Roasted Butternut Squash, Shiitake Mushroom and Kale, Kimchi Bibimsoba

I was tired of all of the heavy eating and needed a break so I was thinking that a slight twist on bibimbap, a Korean style mixed rice bowl, using soba noodles instead of rice, along with plenty of fall vegetables would hit the spot! Soba noodles are made from buckwheat and it is a nice alternative to rice and hey, who doesn't like slurping noodles? For the vegetables I went with diced butternut squash that I coated in gochugaru chili flakes and roasted until tender and caramelized along with some sauteed kale and mushrooms and fresh homemade kimchi. The whole thing is of course finished off with a spicy gochujang hot sauce sauce before mixing and enjoying! This is perfect for a light meal and you can easily add meat or even better, a fried or poached egg with a runny yolk to make it more substantial! What a tasty way to detox from all of that holiday food!

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Ham and Eggs au Gratin

Are you looking for a special breakfast for the holidays? This is it! Until recently I had actually never heard of a ham and egg au gratin but when I saw it on pinterest recently, via Scrumptious South Africa, I knew that I would have to make it! The ham and egg au gratin is essentially slices of ham and hard boiled eggs that are made 'gratin' style, covered in a creamy sauce and baked until golden brown and bubbling! Besides the fabulous ham and egg combo what really makes this recipe work is the super tasty sauce, which is pretty much a basic bechamel sauce that is seasoned with dijon mustard, lemon juice and parsley and I could not help but throw in plenty of cheese!

In addition to being one of the tastiest breakfasts that I've had in a long time the recipe is actually really easy! You pretty much just need to make the hard boiled eggs, make the sauce and then assemble and bake it. With the ham and egg combo I immediately thought of this as a breakfast dish and it is perfect for days when you have a bit of time in the morning like the weekend or a holiday but if you assemble everything the night before you can easily bake it on a busy weekday morning!

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Shrimp Saltimbocca

I recently came across the idea of shrimp saltimbocca by tide and thyme on pinterest and when I did I immediately knew that I would have to try it! Saltimbocca is a tasty Italian dish where veal is cooked with prosciutto and sage that is either pinned to the outside or wrapped up in the middle. I like a chicken version where the prosciutto is wrapped around the chicken with the along sage leaves and both the prosciutto and the sage get nice and crispy on the outside of the chicken as it cooks. You really can't go wrong wrapping chicken in crispy fried prosciutto and sage and I knew that a shrimp version would be just as good if not better!

The shrimp version takes a bit more time to make since you have to wrap all of the shrimp up with small sage leaves but other than that it is super easy! Once the shrimp has been cooked the bottom of the pan is covered in those little brown bits of flavour which you just cannot let go to waste so I made a quick pan sauce with some browned butter, wine and lemon juice along with the crumbled bits of some crispy fried sage. This shrimp saltimbocca along with the buttery lemony pan sauce would be perfect tossed with pasta for a meal but I decided t go a different route and served it as appetizers along with the pan sauce for dipping.

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Split Pea Soup

As with a lot of roasts I sometimes think that I have more fun with the ham leftovers than the initial meal and I always like to start off with that precious ham bone! The ham bone is perfect for simmering for hours in soups and stocks to bring out all of its flavour imparting it into the soup. You can use a ham bone in a lot of different soups but my favourite has to be the classic split pea soup which is a bowl of comfort food on a chilly day. With the days getting colder I knew that I would be using the bone from the gingersnap crusted ham that I made last week and it was the perfect opportunity to update my split pea soup recipe with some new photos!

This split pea soup is super easy to make where you really just need to saute some vegetables, throw everything into the pot along with the ham bone and then simmer for a few hours letting all of the flavours come out while the split peas cook. I like to go with a ham broth for this soup but chicken broth or vegetable broth also work. If you have any leftover ham meat, it makes a great addition and I like to finish everything of with a hit of grainy mustard and lemon juice.

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Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes

The Thanksgiving dinner is a truly amazing thing and one of the parts that I enjoy most is just getting started when the dinner comes to an end and that is thinking about creative ways to use all of the leftovers. In fact I tend to plan on making more than I believe that will be finished to ensure that there will be enough leftover to experiment with. Although I would be probably be perfectly happy using all of the leftover turkey in my favourite roast turkey sandwiches, I see it almost as a challenge to do something new and creative with the leftovers every year to keep things interesting. There are just so many things that you can do with roast turkey and if you also consider using some of the other leftovers in the same dish like the cranberry sauce or the sweet potato casserole things really start to get really fun. If you roasted a full turkey, don't throw the carcass out as you can use it to make some turkey stock and that opens up a whole new load of doors for turkey soups and stews. I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you some ideas for using your Thanksgiving leftovers in creative ways and so I present to you some of my favourites!

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Thanksgiving Appetizer Recipes

While everyone is waiting for the big dinner you cannot let them starve and this is where the snacks and appetizers come in. The appetizers or hors d oeuvres, are always one of my favourite parts of planning Thanksgiving and they are a great way to make your Thanksgiving day stand out. There are just so many different things that you can do with appetizers from a simple platter of meats, cheeses and fruit, to cookies, to dips, to chips, to crostini or even finger sized pies. Although I always enjoy sticking in season with pumpkin and cranberry dishes, I don't let it constrain me too much and I am not afraid to mix it up with combinations of sweet and savoury. The only thing that you need to be careful about really, is that you do not ruin your guests appetite for the big meal!

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Thanksgiving Breakfast Recipes

Having a couple of days off for Thanksgiving means that you can spend a bit more time on breakfasts giving you the perfect opportunity to make something a bit fancier and to share it with family and loved ones. Here are a few tasty breakfast ideas for your Thanksgiving holiday!

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