thanksgiving Archives - Eat. Drink. Love.

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

November 19, 2012 by Stephanie

I’ve got one more Thanksgiving post for you guys! No doubt your oven is going to be working overtime this week. Between the turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and who knows what else, oven space is often limited. And for those of you with double ovens, I am totally jealous, bt dubs.

How about a little dessert that comes together in less than 20 minutes and requires no baking? Yeah, that’s what I thought you would say! These little cheesecakes are rich and full of pumpkin flavor. They can also be made the night before. In fact, I recommend you make them the night before. I’m all about making things the night before!

The perfect ending to your meal before all that tryptophan kicks in!

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: about 6 servings

Ingredients

2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1 (8-ounce) block reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) container light whipped topping thawed
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Toppings:

whipped topping (optional)
nuts (optional)
caramel (optional)
graham cracker crumbs (optional)

Instructions

Melt the butter in a small microwave-safe bowl. Divide the graham cracker crumbs evenly amongst individual serving bowls or ramekins and press down to make a crust. Drizzle some of the butter over the crumbs in each dish. Place the bowls in the freezer.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, whipped topping, pumpkin puree, and the pumpkin pie spice until well-combined.
Remove the bowls from the freezer. Pipe or spoon the filling into each bowl. Add additional whipped topping and other desired toppings. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Notes

Depending on the size of your serving bowls, you made need to add more or less of the graham cracker crumbs.

http://eat-drink-love.com/2012/11/no-bake-pumpkin-cheesecake/

Filed Under: Desserts · Tagged With: cheesecake, low-fat, no bake, pumpkin, thanksgiving 27 Comments

Apple Cranberry Stuffing

November 16, 2012 by Stephanie

Oh, stuffing. You are, by far, my most favorite Thanksgiving side dish.

I think if you handed me a bowl of stuffing and that was it, I would probably be satisfied.

And my stuffing MUST include apples. It just has to. This is non-negotiable. And this time, it also includes another Thanksgiving favorite of mine, cranberries!

Apple Cranberry Stuffing

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 60 minutes

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

4 cups whole wheat bread, cubed
4 cups white bread, cubed
1 tbs. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
2 tsp. chopped fresh sage
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
3 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 cup fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
salt to taste
2 tbs. butter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spread cubed bread out on a baking sheet. Bake for about 5 minutes or until the bread is lightly toasted. Scoop the toasted bread into a large bowl and set aside.
In a sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the onion for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add in the sage and thyme and cook for another 2 minutes.
In the bowl with the cubed bread, add the onion mixture, diced apples and cranberries. Mix well. Pour in the chicken broth and mix until the bread is moistened. Add in salt to taste.
Pour the mixture into a large baking dish. Chop the butter into small cubes and distribute evenly over the stuffing. Cover with foil.
Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for another 15 minutes.

http://eat-drink-love.com/2012/11/apple-cranberry-stuffing/

Filed Under: Sides, Vegetarian/Vegan · Tagged With: apple, cranberry, low-fat, stuffing, thanksgiving, vegetarian 14 Comments

Low Fat Broccoli Gratin

November 14, 2012 by Stephanie

Hi all, sorry I didn’t have a new post for you yesterday! It was a long day of flying back to Arizona and I was just too dang tired to post!

Did you guys know that Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK?! How is this possible?! So not ready! However, we totally started putting up Christmas decorations. I know, it’s early. But, see, I just don’t care! Ha! We are always traveling during the holidays so we figured it was okay to decorate early since we won’t be here to enjoy it!

Since Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching, I have another side dish recipe for you! Today, it’s the veggies. Broccoli to be exact. While potatoe gratin is just wonderful, it’s not very healthy. This recipe will satisfy your craving for cheesy and creamy goodness without all the calories and starch. I used just broccoli here, but you could also do a combo of broccoli and cauliflower!

Low Fat Broccoli Gratin

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

5 cups broccoli, trimmed
3 tbs. unsalted butter
2 tbs. flour
3/4 cup skim milk
3/4 cup reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs (can use more if you would like)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large pot of lightly salted, boiling, water, cook the broccoli until just tender (be careful not to over cook the broccoli!). Drain and set aside.
In a saucepan, melt the butter on medium heat. Stir in the flour with the butter and stir until well-combined. Add in the milk and cheddar cheese and whisk until smooth. Stir in the garlic powder and salt and pepper.
In a 9x13 baking dish, add the broccoli. Pour the cheese mixture over the broccoli and mix to coat. Evenly distribute the panko bread crumbs over the top. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

http://eat-drink-love.com/2012/11/low-fat-broccoli-gratin/

Filed Under: Sides, Vegetarian/Vegan · Tagged With: au gratin, broccoli, low-fat, side dish, thanksgiving, vegetable 14 Comments

Apple Pumpkintini

November 9, 2012 by Stephanie

It’s Friday! I am back home in Florida for my friend’s wedding this weekend. It’s nice to see my family again. My little brother has been calling me a “ditcher” since we moved to Arizona. He also thinks I moved 5,000 miles away. In my birthday card that he gave me right before we moved, he wrote, “Happy Birthday, Sis. You’re a ditcher. See you in the year 2020.”

It’s okay. We are going to spend the whole day together today. I ain’t no ditcher!

In celebration of it being the weekend, I have created a yummy martini for you. Apple and pumpkin in one awesome drink! This drink is the perfect drink to serve your Thanksgiving dinner guests…or you could be like a certain someone and drink one and a half of them at 11:30 in the morning because you made them to photograph and you don’t want it to go to waste so you drink them and then end up with a raging headache for the rest of your day…

Apple Pumpkintini

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 2 martinis

Ingredients

2 1/2 tbs. pumpkin puree
3 ounces apple cider (I used the Spiced Cider from Trader Joes)
2 ounces vanilla vodka
1 ounce ginger ale
cinnamon and sugar (for the rim)

Instructions

In a shallow dish, mix together a couple of tablespoons of sugar and about 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Rub some apple cider along the rim of each martini glass. Dip the rim in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.
In a cocktail shaker, add about 3-4 ice cubes. Add in the pumpkin puree, apple cider, vodka, and ginger ale. Shake well and pour into the martini glasses and serve.

http://eat-drink-love.com/2012/11/apple-pumpkintini/

Filed Under: Drinks · Tagged With: alcohol, apple, drink, fall, martini, pumpkin, thanksgiving, tini 24 Comments

Garlic Cheddar Corn Muffins

November 6, 2012 by Stephanie

Now that it’s November, it’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving. And as much as I just love some yummy turkey, I also really love all those fantastic side dishes that come along with it. Over the next few weeks, I am going to share some ideas for delicious Thanksgiving side dishes (and maybe some desserts, well, cause…you know…). Oftentimes the side dishes are my favorite part of the meal! Stuffing (how I love thee!), potatoes (both mashed and sweet), veggies, and cranberry sauce! Oh my!

As for the rolls, I often take a pass. There is already so much food, the plain rolls just seem futile. However, if I had these garlic cheddar corn muffins at my table, I don’t think I could resist! I had a box of corn muffin mix in my pantry and decided to experiment. Plain corn muffins just sounded so boring! With a handful of ingredients you probably already have, you can mix up these kicked up corn muffins in about 10 minutes and have them out of your oven in 15 minutes. So, forget those store bought rolls this year and give these a try!

Garlic Cheddar Cornbread Muffins

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: About 18 muffins

Ingredients

2 (about 8 1/2-ounce) packages corn muffin mix (I used Jiffy)
2 cups canned corn, drained
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded
2/3 cup light sour cream (can also use plain Greek yogurt if desired)
2/3 cup low fat buttermilk
2 large eggs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together the muffin mix, corn, salt, and garlic.
In another bowl, whisk together the cheddar cheese, sour cream, buttermilk, and the eggs. Stir the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients until just combined. Scoop the batter into each muffin mold, filling a little over 1/2 of the way.
Bake for about 15 minutes until the tops are a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

http://eat-drink-love.com/2012/11/garlic-cheddar-corn-muffins/