I’ll be the first to admit that my cookbook collection is out of control. My husband would probably argue that I’m a borderline cookbook hoarder. Although, due to lack of space, my obsession has slowed down in recent years. I have cookbooks stored in three different rooms of my house. It’s kind of scary.
In a world where it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas earlier and earlier each year, I stand firm in my belief that the house doesn’t need to be decorated for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. It’s our family tradition to decorate the house the weekend after turkey day, as we’re enjoying the leftovers. This year, as I was thinking about getting the house together, I remembered a wonderful recipe for Hot Buttered Rum that a friend passed along to me years ago. Once I remembered it, I couldn’t get it out of my head! Thankfully, it doesn’t take long to make a batch, so my craving was easily taken care of.
As much as I love pumpkin, I think I might love pecan pie even more at Thanksgiving. I know that’s probably un-American and that the pilgrims are looking down on me with disgust, but I love, love, love good pecan pie. When I host Thanksgiving, I usually make sure that there’s a pecan pie right alongside the pumpkin on the dessert table. This year, these pecan pie bars will be there instead! I made up a batch of these to take to a party over the weekend and they were such a hit, and so easy, that I think Thanksgiving is the perfect excuse to make them for a second time in one week.
I’ve wanted to post this recipe for a while, and I’m kind of glad that I waited. While it’s not a traditional Thanksgiving side dish, it would certainly fit in well on a Thanksgiving table. Plus, it can go from side dish to main dish in an instant if you just add some grilled chicken or, perhaps, some leftover Thanksgiving turkey? Yep. In my mental calendar of “Where Things Belong on the Blog”, this fits well here.
I’ve already expressed to you my love of all things pumpkin around the holidays. Pumpkin just takes me to a warm fuzzy place. It’s the quintessential taste of fall, in my opinion. It seems only fitting that pumpkin pie would be the quintessential dessert on Thanksgiving. It’s always been there and always will be. There’s nothing wrong with that! But, I decided to change things up a bit when I cooked up Thanksgiving Dinner #1 over the weekend. We were not disappointed!
DISCLAIMER: I love to tell you about quick, easy recipes. You know I do. This recipe is far from quick. It is THE most time-consuming part of my Thanksgiving repertoire. That said, it’s something I’ve been asked by my family to make every year since I found the recipe 4 years ago. Plus, you can make it up to two days ahead of time, so it ends up actually saving you time on Thanksgiving day. It’s not difficult, at all, but you have to be patient with it. That said, here we go!
When I have to choose a dessert, nine times out of ten, I’ll pick something other than a fruit pie. I’m a cake person, through and through. There’s something about fall, though, that brings out the pie baker in me. It’s really the only time of year that I ever get a hankering for pie, and this thrills my husband. As into cake and chocolate as I am, he loves a good fruit pie. My husband’s mom and dad are visiting this week and they are pie people, too. So, in honor of it being fall and having three pie loving people in my house at one time, I baked a pie yesterday.
There’s just something about a good old-fashioned, slow cooked pot roast that makes me smile. It’s not fancy food, by any means, but it’s comforting and cozy, and we needed a little bit of that yesterday. For some reason, I’ve been craving pot roast lately. I think it’s my inner calendar at work. It’s November, so my brain thinks it’s time to turn to comfort food. I had been thinking all week about how I wanted to make a pot roast for dinner on Sunday, but did I make it to the grocery store before Sunday rolled around? No.
Oh, Pinterest. How I love thee. Today’s recipe is yet another great Pinterest find. If you’re not on Pinterest , and you’re looking for yet another way to spend time online, go ahead and check it out: http://pinterest.com/. I’m there!
The original recipe is from the beautiful food blog How Sweet It is. I am always looking for fun, new appetizers to share with friends and this one caught my eye for a few reasons. It’s easy to throw together, it’s not your everyday party app, and you can make it up to a week ahead of time! What could be better?
This post is for my husband. I made this broccoli slaw for a Halloween party we went to last weekend. Ever since then, I’ve been hearing at least once a day, “So, when are you going to post that slaw?” Last night, after I made dinner (see last night’s post here) and said I was heading to the computer to post on the blog, the first thing out of this mouth was, “You know, you haven’t blogged about that slaw yet.” So, this is for Aaron. I hope he approves and that it’s been worth the wait!