This post begins a holiday series of posts that features Mexican influenced dishes for a slightly off-beat, yet still damn traditional, Thanksgiving fiesta!

I love the holidays. No… really. I. Love. The holidays. I mean, what’s better than the whole world cooking feast after feast and celebrating all that we’re thankful for and all of our loved ones. Did I mention the feasting?

This year for Thanksgiving T & I are going to be traveling up to San Francisco to share our holiday with some great friends, both new and old. The old being my hommie, Yvonne and her delightful sig other Drew; and the new being the utterly fabulous and f*cking hysterical food blogger, Leena & her hubby Adam. Now you know when you put two kickass food bloggers in charge of making a holiday meal something great is bound to happen. In this case, Leena threw out two suggestions. 1) a Mexican Themed holiday meal and 2)elevated spinoffs of holiday food. I promptly rejected option one since, well… I cook Mexican food all the time. Like every week.

Unforunately for Leena, she planted a seed in my brain about doing a Mexican holiday meal. That seed, mixed with the large container of homemade mole chillin in my freezer, sprung to life and thus we had a Mexican themed pre-holiday meal (where I didn’t have to make any gravy & used up my mole) with our awesome friends Nicole & Justin.

In my traditional lazy fashion let’s start things off with the easist dish at the party – the cranberry sauce! This element of holiday meals is soooo simple to prepare yet somehow people still reach for the canned version. We fused tradition cranberry sauce with some mexican flavors by adding in some pureed chipotle in adobo and cumin. I believe Tyler said something like “wow. that is an agressive cranberry sauce!” He then clarified that he meant spicy! I love spicy so of course I used 2 tbsp of chipotle but if you don’t like it that spicy just use one.

Recipes in this post:

• Chipotle & Cumin Cranberry Sauce

Related posts:

1. Citrusy Squash & Kumquat Salad
2. Balsamic Green Beans & Mushrooms
3. Butternut Squash Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter

We’re eating crisped duck confit on a bed of caramelized butternut squash, green beans and dried cranberries sauteed in sage & lemon zest brown butter then deglazed with lemon juice for a little brightness.

It’s finally beginning to feel like fall here in San Diego. I’m pretty sure it was in the 50’s this morning when I woke up.. either that or I’m a serious weather wimp (the latter option is definitely plausible). Either way all of this crisp, brisk weather has me in the mood for fall food. In this case, some butternut squash sauteed with brown butter… yeah yeah yeah, sure, there were other parts of the dish but really, it was the butternut squash and brown butter I was craving. The sweetness of the squash made a great match for the tartness of the cranberries while the crispness of the green beans added a nice texture. When we were eating this dish I realized how great of a side dish it would be for a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal in addition to rocking on any given work night. If any of you guys give it a try we’d love to hear what you thought about it and if you liked it as much as we did!

Recipes in this post:

• Butternut Squash, Green Bean & Dried Cranberry Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter

Related posts:

1. Shaved Sunchoke Salad
2. Balsamic Green Beans & Mushrooms
3. Holiday Recipe: Cheesy Chile, Fennel & Potato Gratin

We’re eating a simple summer side-dish or crisp green beans and cremini mushrooms deglazed with balsamic vinegar.

Admission: I think I could eat an entire pound of green beans myself! Seriously, I freaking LOVE green beans and have been known to eat entire meals based around them. Doesn’t matter to me if they are crisp and hardly cooked or boiled to death with bacon and onions (country style), or if they are sitting in a lovely sauce or simply tossed with a little butter, salt & pepper. Those long stringy little pods of joy brighten my day. As it happens, this is one of the many great ways I enjoy eating green beans. I hope you guys enjoy them as well!

Recipes in this post:

• Balsamic Glazed Green Beans and Cremini Mushrooms

Related posts:

1. Citrusy Squash & Kumquat Salad
2. Butternut Squash Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter
3. Shaved Sunchoke Salad

We’re eating a shaved zucchini, yellow squash, kumquat and shallot salad dressed in an orange, lime & cumin vinaigrette. The cool, crisp shaved squash easily take on the refreshing flavors of the vinaigrette and the kumquats pull it all together with their bright citrusy flavor.

We thought this salad was so good that it deserved a post all of its own even if we did eat it with the succulent brined pork chops featured in the last post. I’m pretty sure that once the heat of the summer sinks and we’re too hot to cook, we’ll be eating a lot of this type of salad! What’s your favorite food to beat the heat?

Recipes in this post:

• Citrusy Squash & Kumquat Salad

Related posts:

1. Balsamic Green Beans & Mushrooms
2. Shaved Sunchoke Salad
3. Lemon-Herb Grilled Shrimp & Quinoa Salad

We’re eating a shaved sunchoke salad marinated in a lemon, chive, whole grain mustard and truffle vinaigrette. Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem Artichokes, are the tuber (aka root) of a species of sunflower. Their light, slightly sweet flavor and crispity, crunchity texture make them a perfect vegetable to use in slaws, pickles and salad. We thought they paired up great with the rest of our meal – seared sirloin and cumin roasted carrots.

Recipes in this post:

• Shaved Sunchoke Salad

Related posts:

1. Butternut Squash Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter
2. Citrusy Squash & Kumquat Salad
3. Balsamic Green Beans & Mushrooms

Sometimes you just get a craving for some meat and potatoes… unless you’re a vegetarian. That’s the craving that hit us for this dinner. We’re eating marinated grilled pork tenderloin served with roasted sweet potato and green bean salad. The potato salad was dressed with a dijon-pomegranate molasses dressing for a unique and decidedly tasty flavor.

T: I suspect even vegetarians get the occasional meat craving… eh?
A: great question. vegetarians? are you out there? reading this meat-centric blog? do you get the occasional craving for meat?
T: I know our “vegetarian” friend michelle used to occasionally go out and eat a bucket of fried chicken. That pretty much proves it
A: ha! what that proves is that michelle was not a vegetarian at all! oh silly michelle.
T: Anyway, this potato salad was awesome. The pork was good too, but the potato salad was freaking fantastic. I’ve had tons of potato salad in my day, but most of them were prepared similarly. This one was different, and it was really good. Cheers to ya!
A: thanks t! i really dug the potato salad too. the combination of mustard and pomegranate molasses really works well together. if you’ve never tried it you really should. but go somewhat sparingly on the pom. molasses – it can certainly over power. the pork was actually marinated in the base vinaigrette that became the dressing for the potato salad. i thought eating a bite of pork and salad at the same time really made for some great flavorage.

A lovely hunk of meat

T: I love how you use the same or similar sauces in different parts of the meals you cook… really ties everything together. Alright, I rate the potato salad a 4.8/5. That stuff was solid. The pork went really well with it, although it was far less exciting for me. Overall I give the meal a 4.7/5. Clearly the potato salad was good enough to keep the overall score pretty high. Anybody who’s bored with potato salad should really try this stuff.
A: for sure. i don’t think we’ve even mentioned outside of the intro that we used sweet potatoes. i think they really worked well with the flavors in the dressing. so…. i think i’m going to give the meal an overall score of 4.44/5. it really did excite my taste buds. i guess i’m still kind of bored with everything i’ve been making lately. in the past this meal might have gotten a higher score from me, but hey! there’s always the future.
T: I know what you can do to break out of your boredom…. do you?
A: make sausage?
T: ding ding ding! Make sausage!! Sounds pretty exciting huh? I’m excited.
A: oh i know you are! you’re always game for a good wiener.
T: ha. ha. ha…. (actually that’s true)

Related posts:

1. Shaved Sunchoke Salad
2. Citrusy Squash & Kumquat Salad
3. Butternut Squash Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter

If it wasn’t evident that we have been in a fall-ish mood before now, then it should be screaming at you loud and clear with this dish. For a perfect meal on a chilly fall day we’re eating a soup made with roasted pumpkin, parsnips, carrots, and potatoes and seasoned with garlic, ginger, sage, rosemary, cinnamon, and cloves. The soup was topped with a dollop of cream fraiche and a mixture of pepita seeds, pomegranate, feta, and crispy bacon. For an extra kick we chose to serve the soup in a roasted pumpkin bowl.

T: this was some really tasty soup. especially with the crumbled feta and pomegranates on top.
A: not to mention the bacon in that mix! the relish, for lack of a better word, really did set the soup off. mmm mmm.
T: yeah, I certainly meant no disrespect to Bacon! Mmm. Also, it was surprisingly easy and tasty to eat the meat of the pumpkin while spooning soup! This was a really fun meal.
A: again with the unique vessels to make the meal more fun. it’s gonna suck when we go back to eating with normal dishes and utensils.
T: well i don’t know if I would say it’s going to suck. Although there will be more dishes to clean.
A: heheh which will suck in and of itself.
T: true. Alright, so this was a really good soup. what do you rate it?
A: i think i’m going to have to give it a 4.23/5. it really was good. it wasn’t something that i would want to eat once a week or anything, but when fall falls like it’s fallen lately, this is the perfect dish.
T: i don’t know, if pumpkins were around all the time I would be happy to eat this once a week. I give this soup a 4.73/5. I would have given it a lower score if it were not for the feta/bacon/pomegranate mixture, but fortunately that little mixture topped it off perfectly. Also, the pumpkin itself was really tender and delish. I don’t have anything negative to say about this one.
A: hell yeah! then i’ve succeeded. i don’t really have anything negative to say either. you pretty much hit it right on the head. the brightness of the pomegranate with the smokiness of the bacon and saltiness of the feta just brought out great flavors in the soup and pumpkin itself. mmm mmm…. maybe i should rethink my rating!…. or just eat more soup.
T: I think the feta brought the whole dish up to the perfect level of saltiness. Without it it might have needed a touch more. It worked out well. BTW, you’re not allowed to change your rating.
A: so you’re the rating police now, huh?
T: we wouldn’t need rating police if there weren’t people talking about changing their rating, ok?
A: well….hmph!
T: also, it’s Ratings Enforcement Agent, thank you very much.

Recipes in this post:

• Roasted Root Vegetable Soup in a Pumpkin Bowl

Related posts:

1. Cheesy Potato, Broccoli & Piquillo Pepper Soup
2. Butternut Squash Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter
3. Virginia-Style Brunswick Stew

We’re celebrating a wonderful summer evening with these perfectly light and refreshing fruit salad appetizers. Our pre-dinner snack was made with hollowed out watermelon cups providing the edible vessels for our sweet and savory fruit salad made with diced fresh yellow peaches, watermelon, jicama, Maui onion, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, and jalapeno. The salad cups were topped with a dollop of tangy and slightly spicy cilantro, lime, & feta cream fraiche.

Cool juicy and deliciousT: This was a seriously fun summertime treat. I should say, is a seriously fun summertime treat since there are more over on the table that I plan to eat right now…
A: hell yeah! they really are super summertime-y. and my god. i have been consuming those peaches i got from the farmers market like they were going out of style. i love summer fruits!
T: yeah, me too. What really gets me going are the blackberries. It’s awesome that we can pretty much buy and eat as many as we want without going broke. Fruit kicks ass. Normally I’m not a huge fan of fruit salady type dishes because the purity of the fruit is tainted by whatever dressing is added… but these little watermelon bowls o fruit did not suffer from that at all. The creamy dressing on top was really really tasty.
A: i was hoping it would work. it’s a tangy cilantro, lime, sour cream, jalapeno, and feta mixture. i didn’t really want enough of the “sauce” to coat the fruit. just enough so you get a hint with each bite.
T: well it was really more than a hint, but that was a good thing I thought. The jalapeno was kickin’ as well. I could have probably gone for a little more jalapeno in them… but that’s just my obsession with pain.

Papa watermelon cupA: heheh and your obsession with tasty spicy things, you’re not supposed to share the thing about your obsession with pain…. freak.
T: my therapist says I should share everything.
A: on our blog? with the whole world?
T: fortunately I don’t have to face anybody that reads this thing… it feels anonymous.
A: until your coworkers bring it up tomorrow… er… monday!
T: they have to know I’m obsessed with pain… how else could I work with them… snap!
A: oh. my. god. i just know you did NOT just type “snap”! that is sooooooooo wrong!
(t snaps several times, erratically)
A: alright snappy, let’s get back to the fruit at hand! do you have a rating for this little sweet and savory box of goodness?
T: I give these watermelon bowls a 4.73/5. They were really fun to eat… can’t say I’ve ever had fruit salad in a watermelon bowl… can’t say that I’ve ever had anything in a watermelon bowl. On top of that the fruit itself was delish and the creamy sauce was awesome and went really well with the fruit. What’s your rating?
A: i think i’m gonna have to go with a 4.4444/5. these little dealies make a great summertime first course. I thought the jicama added a nice crunch and the small amount of garlic, onions, jalapeno, and cilantro really worked well to bring out the savory sides to the perfectly ripe fruit. it was well balanced and fun to eat. my only problem at all was with my inability to create perfectly straight edges and thus nice boxes. in the end i had to settle for almost straight edges.
T: The straightness of the edges didn’t cross my mind once… actually, I thought they looked pretty neat.
A: why thank ya t! i tried… hard.
T: You did very well… every time I try hard at something I totally f it up.
A: i had that fear when i first started trying to shape the boxes. i just envisioned the barbie i tried to give a hair cut to when i was like 5 years old… eventually she ended up with a boy cut because i just couldn’t get the lines straight!
T: Nice to know! Amanda, how could you continuously offer to cut my hair with a history like that?

Recipes in this post:

• Sweet and Savory Fruit Salad in Watermelon Cups

Related posts:

1. Citrusy Squash & Kumquat Salad
2. Shaved Sunchoke Salad
3. Balsamic Green Beans & Mushrooms