Thanksgiving Meal 2011 or I’m Back!!!!!

Hello All! It has been entirely too long since I have been able to post, I am sorry. In the past few months loads have been happening in my personal and professional life. Professionally, I was contracted to write a book about youth ministry. It was an absolute joy to write and should be on Amazon in January. I blame the book for my lack of posting on here. I wanted to spend all of my creative juices making sure it was both what I wanted it to be as well as finished by the deadline given by my publisher. I am very excited! Personally WE ARE PREGNANT!!! This is a complete surprise as we had planned our little lives around a 4 person family. We are so excited and cannot wait to find out if it is a Nora Grace or Henry Finn. We will find out on December 1 and the little one is due April 23!!!! So needless to say there are loads of exciting things happening around the Vulcans Table house! Now onto the food…

When in Rome: Nashville Edition

Nashville is a great city to visit!  It is easy to get around, traffic is no where near as bad as other large cities and there are loads of great eats all around the city.  My list below has one caveat, it is primarily centered around the Vanderbilt campus.  I did venture to a highly recommended restaurant called City House and was really excited about the food, but alas the bloody place was closed on Tuesday– who the heck closes on Tuesdays!!!! I will visit it the next time I am in the city, just not on a Tuesday.  So below are my primarily Vandy centered eateries.  I hope you enjoy!

Honey Roasted Winter Root Vegetables

One of my favorite dishes to cook on a cold winter’s night is Honey Roasted Winter Root Vegetables.  These provide a sweet (carrots, honey, sweet potatoes) and savory (Parsnips Turnip) side to any hearty main course and will help warm you and your family up on a cold winters night.

New Year’s Eve Dinner

Just thought I would post what all I made for Mary Liz and myself for New Years Eve dinner. *Note: I am not a cheap, no fun, hermit, avoid the crowds husband. That is not why we were at home, no baby sitters for our beautiful 3 & 5 year olds gave us the opportunity to have a lovely evening of sparklers and good food together.  We had a lovely time and all for about $12 a meal. Click on the pictures for a better look.  And that meal consisted of:

Roasted Duck Breast with Clementine Thyme Sauce cut on a bias and served over Creamy mashed potatoes alongside roasted baby portobello mushrooms and shallots cooked in some rendered duck fat and roasted Asparagus tips. For Dessert we had Orange and Chocolate Bread Pudding. We topped off the evening with a Grand Champagne Cocktail. It was delicious.

Rosemary and Garlic Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

If you ask my wife what my favorite winter herb is, she will tell you it is rosemary uncontested.  So it is natural to combine it with and some other simple ingredients to make a deeply flavorful side dish.  This is an awesome side to a good steak or a light pasta dish.  The smokey earthy flavor of the rosemary off sets perfectly the sweet, buttery and delicate fingerling potatoes.  The light acidity of the fresh parmesan finishes the dish perfectly.  Enjoy!