Thanksgiving Dinner

I'll admit, in recent years past, we have opted to buy a turkey dinner from the Target deli for Thanksgiving.  It's easy, reasonably priced, and pretty tasty.  This year, however, I was inspired to cook it all myself.  It was much more time consuming, but pretty delicious.  I particularly enjoyed the cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans.  Of course most of these are modified recipes from Paula Deen and The Pioneer Woman.  The links will take you to their original recipes.  

Cranberry-Orange Roasted Turkey-- Okay, this is actually from Taste of Home.  The only thing I did differently was stuffing the bird with orange quarters, instead of just the rind from one orange.   It turned out tender and moist.  It was good, but for some reason I'm just not a huge Thanksgiving-turkey fan...tastes too much like turkey, I guess.  It smelled totally delightful!

 

 

 

PW's Thanksgiving Stuffing-- I followed this recipe pretty much to the tee, and, oh my goodness, AMAZING.  I did add a little sage in addition to the herbs in the recipe, but that's really the only adjustment.  Side note(s)...according to the big shots on the Food Network, it's only "stuffing" if you cook it in the bird, otherwise it's "dressing."  Also, Rachael Ray had a great suggestion: save your bread butts!  When you polish off a loaf of bread, put the butts in the freezer, and you'll have your bread for stuffing/dressing or homemade croutons.  Brilliant.

PW's Creamy Mashed Potatoes-- SO good!  Creamy, warm, yummy goodness.  I mean, throw in almost two sticks of butter, cream cheese, and half & half, and it's got to be good, right?  I even used 1/3 reduced-fat cream cheese and fat-free half & half (just because that's what I keep on hand).  I added in some fresh chopped parsley too.  Super delicious. 

 

PW's Homemade Cranberry Sauce-- Tart, sweet, deliciousness.  Seriously, probably the best cranberry sauce I've ever had.  And I know my cranberry sauce...mostly because I use it to drown out the turkey flavor of the turkey, but whatever.  My point being, this is REALLY good stuff.  I did switch out the cup of pure maple syrup for a plain old cup of sugar just to be more cost-effective or something.  This also smells WONDERFUL when you're cooking it. 

Paula's Green Beans with Almonds and Caramelized Onions-- A wonderful substitute to the super creamy, traditional green bean casserole. 

Sweet Potato Casserole-- This is from Taste of Home too.  It's definitely a better alternative to the brown sugar and marshmallow covered variety.  WAY less sugar and fat.  It doesn't make you sick to eat it...which I like.  It yummy, creamy, and still sweet, just not "send-you-into-a-diabetic-coma" sweet.

Paula's Easy Yeast Rolls-- Easy indeed. Tasty. But, I wish they would have been bigger. 

Paula's Pumpkin Pie-- Creamy, pumpkin goodness.  I generally do not care for pumpkin pie (something about the texture), but this was good.  It has a thing of cream cheese in it (I used 1/3 reduced-fat), so I think that helped with my texture issue.  I used PW's Perfect Pie Crust recipe.  Also tasty.

That pretty much sums up my Thanksgiving dinner.  Been grazing on leftovers all day.  Well, technically just since noon.  I do the Black Friday thing, which you can judge me for if you want.  So, I didn't go to bed until 6:30 this morning, and I think I was up by 10...apparently dogs do not like to sleep in.  Bummer.  Anyways, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Baked Sweet Potato with Warm Black Bean Salsa

We have all heard that sweet potatoes are good for you, and that's true.  However, most of us (myself included) will generally take a baked sweet potato and load on the butter and brown sugar to eat it...which basically destroys the good nutritional value.  My point being, I was super excited to come across this recipe on Eating Well for sweet potatoes with warm black bean salsa.  It was very good.  I ended up adding a little more lime juice, and I used canned chopped tomatoes (no-salt added variety).  I also went dairy-free and cilantro-free, but that's just me.  More power to you, if you actually eat the skin...I can't do it.

 

This was a really easy thing to do.  I just baked one sweet potato at a time and kept the leftover salsa in the fridge until I needed it.  If you still want a sweet sweet potato, try to use a buttery spread like the kind by Smart Balance, use cinnamon, and sparingly use brown sugar or try the kind by Ideal.  

Also, PLEASE do not forget to get your Christmas shopping done through the Zambia Mission Fundraiser on my Scentsy website.  Just click here and get to shopping!  As my way of saying "thanks," I will send you a FREE bar of Midnight Fig :) 

Time to Give & Get

The holiday shopping season is coming upon us.  Something pulls at my heart every year when I'm out shopping (usually on Black Friday)... I'm getting all this stuff for me, my friends, and family.  While it's all nice to give to those we love, most of us don't really NEED it.  However, we like gifts. Our kids really like gifts. Just consider this: America spends an average of $450 billion a year every Christmas.  What if that $450 billion went towards a good cause?  What if we could still get gifts, yet give to someone in need at the same time?  

That is why I have opened up an online fundraiser with Scentsy to help the Zambia Mission.  This mission has been in my life for many years, and I'm actually planning to go in June 2012.  It is truly a great effort!  The mission efforts include spreading the gospel and running and maintaining 9 schools, 4 orphanages, and a health center.  So, I'm asking you to make this holiday season count.  From now until December 5th, you have the chance to make a difference by doing your holiday shopping with Scentsy.  When you order Scentsy products from my “Zambia Mission Fundraiser,” 20% of sales will be donated to the mission efforts in Zambia.

My goal is to give at least $500 to the Zambia Mission.  So please help me out and spread the word!  I know that those involved in the mission and myself greatly appreciate your support!  If you have any questions, feel free to holler at me :)