Thanksgiving @ Lulu's

So I hope everyone had a fabulous time yesterday filled with good food, football, holiday movies, family, friends, and WINE :o) There's nothing like a glass of red wine to go with that turkey. So like I promised, here are the yummy goodies that were set at my table. First I'm going to start with what I believe was the best part- THE CHEESECAKE. Mmm really what's better than dessert? I found this recipe for pumpkin-chocolate swirl cheesecake from vegetariantimes.com.

The ingredients were pretty easy to find:

I love using Libby's Pumpkin filling because there are no preservatives or added sugar. Just pumpkin.

The crust was graham cracker crust with melted butter. I couldn't find chocolate graham crackers like the recipe asked, but hey, regular ones are just fine. I baked the crust for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

I mixed the remaining ingredients (minus the chocolate) in the Kitchen-Aid. I used fat free cottage cheese and cream

cheese because I knew there would be people at the table (myself included) that'd be like, "oh no, calories I can't eat dessert. At least not a whole slice". So I tried to take care of that problem. I also used brown sugar rather than white.

I took about a cup of the batter and mixed it with chocolate, which I melted in the microwave. After that I poured the non-chocolate mixture over the crust and then the chocolate mix was spooned onto and swirled around with a knife.

And the finished product was FANTASTIC and DELICIOUS and just a party of itself in the tummy of me and my guests :o)

Ok, so what else did we eat? Well I saw this broccoli with pecan brown butter recipe on Down Home With the Neely's and decided to make this as one of the sides.

So I couldn't get a picture of the turkey because it was torn up and inside people's belly before I could pull my camera out. So the other sides? Because broccoli isn't enough. I made stuffed acorn squash. Kima actually emailed me this recipe. Stuffed Acorn Squash:

In a 350 degree oven bake a squash cut in half (pulp and seeds removed) for 30 minutes in a baking dish filled with 1/4" water cut side down

In a bowl mixed 1-2 chopped apples (skin removed) with 1/2 cup dried cranberries, some cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste and two tbsp butter (chopped up in pieces makes it easier to mix).

Remove the squash and fill each half with the apple mixture then bake for another 30 minutes or until cooked.

Et voila...

We also had steamed asparagus, green beans with fresh cranberries and potato wedges. And in the end, it was one of the tastiest Thanksgivings I've ever had. I hope you guys give these recipes a try, and I can't wait to see what Kima had on her table yesterday.

xox Lulu!