Thanksgiving at our House

Lavin and I enjoyed an intimate Thanksgiving dinner, just the two of us. I was on the fence for a while about whether I should make a turkey or not, since it was only for 2 people, but I ended up going for it. Lavin recreated his amazing pumpkin cheesecake which we have been enjoying each night since Thanksgiving! The recipe comes from Cooking Light so it's not as fattening as traditional cheesecake, but the flavor is as rich as the full-fat version. And, the sweety that he is, even made the crust gluten free for me!

Here's our meal: Roasted turkey, sweet potato casserole, green beans, stuffing and a croissant. Yum!


Lavin carving our cute 10lb turkey


My husband's masterful pumpkin cheesecake creation

Cooking Light's Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust:

• About 8 ounces Mi-Del gluten-free ginger snaps
  
• 1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine, melted
• Cooking spray

Filling:

• 3 (8-ounce) blocks fat-free cream cheese, softened
• 2 (8-ounce) blocks 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Dash of allspice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin

Preheat oven to 400°.

To prepare crust, place ginger snaps in a food processor; pulse 2 to 3 times or until finely ground. Add butter; pulse 10 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Firmly press mixture into bottom of a 9-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes; cool on a wire rack.

Reduce oven temperature to 325°.

To prepare filling, beat cheeses with a mixer at high speed until smooth. Add the granulated sugar and next 8 ingredients (granulated sugar through vanilla), beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin; beat well.

Pour cheese mixture into prepared crust; bake at 325° for 1 1/2 hours or until almost set. (Cheesecake is done when the center barely moves when pan is touched.) Remove cheesecake from oven; run a knife around outside edge. Cool to room temperature; cover and chill at least 8 hours.

Tom Ka Gai Soup

Tom Ka Gai (chicken in coconut milk soup) is my mom's favorite Thai soup ... or maybe even her favorite soup, period. When I visit her in Florida, we often go to her favorite Thai restaurant in New Port Richey and share a bowl of this deliciously creamy soup. She made it once for my Chinese New Years dinner (I always wanted a holiday dinner at my house so I opted for that one since I wouldn't be competing with anyone else) so I thought I'd try my hand at it, too. Surprisingly, even in this diverse DC suburb, I couldn't find galangal (I subbed 'young ginger root') or keffir lime leaves but I just left them out and it still turned out delicious!! I served this as a light dinner with a spring roll but you can also add rice or rice noodles to the bowl and ladle the soup over that.

• 2 14 oz cans coconut milk (I used light from Trader Joe's)
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 12 oz. chicken, cubed
• 2 stalks fresh lemongrass (Use only the bottom part of the lemongrass, up until about 6" from the root, cut into 2" pieces and smash them a bit to release the oils)
• 6 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 1" piece fresh galangal (Thai ginger) or Chinese ginger, sliced and bruised
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1-2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 15 oz can straw mushrooms (I used a variety can with mini corns, bamboo shoots, and straw mushrooms and it was really good)
• Cilantro springs to garnish

In a large stock pot, combine chicken stock, coconut milk, lemongrass, fish sauce, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Strain.

Add the red curry paste and whisk well to incorporate it in to the stock. Add the can of mushrooms and cubed chicken, cover and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

Garnish with cilantro and savor the taste and aroma!