once, and my mashed potatoes turned out SUPER salty LOL! My best friends ate it, and one of them (Duyet) still makes fun of me till this day... haha. So, back to the subject, after that salty mashed potato incident, I've decided to just go by taste instead of measurements. My turkey turned out to be a success and the bird was eaten to the bone. From that day on, I got into cooking and baking, and eventually went to Culinary School.
The idea of making a Pumpkin Cheesecake this Thanksgiving was inspired by my friend Adam from Facebook, who asked me if I knew how to make one and well, I've never made that flavor before so that got me wanting to give it a shot. The consistency, texture, and taste of the pumpkin cheesecake turned out well. The I put more pumpkin in this one than what it was originally asked and it still turned out great. The bottom is a lemony sponge cake, and the top is piped whipped cream with holiday spice!
I was pretty happy with it and so were my friends. I usually stuff my turkey with stuffing but this year I decided to just make the stuffing on the side. The butternut squash soup was made from roasting the squash a bit in the oven, cooking it with my very own soup base on the stove, and then pureeing it to a creamy-like smooth consistency. Cream was also added to it.
The Turkey was marinated over-night. I brushed it with butter just right before I put it in the oven (at 350 degrees F) and basting the turkey at every interval. This one took about four to four and a half hours to bake.
The only difference I did with the stuffing this year was adding veggies to it. It had some corn, green beans, and carrots that was cooked beforehand then tossed in with the stuffing.
