Weekend Cooking: Pin It and Do It Fall Pins

Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season is upon us, but there's still time to post a wrap-up of fall-themed pins completed for Trish's Holiday Pin It and Do It Challenge.

Although I first made Cider-Brined Maple Glazed Turkey as a pre-Thanksgiving experiment in October, it was my most successful pin of the season and deserves another mention here. At 25 pounds, our Thanksgiving turkey was twice the size of the 'test model' and I wasn't sure whether more brining solution would be necessary. I was also nervous about doubling the salt. Thanks to Wegmans and their #Turkey911 hashtag on twitter, Chef Mark assured me the same amount of brining solution would suffice for the larger bird. Our brined turkey was just as delicious on The Big Day. I'm now a huge fan of brining and will experiment with different flavors in the future.

Next came the question of leftovers. What should I do with the rest of the turkey? My mom came to the rescue with her famous Turkey Cranberry Wreath. She makes this every year on the day after Thanksgiving. I've added it to my Pinterest board and am using the pinned photo because I didn't remember to take a picture of my own.

There was still enough turkey left for a couple of Turkey Pot Pies. My husband loves pot pie and, although I've tried several recipes (including one using a slow cooker), I still haven't settled on a favorite. My pinned version from all-recipes used refrigerated pie crust, was quick, easy, and delicious, but next time I'll make my own crust. Again, the photo is from Pinterest. Our pie disappeared too quickly!

I also tried a couple of crafty pins for Thanksgiving decorating. They were simple projects, but I wasn't really happy with either result. The 'Looking Glass Pumpkins' were gorgeous in the pin photo. I couldn't find the mirror-like aerosol spray and used a shiny chrome instead. The result wasn't quite as attractive.

Finally, my pin for stenciled Thanksgiving votives was pretty much a bust. First, it was difficult to keep the stencils in place on the round jars and, second, the lettering was hard to see once the candles were inserted into the jars. I ended up using smaller candles and, although it looked fine from a distance, the lettering looked sloppy to this perfectionist's eye.

Ideas for Christmas:
- spray pears a shiny metallic gold and use as table decor
- winter votives (square, this time!) with the word Noel, or Joy, or Peace...

Weekend Cooking, hosted at Beth Fish Reads, is open to anyone who has a food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up over the weekend.