Book Club and an Early Thanksgiving Meal

We are now done with chapter 5
in GK Chesterton's book Orthodoxy.
We had a wonderful early Thanksgiving meal
to start things off!

As I wrote earlier,
I made a lot of butternut squash soup last week.
I got some out the morning of book club
and let it thaw on the counter.
About half an hour before dinner was to be ready,
I simmered it on the stove and added cream,
salt and pepper.
It was a 7 cup container and it filled up the soup tureen well.
It was well received! 

I made drunken chicken again ~ so easy!

I also did a carrot and orange glaze
from the same cookbook.
It was great also! 

We had a dinner of 7 and so I got to
mix and match my blue and white dishes.
They went even better together than
I had envisioned! 

It was a joy to set the table!

I love how the dishes have the matching
forms...

I was really pleased at how they complement each other!

My first full cheesecake.

A Gluten Free Crust, with lemon zest.

The Meal:
~Drunken Chicken
~Carrots in orange glaze
~GF Gravy {just add chicken juice from drunken chicken,
strained with a fine mesh strainer and add GF all purpose flour
until it has thickened.}
~Cranberry Sauce {homemade from book club member)
~Great Green Beans {by same cook}
~Mashed Potatoes that were glorious {brought also}
~Yams with Cranberries ~ YUM ~ {brought also;
I hope to get the recipe!}
~Green Salad
~Soft and Hard Apple Cider
~Local Beer {to honour GK Chesterton}

The chicken was very flavourful!

We all shared things we were thankful for.
I found these words shared to be
deeply meaningful and beautiful.

Thanksgiving is so important to us! 

At the end we had the cheese cake
with GF crust... we had strawberries,
from Mr. Husband's parents,
that we had frozen in our freezer,
waiting for such an opportunity!

I was complimented on that fact that
my cheesecake did not crack.
Beginners' luck I guess!
I merely followed the recipe... 

 

It was very decadent cheesecake.
I think Mr. Husband does not mind
that we have some left overs from this,
as he loves cheesecake.
*
It was such a lovely time and I am so thankful for it!