Thanksgiving 2012 Recap

Our Thanksgiving this year was pretty low-key.  Just my little family!  :)  My mom spent the day with Grandma Alice, so no turkey was to be had there, and Jay's parents had already made other arrangements since all the "kids" were going to be away.  It was actually really fun to make the entire dinner and all the other fun stuff that goes along with a Thanksgiving feast!  (I mean, who doesn't love to get up at 4 a.m. to put the turkey in?!) :)  I just did the crockpot variety, but it was delicious!  The weather was fantastic most of the day, so we were able to walk off some of our stuffing to make room for homemade pie (with a scratch crust - I was even impressed with myself!)  

The day before the feast, Ella & I set out to pick up a few holiday presents (we are ON THE BALL this year!)  We stopped by Macy's so Ella could write her postcard to Santa:

According to this postcard to Santa, she wants a baby, a bear and umm....a clock!  HA!  She couldn't think of something so she glanced up and saw this "clock" at the Santa mail station, so of course then she wanted that.

We spent some time at the park even!  Such a rare treat for the end of November!

Next up for the pre-feast?  Pie making of course!  Here's some pictures I took along the way.  The recipe was from the Better Homes & Garden November issue- check it out - the pie was delicious!  Their picture (on the cover of the issue) totally trumps mine, but I think you'll agree that the turkey pie crust cut-outs are ADORABLE!! 

I have to comment here about this above photo.  So, I don't have pie weights nor did I have a bag of dry beans in the house, so I had to improvise in order to pre-bake the crust.  I was searching all over the kitchen, thought about using rice (and thankfully thought better of it) and ended up using some of our polished (washed of course) rocks from our trips up to the North Shore.  I mean COME ON!  Totally hick!  I was laughing the whole time.  But, they worked great, so there's a good tip for you to file away for pie making!

Ella got a bit bored during the pie making, so she had to check out her new Elmo's World Happy Holidays movie (with Baby of course!)

 Carmel apple pie filling

 Cherry / cranberry mixture

YUM! (see the turkeys?!)

 

 

I am so blessed to have these two turkeys in my life.  We had a wonderful weekend (despite Ms. Ella's new 'tude), but still, she's 3, and we'll work on the listening....and not saying no to everything I ask...and above all else, being thankful for this little family of ours. 

Princess

Ms. Ella attended her very first non-family birthday party after preschool a few Fridays ago (a little late getting this post up!).  Her preschool friend Joy turned 4 on the 13th (we share birthdays!).  Joy's mom had a princess tea party (pizza too!) and Ella had a great time.  I snapped this pic of her after the girls dressed up for the tea party:

She didn't want to wear the Rapunzel dress because she already has that one at home (ha!) so she went low-key princess with the tulle skirt and giant tiara.

Continuing with the princess theme, Disney Junior debuted a soon-to-be new series Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess.  Ella and I watched it together, and I thought it was really cute.  Cinderella even made an appearance at the end.  We're looking forward to the new episodes coming next year.  Here's the best I could get of her during the show.  I wish the picture could better capture her excitement!!

Cookies to gobble up!

Happy post-Thanksgiving week!  I tried this new recipe for our holiday this year and not only will your house smell amazing but the treats taste delicious too!  Perfect for your  upcoming Christmas cookie exchanges!  And, egg free.

Source adapted from: Holiday Baking by Sara Perry

Maple Ginger Cut-out Cookies

1 1/4 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 C. butter, at room temperature
1/2 C. packed light brown sugar
1/2 C. maple syrup (the real stuff!)
2 tbsp. orange juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest

How To:

1.  Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, allspice and cinnamon.

2.  In Kitchenaid mixer, beat butter on medium speed until creamy (recipe notes approx. 30 seconds).

3.  Beat in brown sugar until no lumps remain.

4.  Beat in maple syrup, orange juice and lemon zest, scraping bowl to fully incorporate all ingredients as necessary.

5.  Add half of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until blended, then add remaining flour mixture and scrape sides/beat until blended.

6.  Shape dough into flat disc shape (approx. 6" diameter) and wrap in plastic wrap.

7.  Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

8.  Line baking sheet with parchment and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

9.  Roll dough on a greased silpat or silicone mat to 1/4 inch thick. Tip: Spray the rolling pin for easier rolling!  Also, re-refrigerate dough scraps before re-rolling!

10.  Create cut-outs using a 3" turkey shaped cookie cutter (or cutter of choice).

11.  Bake 8-10 minutes until lightly browned on the bottom. Be careful not to overbake!

12.  Allow cookies to set up on pan before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

13.  Gobble them up, or frost using your favorite cookie frosting!  Note: I had grand plans to frost these turkeys but I ended up skipping it and leaving them.  They are SO delicious!! 

Here's my trusty kitchen companion

Pull Apart Apple Bread

I found this recipe for an apple pull apart bread on Pinterest a while back and decided to give it a go last week.  In reading the recipe I was a little intimidated because (a) I haven't had much luck with making dough and getting it to rise properly and (b) the stacking (you'll see what I mean in a bit) seemed tricky.  But, I thought I'd try and see.  Feeling ambitious?  Here's the recipe I used along with a few pictures along the way (source: http://half-bakedbaker.blogspot.ca/2012/09/apple-cinnamon-pull-apart-bread.html):

Dough:
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter, melted

1/3 cup lukewarm milk
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package instant yeast (equivalent to 2 1/4 tsp.)

Apple Layer:
2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 Granny Smith apples peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

Topping:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

How-To:

1. Whisk together the butter, milk, water, eggs, and vanilla extract.

2. Using the Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook - Mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast, then add the wet ingredients. Mix and knead until the dough is smooth. If dough seems too dry add a little water, if it seems too sticky add just a little flour, up to a 1/4 cup.  I had to add a little more water to make the dough come together.

3.  Dough goes in a lightly greased bowl (cover and rest until doubled in size - approx. 1 hour).  Note, I just left my dough in the Kitchenaid mixer bowl

4.  Turn out the dough onto a lightly greased surface. The original posting tip was genius!  I just sprayed my silicone silpat mat with Pam cooking spray! Roll the dough into a 12" x 20" rectangle, mine wasn't this big - I did what I could!

5.  Mix vanilla into melted butter.  Brush dough with butter mixture.

6.  Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over dough.
7.  Sprinkle the cinnamon evenly over brown sugar layer.
8.  Add an even layer of apples.
9.  Cut the dough into six even strips, about 3" wide and then stack the strips on top of one another.
See:

10. Cut the stack into six pieces, about 2" wide, like so:

11. Turn & layer the cut pieces vertically in a greased loaf pan one in front of the other.

12. Cover the pan and allow the loaf to rise for 30 to 45 minutes, until dough reaches top of pan.
13. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes in the center of the oven, tenting it with foil after 30 minutes.
14.  Cool 15 minutes, then turn onto wire rack.
15.  Mix & drizzle glaze over bread while warm
While still slightly warm, spoon the glaze over the top of the bread.

YUM!  The final picture doesn't do the bread justice.  It was good and wasn't really as difficult as I was thinking it would be.  However, for the dough rising, it took a long time from start to finish.

Let's See....

Here we are, on my 34th Birthday.  Wow.  34 seems really old.  But it's not.  But it is.

I've been a bit behind in the blogging.  Last weekend (deer opener) Jay was "up north" in Morris area for another lack luster year of hunting.  Ella & I traveled to Worthington to visit Grandma Alice, Grandpa Gary and Grandma Dianne and Grandma Deb.  It was a nice weekend and we had fun seeing everyone. 

This past weekend was a little crazy.  Grandma Jolyn was in the hospital unexpectedly Thursday night and released Saturday night.  She was having extremely high blood pressure.  Thankfully they seem to have it stabilized now with medicine.  This week we're taking turns staying home with Ella and then next week it sounds like Jolyn will be back to the routine.  We want her to rest up and keep herself healthy!  Especially to have the energy to keep up with Ms. Ella!

I spent the weekend shopping like a maniac with my mom & sister in town (Shakopee) with family and friends.  It's the annual craft sale weekend!  It was fun.  I think we all got started on the Christmas shopping and I scored some sweet deals at Macy's on Saturday!  And we ate - A LOT!  I've definitely caught the buzz of the holiday season already.  Like I kind of want to put up the decorations already....but I won't!  It's SO early....sort of.  My Pinterest boards are filling up with fun decor ideas and the desserts I've got to try!!  I can't wait!

Birthday dinner (and maybe a delicious treat?) tonight.  At least there's that.

And since I don't have any pictures that relate to the post....

 

 My birthday buddy today!

It's your thing....do what you wanna do

Hope you are all voting today - it's your right!  Don't waste the opportunity!

I am SOOO excited to vote tonight and proudly display my red "I VOTED" sticker.  For those of you who already voted, I'm so jealous.  You get to rock your red sticker all day!  Lucky!

Our brief Halloween excursion

We had a good, but short, Halloween night last night.  Ella was so excited about going, but once we were out and about, she asked (literally less than 3 houses from us) if it was time to go back home yet!?!  So....I don't think she really liked the darkness maybe (?) not sure, but oh well.  We handed out snacks to the other trick-or-treaters at home, and it's always fun to see their costumes!  Here's a few of our little cupcake!