Mandy and Jace

Happy December everyone!

We had such a great weekend! Saturday my wonderful, amazing husband put up a television for me in my bathroom, twice. Yes, twice.

I had told him I wanted it closer to the ceiling so I can see it from the bath tub then when he put it up I noticed that it was a bit to high. I sat and thought about it for a while because I didn’t want to ask him to take it back down and move the wall mount, but finally I ended up saying something and he was so great. He took it down and lowered it for me. I know he was cursing me in his mind but bless his heart, he didn’t say a word. Now that’s love!

Sunday, I got to watch my baby brother, my cousin and some friends jump out of a plane. No, I didn’t jump myself. It was VERY cold and I think it would be much more pleasant when it’s warmer. I was freezing on the ground much less flying through the icy air. They jumped right at sunset though, and I took some beautiful photos of them jumping into the orange and pink sky.







This week I HAVE to eat healthy. I haven’t fallen down on my diet, I’ve jumped off a cliff. So even though it’s no fun I’ll be eating only what will keep me from starving. I hate doing that because I have a very loving relationship with my food, but I have to look good for all the photos at all the parties we are going to be at this month. The plan doesn’t look very healthy, but it’s all about portion size for me.

Here is this week’s plan.
Tonight: chicken and pasta in a veal cream sauce
Tuesday: Strip steak, potato cakes and corn
Wednesday: on-the-go burritos
Thursday: Christmas party
Friday: date night

Happy eating!

We had an excellent Thanksgiving here. Everyone fit into our house and the meal turned out great. I learned several things in the thanksgiving meal process. First, it’s much easier to defrost your turkeys in the bath tub; second, that two bags of potatoes make way too much mashed potatoes; and, third, home-made rolls make great sweet potato sandwiches the next day. The next morning instead of shopping we slept in late and then we went and bought our Christmas tree. This is the first time I’ve ever had a real tree and it turned out gorgeous. No, I’m not a black friday shopper. I don’t care for crowds of pushy people who haven’t slept so they are all in terrible moods. I’d rather shop online from my VERY comfortable bed in my pajamas. Saturday, Mom broke into the Christmas stash and let me shoot my gun that I’m getting for Christmas. We all went shooting and it was a blast. I’m slowly getting better!

Here are some photos of our weekend.

I named the turkeys Martin and Herman.

Here is this week’s meal plan.

Tonight: turkey pot pie made with some of the tons of leftover turkey
Tuesday: chicken and rice
Wednesday: pizza (not sure what kind)
Thursday: take out after practice
Friday: special service at church

Happy eating!

It’s Thanksgiving week! I am very excited to get things rolling towards the big day. I have my menu planned and a timeline set up to make sure everything gets done, I think I’m ready. Another thing that I am very excited about is the beginning of the holidays. The official start date to my Christmas is as soon as the Thanksgiving meal is cleaned up and put away. Cue the music and get the tree out of the attic, the Holidays are here! I’m getting out my Trans-siberian Orchestra, Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall Christmas albums now and making sure I have all of the decorations I’m going to need.

Here is this weeks meal plan up to Thursday.
Tonight: Beef tacos with refried beans plus making the cornbread for Thursday
Tuesday: Chicken and pasta in a veal cream sauce with herbes de provence. Also, make the brine for the turkey, make the compound butter to go on the turkey and make two pumpkin pies
Wednesday: Teriyaki white rice with veggies. Then put turkeys in the brine, cut the potatoes, clean house and set up tables and chairs. That’s going to be a busy night.

Last but not least here is the Thanksgiving menu.

• roasted turkey with an herb compound butter
• deep fried creole turkey
• honey glazed ham
• cornbread dressing
• mashed potatoes and gravy
• macaroni and cheese
• corn
• home made rolls
• cranberry sauce
• sweet sweet potatoes
• deviled eggs
• pumpkin pie
• pecan pie

3 things:

1. I probably won’t ever cut a whole pumpkin again to cook with. Took way too long and I lost interest 5 minutes into the process, which made the rest of the 45 minutes seem like an eternity. Never say never though.

2. I have a slight obsession with cookie cutters. Once I get going I can’t stop.

3. I don’t like pumpkin spice lattes. I know I should but they just taste like cinnamon and dirt. Can’t do it.



My love of pumpkin (minus the latte) originated with pumpkin pie. I remember mom would make me little pies of my own. They were actually just baked pie filling without the crust but I would eat them like the world was about to end, and I would still eat them if you gave them to me. Yum!



I first saw this beautiful way of decorating pies from my sister-in-law. I never dreamed it was that easy to make an absolutely gorgeous pie. It is also really fun to make! I just use frozen pie crust. If you are an overachiever and want to make your crust, here is an excellent recipe.




Pumpkin Pie
adapted from the Libby’s recipe on the side of the pumpkin puree jar

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15oz) pumpkin puree
1 can (12 fl oz) evaporated milk
2 frozen pie crusts at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Roll the thawed pie crust into the pan and fold the outside of the dough over the sides of the pan.

Combine the sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a small bowl and set aside.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl and then stir in the pumpkin, evaporated milk and sugar mixture.

Pour the filling into the pie crust.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for another ten minutes so the pie will set a little bit and the leaves won’t sink into the pie.

While the pie is cooking roll out the other pie crust and cut the leaves you want with a cookie cutter.

Pull the pie out of the oven and arrange the pie crust leaves on top, being gentle so they won’t sink.

Bake the pie for 30-35 minutes more until a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool and cut. Refrigerate if you happen to have any leftovers.

There are only 11 more days until Thanksgiving and I am a mixture of nerves and excitement over here. We have done a couple of recipe run throughs. Some of them worked great but others still need some work. We are going to make the cornbread stuffing again to tweak it a little bit. It didn’t come out exactly like we thought it was going to last week. I am also going to make some yeast rolls this week, and if they come out well I plan on freezing them so on Thanksgiving all I have to do is re-warm them.

Here is this week’s plan.
Tonight: Pancakes, bacon and eggs
Tuesday: Pork chops and cornbread stuffing
Wednesday: grilled sandwiches
Thursday: take out after practice
Friday: date night

Happy eating!