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! 

Second Book Club ~ A lovely meal and a lovely time!

Menu:
Drunken Chicken in the crock pot.

A fellow book club member brought
wonderful mashed potatoes and
a Chinese broccoli side with peanut sauce.

I made GF flour gravy from the
left over drunken chicken juices.
(Made just like any gravy but with GF all purpose flour).
We also had freshly chopped orange farmers market pepper
and the last of the fresh 2013 tomatoes.

A small bit of yummy cranberry sauce. 

The Apple Crisp!

 

We also had raspberry and pumpkin (hard) cider,
a little for who ever wanted it,
normal apple cider and water...
*
We had a wonderful discussion afterward of
chapters 3-4 of Orthodoxy
with many wonderful tangents to related topics
weaving into a lot of earnest and thoughtful discussion.
*
We are going to meet one more time for a meal
before the Nativity Fast
(our fellow members are new calendar so that means mid-November)
that will include meat
(I already have some menu ideas!)
and will do chapter 5!