{"id":3258,"date":"2013-11-28T09:56:03","date_gmt":"2013-11-28T17:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/?p=3258"},"modified":"2013-11-28T09:56:03","modified_gmt":"2013-11-28T17:56:03","slug":"delectable-thanksgiving-giveaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/delectable-thanksgiving-giveaway\/","title":{"rendered":"A Delectable Thanksgiving and #giveaway"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"sexy<\/a>

He can cook anything he wants for me!<\/p><\/div>\n

Thanksgiving happens to be my favorite holiday. I love that it\u2019s not religious and that it involves eating pretty much all day long. I also happen to love autumn dishes, heartier than summer fare, with nuts, dried fruits and berries and root veggies.<\/p>\n

Since my family isn\u2019t big on holiday gatherings it\u2019s not worth the hassle of flying down to visit them for Thanksgiving. Instead, I enjoy spending it with friends, where there is no family drama and plenty of good times. Without the family obligation to feed everyone, Thanksgiving isn\u2019t about making everyone else happy, and it turns into an interesting potluck where everyone brings their own holiday traditions to share with others.<\/p>\n

This year I\u2019m pressed for time, so I chose a simple recipe. I usually love to make stuffing or a more complicated dish I might not make for our house except for a special occasion. Unfortunately, most of my cookbooks are in storage, so my go-to source of recipes is Epicurious.com, a site I\u2019ve been using for at least fifteen years. The ratings and reviews are helpful and other cooks\u2019 tips and comments on each recipe are invaluable. If you\u2019ve never visited, what are you waiting for?<\/p>\n

Here is what I\u2019m making this year:<\/p>\n

Thyme-Roasted Sweet Potatoes<\/a><\/b><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s simple, just potatoes, thyme, garlic, olive oil, salt and red pepper flakes. That\u2019s the perfect recipe for me this year.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0281\"<\/a>If you are making your own turkey, plan right now to save the carcass to make turkey stock tomorrow. It sounds like a lot of trouble, but it\u2019s simply simmering the carcass (meat removed) with a carrot and some celery.\u00a0 We did it last year and used the stock for the most amazing turkey leftover recipe I\u2019ve ever had: <\/b><\/p>\n

Turkey-and-Mushroom-Risotto<\/a><\/h3>\n

I cannot recommend it enough. The risotto method of cooking infuses the rice with the stock flavor, so it was concentrated turkey essence, creamy rice, wild mushrooms with some pieces of leftover turkey. Incredible. Worth the time to do it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The last recipe I\u2019ll share today is my favorite stuffing recipe: Apple and Sausage Stuffing<\/a><\/h3>\n
\"\"

My stuffing from 2012<\/p><\/div>\n

I discovered this one a few years ago when spending Thanksgiving with Cat Grant down in Monterey. We liked it so much, we made it again over the weekend, with a different combination of bread. The best we\u2019ve found is to use a rustic artisan bread like one with walnuts or pecans, that holds up to the sausage. It has some eggs in it, so it\u2019s perfect for breakfast the next day. And lunch. It makes a fantastic meal on its own.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried it with turkey sausage, but it is definitely best with a good quality pork sausage like the kind in the butcher section of your grocery store. Apple-smoked works great since there are apples in it. You don\u2019t have to wait for Thanksgiving to make this. It would make a fantastic brunch dish.<\/p>\n

What are you making this Thanksgiving?<\/p>\n

Leave a comment, link to a recipe, share a photo. Every response is entered to win your choice of Books 1-3 of Delectable series<\/a><\/strong> e-books (sorry, not including Gingerbread Palace<\/em>), gay romances featuring men in the food and wine business.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a taste of what\u2019s coming from the series in December:<\/p>\n

Gingerbread Palace<\/h1>\n

\"GingerbreadPalace_final<\/a>A week before Christmas, Alex Bancroft\u2019s bakery goes up in flames. When he runs back inside after a dog, firefighter Kevin Flint has to rescue Alex\u2014and Quincy\u2014from the smoldering building, endangering them and inflaming Kevin\u2019s resentment.<\/p>\n

Now Alex can\u2019t create the elaborate gingerbread house he donates to a foster-kids charity each year. Fire Station 7 again comes to his rescue, offering their kitchen and their manpower.<\/p>\n

Everyone but Kevin Flint, that is. A third-generation firefighter, he\u2019s fearful of stepping too far out of the closet. So when his powerful physical attraction for Alex ends in a sizzling secret encounter in the firehouse, Kevin can\u2019t push Alex far enough away, and Alex returns the cold shoulder.<\/p>\n

After a change of heart, Kevin risks his life to prove he\u2019s worthy of Alex\u2019s affection, but without a Christmas miracle, their chances at sweet romance might go up in smoke.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t

PRE-ORDER from Dreamspinner Press<\/a>. 30% off through Nov 29!<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanksgiving happens to be my favorite holiday. I love that it\u2019s not religious and that it involves eating pretty much all day long. I also happen to love autumn dishes, heartier than summer fare, with nuts, dried fruits and berries and root veggies. Since my family isn\u2019t big on holiday gatherings it\u2019s not worth the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":3167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[506,625,707,706,587,107,180],"tags":[222,912,381,367,99,923,709,711,708,378,710,442],"class_list":["post-3258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-post","category-coming-soon","category-cooking-2","category-delectable-series-2","category-feature-article","category-giveaway","category-personal","tag-cat-grant","tag-contest","tag-cooking","tag-delectable","tag-dreamspinner-press","tag-em-lynley","tag-epicurious","tag-firemen","tag-gingerbread-palace","tag-recipes","tag-sexy-chefs","tag-thanksgiving"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Anatoli-Tolek.jpg?fit=1063%2C1600","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pzLgx-Qy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3258"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3266,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3258\/revisions\/3266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}