Friday, November 16, 2012

My Mini Celebration

Brrr it is a cold November morning for Florida as I sit here thinking about the festivities to come. I just finished planning my Thanksgiving Menu and I am real excited about it. Most of all, I am excited to have my family all together for the Holiday. Should be fun. Now that my menu is finalized it's time for my "Mini Celebration" My mini Celebration is where I like to test some of the recipes I plan to make for the big dinner and where I make notes of any changes that needs to be made before the Big Dinner.

Being part of the Allstar Ambassador program for Allrecipes and we get a monthly assignment and this month we have partnered with Cambell's Kitchen. I have used a lot of Campbell's recipes in the past so this is great for me. I thought I would include some of the recipes from my assignment in my "Mini Celebration". 

Let's start with Dessert! Yum!

These were amazing! Light and creamy mousse with a puff pastry wrap. My daughter's birthday is on Thanksgiving this year and she was so thrilled with these that she has requested these for her birthday/ Thanksgiving dessert. I might make these and send these home in gift containers for all my guests and of course my daughter. They look great and taste even better. I like these so much that I included the recipe or you can click on the link in the title and it will bring you to the recipe at Allrecipes.com





Serves: 6
Prep Time: 25 Minutes
Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour 35 minutes

Ingredients
  • Vegetable cooking spray
  • 6 sugar ice cream cones
  • All-purpose flour
  • 1/2 (17.3 ounce) package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 (3.4 ounce) package vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
  • 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup caramel topping, warmed
  • 1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans                            

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Wrap each cone tightly in aluminum foil, covering it completely and tucking any excess foil into the cone cavity. Spray the foil cones with the cooking spray.

3. Sprinkle the flour on the work surface. Unfold the pastry sheet on the work surface. Cut the pastry sheet along the fold marks to form 3 rectangles. Cut each rectangle lengthwise into 4 strips, making 12 strips in all.

4. Press the ends of 2 pastry strips together. Starting at the pointed end of the cone, wind the pastry strip around 1 cone, slightly overlapping edges of pastry (strip will not reach the bottom of the cone). Spray the pastry cone with the cooking spray and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar. Place the pastry cone on its side, with the end of the strip facing down, onto a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pastry strips.

5. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Let the pastries cool completely on the baking sheet on a wire rack. Carefully remove the foil cones from the baked pastry.

6. Beat the milk, pudding mix, pumpkin and cinnamon in a medium bowl with a whisk until the mixture is thickened.

7. Beat the heavy cream in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture. Spoon or pipe the mixture into the pastry cones.

8. Stir the caramel topping and pecans in a small bowl. Place the pastries onto serving plates and drizzle with the caramel mixture.





This recipe is very basic and good in a pinch but I like a little more flavor so I added some Italian sausage, butter and mushrooms to my stuffing then I put it in the oven to crisp up on top. Much better.




Quick and Flavorful Vegetables

I made these vegetables and they turned out really good. My husband doesn't usually like cooked carrots but he seemed to enjoy these as they were all gone by the time we finished eating. Which is usually a good sign.




This is a classic. We make this every year and this is my husbands favorite. I bought some fresh green beans from Trader Joes and it turned out really good. Next time I am adding some bacon on top with the onions. Everything is better with bacon.


They were easy and turned out very favorful and creamy. Next time I will add a bit of Roasted Garlic to the recipe.



This months assignment was fun and my husband and I enjoyed eating all the good dishes. I hope you will try some of these recipes and let me know how you like them.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

 Disclaimer
I am an Allrecipes Allstar Brand Ambassador (a voluntary position) and I’m not compensated for my work with Allrecipes.com.

Products received from advertiser are only used for experienced-based reviews on My Sweet-n-Spicy Journey. The reviews, content and opinions expressed in this blog are purely the sole opinions of Janet Henderson-My Sweet-n-Spicy Journey.