Moore To Life: Celebrate Thanksgiving

The holiday season is without a doubt my favorite time of the year. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to spend with friends and family sharing memories that will last for years to come. In this episode I will share with you some ideas of how to make this Thanksgiving unforgettable.

I'll show you how to take a kids' table and make it something kids want to be at.  I'll show you how to take those mismatched chairs and pull it all together to make a beautiful Thanksgiving table. And, Bobby Moore, the Executive Chef of the Barking Frog at Woodinville's Willows Lodge will cook up an amazing Thanksgiving meal.

Decor:

Thanksgiving dinner often requires pulling chairs from all over the house to accommodate all of your guests. To create a unified look for an assortment of chairs I made chair covers using chocolate brown jersey pillow covers from Target.

I used a stencil, white paint and a pillow case to mimic the original chairs from Thomasville at the Bellevue Collection. This way, the chairs for extra seating would mix in well with the existing chairs.

I also created chair backs using knit sweaters from Goodwill to create cozy chair covers that could be mixed in with the rest of the dining room chairs.

I'm thrilled with how my chair backs turned out.

Entertaining the kids:

For my Thanksgiving episode of Moore to Life I created a kids table that was all whimsy and fun with plenty of activities to keep the little ones occupied.

I wanted a feeling of fall so I decorated an oversized umbrella with silk leaves for the center piece - which was stablized using a hurricane and popcorn kernels.

A gold glitter oil cloth from Archee McPhee was the tablecloth of choice since Thanksgiving lends itself to sticky fingers and lots of opportunity for spills.

Each kid made his or her own turkey place card with Momma Kay's Play Clay and pinecones.

Children made a Thanksgiving Day parade float, made out of a take-out box, to use for Thanksgiving leftovers and later use in a mini parade of their own.

All the dishware was melamine from Target in a light blue, orange and brown palette.

Thanksgiving recipe:

I met with Executive Chef Bobby Moore of Barking Frog as he demonstrated how to make Hazelnut Dusted Sea Scallops with Creamy Polenta & Vanilla Drizzle. It's an amazing recipe with an incredible texture and taste.

Bobby, known for his innovative, quality food considers himself to be an "American Cook", combining a variety of world cuisines adding twists and turns to his recipes.

HAZELNUT DUSTED SEA SCALLOPS WITH CREAMY POLENTA & VANILLA DRIZZLE

4 servings

16 – sea scallops 1 c. honey
2 c. filbert meal 1 vanilla bean
2 c. polenta ¾ c. hazelnuts, blanched, roasted & ground
8 c. whole milk ¼ c. clarified butter
Salt & pepper

Combine milk & polenta. Cook on low heat until polenta thickens.  Cover and set aside.

Split vanilla bean and add to honey.  Heat on low until vanilla bean has infused flavor.  Set aside. 

Dust scallops with filbert meal, salt & pepper. 

Heat clarified butter in pan.  When hot, add scallops without crowding.  Sear on one side for about 20 seconds. 

Place pan into 500 degree oven and cook for 3 minutes.  Remove from oven and flip in pan allowing the scallops to continue cooking until medium rate. 

On individual plates, place ½ c. cooked polenta per serving. 

Drizzle honey around plate and sprinkle with ground hazelnuts. 

Serve with baby spinach or baby carrots.
 

-- CHEF BOBBY MOORE, Barking Frog

We'd like to thank these sponsors:

Dine Around Seattle
Bellevue Collection
Goodwill of Seattle
Builders Appliance Supply Company