Thanksgiving with a Twist

This year, we had a Thanksgiving dinner with a twist. We are spending the holiday with the in-laws again this year so we had an early Thanksgiving celebration with my family.  I wanted to use some of the usual Thanksgiving meal suspects (turkey, cranberries, apples) for the meal, but I thought I would mix things up this year.  There were no costumes involved so I thought I would try to make the food exciting.  I had been pondering the menu for awhile, and then I saw and episode of Giada's Everyday Italian and my menu was complete.  The topic was "Thanksgiving for two"and I thought it was easily adaptable for six.  I thought turkey and cranberry ravioli was about as out of the box as you could get.  Adding a few other recipes I wanted to try, and a pumpkin pie I was given as a Thanksgiving treat from work, my menu came out as follows...

Tomato Basil Soup

Cheddar Dill Scones

Turkey & Cranberry Ravioli

Cornbread Panzanella

Apple, Cranberry and Walnut Torta

Pumpkin Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream

Considering I had only had the cheddar dill scones, I knew I was taking a pretty big gamble, but I thought my family would be forgiving if anything went terribly wrong.  The tomato basil soup is a new favorite (and went perfectly with the scones) and the turkey and cranberry ravioli was surprisingly delicious as well.  The cornbread panzanella was okay, but not good enough to be made over and over again.  The dressing was delicious and I will experiment with it on other dishes.  The torta was also not an all time favorite.  It was great with ice cream, but not exactly a star dish on its own.  Stay tuned though because I think I know of a way to make it better.    So that's what the little kitchen has been cooking this weekend.  Be back tomorrow with my favorite recipes from the meal.