Thanksgiving Dinner

This year, MTH and I were on vacation for a week until Thanksgiving Day. Therefore, when we returned on Thursday, we didn't have any fresh food in our house. It was interesting trying to find a place that would be open. We ended up at Murphy's, A Grand Irish Pub. There was a roaring fire and not much cigarette smoke. I ordered the Irish stew and MTH ordered the surf and turf (not very Irish :). The Irish stew was very good. I was impressed with the taste. Unfortunately, their bread is from the freezer so the meal was not the best that it could have been.

On Friday, we did our Thanksgiving Dinner. We had TV, QY and QY's husband over. The menu was as follows:

Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries and St. Felicien for starters
Grilled Marinated Turkey Tenderloin
White Sweet Potatoes
Sherried Green Beans and Mushrooms
French Bread
Homemade Pumpkin Pie

So, it wasn't totally traditional but it was still very good. Here are the details:

Grilled Marinated Turkey Tenderloin
Ingredients:
turkey tenderloin
olive oil
white wine vinegar
spicy mustard
salt and pepper
Directions:
Mix the olive oil, white wine vinegar and spicy mustard to taste. Put the turkey tenderloin and marinade into a Ziploc bag in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour but no more than 6 hours. Turn the grill on high to heat it up. Take the turkey out of the marinade and salt and pepper each piece. Cook on high for 9 1/2 minutes on each side. Test the largest piece to make sure it's done.
Note:
My Mom made this with my sister the day before and gave me the idea for how to do it. I have a feeling that ours turned out differently since we have somewhat different ingredients.

White Sweet Potatoes
Bake the sweet potatoes on 400 degrees Fahrenheit until they are soft. We actually tried to make a sweet potato souffle but it didn't turn out. I'll have another post later that tells you about what I tried to do with the sweet potatoes instead.

Sherried Green Beans and Mushrooms
Ingredients:
fresh green beans, cleaned and snapped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
assorted mushrooms, cleaned and chopped but left in large pieces
3 tablespoons cream sherry
Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add the garlic and mushrooms. At the same time, microwave the green beans in order to start the steaming process. Once the mushrooms soak up the olive oil, add the sherry. Let the mushrooms simmer for a few minutes. Then add the green beans and let them steam on top until they are done to your liking. Serve with some slivered almonds on top.

French Bread
Although I've been known to make many different types of breads, the directions for this one is to go to the bread section of the grocery store and buy a French baguette.

Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening
5 to 6 tablespoons cold water
1 can of pumpkin pie mix (follow the directions on the can)
Directions:
Mix the flour and salt together. Cut in the shortening until it resembles peas. Add 2 tablespoons of water in the center of the bowl and gently mix to start to create a ball of dough. Add 2 more tablespoons of water and make a larger ball of dough. Add 1-2 more tablespoons in order to form the rest of the dough. Place the dough on a piece of waxed paper. Wrap the dough in the paper and then in plastic wrap. Put into the refrigerator for at least one hour to let it rest. Now, just follow the directions on the can to finish up a wonderful pumpkin pie.

Let me know what you did for Thanksgiving. Any old traditions that you'd like to share? Any new ones that you started this year that you expect to continue?