Berry Picking

My in-laws have a HUGE garden...I mean they have 2 HUGE gardens! One morning a few weekends back, my mother-in-law and I were talking and she mentioned they were picking raspberries and asked if I wanted any...well sure!

So I loaded Stanley up (Hankers had to stay home because there is no fence at their property and I really didn't want to deal with 2 dogs on cables, barn cat running around, horses here and there, and the heat, etc...) and headed over...the whole 5 miles from our home.

Well the raspberries were delicious and Stan got to spend some time with people he doesn't see a lot and of course one of his favorite puppies (Dexter)!

And of course the barn cat needed to make an appearance...

and run right in the dogs' lines of sight...

and then stop and take her sweet time...

but eventually she mosey'd on into the grass

The morning was already proving that it was going to be a very hot day, so we headed inside for a nice treat...of ice cubes

Baby Shower

This past weekend I was finally able to host the baby shower that had been postponed from earlier this spring. It was so fun to see some ladies I hadn't seen in a long while and of course seeing all the babies was super fun. The babies were 4 months, 3 months, and 2 months old! The favorite "game" was Pass the Baby :)

I found the idea of "Breakfast Skewers" was found on Pinterest...but was originally from this blog. They were super easy to put together and were a huge hit!

Yum Yum Yum

The other night I was digging around trying to figure out what to make for dinner and came up with noodles and shrimp and some almost wilty spinach leaves hmmm....

I then turned to Allrecipes and found these 2 recipes: Spinach Tomato Tortellini and Creamy Baked Ziti. Using both of these recipes as a base I created my own:

1/2 box angel hair pasta (or any pasta you want)
Quart size Ziploc back of thawed pureed tomatoes (from my in-laws' garden)
1/2 small can of tomato paste
1/2 block of cream cheese
3/4 cup sour cream
salt & pepper to taste
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic (or to taste)
2 cups fresh spinach leaves

1) Cook noodles according to package description

2) In large kettle combine: tomatoes, tomato paste, cream cheese, sour cream, salt, pepper, basil and garlic until lightly boiling.

3) When sauce is lightly boiling and everything is mixed together and creamy, add spinach leaves. Stir and cover and return to a light boil. Leaves should be slightly wilty/cooked.

4) Combine noodles into sauce and stir together.

This turned out sooooo good! Matt had 3 servings!

*Take aways: for a creamier sauce use an immersion blender and I would use plain yogurt instead of sour cream next time

P-Chef Party

Such a busy busy weekend! My cousin and his gf came over on Saturday evening for dinner at our home and it was ah-mazing! We had some yummy apps (taco dip and chips and taquitos), crockpot pork tacos, and margaritas! Because it was sooo beautiful (like 60 degrees!), after dinner we headed outside for a bonfire...or as Matt says "burn some shit" haha! 

We had such a fun time with the HUGE fire, s'mores, cocktails (and beer and wine), and the puppies running around that we didn't come inside until almost 1am! Because of how late it was and the "adult beverages" involved we had planned for them to sleep over and utilize our guest room and newly redone bathroom. And then they could also help set up for the Pampered Chef party the next day! :)

(p.s. I'm sad I didn't take any pics of our Mexican-Bonfire night...but I'm blaming the margaritas)

We woke to Daylight Savings Day. I thought it was 8am and happy to have plenty of time to prep and get ready...little did I know Matt changed the clock the WRONG way and it was actually 10am!!! And people were going to start arriving at 1pm! So needless to say I started to panic and had to work hard at not completely flipping out. I am so fortunate for the amazing help from Matt, my cousin, and his gf. (Matt even ran to the store twice!) 

And I made a point to take some pics of the decor before people started digging in. The "theme" was simply Yellow and Green Spring :)

I set out wine glasses for everyone to use for any of the beverages, which were: white and red wines, lemonade with lemons, sprite with limes, and water with frozen cucumber-ice cubes. 

I found a cutey idea on Pinterest for cucumber ice cubes: slice cucumbers into 1/4 inch slices, place in muffin tins, fill with water and freeze...tada cucumber ice cubes! Perfect for keeping water cold and giving it a yummy cucumber taste...I've been sipping on it since the party :) 

We cleaned up the kitchen island for the P-Chef lady to use as the demo area. It was such a fun party and I'm sooo honored that 17 ladies (and 3 guys, Matt hosted a guys get together downstairs) gave up some of their beautiful Sunday afternoon to spend with me. There were a bunch of laughs and some good catching up, can't wait to deliver their orders and see them again!

When it rains, it pours :)

I've always thought that the phrase "when it rains, it pours" doesn't necessarily apply to negative happenings. This past week my schedule went from relatively slow to very busy, so busy that I completely neglected anything computer related (Facebook, here, Pinterest, pictures, and school...eek).The difference between my previous 8 weeks and last week made me feel like I was running from one thing to another and came home exhausted after each excursion out. 

So what was I up to???

Starting in early December (shortly after I was laid off) I started volunteering on Monday and Tuesday afternoons at a local animal shelter walking dogs. Some may say (and some have said to me) that doesn't sound like fun, but I LOVE IT! I love walking in and seeing puppies/dogs who are all so happy to see me.  It is actually kind of selfish...because all the puppies/dogs are so happy to see me it's an instant self-esteem boost! Its really become a part of my week that I truly look forward to. So that took up my Monday and Tuesday afternoons.

Recently the salon my friend works at was looking for a new part-time receptionist and because she is an amazingly thoughtful person, she thought of me. We had worked together as salon receptionists way back in high school (so it wasn't going to be completely knew) and the salon owner was actually a stylist at that salon way back when, so we've known each for oooh about 12 years! Well anyway, they needed the position filled asap so on Monday after volunteering (in my snowpants, winter boots, etc) I ran across the street to hub's work (it's so convenient that he's practically across the road from the shelter) and changed into cute-salon clothes. I was able to get in some time with the current receptionists to learn some stuff and not be a complete idiot when I'm on my own. Well my training shifts ended up being Monday and Wednesday evening and then all day Friday. I'm so excited to have a reason to get dressed up and wear make-up!

And also on the job-front, I had an interview at a local college on Thursday! I had already had 2 phone interviews and was asked to come in to meet with the supervisor, get a tour, meet his team, and then meet the director. I was able to do the first 3 things, but the director had a last minute meeting in town for something so he apologized and asked if I was open to scheduling it for next week. Sure! 

Wednesday was also my dad's 60th birthday and my mom had decided to plan a surprise party for him to take place Saturday evening. Well because it was a surprise and held at their home...she asked for a lot of help. I was put in charge of creating the invites, picture boards, some more decor and set-up, and then co-hosting with my aunt when guests arrived. (I plan to write a whole thing up about his party because it turned out good!)

Then on Sunday was the Superbowl! Matt & I had invited his parents over to enjoy the game and of course food. Speaking of food, Matt had decided to make his "famous" crockpot turkey and I was sooo happy he did because it was sooo good. He actually got the crockpot going at 2am...when we got home from my dad's party!

So yes, this past week was busier than it has been over the past 2 months, but it felt good to have things to do and a schedule to keep. I'm looking forward to working 3 days/week, volunteering 2 days/week, and still getting together with people I love at least 1 day a week. 

And so I don't forget (and if anyone wants to try it) here is the turkey recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

6-10 lbs turkey breast (really use however much you want to have, I purchased 7lbs and it made more than enough for 4 adults and leftovers for us and his parents to take with them)

16oz sour cream

2 bay leaves

1 tsp thyme

2c shredded white cheddar cheese

buns/rolls

1) Remove skin from turkey. Discard skin and place meat in crockpot with sour cream. 

2) Place bay leaves on top of turkey breast. Cover and cook on low for 8-12 hours (or on high for 4-5 hours).

3) Remove turkey and bay leaves set aside. Remove bones and throw away along with leaves. Shred turkey.

4) Add cheese & thyme to all juices in crockpot and stir well. 

5) Return meat to crockpot, stir gently. Add 1-2 cups water, salt & pepper (to taste) and stir.

6) Cook on low 1 more hour then enjoy!

It is "chili" out

Yes, it's MN. Yes, it's winter. Yes, it's cold. That can only mean 1 thing...warm, comfort food! I'm not usually a huge fan of chili, but Matt loves it so I decided to search for a recipe that I wanted to eat. What makes chili edible to me is flavor, spice, and texture. I can't stand bland, pureed tasting chili, I mean who can???

So I headed over to All Recipes to find something. This is the original recipe, but wouldn't you know I couldn't just leave it alone. So here is what I ended up doing:

And let me just say, it was good! The best chili I have made. No pics of the food this time around because it was late when we ate (like 9:30pm) and I didn't feel like heating up a bowl this morning to take pics in the beautiful sunlight.

Ingredients

·         2 pounds ground beef

·         1 large yellow onion, chopped

·         1 tablespoon minced garlic

·         2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained

·         1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice

·         1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce

·         1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

·         1 tablespoon chili powder

·         1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

·         1 tablespoon dried oregano

·         2 teaspoons ground cumin

·         1 teaspoon dried basil

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1 teaspoon ground black pepper

·         1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

·         1 teaspoon paprika

·         1 teaspoon white sugar

Directions

1.     Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Brown the ground beef, onion, and garlic and cook until onions are clear. Drain off excess grease (we have really good quality beef so I don’t drain ours).

2.     Pour in the kidney beans, diced tomatoes, and green peppers. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, cumin, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

3.     After 2 hours, taste, and adjust salt, pepper, and chili powder if necessary. The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste.

4.     Remove from heat and serve, or refrigerate, and serve the next day.

5.     To serve, ladle into bowls, and top with corn chips and shredded Cheddar cheese.

Chocolate Banana Bread

Most of the banana bread that is made in our home isn't planned. We purchase bananas with intentions of just eating them...but we never eat them all and it leads to banana bread. Well I thought I would try something other than the recipe I've been using for years (which is from one of my grandma's and is perfect, but I just wanted to try something new). I searched around on All Recipes and found this recipe for Whole Wheat Chocolate Banana Bread: 

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan or 16 muffin cups with cooking spray. Stir the skim milk and lemon juice together in a glass measuring cup; let stand until curdled, about 30 minutes. Whisk together the whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; set aside.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, the milk mixture, canola oil, and vanilla extract. Stir in the flour mixture just until all ingredients are moistened. Pour the batter into the prepared pan or muffin cups.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour for a loaf, or 30 minutes for muffins. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Take-Aways:

1) The bread is really dense so I would either add more oil (like another review suggested) or substitute the oil for applesauce (like a different review stated). 

2) I didn't cook the loaf for an hour; I set the timer to 50 min at first, then added another 5 min at the end and it was perfectly done. 

And I made a point to get some pictures of the end result too.

The standard "here's the food" picture. I have been reading online photography articles (more on those later) and decided to try some of the ideas, such as: use different background/backdrops to see how the bread would show up with different colors by it. Well I don't have a "studio" with backdrops so I looked around my home to see what I could try to use as a different background and came up with...

one of the lids on our coffee table (one side is a wooden tray and the other is this dark brown leather cushion) but I thought it was too dark. (I purposely didn't crop these pics so that the background object could be seen). Because I thought the brown on brown was too dark, I next tried...

Our linen colored bar/island chair, but I decided although I liked the texture of the material it wasn't my favorite. I remembered I saw a photo that had used a basic cutting board as a backdrop for food, so I tried it

and decided I really like the look and contrast of wood by food and will be looking for old cutting boards on any future thrift/antique shopping ventures. All of the above pics were taken in the evening and I always find it so hard to get the lighting right in our kitchen with overhead track lighting, so I decided to wait until the next morning for the next photo attempts because I had read somewhere that natural light is best to photograph in. So in the morning I decided to unwrap the bread again (yep, I waited to try any until I tried to get some better pics) and use only the light streaming thru our windows. 

Also, this was the 1st time I took the "leap" and shot in Manual mode! Up until now I had been preferring to shoot either in Aperture (A) or Shutter Priority (S) modes, but, again, I have been reading some articles and my confidence in my skills have grown so I decided to just try it out. 

The combo of natural light, Manual mode, and our plain dishes resulted in waaay more pics and me liking waaay more of the pics I took, YEAH!!! 

doesn't that bread look yummy?!? Trust me, it was :)

Breakfast is finally served :)

Pizza and a Movie

This past Friday Matt and I had a long overdue Pizza and Movie night. This pizza recipe is different from what we've been making lately. This time I decided to make a full-size pizza using a dough recipe I found on allrecipes.com and the same sauce recipe I used previously.

The dough turned out pretty good, but obviously I altered it slightly (I just can't help myself!). The only thing I did differently was that I dissolved the yeast in the warm water (in a cup) while I combined the flour, salt, & sugar together in a large bowl. I then added the oil and water/yeast mix to the dry ingredients bowl. After rolling out dough a fitting to pizza pan, I baked it for 5 min until I loaded the toppings.

I chose to top with: sauce, pepperoni, black olives, and a mixture of cheeses. Then bake for 20 min at 375F.

Ta-da!

yep nice and shiny greesy :)

mmm mmm mmm

I have been on a new recipe kick lately and the of course that means I have been scouring Pinterest for ideas, not to say I don't have recipes already pin'd...I do have 85 already pin'd to my "yummy eats & treats" board. Well Wednesday's new recipe was Braided Spaghetti Bread. I saw this image:

and thought "spaghetti, sauce, AND bread all in one??? genius!" So yep this was my challenge today. No, I was not going to settle for "jar sauce" like the recipe calls for (don't get me wrong, in a pinch I am a huge fan of "jar sauce", of course with a little "doctoring" as Matt calls it) but with the fact that I have nothing BUT time on my hands now why not go all in and make the sauce too :)

This time around I tried to take pictures as I went

I combined the noodles, sauce, and meat in a big bowl before putting it all on the bread and topping it with the cheese chunks (which got good and melty)

at first I thought I hadn't rolled the bread out thin/big enough but then as I closed up the bread and transferred it to the pan I realized it was actually pretty big...hence curling up the sides of the pan

there's

and mine...I think it turned out pretty similar. And btw it was super good and totally made it's way into the "Make Again" recipe box.

Side note about the sauce...I used this recipe as a starting off point but didn't really follow the recipe (because we didn't have an onion or white wine, which was the real shocker haha), but rather this is what I did :

30 oz thawed, blanched tomatoes from my in-laws' summer garden
6 oz can tomato paste
2 Tbsp dried parsley
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh crushed black pepper
6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1) saute the garlic in the EVOO over med. heat
2) combine the rest of the ingredients, stir and simmer for 30 min

Yep definitely not as many steps as the originally recipe but it still turned out great! And personally we really liked the chunks in the sauce rather than putting it all thru the food processor.

Chicken Parmesan Bake

So in our household Italian style dishes are very common and to say that we like carbs is a MAJOR understatement. But honestly, the traditional spaghetti is getting a little old to me. So for new ideas I turned to my new love...Pinterest, of course, and found this super easy recipe for Chicken Parmesan Bake. The only thing I didn't like about the website was that he doesn't have the directions written down, but he does have a handy video tutorial on it all (and for people like me who are extremely visual this actually was neat). But for those of you who would like it written down, here ya go:

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil (I just eyeballed this)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (we somehow didn't have fresh garlic so I just used garlic powder)
red pepper flakes, to taste
6 thawed, boneless, chicken breasts (however many will fill up your pan, just don't overlap them)
2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup fresh basil (again we didn't have this so I improvised with dried basil)
8 oz shredded mozarella cheese
4 oz grated parmesan cheese
5 oz garlic croutons

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2) In a 9x13 baking dish spread olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes to coat bottom
3) Now layer everything else in the pan in this order: chicken breasts, marinara sauce, basil, 1/2 the mozarella cheese, 1/2 the parmesan cheese, croutons, remaining mozarella cheese, and remaining parmesan cheese.

Bake for about 30 min until chicken is 155 degrees internally.

We had some toasted garlic bread with ours to help with all the sauce. Delish!

And because I totally forgot to take a picture of this before we started eating, here is a picture of something else...

of course it's one of the puppies :)

Sweet Sloppy Joes

The other day I was trying to think of something to make for dinner that night and was getting bored with my recipe box (as has been pretty common lately) so I tooled around on (you guessed it) Pinterest and remembered I had pin'd this recipe for Honey BBQ Sloppy Joes and thought "hey why not?" And of course with all my new found free time I decided to attempt Homemade Kaiser Rolls also.

They turned out pretty good, except...the sloppy joes were a little too sweet for my taste (so I wouldn't use honey bbq next time) and the rolls were super dense inside. I'm not sure if the rolls were supposed to be that dense but it was just a little too much bread.

I did take a tip from the recipe where she recommended taking out the inside of the bun (like pulling out some of the inside doughy part) to make little pockets on either side of the roles...genius! I had never thought of that and it totally worked to keep the sloppy joe mix in the bun and also cut down on the bread to joe ratio.

Baking with my Sister

As I previously mentioned, now that I'm unemployed I am very open to social engagements especially spontaneous, last-minute "want to get together?" ones. So when my little sister called me up and asked if I wanted to hang out I said sure, any ideas. She said she wanted to bake and had a surprise recipe to try out. And boy was it a surprise! She showed up with a bag from Godiva and this recipe for Rocky Road Sandwich Cookies :)

(notice Stanley right behind her waiting for something to drop)

These were sooo good and ended up getting eaten very quickly!

Happy Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and just like so many other people Matt & I were busy, but it was a great day. We woke up late (because we forgot to set an alarm) and realized we had just over an hour to both shower, get ready AND make the pumpkin pie. Eeek! So while hubs jumped in the shower I started on the pie.

But when I read the directions I read it was going to take over an hour just to bake and I knew I had to do something different. And where did I look to??? Pinterest!!! Of course. So I decided to whip these mini pumpkin pies up (and they required HALF the baking time as a full pie). They were sooo yummy! Unfortunately the ONLY picture I took on Thanksgiving was of the pies and not even displayed nicely on a plate, oh well.

Farmer's Market Adventure

So late Friday night my mom sent me a text asking if I wanted to go to the Minneapolis Farmer's Market with her and my aunt the next morning. My response: what time are you going? When she answered with "we're leaving at 9am" I seriously thought twice...because it takes about an hour to get to her house. 

But by the time I went to bed I couldn't stop thinking of the fun I could have taking pictures of all the items there sooo of course I set my alarm (on a Saturday, yes I know, I never do that) to get up earlier than I usually do.

The morning was a little cooler than I had anticipated, but after some walking around...and another hour there it had warmed up and was great. PLUS the sky was the perfect blue and the sun was the perfect amount of light, could not have asked for a better setting. Below are just some of my favorite shots from the 260 (yes, you read that correctly) pictures I took that day.

And because I can't decide which of the 2 pictures (below) I like more...I put up both :)

(because I still have tons of pictures that I am in love with...I will write again and include those)

Indian Chicken Curry

As I've mentioned before, I am addicted to Pinterest! One of my favorite uses for it is finding recipes. When hubs and I moved in together we combined a lot of things, including our recipes. However, we quickly realized that the dishes he cooked most often are recipes from his childhood and the dishes I cooked most often were from my childhood...and we quickly got sick of those meals. But can you blame us??? I mean almost 30 years worth of the same recipes. So I have been looking for some new ideas AND we have gotten on this Indian food kick.

This weekend I decided to attempt this recipe I found for Indian Chicken Curry

Ingredients:
1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp olive oil
2 small onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp curry powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon (this was said to be optional and next time I will not add it)
2 tsp paprika
2 bay leaves
1 tsp grated fresh ginger root (tip: store ginger root in the freezer and then it is really easy to grate)
1 tsp sweetener (maple syrup was suggested and it tasted really good)
salt to taste
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces and cooked
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cups plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 lemon, juiced (I forgot to buy a lemon so I used about 2 Tbsp lemon juice from a bottle)
1 tsp cayenne pepper

1) Cook chicken pieces through

2) In a large pan (I used the same type of pot we use to cook spaghetti, it was nice and deep to minimize sloshing around) heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onion until lightly browned.

3) Stir in garlic, curry powder, cinnamon, paprika, bay leaf, ginger, sweetener, and salt. Stir for 2 minutes

4) Add chicken pieces, tomato paste, yogurt, and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat.

5) Stir in lemon juice and cayenne pepper and serve immediately

Take aways: I served ours with basmati rice. Next time I am going to add golden raisins and split cashews to the dish. And next time I am going to remember to make the Naan (bread).

Just for Laughs

Pizza and a Movie

Lately I have been attempting new recipes and for the most part they have turned out pretty good. Hubs and I always decide if it's something worth having again. Well a recent idea was pizza bites

Usually on Friday nights hubs and I have pizza and movie night to relax and wind down from a busy week. Well this Friday I decided to try a different take on pizza (rather than our standard frozen, boxed pizzas)

Ingredients:
1 can Pillsbury biscuits (follow up note: do not try to use the less expensive, store brand. I'm sorry but they just haven't worked as well as Pillsbury has)
1 pkg pepperoni
mozzarella cheese (I tried using string cheese cut in 1 inch sections, turned out ok but didn't melt very well. I will be using shredded mozzarella next time)

1) Grease pie plate
2) Open biscuits and cut each biscuit in half
3) Carefully flatten each biscuit half out (be careful to not over handle or the dough gets tough) and place pepperoni and cheese in middle
4) Pull dough around pepperoni and cheese and pinch closed and place seam-side down in pie plate
5) When all dough balls are in pan, brush tops with Olive Oil and sprinkle with Italian Seasoning and Parmesan Cheese

Bake on 400 for 20 min until golden brown

From this to...

THIS!

And of course I had to try out a new recipe for homemade pizza sauce:

Ingredients:
28oz diced tomatoes, undrained (we had some tomatoes from the garden that had been frozen so I used those)
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (hubs and I are babies when it comes to spicy food so next time I will omit these)
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 cloves minced garlic

1) Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over med-high heat.
2) Bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook for at least 15 min
3) Remove from heat and use/serve

Tip: If you prefer smoother sauce use a potatoe masher or immersion blender

P.S. The movie of the night was X-Men 2, we're going to watch all 4 in a row :)

Besties Lunch

This past weekend I got together with some girls I used to work with. We try to get together at least every other month to eat and catch up. And to make it a little more fun, whose ever house it's at gets to choose a theme and the food each of us brings has to relate to this theme. Our themes have been silly (loaf shaped items) and seasonal ("best of summer"). Well this weekend's theme was "Apples", perfect for Fall!

The hostess chose to make an apple chicken recipe, someone else made applesauce, and another made an apple dessert! I chose to make Herb and Apple Stuffing (I chose to half the recipe because there was only 4 of us and it was the perfect amount):

16 cups of 1-inch bread cubes
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups diced yellow onion
2 cups diced celery
2 Granny Smith apples, unpeeled, cored, and diced
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary leaves (I used dried rosemary)
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2) Put the bread crumbs on a 13x18x1 inch baking sheet and bake them for 7 min
3) In a large saute pan: melt butter, add onion, celery, apples, parsley, rosemary, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 min (until mixture is soft)
4) In a large bowl: combine bread cubes, sauteed veggie mix, stock, and almonds

Cooking options:
1) Place stuffing into turkey and cook per turkey directions OR
2) Place stuffing in a casserole dish and cook for an hour on 350 degrees F (this is the way I did it)

Buffalo Wild Wings

I LOVE the restaurant Buffalo Wild Wings! Unfortunately, maybe fortunately, there isn't one close by our home. Well earlier this month, hubs attempted to make buffalo wings...but they just didn't quite turn out and since then I have been thinking about them. So I turned to my new love (Pinterest) for an easy, at-home recipe. Earlier I mentioned I was going to make these Baked Buffalo Wings on the 20th, except that we didn't have wings so I used drummies (which I like better anyways) and they turned out Ah-Mazing!

Great idea to use a cooling rack and tin foil inside the pan

And I found a recipe for yummy ranch dip, I added more milk than the recipe called for because it was just too thick for our tastes

And I have been making these potatoes at least once a week since finding the recipe, so easy and so good!

And of course, dinner wouldn't be complete without a chilled glass