Thanksgiving: Veggie Style

All through the year I had planned on a big party for Thanksgiving but as I now found out I was Pregnant that put pay to that a little. I was just so exhausted all the time and just couldn't do it.

But I still wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving so we just had a small affair...well small for me anyway. We had my partners friend and girlfriend over for dinner. But they are Vegetarians so it was sad but we had to lose the lovely Turkey from the meal.

We had Mushroom Wellington Lattices instead. But I did try hasselback potatoes for the first time and they were really lovely, especially as I managed to get some red potatoes to do them with.

I only had a few Thanksgiving decorations for this year but I still love them. I love the colours of Fall/Autumn and so happily take the Halloween decorations down on November 1st to be replaced with Thanksgiving ones.

I bought some Thanksgiving postcards from eBay that I display as part of the decorations. These are postcards people have sent to their loved ones and therefore have tiny handwritten glimpses into their lives at the time they were sent. I have them in photo frames that can be viewed from both sides so I don't need to move them out of the frames to read them.

Although I didn't go through with the party I had already made little party bags for the people I was going to invite so sent them to them anyway to enjoy on the day. This is my friend and colleague Jess getting excited about hers.

Back to the food and for desert I wanted to make something amazing to make up for the lack of Turkey in the meal. I came across this pie which is a lovely mix of apples and cranberries topped with a crumble then topped with pastry. Is it a pie? Is it a crumble? I don't know. All I know is that it is so tasty its unreal!! I can see why its called 'First Place Apple Pie'.

I managed to get hold of a similar stamp cutter to the ones used in the below recipe and was really impressed how well they came out and how awesome they looked waiting on the top of the pie to cook.

I loved how the leave came out once it had been baked in the oven although I feel it does need a few more to close the gaps a little when the pastry shrinks.

Try it here: www.blueribbonkitchen.blogspot.com/2014/11/cranberry-apple-pie-three-time-first.html?m=1