The Results Are In!!!

First let me say, "Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!" It was a wonderful day....some of us are snoozing with our bellies full, but I knew I had to get this post in before I could close my eyes.

As some of you may have heard, today was not only Thanksgiving.....it was also the First Annual Thanksgiving Throwdown. It was a last minute thing that Dennis and I came up with the other night after watching Bobby Flay's Pumpkin Pie Throwdown. Since we were having Thanksgiving dinner with Melinda and Brad, I called her to see what she thought of the idea....she was definitely on board!

I called some friends of ours, Kraig and LeeAnn Sullivan, to see if they would be able to be our judges....and they were on board!

All that was left to do was to pick our recipes, gather our ingredients and bake!

We didn't make it easy for Kraig and LeeAnn......there were some wonderful entries and all were delicious.

I made a classic pumpkin pie, as did Jessica and Adam......they brought his mother's recipe and it was to die for! Dennis opted to make a pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust, a pecan struesel and a filling enriched with bourbon and molasses.....it was so rich and full of flavor! Anna made a devil's food, pumpkin cake with a pecan topping....it was WOW!!! And Melinda made a pumpkin cheesecake....the Cheesecake Factory should pay her for her recipe as it was fabulous.

After Kraig and LeeAnn arrived, we set plates in front of them with samplings of each of the sweets and they took their first bite. Kraig pronounced the winner after his first bite....hey, no fair! LeeAnn wanted to taste more! We all watched them as they sampled each entry, then left them alone to make their decision. It actually took a little longer than I thought it would, but then again, I knew they had their work cut out for them.

Soooo......who was the winner?
Congratulations, Melinda!!!! (Of course, you know she did her "happy dance"!!!

After that, we decided to have Kraig and LeeAnn's son, Bryce, do the drawing to determine next years "dish"...............he drew SOUP!

We plan to "fine tune" this a little so that judging will be a little easier. My first thought was a lobster bisque.....now HOW do you compare a lobster bisque with a chicken soup....or a butternut squash soup. We have a year to figure out the details. In them meantime, you're ALL invited to join us.....either to share in the fun or to bring your own entry! It really was fun and we're all excited about our new tradition! See you next year? We even have a trophy!!!