Happy Thanksgiving!

 The big boys are home and we are enjoying our time together.  I hope you have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving

 I didn't post a menu plan this week.  I actually did do one, but the big boys surprised us by coming home from college on Sunday instead of Tuesday and I just enjoyed having them home.  I did put together a menu plan, but it got all switched about with the early arrival.  But all was good, and everyone has been fed.  I'm so glad they came home early.  The time is going by too quickly though.

I started some Thanksgiving prep on Tuesday and will soldier on today.  The following is our Thanksgiving menu:

Classic Herb Stuffing I make Gluten Free bread in my bread machine for the "bread" part, then cut it into cubes and toast it in the oven.  I posted a link to the closest recipe I could find online, but the recipe I use is from an older Joy of Cooking recipe book.

Perfect Mashed Potatoes from Martha Stewart.  The boys love these.  They really are perfect.  I make 10 pounds.

Sweet Potato Casserole Due to nut allergies, I leave out the nuts and add more marshmallows.

Gluten Free Gravy This isn't the recipe I use, but it's close (I do not add soy sauce, and I do add other seasonings like thyme, sage, and rosemary).  My original recipe came from a blog called Gluten Free Girl.  I don't think the blog is available anymore.

Cranberry Sauce Every year I make this.  And every year no one eats it.  It's a tradition (lol).

Green Beans with Bacon from The Hillbilly Kitchen.  Some years I make a green bean casserole, some years just plain green beans.  I'm trying this one for 2022.

Libby's Pumpkin Pie I just use the recipe on the back of the can.  I sub Ener-G egg replacer for the egg, and I use Wholly Wholesome GF Pie Shells for the crust.  Many, MANY years I struggled trying to make a gluten free, egg free, nut free crust that didn't fall apart and was still edible.  I found these shells a few years ago and never looked back.  They work just fine.

The Turkey Sometimes I use a roasting bag, sometimes I don't.  I basically I combine the butter and herbs and rub down the bird under the skin and on top of the skin.  My husband will fry a turkey too and his brine and seasonings are his own concoction.  He's in charge of that one. My baked turkey is pretty simple and classic (and yes, I stuff it... ssshhh don't tell one.  I know it's now a no-no).  This is my turkey roasting pan and I swear it does all the magic.  It's not that I'm a good turkey cook, it's that you can't go wrong with this pan. 

I hope you have a happy, blessed Thanksgiving!  

Wednesday Words: Thanksgiving Edition

 

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

 Here we are!  Post Thanksgiving, Pre Christmas, in the midst of Advent.  It's kind of a blur.

The oldest came home from college a few weeks ago, and just finished finals yesterday.  It's such a joy to have him home, but I forgot how much he eats.  There is NO food in the house!  I think he's making up for lost time.  The cafeterias on campus were scaled back due to Covid and the food offered was not what it should have been.  

Thanksgiving was spent with just the five of us.  It was nice and it was quiet.  We enjoyed the day even though we missed the grandparents.

I turned 51 last weekend.  But we are not going to talk about that.

And Christmas is coming!  I'm pretty much done with shopping.  I have a few gift cards to get but that is it.  I haven't wrapped a thing yet.  But I'm not worried about that.  It will get done.  I have all the fixings to make cookies and treats so I'm thinking that I'll start that around December 20.  If I make them too early, they will eat them all and we'll have none on Christmas.

I'm not sure how we will be handling extended family this year.  I do not want to miss a Christmas with the grandparents but I don't want to pass them Covid either.  I pray we can find a way.  Life is too short and while we are being very careful, I don't want to miss such a major holiday with extended family.  Next year isn't guaranteed.  

The house is decorated.  It has been since the day after Thanksgiving.  I keep tweaking it, but it's all done.  I love the decorations.  Part of me wants to keep them up all year.  But then they wouldn't be special, would they?  And the youngest was able to see Santa!  A local church had a drive up, Covid friendly Santa.  Thank goodness we didn't have to miss Santa this year too.

School for the younger two boys ends next week.  One is actually going to school, while the other is virtual for now.  The high school just had too many children quarantined to keep classes in person.  

I don't want to lament about Covid.  We are all in the same boat.  But I'd like to get out of this boat please (and take all of you with me).  I know it's not done, but I am done with it.  

Did I mention that we got 2 feet of snow in a day last week? Yes we did.  The boys were off of school for 4-5 days and people were out of power from Sunday night until Thursday.  We were blessed and were only out from 5 am until 4 pm on Monday.  Nothing like getting ALL THE SNOW in one day.

And luckily the roads were clear and the zoo had power that Wednesday for our drive through the "zoo lights" night.  The lights were beautiful and it was nice to get out and do a family friendly activity together.

From Thanksgiving, a birthday, Christmas, to New Years

 SO MUCH has gone on since mid November.

First we had Thanksgiving.  There were 11 of us.  And this year we did two turkeys.  One I did traditionally in the oven and the other my husband fried.  It was a nice, relaxing day.  I love Thanksgiving.  It's just a relaxed holiday with zero expectations.

The power went out the day before Thanksgiving but I was still able to get prep done with my handy dandy headlight lamp

The main table.  We also had a kids table in the kitchen.

The oven baked turkey.

Next up was my 50th birthday.  I'd rather not even discuss turning 50, but it did happen.  My husbands company Christmas party was at our house on my birthday weekend, so my husband planned the celebration for the following week.  I requested NO PARTY and I put my mom in charge of making sure that no party happened.  She did a great job because of course my husband wanted to do a party.  But instead he planned a night at a local glass works where we made Christmas ornaments and then went to dinner.  It was a fun night with just our family of 5, my parents, and my mother in law.

Me getting some instruction on working with glass.

Next up is Christmas.  It was a wonderful day spent with family.  The boys loved all their gifts and I love watching them open them.  It's 6 months worth of effort over in 45 minutes.  But I wouldn't have it any other way.

This years tree.

A gift from his big brother.

The aftermath.

And lastly New Years Eve.  It was another quiet night with just the 5 of us to start with and then just 4 of us because the 17 year old went to a friends house.  We usually do fondue, but we decided to have homemade chicken wings and French fries.  I bought everything for the fondue, but we were too full for it so maybe we'll use it this weekend instead.  After food, we decided to watch The Swiss Family Robinson on Disney+.  3 of the 4 of us made it to midnight.  The 7 year old went down at 11 pm.

Some of the wings.

I love homemade fries

The fondue pots were on standby.  Maybe we'll use them this weekend instead.

I can't believe the holidays are over.  It just goes by so fast.  But it was good and I couldn't ask for anything more.  Now on to the new year.  I'm hoping to get this house more organized in the new year.  I'm joining The Bowl Full of Lemons 2020 Home Organization Challenge.  I follow her on Instagram and I find her so inspirational.  I may or may not update my organizing here.  So stay tuned for future updates on how that's going and also what our family is doing in 2020.  Lots of major happenings this year!

A Thankful Month

 I can't believe we are moving into mid-November.  I feel like Christmas is right around the corner (and I am SO trying not to stress about it...  I will not be stressed this Christmas.  I will be a bucket of  peace and calmness...).

This is also the month for Catholics to remember the ones that we've lost (All Souls Day is in the beginning of the month, but we can carry this through all month long).  We currently have a bowl on the kitchen counter with any prayer cards of friends and family that we have lost and a list of names for those we have lost but don't have cards for.  It's a reminder to keep praying for them and to keep praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

I sat down this morning and wrote out my Thanksgiving menu and my grocery list.  I usually start cooking the Tuesday before (making the cranberries and the gluten free bread for the stuffing).  Pie, sweet potato casserole, and green bean casserole are done on Wednesday.  And I save the Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, and turkey for Thursday.  I feel less stressed doing this in steps and with a plan.  All of this needs to be free of wheat, rye, barley, oat, egg, peanut, and tree nut.  I've been doing it for so many years that it's not a problem, but when I first started out, things came out not so well but everyone was kind enough to not complain.  My biggest issue is usually the gluten free, egg free pie crust.  There was one year where it took me 3 hours to get the pie to a point that it would be edible.  And then I accidentally dropped it on the floor while taking it out of the oven.  It was a sad, sad day.  So I had to start all over again at 9 pm making a whole new pie.  Thankfully the movie Gone With The Wind was on that night to help get me through.

Christmas music started on Sirius XM November 1st.  While I have been thankful for that, it has taken my kids a few weeks to come around.  But they are into it now too.  I'm considering putting up one of our Christmas trees this week too.  I know it's a tad early, but I am SO READY!!  I've been watching Hallmark Christmas movies since they started also.  Being the only female in the house, I can honestly say that I truly am the only one thankful for the Hallmark Christmas movies.  But we have enough TV's in the house that it all works out fine.

Last week, I started to buy a few things for Christmas.  Just for the boys.  I have a list, but they change their minds on things so frequently, that I don't want to do too much yet.

I also bought a few new Christmas-y smelling candles last week.  I LOVE scented candles and I usually buy my candles from Yankee Candle, but this year I thought I had a gift card to Bath and Body Works (turned out it was for Bed, Bath and Beyond... I should learn to read better) so I went there and am going to try their 3 wick candles which I have not tried before.  They were on sale, so I hope I like them and that they have good "throw".

I still have to do the family Christmas card.  I usually make it on one of those "online photo sharing sites".  But I'm not sure exactly what I want to do yet.  I was thinking that if I put up the small tree, maybe I could gather the boys around it and take a photo and use that.  I usually use ones that we took throughout the year, but I feel like it's gotten old and maybe we need to mix it up a bit.  Whatever I'm going to do, I better figure it out soon because I usually send out the cards the first week of December.

So that's the current happenings in a nut shell.  I'm just trying to remember to be thankful for everything this month.  I hope it becomes more of habit and I will remember all the things to be thankful for EVERY month.

Links:

My Pinterest Thanksgiving Recipe Board

Bath and Body Works 3 wick candle page

Hallmark Countdown to Christmas 2018

My favorite turkey roaster from Granite Ware (Walmart link)  I have a small version of this that I use for roasting chicken too.  They are great and they clean up very well.

More about November and the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory from CatholicCulture.org

(these are NOT affiliate links and I get no compensation for sharing them. I'm just sharing some things that I like)