Thanksgiving Brunch with My Daughter

This Thanksgiving was a bit strange, wonderful but strange.   I have said before, that my children are scattered about starting their new lives, my son is in Turkey right now traveling, his twin sister is living in St. Johns Newfoundland.  So how do you celebrate a family meal together when you are so far apart?  By Skype of course!  They ate dinner, and we ate brunch and we enjoyed a meal together, I saw her and her wonderful boyfriend Brad and we enjoyed each others company for an hour.  It made my day.

It is so wonderful to see my children blossoming and becoming the people I knew they would. I give thanks for my family everyday, not just 1 day of the year, but on this Thanksgiving it became even more apparent to me how proud I am of them as we form NEW traditions for years to come.
However, the forming of this new tradition also involved eating in front of the TV screen. Hence the strange serving picture below, oh well a very small sacrifice for a heart full of joy, not a bad trade off, I'd say!!

Pumpkin Carrot Soup

Carrot Pumpkin Soup

Makes 4 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

4 carrots, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup pureed pumpkin
5 cups (1.25 L) prepared Epicure's Chicken Bouillon
1 tsp (5 ml) Epicure's pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup (125 ml) half & half cream
Epicure's Sea Salt, to taste
Italian Parsley to garnish  (optional)
Epicure's Black Pepper, to taste
Instructions

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in Epicure's 12-cup Multi-Purpose Pot. Simmer 20 minutes, or until vegetables are fork-tender.
2. Blend in a food processor or blender until smooth.
3. Return to the pot. Whisk in cream and season with Sea Salt and Black Pepper. Reheat and serve.

Per Serving : Calories 200, Fat 5 g (Saturated 2.5 g, Trans 0 g), Cholesterol 10 mg, Sodium 160 mg, Carbohydrate 27 g (Fibre 4 g, Sugars 6 g), Protein 10 g.

Tips:  For a different, spicier taste, try adding up to 1 Tbsp (15 ml) finely diced Epicure's Crystallized Ginger. or instead of Pumpkin spice add Epicure's Mango Curry Dip, substitute the Cream for Coconut milk (low fat or reg.) add Epicure's Kaffir Lime Leaves 1 or 2 and you have a soup to die for.

No Turkey for me....downsizing in all areas my new motto

I did not feel I missed out on any of the falvours of the day.  We had Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken, with Steamed broccoli and cauliflower, with a drizzle of melted herb butter, 
( the old me would have covered it in cheese sauce); steamed green beans, roasted carrots and parsnips, with mashed yams and new potatoes ( no sugar topping on yams as usual); Epicure Cranberry Sauce, and low sodium gravy made with the juices of the chicken.  The salad was a Beet and Walnut Feta Salad served on romaine lettuce with a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds, with Epicure Ranch dressing made with buttermilk and BLT dip mix.   Doesn't that sound festive? It was and good too.  

Thanks to the super power of garlic and herbs, 1 Tbsp (15 ml) of this blend has more antioxidants than 3/4 cup (180 ml) of broccoli!

Makes 6 servings

Cost Per Serving: 2.22

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 Tbsp (15 ml) Epicure's Roasted Garlic

1 — 4 lb (1.8 kg)  organic roasting chicken

1 lemon, quartered

2 Tbsp (30 ml) olive oil

1 Tbsp (15 ml) Epicure's Herb & Garlic Dip Mix

Epicure's Herbed Garlic Sea Salt, to taste

Epicure's Garlic Pepper, to taste

1 Tbsp (15 ml) all-purpose flour

4 cups (1 L) prepared Epicure's Chicken Bouillon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F (205° C). 

2. Sprinkle Roasted Garlic inside cavity of chicken. Squeeze lemon juice inside and insert wedges for extra flavour. 

3. Rub skin with olive oil and Herb & Garlic Dip Mix. Coarsely grind Herbed Garlic Sea Salt and Garlic Pepper over chicken. 

4. Roast in Epicure's Eclipse® Coated Professional Frying Pan or Roasting Pan for 25 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F (170° C) and continue roasting for 50–60 minutes. 

5. Place chicken on a platter. Loosely cover with foil and let rest for 10 minutes before carving. 

6. To prepare sauce, drain excess fat from pan. Sprinkle hot pan with flour and slowly whisk in Chicken Bouillon. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Per Serving : Calories 340, Fat 12 g (Saturated 2.5 g, Trans 0 g), Cholesterol 125 mg, Sodium 160 mg, Carbohydrate 5 g (Fibre 1 g, Sugars 0 g), Protein 49 g.

Tips: Serving Suggestion: Serve with mashed potatoes and your favourite steamed vegetables.

This photo below is how I wanted my Chicken to look, but wasn't quite what I got, but the result was the same yummy yummy yummy get into my tummy!