Thanksgiving Weekend

Hope you all had a great weekend filled with yummy food and fun times with loved ones. We had a very low-key holiday. Cooking and eating on Thursday, packing and relaxing on Friday, and decorating on Saturday. Get ready for the photo dump!

Red Lobster biscuits

Pumpkin Pie

Turkey

Aaaaand Andrew ate none of this haha

Sparkling Juices

Starting out the cooking!

Homemade stuffing

Snicker Salad

Green Bean Casserole

Cheesy Potatoes

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

DIY Pumpkin Spice Latte

...because I cannot get enough of all things pumpkin!

I found this at FoodNetwork.com and it looks SO simple and delicious, I may try it with decaff coffee just to see if it's as good so I can drink them more often, hehe :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons pure pumpkin puree
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, plus more for sprinkling
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup hot espresso or strong brewed coffee
• Sweetened whipped cream, for serving

Combine the milk, pumpkin puree, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla in a medium microwave safe bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and vent with a small hole. Microwave until the milk is hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk vigorously until the milk mixture is foamy, about 30 seconds.

Pour the espresso or coffee into a large mug and add the foamed milk. Top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Since anything chocolate sounds delicious lately, here’s this yummy recipe from allrecipes.com. I haven’t tried it yet but banana bread and chocolate? What’s not to love???

• 2 cups flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t salt
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 T milk
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• ½ cup softened butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan, preferably glass.
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir bananas, milk, and cinnamon in another bowl. Beat butter and sugar in a third bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs to butter mixture, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir banana mixture into butter mixture. Stir in dry mixture until blended. Fold in chocolate chips until just combined. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 70 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Classic Shirley Temple

Since just thinking about booze of any sort makes me drool over the thought of a hard cider, I'm forgoing a Friday cocktail recipe for a sort of mock-tail. I had these as a kid, as an adult... they are always delicious.

*I copied this directly from USA Today, in an article by Ashley M. Williams.


"It is said that in the late 1930s, a bartender at Chasen's in Beverly Hills invented the cocktail. The bartender made the drink for the young actress during the pinnacle point of her fame.

The sweet concoction would later become a fun drink asked for by kids and adults alike.

The Shirley Temple recipe

Ingredients:

3 ounces lemon-lime soda

3 ounces ginger ale

Dash grenadine

Maraschino cherry for garnish

Pour lemon-lime soda and ginger ale into a glass with ice cubes. Then, add a dash of grenadine. Finally, stir your refreshing drink and top it off with a cherry."


Enjoy! And cheers to the weekend! Here's a photo of the young lady herself (in the 1930s):

P.s. Did you know there's a movie about her life? I've seen it, oh about a hundred times - and love it. Here's a link. TTFN <3

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Yum. Seriously.

2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cup chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (4-1/2- to 5-pound) boneless or bone-in pork shoulder (also known as pork butt), twine or netting removed
2 cups barbecue sauce (optional)

1.) Place the onions and garlic in an even layer in the slow cooker and pour in the stock or broth. Combine the sugar, chili powder, measured salt, cumin, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Pat the pork dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture all over the pork and place the meat on top of the onions and garlic. Cover and cook until the pork is fork tender, about 6 to 8 hours on high or 8 to 10 hours on low.
2.) Turn off the slow cooker and remove the pork to a cutting board. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a medium heatproof bowl. Pour the onion mixture from the slow cooker through the strainer and return the solids to the slow cooker. Set the strained liquid aside.
3.) If the pork has a bone, remove and discard it. Using 2 forks, shred the meat into bite-sized pieces, discarding any large pieces of fat. Return the shredded meat to the slow cooker, add the barbecue sauce, if using, and mix to combine. If you’re not using barbecue sauce, use a spoon to skim and discard the fat from the surface of the strained cooking liquid, and then add 1/4 cup of the liquid at a time to the slow cooker until the pork is just moistened. Taste and season with salt as needed.

Mushroom Beef and grilled Asparagus

We made this for guests Saturday and it was soooo yummy! I have been making the entree for years, but the asparagus was a pleasent new surprise :)

Mushroom Beef:

• 1 Pkg of stew beef
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 packet dry onion soup mix
• Assorted cut-up veggies (I used thick slices of potato, onion and carrot)

Sprinkle the dry soup mix over beef, massage in the mushroom soup mix and toss in a baking bag. Then chop up the veggies (boil the potatoes and carrots first with some seasoning), season, toss into bag and shut.

Bake at 350 for about an hour depending on how much beef you use.

Cut open bag and dig in!

Grilled Asparagus:

• Bunch of asparagus
• Lemon zest
• Lemon juice
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Feta cheese

Toss the asparagus in olive oil and salt and pepper, then grill until limp.

Toss in zest, juice and feta (plus more salt and pepper).

Enjoy!! :-)

Stuff-your-face time!

At least, that's what Andrew must be thinking every meal time. You'd swear we starved that kid with how he shoves food in his mouth, haha!

Here is an example of a fairly routine week:

Monday:

Breakfast- we all had pancakes for breakfast (Syrup for me and hubby, applesauce for baby), and Andrew also got 7ish ounces of formula, some oatmeal and blueberries (I bought a package recently so we're using them almost everyday!)

Lunch- (hubby and I forgot to eat this day lol) bottle, apricot/pear/carrot pouch, tried cottage cheese for the first time (he was not the hugest fan).

Dinner- We all had some creamed peas on toast, and baby also had a bottle, applesauce and more cottage cheese (it is now a hit!)

Tuesday:

Breakfast- Coffee and bananas for the adults (we were running to a class first thing). Bottle, oatmeal and blueberries for the little one.

Lunch- Hubby and I shared an omelet. Bottle, mango banana yogurt smoothie pouch and applesauce.

Later we ate lots of Cheerios with our Cheerios book.

Dinner- We all tried Mushroom Quinoa for the first time....Andrew was the only fan haha. He also had a bottle, some spinach puffs, and 1/2 an avocado cut up and salted.

Wednesday:

Breakfast- Bottle, oatmeal and 1/2 a banana cut up and rolled in cheerio dust (we had toast with Nutella).

Lunch- Salads. The little man had a bottle, 1/2 an avocado, apple/carrot/squash pouch and blueberries.

Dinner- Pulled pork!! Plus Andrew had cottage cheese and soft carrot sticks.

Thursday:

Breakfast- We had our favorite sauteed potatoes and onions alongside scrambled eggs with cheese for Jesse and over easy eggs for me. Bottle, blueberries and egg yolk for baby.

Lunch- Tuna Fish sandwiches, toasted and with cheese. Andrew had some toast, cheese and tuna fish plus banana/raspberry/brown rice pouch, a bottle and blueberries.

Dinner- Leftovers! And a bottle, purple potatoes and Banilla yogurt.

Friday:

Breakfast- Pancakes (we usually don't have pancakes this often BUT we had pre-black friday browsing, a playgroup and grocery shopping to tackle this day. They were needed haha). Blueberries, oatmeal and a bottle.

Lunch- ON-THE-GO, banana/acai/granla pouch, cheerios, bottle, applesauce and we had Peanut Butter and banana sandwiches along.

Dinner- Tuna pasta, bottle and 1/2 an avocado.

Saturday:

Breakfast- Yogurt with granola for mama; bottle, oatmeal and banana for baby.

Lunch- Mango/apple/sweet potato greek yogurt pouch plus a bottle and avocado. Mama will probably have more leftovers (Daddy works all weekend).

Dinner- Chicken Kiev with Mashed Potatoes. Andrew will also have a bottle and ripe mango sticks.

Sunday:

Breakfast- Bottle, oatmeal, toast, egg yolk (Eggs and toast for mama).

Lunch- Leftovers. Bottle, cottage cheese, pears/peas/broccoli pouch.

Dinner- Auntie Annies. We will be at the mall all afternoon.... Andrew will try his first pretzel and also have a bottle, applesauce and some cheerios.

We also fill in gaps with all kinds of puffs, cheese crunchies, rice cakes and wagon wheels for baby. He is absolutely loving feeding himself :)

Shrimp Salad!

This was practically a staple meal when I was growing up... well maybe not entirely but I remember having it a lot and hubby and I have it at least once every two months or so. It's pretty quick, easy and cheap which is great for us haha! :)

P.s. all these pictures are from online. I was too busy making Andrew's dinner before he demanded another course and making the salad before hubby had to leave for work to take pictures....

You will need:

One can tiny shrimp

One box (or half box depending on the size) ring pasta

Mayonnaise

Mustard

and (my favorite) PICKLES! 

So you cook the pasta, it's a fast cook since there isn't much there. We always throw a good amount of salt into the water and add olive oil to the boiling water to keep pasta from sticking to the bottom.

Meanwhile, drain the shrimp into a container of some kind (you'll want the juice in a minute here).

Once pasta is cooked, drain and then drizzle the shrimp juice over the pasta. Shake once or twice then return to pan (not on hot burner). Add around two scoops of mayo and a good squirt of mustard. Then cut up your pickles (should be roughly the same size as the shrimp) - you can use as many as you want - and add to pot. I also add more salt and pepper plus a bit of garlic powder.

It's best while hot but is good cold too! Also, especially when it's cold it's lovely on some warm buttered toast! 

This is about what it will look like :)

Enjoy! :)