SO the first course was my Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Carrot soup with Grilled Blue Cheese Croutons!
(recipe to follow as this make a great Autumn/Winter Soup! Weight Watcher® Friendly!)
It's so delicious all you'll want to do is serve it up and cuddle up with a good movie or a hot mans! (yes I said mans)
Dinner was scrumptious! The array went like this!
There was a warm salad of Caramelized Brussel Sprouts and Cannellini Beans Tossed in a light homemade vinegrette and garnished with freshly shaved Pecorino Romano!
(recipe to follow - Weight Watchers® this is a good one for you! low points & delicious!!)
Then there were Wild Mushroom Bundles courtesy of Shelly Wiseman of Gourmet Magazine via Epicurious.com. This recipe is slightly labor intensive and was one that needed a homosexual touch to make it just right. I took the suggestion of someone who commented on the recipe and added goat cheese to it. I can't imagine them with out it really! They are so freakin'delicious make sure you make extra just for yourself and store them away!
I also have to give a special shout out/thanks to my sous-chef of the day, Gabriel Beck, who essentially took this project under his wing and perfected it!
Next came my Man Keepin' Mac & Cheese! Is there really much more I need to say about this? A delicious combination of Pepper Jack, Cheddar, Manchego, Romano, Parmesan, Muenster, & Ricotta that will have you screaming in ecstasy!
(recipe to follow - Weight Watchers® there is no point in making a low point Mac & Cheese..Flex baby Flex!!)
Next came my twice baked sweet potatoes! I went a-searchin' for some fun sweet potato recipe and didn't find anything I really loved. I did come across one that inspired this recipe though. The recipe I found just had you place a streusel on top of the backed potatoes. But I thought well that makes no sense cause I wanna taste the goodness throughout! So i dug em out Gay Gourmet'd™ them up then added the streusel and they were UH-MAZING!!!
(recipe to follow... Weight Watchers® It's Thanksgiving for goodness sake! lol Just close your eyes.. or better yet a baked sweet potato with some salt pepper and smart balance is super delicious too!)
On to Ms. Rachel Ray's Stuffing Muffins. In my stuffing muffins I used cornbread, chorizo, celery, apple & leeks and then followed her recipe on how to put it all together.. sadly they didnt stay together when taking them out of the muffin tins. I dont know whether it's because there is no binding agent or cause I substituted cornbread...but I need to figure it out and report back! The Stuffing was still delicioso nonetheless!
As for sauces for my turkey I has a mushroom gravy which I sadly dont have a picture of cause it was beautiful and delicious! and then I had a Cosmopolitan Cranberry Sauce! Courtesy of Rick Rodgers via Epicurious.com! I like to doctah (yes I said doctah) this just a hair. I throw in a little extra sugar and then I used 1/2 cup vodka splitting it between half Stoli Ohranj & Half Stoli Applik! I also jullienned a green apple and added the zest of one orange after it had cooled. Throw the juice of half a lime in there along with the Grand Marnier and this recipe goes from perfect to brilliant!
Last but certainly not least was the Turkey! So delicious and I don't really need to say much as there have been 3 blogs about this bird already! But i do need to show you the picture one more time and give the idea credit to Chef Stephen Lewandowski who did this for his family last year. It seemed so good and intriguing that I needed to try this process for myself this year and against his recommendation I Gay Gourmet'd™ it and stuffed it. But is was SO GOOD!!
Dessert consisted of Ms. Martha Stewart's Chocolate Pumpkin Tart which I have been making for years and it's soo good! I have to go into my backlog of recipes to find this one as the one they have on the site has been updated to make it easier but I dont think it's as good as the original recipe!
Good food is worth the time and effort folks!
There was also a White Cheddar Apple Pie! Just take your traditions Apple Pie recipe and layer in delicious slivers of while cheddar. You'll thank me later!
Top it all off with a little homemade Grand Marnier Whipped Cream (two pints heavy cream 2 TBS of Grand Marnier 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar & whip away) and the evening is complete!
Other than that there was wine and liquor galore!
Oh you must be saying to yourself wow this is so much food and it must have cost an arm and a leg! I was contemplating giving you a price breakdown but Ill just say that I spent around $160 dollars which when broken down per head is a little over $13 dollars a person. I didn't buy or bring any of the liquor. The Gays brought that and I sent two of my friends the dessert recipes as I just didn't have the time nor the oven space to bake dessert.
I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did cooking it! More to come!!
Deliciously Living
Michael Munoz
The Gay Gourmet™
©Michael Munoz 201 for The Gay Gourmet™
All photos are ©John Dolan Photography 2010 and may not be used without permission
This is the most insanely awesome dinner. Can't believe it was so inexpensive. The labor sounds intense but just because if the number of dishes. GG you may be the reason gays lose their six packs. I expect to see healthy eating, low carb menus after the holidays. Maybe it would be fun to do a gay new year's resolution with recipes to get you ready for all the gay cruises in February and March. Bathing suit boot camp!
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