Thanksgiving!

Well, here in the Philippines we don't celebrate Thanksgiving (but we should! For the food, at least.)

To celebrate with our Caucasian counterparts, here are some links and recipes festive enough (hopefully) to try out. And healthy too.

Thanksgiving Healthy Recipe Guide

Devilled Eggs. I'm separating this one, in lieu of that other Devilled Eggs recipe.

Oh yeah, Teaparty Potluck update: I may not be able to make it after all because of sudden OT this Saturday (the person who was supposed to go there is going to be absent, so I'm filling in).

More devilled eggs for me then!

And here are some No-Bake Sweet Goodies:

1. Cheesecake


This picture doesn't suggest the actual food when done


Ingredients
a. 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
b. 1/4 cup white sugar
c. 1/2 cup butter, melted
d. 2 (1.3 ounces) envelopes whipped topping mix
e. 2 (8 ounces) packages cream cheese, softened
f. 2 fluid ounces cherry brandy

Directions
a. In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar. Mix well and press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

b. In a large bowl, mix the whipped topping powder as directed on the package and beat until thick. Cut the cream cheese into small cubes and drop them into the whipped topping, one at a time, while beating. Pour into the cherry brandy and beat another 5 minutes at high speed.

c. Spoon the filling into the graham cracker crust and smooth the top. Refrigerate 2 to 4 hours, or until set.

I think you need a machine mixer or something for this. You can always scour the net for machine-less-friendly people (like me).

2. Panna Cotta


This picture doesn't suggest the actual food when done

Ingredients
a. 1/3 cup skim milk
b. 1 (.25 ounce) envelop unflavored gelatin
c. 2 1/2 cups heavy cream (can't we just use 1 cup?)
d. 1/2 cup white sugar
e. 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
a. Pour milk into a small bowl, and stir in the gelatin powder. Set aside.
b. In a saucepan, stir together the heavy cream and sugar, and set over medium heat. bring to a full boil, watching carefully, as the cream will qickly rise to the top of the pan. Pour the gelatin and milk into the cream, stirring until completely dissolved. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla and pour into six individual ramekin dishes (what's a ramekin dish?)
c. Cook the ramekins uncovered at room temparature. When cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight before serving.

Once done, you can also put scrapes of fruits of your liking (mine's mango).

Don't mind me, I'm just reposting a LOT of recipes from the same website.

Much better than bookmarking, me thinks.

1. No-Knead Sweet Potato Rolls
2. Hearty Tomato Sauce
3. How to make Lasagna
4. Udon Noodle Soup
5. How to Make a Souffle
6. Cooking by Feel: Baked Pastas
7. 8 rich yet lighter Pasta sauces
8. Meat, Pasta, and Main Dishes

Did I mention I love Italian food?

9. Homemade Yogurt
10. Tomato Mozzarella Sandwich
11. Cuban Sandwich. I'm not into this, but my sister may like it.
12. Ribollita (The Ultimate Left-Overs soup)
13. French Onion Soup
14. Mango Panna Cotta

Wow. That's a lot of recipes to try out. I hope I'll be able to pull them off.

Butterbeer

My excitement over the recent installment of the Harry Potter movies (Deathly Hallows Part 1) has not been satiated, here's something to add with the hype.

Homemade Butterbeer

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients


FOR THE BUTTERBEER
6 12-ounce bottles cream soda [I prefer IBC (which is vegan) or Polar Classics Vanilla, but any will work perfectly]
3 teaspoons butter extract (imitation butter), or clarified butter (instructions linked above)

FOR THE FOAM (Vegan/Dairy-free recipe linked above)
2 cups heavy cream
6 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons butter extract

To make the butterbeer: Set out 6 16-ounce glasses. Place 1/2 teaspoon of butter extract in each glass. Pour 12 ounces of butterbeer into each glass. Lightly stir, if necessary.

To make the foam: In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, whip the heavy cream on medium high speed for 3-4 minutes until it starts to thicken. Add the sugar and continue whipping until very soft peaks begin to form, another 3-4 minutes (if you need to whip more or less, then be sure to do so, the times can vary quite a bit based on environment). Stir in the vanilla and butter extracts, then whip for another 30 seconds or so, until soft peaks form.

Spoon a generous portion of foam on top of each glass of butterbeer. Serve immediately.

Source

And since the recipe calls for clarifying butter, here's how.

There's a bunch of recipes over at Mugglenet, but this is by far the simplest.

[Edit] Oh wait! There IS a recipe over at Mugglenet that is even simpler. Just go and decide which one you want to use. Thanks!

Tea party potluck contribution.

I got invited to a tea party to celebrate the first year anniversary of Waku Waku. I'm thinking of what to bring, so maybe this would do:

Devilled Eggs

INGREDIENTS:
12 large eggs Ice water 6 tablespoons mayonnaise 2 teaspoons mustard 1 pinch cayenne pepper Salt and black pepper. Paprika, for dusting DIRECTIONS:
In a large pot, arrange the eggs in a single layer and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and remove from the heat; let stand for 10 minutes. Drain, then cover the eggs with ice water. Let stand until cool to the touch.

PROCEDURE:
Peel the eggs, halve lengthwise and scoop the yolks into a medium bowl, reserving the egg whites. Mash the yolks with the mayonnaise, mustard and cayenne; season with salt and black pepper. Spoon the yolk mixture into the egg white halves and dust with paprika.

I found this online, and it looks easy and economical enough. I hope this goes well (yummy well)