Twas the night before the monday before Thanksgiving...

and all thru the house not a turkey was stirring...not even a ...? cant find a witty to way to end it. Anyway I have called to order an emergency meeting for my sister and I tomorrow after Shane is done with school. I feel totally disorganized but certainly not panicked as I work well under pressure it seems. O and its going to be just me and Chris and my kids. No one to really impress there, but I do still want to make an amazing meal. So Im going to go to my sisters tomorrow to talk out all the ingredients I need. Nothing major just double checking that I will have everything on my list. I may add another vegetable dish like this apple squash bake I just found. I want to make cream of pumpkin soup but I think Im going to wait until my dad comes on Saturday until I make that but I havent totally decided on that yet. I must admit I was at Shop Rite yesterday in total amusement over the people desperately filling their carts with Thanksgiving Day supplies... the store was filled with shouts of "wheres the fat-free gravy?" people on cell phones exclaiming... " I cant find sodium free chicken broth... will heart healthy do???" packages of stuffing and cans of cranberry sauce overflowed. People huddled by the turkey section claiming their FREE frozen turkey...how would you EVER know if it was defrosted and are we willing to take that chance on the big day???? way to risky for a no-risk taker such as myself. The sheer panic and stress over gravy and potatoes is entertaining if nothing else. I sat back and double checked my coupons as people fought it out over the last few remaining jars of fat free gravy (I shutter at the thought I must admit) Promise to have much more interesting blogging this week. Enjoy your turkey day prep week!!!!

Less Than Two Weeks Until Thanksgiving..... WHHHAATTTT???

How did this HAPPEN?? Two weeks from now we will be waking up with a turkey hangover and the weight of Christmas shopping bearing down on us. WHO HAS THE BEST DEALS??? WHERE ARE THE BEST PRICES?? FREE SHIPPING!!! ALMOST FREE SHIPPING!!! .......sigh...
anyway I digress. This Thanksgiving is just going to be the four of us in our house. Quiet and just staying home. A first for us. Ever.
Im excited for the parade and the cooking to be honest. I dont usually do anything too fancy. Just the basics.... (and all from scratch)
*Turkey
*mashed potatoes
*sweet potatoes
*green beans (just plain, no casserole..sorry crunchy onion things)
*stuffing..now my brother in law makes this amazing stuffing. My sister jokingly refers to it as the five hour stuffing because in the time it takes him to cut one celery stalk she has made five other dishes... but it is good so I will make that
*cranberry sauce
*creamed onions...yuuummmmmm
*o and of corse GRAVY
Well its ALL yumm to be honest. The night before Thanksgiving my mom and I go to my sisters and make pies for hours. We have done this for a long long time. We will make pumpkin and apple. All homemade crusts. Its so soo good.
This week Im going to try to concentrate on my table. Im going to try to get some new place settings and silverwear. Im thinking cream, white and  cranberry for colors. Like for my candles and tableclothes. I would love a garland down the middle of my table. Oh no. looks like I have some shopping to do...Im sure my 4 year old will appreciate my color scheme and attention to detail.... O and the chocolate shop near me sells choc turkeys. That will be a part of the decor too (and dessert!)

**Nerd Alert**Nerd Alert**Nerd Alert**Nerd Alert**

Ok so I think I may have mentioned a time or two that I have tons of cookbooks. Tons. And I love to try new recipes. I was always reading thru my books and putting post its on my favorite recipes or wrting them down only for them to get lost in the shuffle. So I came up with this nerdy yet effective system. It helps me when I need ideas for dinners and any kind of dish...

I basically take a recipe card write down just the ingredients on it, the title of the recipe, and what cookbook I got it from. Then I put it in my recipe box. Here are some pics....

This was the recipe I just posted about. Its just a list of the ingredients...

On the back I write what cookbook and page number...

Grab my cookbook (and chik out of the freezer)

And Im ready to cook. I feel like this saves me from re-writing all the recipes I love that it makes it easy to go grocery shopping. I can pick out the meals I want and figure out what I need to get. I seem to come off very organized with this  but again its hit or miss with me. I really like what I started and want to continue to do this. It really does help with trying out new recipes and not get stuck in the same old food rut. Hope you enjoyed this NERD ALERT...!!!

Winner Winner (parmesan) Chicken Dinner

This is what I made the other night and it was really good. Very very simple. Actually it was meant to be made in a slow cooker w uncooked rice but I just baked it and made the rice on the stove. Heres the recipe followed by some pics (I forgot a picture of the finished product)
Parmesan Chicken and Rice
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups milk
1 envelope of onion soup mix
6 boneless chick breasts (I only used 4)
6 T butter
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese
1 cup long cooking rice uncooked

*mix together soup mix onion soup mix and uncooked rice in a bowl and set aside
*place chicken in a lightly greased slow cooker place one tablespoon of butter on each piece of chicken. pour soup mix over top. sprinkle w salt pepper and parm cheese
*cover and cook on low for 8-10 or high 4-6 hours
*Again I just put this in a glass dish and baked it at 350 for maybe 30 min till chick was done and made rice on stove...

Here it is ready for the oven. It made a delicious gravy to put on the rice. This was super easy and very very tasty. Enjoy!

Last nights dinner, ham and scalloped potatoes...

My sister had left over ham that I gladly took off her hands and I made scalloped potatoes. They were PURE comfort food. Especially on a windy cold day like yesterday...

Start with some plain old white potatoes

Peel and cut into chunks...no very accurate but I think the pic helps

Bring to a boil till fork tender... meanwhile.. the sauce magic begins...

Start with a stick of butter (Paula Deen would be proud) and add one cup flour..

Cook till it forms a paste, sort of the texture of mashed potatoes. This helps cook out the floury taste...

Shred up some cheddar cheese, I ended up using the whole block. Add two cups of milk...at least to start

This is where you just have to use your judgement as to how thick you want it. It was very thick for me so I added more milk and the rest of the block of cheese. Cook till the cheese is mostly melted. Trust me you cant mess it up...

Mix with potatoes and put in oven proof bowl. Bake at 350 till it looks like this...

Its about 30-45 minutes...

Enjoy! I love that I got the steam coming off of it. This was really really delicious last nite... and leftovers for another day!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had this recipe on Facebook and it is truly one of my favorites. I made it Sunday afternoon.
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 bag of semi sweet choc chips

In a mixer combine butter, sugar, pumpkin and eggs. Beat well. In a seperate bowl mix dry ingredients (its nice to have a curly haired cutie to help)

Beat wet ingredients well

mix together dry ingredients. Add to wet and beat well. add choc chips. bake 350 for about 10 minutes...

Delish!

Time to enjoy!!

Pictures Pictures Pictures

I didnt realize how long its been since I blogged last. Drawing a blank I guess! But I took a ton of pictures of my Halloween decorating and some things I have baked the last day or two...

This is one of my dressers in my dining room. It was actually my dresser in my bedroom growing up

This is a table in my living room!

My dining room table!

This is a jelly cupboard on the other side of my dining room table. I have cancles and table clothes in it. It used to be my sisters. The door doesnt always stay shut but im dont want to part with it yet!

Random Recipe

To go along with my scattered mood I picked up a random cookbook and decided to post the first (ok third because i didnt like the first two i saw) recipe I came across. its called...
Pecan Butternut Squash Bake
1/3 cup softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
5 oz can evaporated milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups butternut squash cooked and mashed
-In a large bowl blend together butter and sugar beat in eggs evaporated milk cinnamon and vanilla.
-Pour into lightly greased 11x8 pan. bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until set. sprinkle with crunchy topping:
1/2 cup rice krispie cereal
1/4 c sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons melted butter.
-mix all in ingredients well top squash bake and cook for 5-10 more minutes. This sounds more like a dessert than a side dish.. either way enjoy! didnt mention cooking temp. im guessing standard 350 oven. hope to try this soon!

Scattered

Ok so today is  known as one of my scattered days. Im all over the place.  Probably because Im still tired from Halloween and just cant get focused. What I SHOULD be doing is cleaning our den/family room. This is where alot of the kids toys go and where our wii is. Theres alot of...stuff down there. alot. alot. Yesterday I decided to sit and re-organize my coupons...Now Im sitting here moving cookbooks around. I have had my caffeine and it isnt helping with my focus. Maybe a snickers will... anyway. I want to get the den organized because in a month it will be filled, ok bursting with more toys and games and it needs to be weeded out asap. The couponing stuff I did was because I want to try to donate some food or household products in the coming months as well as saving money- I hope to get a post up about couponing asap....maybe  after I decide what im baking today, and redoing the den, and doing the laundry and reading my cookbooks. Lets see if I can accomplish ONE task totally today. It wont be easy as my scattered days are more frequent that I would like. In the end it all gets (sorta) done it just may take a very strange and winding path to get there. Will let you know tonite what I accomplished, if anything!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween Hangover

Did anyone else wake up with a snickers wrapper stuck to their face, m and m's in their bed and a mary jane in their shoe? Or was that just me. Had to drag kids (ok one kid, my oldest) out of bed by his toes, hes happy but tired. Halloween has come and gone and all thats left is too much chocolate for me to be legally allowed to be home with. I woke up thinking... NOVEMBER 1st? HOW did that happen? I feel like I say that way to often. The swiftness with which time passes scares me as I see the kids growing daily and waking up to another milestone. Birthdays....done. Back to school... done. HALLOWEEN??... done. So sad. To make matters more crazy, and as if my kids werent hyped up enough yesterday they discovered the BIG CHRISTMAS TOY BOOK for toys-r-us. Christmas in toys in October...why not.
That being said I decided this year since I am not working to try and get some Christmas shopping done each week. Not necessarily to be DONE, but to spread out the spending that happens. Everything from gifts to extra groceries, wrapping paper and tape and extra nights of ordering food out. Anyway I need to literally and figuratively clear out the cobwebs from Halloween and get started on Thanksgiving prep. Am headed to one of my favorite stores today in hopes of some thanksgiving goodies. I KNOW! Im getting excited over buying a turkey roaster! Anyway- enjoy your day of stealing your favorite candy out of your kids trick or treat loot!!