It’s like Thanksgiving All Over Again.

Food Marathon took such amazing photos of our meal, I feel like it’s best to just let them tell the story of Thanksgiving 2010.

While I prepped the blueberry corn muffins–

Appetizers were served-

Vegan onion dip and a Blue Cheese dip with a Marie Sharpe's "Floater"

Guacamole para aqui

Potatoes were readied for the oven–

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes with parmesan crust

Maple yams with streusel topping

And the dog stole tortilla chips–

Naughty

More sides were prepped–

Wine braised green beans with shitake mushrooms and carmelized onions

and–

Horseradish deviled eggs and gingered cranberry sauce

With anchovy stuffed Spanish olives, and my mom’s pickles in the middle there btw…

Gravy

Can’t forget the wine–

Cab Franc....mmmmmm.....

And of course, Mr. Turkey. We went lowbrow this year and got a Trader Joes pre-brined. It will be the last time. Next year I want to try doing my own brine. Crazy, I know. (Note to self: buy giant tub for such.)

Zero made himself comfortable–

Patiently awaiting his turkey portion

It took about four hours, but finally we were ready for dessert:

Pumpkin Tart with Fennel Crust

Thanksgiving 2010 weekend went out with a bang, Vegas style. Next time you’re in Sin City, check out the newish Aria and feel like you’re in a Michael Mann remake of Blade Runner.

By Monday, it’s was high time to use up the leftovers, so I made this Cranberry Pumpkin bread with the leftover cranberry sauce -sorry that this photo sort of sucks…

PS I adapted this recipe from one I found on Chowhound

1 cup sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cups sugar
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1/3 cup water
1 cup leftover cranberry sauce

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and flour a loaf pan, 9 by 5 by 3 inches.

Into a bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon.

In another bowl beat together the eggs, oil, pumpkin puree and water. Add to the flour mixture and beat until the batter is combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, alternating with the cranberry sauce, swirling with a knife as you go.

Using the tip of a sharp knife, draw a line down the length of the surface of the batter. (This helps the appearance of the baked loaf.)

Bake in center of preheated oven for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. (Test after 1 hour and 15 minutes.) Let the bread cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Turn it out onto a rack (if desired) and let it cool completely.

I recommend eating a slice with a generous slather of cream cheese.