2011 has been a year filled with joy. We both made major life changes this year. Between moving across the country, new jobs, and starting school (again) it has been a year to remember. This silly little blog has been a way to share our culinary adventures with the world, and even though it’s a tiny and humble blog, we’re pretty proud of it. We’re proud that we still post. We’re proud that some of you actually read the posts. We’re proud of our food and proud of the semi-okay pictures we capture with our point and shoot camera. Thank you to all of you readers who continue to read and support this site. We wish you a very happy New Year full of love, happiness, and of course, good food.

Here is a look back to 10 of our favorite recipes we posted in 2011:

Chicken Stir-Fry with Peanut Sauce

Peanut Butter Eggs

Webster Whopping Chili

Oreo Mint Shakes

Pumpkin and White Chocolate Mousse Parfait

Applewood Bourbon Smoked Ribs

Roasted Chicken with Onion, Shallot, and Mushroom

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Vanilla Crème Brûlée with Blackberry Compote 

There it is. The main event. The bird! And MAN it was good. It wasn’t just the turkey that made the whole table go “woooah.” It was the entire spread of deliciousness that was aptly laid on the table. We traveled up to Baltimore this year for Thanksgiving, and cooked the meal with our dear sister and brother-in-law. Oh, and we had two adorable sous chefs ages three-and-a-half and one-and-a-half. For the turkey, we used Michael Symon’s recipe. Basically, we soaked cheesecloth in melted butter with sage and apple juice and covered the turkey with it before baking. It was perfect! Here is an action shot of pouring the extra butter over the turkey before it hit the oven:

Neil also made an AMAZING gravy from scratch using the giblets! Another new recipe we tried this year was a potato and celery root gratin with leek from Bon Appétit. It was beautiful, creamy, and certainly a conversation piece, as few have had celery root before.

Our brother-in-law Matt makes THE BEST pies. Ever. We’ll be posting his pie dough recipe soon. He made four (FOUR!) pies the weekend we were there. Here is the apple pie that was apart of the dessert table.

Other delicious dishes we had:

Spinach-Artichoke Dip

Butternut Squash Soup

Mom’s Stuffing Recipe

Rosemary rolls

Double layer pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting

Vamino Bars (AMAZING chocolate bars our brother-in-law’s side of the family frequently makes)

Chocolate Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Okay, yes, we had a lot of desserts… but we made it through No Sugar November all the way to Thanksgiving Day, so we had to indulge. The food was amazing, the weekend was full of love, and we can’t wait to share with you more family meals to come.

Photo Credit: www.momitforward.com

10. It saves time! Instead of chopping for half an hour, simply toss your raw fruits and vegetables into the processor, and boom- the work is done for you! Great for quick weeknight meals.

9. Dough is a snap to make with the dough blade!

8. You can use the food processor to slice and shred vegetables, again, saving you time and perhaps doing a more thorough job.

7. It’s easy to clean.

6. Dip, hummus, and other party dishes are ready in minutes before guests arrive.

5. Baby food and purees can be made from home.

4. A lot of recipes call for a food processor now a day.

3. It looks impressive.

2. Most have a 3-5 year warrenty, and by that time you’ll probably be drooling over the latest model.

1. It is used at least once a week in The Newlywed Chef’s household, and probably about half our recipes. We love ours!