Celebrate Thanksgiving With Magnatag

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, everyone in the Magnatag office can’t help but think of all the delicious food that will be on our plates this coming Thursday. So we decided to take a break from our traditional whiteboard-related posts, and poke around the office and gather some of our employee’s favorite holiday dishes! Here are some Magnatag-appoved recipes that you can try this Thanksgiving:

SPARKLING SANGRIA

• 1 750-ml bottle dry white wine 1-cup pomegranate juice
1 cup red wine
• 1⁄2 cup peach Schnapps (or apricot brandy)
• 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and diced
• 1 regular or white peach, pitted and diced
• 1 can diet lemon-lime or grapefruit soda (such as 7 Up or Fresca)
• 1 can club soda oranges, for garnish

Combine white wine, pomegranate juice, red wine, Schnapps, apple pieces and peach pieces in a large pitcher. Stir well to blend flavors. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Before serving, add diet soda and club soda. Serve over ice with orange curlicue garnish.

PUMPKIN HUMMUS

• 1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin purée 1
• (15 oz.) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 T. balsamic vinegar
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1⁄2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1⁄2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1⁄4 - 1/2-cup water, optional

Combine all ingredients except water, in food processor. Process, adding water in small increments until hummus has reached desired consistency. Serve with plain or cinnamon and sugar pita chips, wheat crackers and raw veggies!

SQUASH SOUP

• 3⁄4 stick (6 T.) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 medium onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
• 1⁄2 tsp. salt
• 2 lb. yellow squash, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 yellow-fleshed potato (1⁄2 lb.), peeled, halved and thinly sliced
• 4 cups chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth

Make Soup: Melt butter in a 6-8 quart wide heavy pot over moderate heat, then cook onion with salt, stirring until softened, about 8 minutes. Add squash, carrots, potato and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, then simmer, partially covered until vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool soup, uncovered, 10 minutes. Working in batches, purée soup in a blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids) and transfer to a bowl. Return purée to cleaned pot and thin with water if desired; simmer 3 minutes. Season with salt.

For pistou*

• 3⁄4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
• 1⁄2 cup loosely packed fresh flat- leaf parsley sprigs
• 1 large scallion, chopped (1⁄2 cup)
• 1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 T. water
• 1⁄4 tsp. salt

Make pistou while vegetables simmer: Pulse mint, parsley and scallion in a food processor until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil in a stream, then add water and salt, blending until incorporated. Swirl 1 T. pistou into each bowl of soup before serving.

TURKEY & VEGGIE STUFFED ACORN SQUASH
Part 1- Preparing the squash

• 2 acorn squash (any squash will do)
• 1 T. coconut oil
• 1⁄2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 ° F. Cut the squashes in half and clean. Transfer squash to a baking sheet. Coat with coconut oil. Season with cinnamon and salt. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until soft. While squash is roasting, make stuffing.

Part 2 – Stuffing

• 1 T. coconut oil
• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1⁄2 small onion
• 1 garlic clove,minced
• 1 cup finely diced vegetables (ex: 1 cup cauliflower, 1⁄2 c green pepper, 1⁄2 cup kale, all finely diced with a food processor)
• Sea salt & black pepper
• 1 egg - lightly beaten
• Bacon slices - sliced into 1⁄2"pieces
• Shredded or sliced cheese ( your choice of cheese)

Heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add coconut oil and meat. Cook meat until browned, add onion, garlic and vegetables and toss to coat. Cook until all vegetables are softened (about 5 to 7 minutes). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set mixture aside to cool slightly. Add egg and stir to combine. Fill squash halves with mixture. Top with bacon slices. Return to 400 ° F. oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the bacon is browned and mixture is cooked through. For the last 2 minutes of baking, place or spread the cheese over the halves to melt.

BAKED MASHED POTATO

Serves eight
A small variation on classic mash potatoes but by baking the potatoes first you dry out the potatoes making them more respective to the butter and half and half during the mashing process allowing for a creamier and more rich flavored mash potatoes.

• 5lbs of potato
• 2 sticks of butter
• 2 cups of half and half cream

Note: (Amount of butter and half and half varies based on amount of potatoes you have and your preference in texture.  Half and half can be substituted for any variety of milk)

Place potatoes in oven and bake a 400 until done. Peel the skin off the potatoes and then place the meat of the potatoes in the pot you intend to use for mashing. Then add at least half a stick of butter and at least half a cup of half and half and begin mashing the potatoes. Continue mashing until you have reached your desired consistency of mash.

APPLE PIE BITES

• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin purée 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups white sugar

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 10" bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray with flour for baking. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, vegetable oil, pumpkin purée, and vanilla extract. Add remaining ingredients and stir together with a spatula until smooth and well blended. Pour into the bundt pan and bake for one hour. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverting to cool completely on a wire rack. Cover with Cream Cheese Frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

• 4 oz. unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract.

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On behalf of all of us at Magnatag,  we would like to wish all of our customers a Happy Thanksgiving!