It is officially the time of year when kitchens around the world are full of three, four, five, or even more chefs at one time. And while things can get crowded and a bit hectic, often times these cooking experiences are the most fun. Joanna, Erin, and I have been cooking up a storm together for our Three Cooks One Kitchen monthly cooking series for a little over six months now. Despite a couple of burnt food mishaps, we have had nothing but fun together in the kitchen (heck, even the burnt food experiences were fun!). Food is a big part of our society, especially around this time of year, and it can truly become an experience when you cook with those you love. I cannot think of two other people that I would rather have been cooking alongside for Joanna’s second annual Friendsgiving celebration. If you want to maintain a fully-functioning kitchen, you may need to work with puyallup plumbing companies to maintain or repair your plumbing system. Visit sites like www.fyfekitchens.co.nz if you decide it’s time to remodel your kitchen. In case of unexpected plumbing issues, having access to fast response for leaks and blockages can prevent further damage and keep everything running smoothly.
Erin and I met at Joanna’s house two hours before the other guests were expected to arrive. Joanna already had the turkey in the oven, so we immediately got to work preparing three side dishes for the Friendsgiving feast. As we chopped vegetables and mixed ingredients, I couldn’t help but admire Joanna’s kitchen countertops—much like these affordable white marble worktops, they added a touch of elegance and practicality to the space, making the whole cooking experience even more enjoyable.
First up: this Apple Shallot and Herb Dressing. At our Friendsgiving celebration last year, Joanna was gracious enough to make a vegetarian dressing for Erin’s husband and me. We all loved it so much that we decided it needed to happen again. The fact that this recipe is a bit non-traditional- with ingredients like apples, fennel, celery root, and golden raisins- was a huge plus in my book. I am a major sweet/savory fan, and this dressing totally fits that bill.
We peeled and chopped to our heart’s content, did a little sauteeing and seasoning, and threw it all together in a big bowl to rest for 30 minutes.
Can we please talk about how incredibly strange celery root looks? This is the bottom of the celery root, which we all thought looked like creepy fingers. We have officially named this the token vegetable for the Halloween season!
While the dressing ingredients were resting, we snacked on a delicious pumpkin fluff dip that Joanna made. It tasted amazing when scooped up with salty pretzels and sweet vanilla wafers.
After the 30 minutes were up, we added the dressing ingredients to the pan and popped it into the oven for an hour.
The next side that we set out to prepare was a Thanksgiving must: crescent rolls! Joanna’s mom graciously gave us her recipe to use (posted below), and Joanna prepared the dough ahead of time.
We split the dough into two separate chunks, rolled them out, cut them into eight pieces (16 total), and rolled them up into crescent rolls. I honestly never knew that making homemade crescent rolls could be so easy! It may or may not have helped that I didn’t actually have to do anything to get the dough ready!
With the crescent rolls all prepped and ready for the oven, we got to work making Kelly’s Butternut Squash Gravy. Joanna and I saw Kelly’s post a few days before our Friendsgiving celebration and decided that it needed to make an appearance on the table. What could be better than a gravy made with vegetables?
It was incredibly easy to make, and simply required mixing, boiling, and blending all of the ingredients together.
This is me attacking the squash with the immersion blender. Like Joanna, I also have an immersion blender, and I have to say that it is one of my favorite Christmas presents from last year. It makes preparing soups and gravies a breeze!
With the dressing and rolls in the oven and the gravy warm on the stovetop, we stopped to take a quick picture of the three chefs. Also, I feel like I should have been wearing a light pink/coral shirt instead of red and black. I totally threw off the color scheme! 😉
After the other guests had arrived and our food was out of the oven, we set up the buffet table and got ready to dive in. In addition to the dishes we cooked together, everyone contributed one dish of their own. We had mains, sides, and desserts. Basically, we had all of the essential fixings!
On the left is a salad with blood orange and blueberry balsamic vinaigrettes, turkey, and my family recipe for fruit salad. On the right is the perfectly thick and seasoned butternut squash gravy. It was a smart move on our part to make a double batch of the gravy because it was a huge hit!
On the left are creme brulee potatoes from Wheatfield’s (so good) and our delicious dressing. On the right was an amazing sweet potato casserole that Jordan made and our crescent rolls.
It is not Friendsgiving without dessert! Molly brought the cutest mini pecan pie muffins, and Joanna (the master baker) made pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
I filled my plate to the brim with everything- except the turkey, of course! I loved every single dish, but I thought the stars of the show were Jordan’s sweet potato casserole and the butternut squash gravy. Apparently I have a thing for beta carotene.
You knew this was coming, right? It almost looks too cute to eat… hah, yeah right! I can never say no to pumpkin. I have never ever been disappointed with anything Joanna has baked. I am convinced she should open up a bakery!
How awesome is this picture? We decided we need a picture of the whole gang before the evening was over. And since neither Joanna or I knew how to use the self-timer on our DSLRs, we used Jordan’s cell phone. After about three million tries, we ended up with this one. The fact that we are all in the picture makes it a success!
I think we would all agree that Friendsgiving was a hit, and we all left with very full and happy tummies. I was so grateful to have spent this Friendsgiving night with my Omaha family. I’d be lost without them!
Crescent Roll Recipe
Makes 16
Ingredients
1 package (1/4 oz) of active dry yeast
2 1/2 TB warm water (110-115 degrees)
4 1/2 cups flour, divided
1 cup warm milk (110-115 degrees)
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp salt
2 TB buter or margarine, melted
Directions
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add half of the flour, milk, shortening, sugar, eggs and salt; beat for 2 minutes or until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto floured board; knead lightly. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2 – 3 hours. Divide dough into two equal parts. Roll each into a 12 inch circle; brush with butter. Cut each circle into 8 pie-shaped wedges. Roll up each wedge from wide edge to tip of dough and pinch to seal. Bake on greased baking sheet (point side down) at 375 degrees for 12 – 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from baking sheet and serve immediately or cool on wire rack.
Check out the other two cooks’ Friendsgiving posts here:
Joanna’s Post
Erin’s Post
Have you ever hosted or been to a Friendsgiving celebration?
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I’m going to my first Friendsgiving tomorrow night! Eating Thanksgiving food a week before Thanksgiving sounds like a great plan in my book!
Oh my gosh, that’s so exciting! You will have a blast! They are so much fun 🙂
I have always wanted to have a Frindsgiving. Looks like you had an awesome time!
You should host one next year! They are so much fun 🙂
It looks like you had a great time! Friendships like this will last a lifetime!
They sure will. I love spending Thanksgiving with not just my family, but also my friends!
Great recipe. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Thanks, Joyce! Joanna’s mom gets ALL the credit for that one! 😉
You guys look so amazing doing all that cooking! I have never done Thanksgiving but friends, but I should. This looks like so much fun.
You really should! You should host a friendsgiving next year. They are SO much fun 🙂
Everything you girls made looks delicious! I am excited for this recipe because the rolls that come in a can are so bad for you. Yours look light and fluffy! Thanks!
Yes, those certainly aren’t the greatest. These contain all whole ingredients AND they are easy to make. It’s a win-win!
I’m glad everyone enjoyed the butternut squash gravy! I got a little nervous when you said you were making it for Friendsgiving – that’s a lot of pressure to impress :-p Everything sounds absolutely delicious
Oh it was definitely a huge hit! Everyone enjoyed it, and I LOOOOOVED it! 😉
This was such a fun night! I love your picture of Joanna’s cupcake! It looks extra cute!
And we need to get that sweet potato casserole recipe from Jordan! It was phenomenal!
We really do….it was definitely one of my faves!
No burnt food disasters this time! 🙂
Now we have to keep the streak going through Christmas haha
YES! I think we got all of the burning out of the way for this year. It’s just so easy when you are grilling!! :/
How awesome is that! Looks like so much fun! Cooking + friends + amazing food as a result + all the love 😉 That sounds perfect!
It truly was! Those are all SO many of my favorite things 🙂
None of us get Thanksgiving break this year, so I arbitrarily decided last night that we’re going to have Friendsgiving this weekend. :D! Sadly, I’m pretty much the only one out of us that cooks, but oh well. They can contribute to my grocery funds and help eat. 😀
I’ve never tried making rolls because I always feel like they’ll come out looking really ugly. :'( Yours turned out so cute! :]
Oh yay! You will have SO much fun at your Friendsgiving! I totally get the whole working during Thanksgiving thing. My brother is in his second year of his residency and we are still waiting to find out what his schedule will be like for next week.
I’m super excited! :] It’s been a really long time since we’ve all had the chance to spend much time together! It’s definitely all sorts of fun not knowing your schedule until kinda the week and/or day of! 😛 (I’m super type-A in terms of needing to plan out my life, so it’s been a struggle, haha.)
I am Type-A, too, so I can only imagine how much of a struggle that can be!
So many of my favorite things were covered in this post. Cooking/baking. Carbs. Friends. Friends giving. Absolutely love it. Thanks for sharing the delicious recipe too. Can’t wait to try it out.
It contained so many of my favorite things, too! What’s better than friends, food, and carbs? … especially the carbs! 😉
Looks fun and delicious! I’ve been wanting to host a Friendsgiving.
You should do it!! It may be a little late to plan it now, but you definitely should next year. They are so much fun 🙂
This is so so much fun! We had our first ever friendsgiving this year and it was just the best. And look at all that awesome food! You’re making me hungry … I need to go find me some breakfast! haha Have a great weekend!!!
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed your Friendsgiving! They are seriously SO fun. I hope I am able to go to them for years to come 🙂
Wow, what a menu. I hope you had a great fun, Loved the presentation of the food. Everyone looked stunning as well. Stay blessed
Thank you, Lubna! It was great:)
Wow. Can I please get an invitation to Friendsgiving 2015?? Cookouts with friends are so much fun in general and this one looks extra special.
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving over here so no Friendsgiving, either.
Such a bummer! 🙁 I think you should have a Friendsgiving anyway!! 😉
You three put a beautiful spread of food together for your guest. I’m sure all the men left with happy & filled stomachs =D
Haha, I think they sure did! 😉