PansGiving

After a far-too-long hiatus, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pans met for what I’m calling PansGiving, or, in other words, The Traveling Pans Does Thanksgiving.

It was a remarkable spread of quite phenomenal food from horseradish-cranberry sauce to squash spaetzle, and as always, the company trumped the food.

We gathered first in Liz’s kitchen and admired Emily’s handiwork with the perfectly roasted and browned turkey… even more impressive? She carried it up three flights of stairs!

We munched on some cheese and crackers (another note, go buy the Dubliner cheddar with stout in the green wrapper, it’s worth every penny) and then as our dishes heated up, we moved to the dining room which was perfectly set for a Thanksgiving feast.

A photo shoot ensued since there were four bloggers present, and of course goofy pictures followed. HI AMY!

HI JENN!

When we finally got all the food the table, there was hardly any room for anything else! We’d all outdone ourselves yet again.

I’d found these amazingly beautiful buttercup squash, and decided to make cranberry-orange-pecan stuffed squash with them

Liz made a delicious apple-sausage stuffing:

Amy brought two beautiful and delicious bright pink dishes, both of which will be on her blog soon: braised red cabbage and cranberry-onion-horseradish relish.

Eo opted for a sweet/savory dish (that she deemed “too eggy”) of a squash, thyme, and leek gratin. I loved every bite!

Jenn brought a green bean casserole. I was a little nervous because, honestly, I don’t like green bean casserole. But really, what I don’t like is BAD green bean casserole! Hers was amazing with caramelized onions, fresh mushrooms, fresh beans… kudos Jenn!

Tina made a squash spaetzle which was like the best macaroni and cheese with a hint of sweetness, and the crunch of nuts on top.

After completely filling up, we remembered that Beth had brought pie! She made everything from scratch, and the pie crust was among the best I’ve ever had. Oh, and there was apple and pumpkin pie with homemade cinnamon ice cream.

We left satisfied, sleepy, and ready to hit the hay. As usual, the Traveling Pans created a phenomenal feast!

On another note, I’ve been selected to host the resurrection of the Blogger Secret Ingredient (BSI) challenge! This fun challenge is a bit like the show Chopped, in which we all have one ingredient, create a dish using that ingredient, and then a winner is chosen from the submissions.

You’ll have one week to create a recipe and send it to me at mara@imadedinner.net or post a link in the comments here.

The BSI for this week is….

PEARS!

Create a unique recipe using pears, and send it my way. The winner will be announced next Sunday, November 20! Also, let me know if you’re interested in hosting next week!

Tagged as: Baking, BSI, cooking club, dessert, food, friends, fruit, fun, thanksgiving, traveling pans, vegetables