Recipe Roundup – Day 14 – Pumpkin Treats

Short and sweet – Here is the recipe printable for today before we head into holiday cookie baking and away from “pumpkin/squash” treats Enjoy!
A little more pumpkin fun

Recipe Roundup – Day 13 – Feeling a little Bleu

Working ahead (or behind depending on how you look at it:-)

Today’s theme – Blue – or Bleu. My husband is a fan of bleu cheese. We tried both of these recipes in the past year and enjoyed them. I would modify the “tart” crust probably in both cases if I made them again, but they were good as is too.

Enjoy! Asparagus and Bleu Cheese Tart & Beef and Bleu Cheese Tart

Crafty Tab

With December nearly here, I will actually post some “stuff” under the craftiness tab. But for now,  you can find some pics of the artsy crafts that my parents have remaining from the sale at Lapacek’s. 

Santa! More pics under the "Craftiness" tab!

Recipe Roundup – Day 12 – Squash that…

It’s been a busy day here… and now I would love to get to bed, BUT, there is work to be done yet. And what am I doing? Posting on the blog. Really. Productive. Maybe if I were one of those bloggers aspiring for a book deal or with a book deal or some sort of lucrative gig then this would be productive, but alas, I’m not. I’m just sharing recipes here, and the “productive” portion comes in me enjoying procrastinating on what I should be accomplishing

That’s not to say I wasn’t productive today though. My make ahead loaded mashed potatoes (double-batch to feed 20 – that’s a lot of potatoes) are in the fridge and ready to take tomorrow. Thank goodness! While they’re tasty, there is a reason I only make these once or twice a year and I’m tired out of potatoes! The Crustless Pumpkin Cheesecake is cooling on the counter. (Which is another reason I can’t go to bed yet, it needs to cool before going in the fridge.) Aside from Zumba classes and picking out our Christmas tree at the Evergreen Ranch (and clearing some space in our house for it to go and taking down the Thanksgiving decor on the mantel), I’ve spent most of the day in the kitchen and we’re not even hosting this meal. We did take a required “family-time” break to watch Cars 2 though!

While in our kitchen today, I keep looking at the “pile-o-squash” that are on my counter. For the next few weeks, we’ll be eating at least one squash recipe a week. Today’s recipe is for the exchange booklet might be an option. It’s from Heather (via Guy Fieri on Food Network).

Enjoy this printable:
Acorn Squash Soup

LOTS of CSA potoates for Loaded Mashed Potatoes...

This IS THE secret to smooth mashed potatoes: a potato ricer. It's like a playdough contraption for adults. It's fun for about 2 minutes. After putting enough potatoes through this thing to feed 20 people, it loses its "fun" factor. BUT, it makes them smooth and perfect!

 

A Between Turkey Meals Dinner

At our house, every other year we end up doing a double-dose of Thanksgiving: once with my family, once with Jim’s. (On the off years, my family goes ahead and celebrates without us and we don’t gain 1o pounds in the weekend by having a “second” turkey feast) This year is a double-turkey year. So for tonight when it’s just the four of us at home, we’re having non-turkey:  pork chops. And we’re trying this recipe for Slow Cooker San Francisco chops.  I’ll report back again on that one later

**An addendum - the Slow Cooker SanFran Chops were quite good.

I’ll also be whipping up Loaded Mashed Potatoes (Check the 2006 exchange, page 10) to take along with us tomorrow. And even though I’m sure there will be plenty of desserts, I’m taking a Crustless Pumpkin Cheesecake so that I have a gluten-free option for dessert. (You know, because dessert is truly a critical portion of the meal

Are you tired of turkey? Have some great turkey leftovers recipes to share? Post a comment or include your link to recipes here

Recipe Roundup – Day 11 – From Our Thanksgiving Table

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at my Grandma’s house today. There was so much to choose from and it was all delicious. Aside from missing out on dessert and stuffing, I really didn’t miss much by being gluten free today. So many great choices. Today, in lieu of spending time formatting a recipe, I’ll just provide a few links and some embedded in this post. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

I took along this Brussel Sprouts recipe which used up the brussel sprouts from our CSA box. This is NOT a vegetable I have eaten very often, but these were pretty good! And, they reminded me of my Grandpa as I knew that brussel sprouts had been one of his favorite vegetables.

I also brought Roasted Fingerling potatoes. (Using up potatoes from our CSA delivery as well!)
I don’t have a fancy printable for this recipe, but it’s easy! Turn your oven on to 500 and place your pan in the oven. Meanwhile, put 2 pints of fingerling potatoes, 1 tsp rosemary (dried), 1 1/2 tsp sage (dried), and 1 1/2 tsp thyme (dried) in a bowl. Drizzle with 3 T of olive oil and stir. Remove the pan from the oven and pour the potatoes on it. Season with salt and pepper. Place back in the oven and decrease the temperature to 425. Roast for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are beginning to brown, are crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Watch them. Test for tenderness and leave in longer, if necessary.

I also attempted a Flourless Chocolate Cake, but that didn’t turn out so well so I won’t bother sharing the recipe!

If you are interested in something that continues the Thanksgiving pumpkin flavor theme, I give you a recipe from my friend Amy, complete with her comments in italics : (I’ll put it in a printable form soon

Pumpkin Spice Syrup for homemade Pumpkin Lattes
1½ cups water
1½ cups sugar
4 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
½ tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground cloves
3 tbsp. pumpkin puree

Mix water and sugar over medium heat till sugar is fully dissolved. Toss in spices and pumpkin and cook for 5 minutes without letting it boil. (OK- sometimes I forget and it boils, it’s still fine.)  Let sit and cool for 10-15 minutes (or until you remember) and strain through a mesh colander or cheesecloth.  Store in the fridge.

AND, if you really need a way to use up extra leftover turkey, check out Recipe Girl’s ideas

Giving Thanks

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. – Melody Beattie

Try as I might, I’m never caught up with all the thank you notes I would like to have sent out, and for that I’m actually a little bit grateful. Seem odd? We’re so fortunate to be blessed by the presence of great people in our lives who are always sharing of themselves, and I feel like I can never keep up with the notes of gratitude. So not only am I grateful for all that our family has been blessed with and by, I am grateful for the presence of such incredible people in our lives! What a gift to have too many thank you notes to keep up! (Guess it’s time for me to start spending some quality time with Jimmy Fallon every Friday night!)

I’m grateful each day to just be alive and kicking, to share each day with family and friends, to have the chance to laugh and smile together, yell and scream at one another, sit and just be next to each other, to dance and “down dog”, to talk and to listen and so much more. Our little family has already weathered many storms; we’re grateful for the gifts from those times as well as all the good. It makes us who we are and all of life’s experiences have given us opportunities to grow and to meet amazing new people.

Channeling my inner Marilla from Anne of Green Gables (and so many others who use this phrase), “My cup runneth over.” This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for your friendship and support! Wishing you many blessings and a wonderful celebration with your family and friends.