Welcome to
Thanksgiving Week 2011! As I mentioned on Friday, I’m going to be posting a different
Thanksgiving recipe every day this week in preparation for Canadian
Thanksgiving, which is next weekend! Each day I'll share a recipe for a
different aspect of the meal, which will include a drink, appetizer, bread,
side, salad, vegetarian main, and dessert. I won’t be sharing a turkey recipe
because I’ve never made one myself, and I think that most people already have
their own tried-and-true recipe and won’t be willing to gamble with a new one
on such an important occasion! But hopefully the recipes I’m sharing will give
you some inspiration for your Thanksgiving meal, or even just a regular meal
for any day of the week!
My twin sister
Genevieve, from Vanilla & Spice, will be posting a vegan Thanksgiving recipe each day this week, so
make sure you check out her blog every day too! Today she's starting out with
an appetizer recipe for delicious little sweet
potato bites, aren't they adorable?
I decided to start the
week with arguably the most important part of the meal – drinks! There are a
lot of delicious sounding apple and pumpkin cocktail recipes that I’ve been
dying to try lately, but for a big holiday gathering I think punch is more
appropriate. Unless you have a dedicated bartender for the night, you probably
don’t want to worry about mixing up individual drinks and topping up your
guests’ glasses when you have so much other stuff going on in the kitchen.
That’s why punch is perfect – just mix everything before everyone arrives, then
you don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the night because guests can
just serve themselves whenever they want.
This recipe for apple orchard punch got great reviews on All Recipes, and also
features two flavours that are perfect for fall (apple and cranberry), so I
knew I had to try it. Not surprisingly, it was delicious! I made this for a
family gathering and everyone really loved it. It’s also ridiculously easy –
just throw a few things in a bowl, stir it around, and voila!
I made ours with
sparkling wine, but you could easily use ginger ale for a non-alcoholic
version. Better yet, double the recipe and make two versions – one for the
adults and one for the kids (just make sure you don’t get them mixed up!) I
thought the apples on top gave it a nice visual presentation, but I noticed one
reviewer said they froze fresh cranberries into ice cubes and added those,
which I think is a great idea. You could also just throw some cranberries in the
bowl on their own and that would be a nice addition too.
Please ignore the ugly
pictures of this – I didn’t have time to take any pictures in proper lighting.
Just trust me that this looks and tastes a lot better than these pictures
suggest, and I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did!
Apple Orchard Punch
Adapted from All Recipes
Ingredients:
1 Litre apple juice,
chilled
1 cup orange juice
1 (10-12 fluid ounce)
can frozen cranberry juice concentrate, thawed
1 bottle of champagne
or sparkling wine [OR use 1.5L ginger ale for non-alcoholic version]
1 red apple
Directions:
In a large punch bowl,
stir together the apple juice, orange juice, and cranberry juice concentrate.
Slowly pour in the champagne/sparkling wine/ginger ale.
Thinly slice the apple
vertically, forming whole apple slices, and remove any seeds. Float the apple
slices on top of the punch.
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For other
Thanksgiving drink recipe ideas, check out these links:
Non-alcoholic:
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