Thanksgiving Roundup

Wow, what a week. I cleaned for pretty much two hours every day (we have so many little trinkets than had an inch of dust every where) so our house practically sparkled. Thanksgiving is our spring cleaning. On the day itself, I was going from 8:30 until 8 p.m. and then collapsed in a turkey/wine haze. All in all, a success with only two minor meltdowns (one involving breaking a bottle that fell out of the pantry that included the f-word a few times and the other involving puff pastry). But none with our guests here so that was good.

And I managed to accomplish something else on my list: trying a new recipe every week for a month. Most of it was a success. One I'm still not sure about but would like to try again. And after the puff pastry failed me on Thursday for this recipe, I whipped up an apple crumble instead. I had a momentary freakout wondering how I would make an apple crumble because I already made the filling for the turnovers but fortunately I found a recipe that basically required what I already put in the filling (plus a little more cinnamon and flour) so that was a relief. I just added more apples (thankfully I was going to make a double batch of turnovers so I had plenty on hand), more cranberries, the topping, and voila! Excellent crumble. The cranberries and citrus from the apple turnovers gave it a nice little kick to a plain apple crumble. It'll probably be a regular recipe for me.
Other recipes I tried:
Turkey Meatloaf; this one was delicious. My dad who is used to meatloaf you soak in gravy, turned to me after two bites and was like this is soooooo good, so moist you don't need gravy! That was a win. I served it with steamed veggies and roasted red potatoes. Very good.
Scones (I added strawberries); I wasn't crazy about this recipe. I think I was very impatient and didn't give it the time it deserved. They turned out very muffin top-y; I don't think it helped that I basically couldn't get it to cut in an triangle shape so I just plopped down down on a cookie sheet.
(thanks to domestic reflections for the recipes!)
Bean Burritos; this isn't a specific recipe per se but I saw my brother in law make it one night and decided to copy him. I don't think I followed him exactly but what I made was delicious, simple, and not time consuming.
Pre-heat oven to 350. In a non-stick skillet, add a tablespoon of oil to med-high heat. Fry half an onion, a clove or two of garlic, and any veggies you want (I went with red and green peppers). I fried until just about nicely browned, then took off heat. Open a can of black beans and fill four tortillas with beans and onion and veggie mix. Add 1 oz of cheese to each tortilla. Place open side down in baking dish. Cover with enchilada sauce (I found a good one at whole foods). Bake for twenty minutes, covered. Enjoy with salsa!

Now to wrap up this long post, a list of things I'm thankful for:

1. A new niece
2. Making a great new friend
3. Finally standing up for myself and leaving something that was making me unhappy
4. Keeping a consistent work-out plan
5. Reading more
6. Good health for all those I care about

She got skills...

My mom claims this she didn't do such a great job with making this bouquet (all flowers from the supermarket). At that comment, I rolled my eyes and took a picture.

Here's my own small bouquet (nothing I'd brag about but I like what I did with castoffs):

Another one bites the dust...

Yay!

I forgot to take a picture of said cupcake and balloon but I couldn't wait on the cupcake! I ate it without thinking of taking a picture. So the small picture of the red velvet (my favorite and the one I got) will have to do. Trust me that going to Cupcake is a very nice way to spend your birthday. Plus getting a black balloon instead of baby pink or baby blue (target doesn't have a ton of color options) was kind of awesome. It's nice to celebrate your birthday without making a huge deal. Just doing something for yourself, which I should do more often.

(Image via Cupcake)

Silver Fox

Reason #392821 Why I Love Keith Olbermann:

He references the awesome Thanksgiving episode of WKRP. Oh how I wish I could find it on youtube for y'all but trust, it is hilarious!

(Image via Gawker)

Weekend Plans

1.) Sleep a lot
2.) Drink hot apple cider
3.) Make scones
4.) Scan family pictures
5.) Start reading Persuasion
6.) Watch A Colbert Christmas (Sunday 10/9c)
7.) Stay warm!!

Have a good weekend!

Wow...

Seriously whenever I got to H&M I never find anything I love (with 2 exceptions; a lovely jacket and my favorite dress). She found 8 (count them!)
beautiful pieces. I love all those tops (my favs are the last two)! Guess who is going to be more diligent about going to H&M in the future?

Exactly the dining room table I want...

So perfectly homemade looking...I love it!

(image from sundance catalog)