.fall fun recap part four: pseudo thanksgiving.

As I said in my previous post... the whole Hamlet family was down in the end of October to spend some time with us.  Well, along with our pumpkin carving and picture taking... we also had time to squeeze in a pseudo thanksgiving dinner.  You see, Casper and I were in Mexico this year over actual Thanksgiving for my best friends wedding, so we decided to merge Halloween and Thanksgiving into one fun weekend with the fam.
It was my first time hosting Thanksgiving, and since I knew everyone would have turkey on the real holiday, I thought it would be fun to cook a variation off traditional thanksgiving dishes.  I used recipes from the Real Simple November issue for most of the sides, and then we chose to make Lamb instead of turkey to mix things up a bit.  Besides a few runs to the store for forgotten items, and the minor boiling canola oil exploding all over me... the meal was pulled off without a hitch! :)

The Menu: (click on side dishes to find your way to the recipes at Real Simple)

Herbed Dijon Lamb
(from Thomas Kellers Ad Hoc cook book)

Honeyed Carrots and Oranges

Bourbon-Cranberry Compote (you can DEFINITELY taste the bourbon in this, and it is oh so good)

Sweet Potatoes with Pecans and Parmesan (this was the show stealer!  best dish of the day)

Potato and Celery Root Mash (great variation off the original)

Brie and Chive Biscuits (these may rival the sweet potatoes... they were AMAZING as well)

Green Beans with Bacon Vinaigrette (these were awful!  don't do this one!)