web analytics
  • Happy Thanksgiving

    In the spirit of the holidays I’m going to *try* to blog more.  I won’t say work has settled down yet but I’m hoping it will.

    Mom and dad moved into their new house about 2 weeks ago.  When they found it, I told mom they were having Thanksgiving if they were in by then.  They were, so we did.  Mom invited Matt’s parents as well so we had a nice family Thanksgiving.

    Thursday morning Matt helped me pack my car with all the things I would need to cook my dishes –  mac & cheese, corn casserole, and homemade rolls.  Mom picked up the rest of the items I would need for sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes.  I got to their house around 10:30 and we started cooking.  Well actually we walked around the house and mom showed me what she’d been up to with decorating.  Then we I started cooking.  We cooked, watched TV and talked, cooked a little more and by 3:00 almost everything was ready to be put in the oven.  Matt and his parent’s arrived and the ladies finished up the last of the cooking.  Dad had to work till 3:00 so he fried the turkey on Wednesday however, it worked out well because we weren’t trying to cook while he was trying to cook/fry/cut a turkey.

    Around 5:00 everything was hot and ready to go.  We had a nice dinner.  After we sat around and watched football for a while.  Finally around 8:30 Matt and I and his parents headed back to our house.  We threw in a movie and I proceeded to pass out.  Talk about tired.

    Friday his parents left and I convinced Matt to run to Garden Ridge to look for a new taller Christmas tree.  Little did I know, they don’t do black Friday deals!  BOOO!  I knew it didn’t look crazy busy when we drove up.  Anyway, we found something we needed for a gift but came away empty handed on the Christmas tree.

    I think Saturday needs it’s own post. 😉  If you know me you know why!  WAR EAGLE!

    ~k

  • Happy Thanksgiving!

    Matt and I had a nice thanksgiving day. We woke up, finished straightening up the house and waited to begin lunch. Matt put the turkey in the fryer a little after noon and my parents arrived around 1:30. I started the rolls when they arrived and then began cooking around 2:00. Everything went fairly well and by 4 we were almost ready to eat. The stupid corn casserole took a lot longer to cook than the recipe said but it turned out to be a fan favorite.

    On the menu this year we had turkey, of course, dressing – it was okay, Mac and cheese, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, green bean casserole – which was actually my least favorite dish, and homemade dinner rolls. I think we now have an Edwards family menu. I can’t believe I forgot to take a pic of our spread. 🙁

    I mentioned I was making homemade apple pie on Wednesday night. Peeling the apples was the WORST but making the crust was pretty easy. The pie itself was delicious. It is definitely getting added to the menu but not until I get an apple peeler. I told Matt he was lucky he hadn’t asked for this or he would have been peeling apples. Ugh! I did take pics of the apple pie process so I will share those. 🙂

    20121126-175733.jpg

    20121126-175740.jpg

    20121126-175746.jpg

    20121126-175752.jpg

    I hope everyone had a great day!

    ~k

  • Faux Thanksgiving

    Last week, Matt decided he wanted to fry a turkey this weekend so we picked one up at the grocery store along with a few other items for our Thanksgiving meal. We decided we would run to Costco and get another turkey for Thanksgiving. Well while at Costco yesterday we couldn’t find a turkey the right size for Thanksgiving so we grabbed a smaller one to fry when we got home. We didn’t think it was frozen until Matt started to cut it open and then he realized the inside was still just a tad frozen.

    Matt put the bird in the fryer and we let it cook for a while before I started a few side items. I made some sweet potatoes, which were delicious and stuffing. The stuffing was a little lacking for me and I added some cranberries to my side. I think I’m going to have to play with that a little more. It was also a little too gooey so I’ll adjust my cooking on Thursday. We also made some gravy. It was pretty tasty but it wasn’t quite thick enough for my taste so we might adjust that a little bit more as well.

    The bird looked pretty delicious out of the fryer but there were a few spots close to the bone not quite cooked. We just ate around it. 🙂 It was delicious. I’m kind of glad we did a little test run before Thursday, not that we really did anything on the menu but dinner was yummy!

    20121119-155900.jpg

    ~k

  • Biting off more than I can chew?

    This year Matt’s parents will be in England for Thanksgiving and his brother will be working in Atlanta.  My parents are now about 15 minutes away so they will be joining us for Thanksgiving.  This will be the first time in about 3 years I think.

    Since Matt and I have been together, I have been determined for us to find our own Thanksgiving traditions, including foods.  The past few years we done this and that with the hopes of finally nailing down a menu but this year, this year I am going to do all of the cooking myself (I’ve even labeled all my recipes so I will have them moving forward).  Matt will deep fry (with our oil-less fryer) the turkey and I will make the sides.

    We sat down the other day and came up with a rough menu.  Yesterday at work I started looking for recipes for the items we want to have.  I guess everything on the menu is pretty standard but I really want our kids (and us too) to look forward to the familiar foods that are Thanksgiving.  I am also adding a few new items to our menu this year including homemade rolls and an apple pie.  🙂  I had a test run with the rolls a month or two ago so I know what to expect but I’ve never made an apple pie.  Honestly I’m looking forward to this little experiment.  I’ve decided to make the pie the day before.  This should allow me plenty of time to cook the food without worrying about dessert.  I also plan to prep a  few items the night before so I can just throw them in the oven when I’m ready.

    Hopefully the day will be semi-stress free if I have a plan.  I’m sure the wine will be flowing so that will also help. 😉

    ~k

     

  • Thanksgiving

    Went really well.  This was mine and Matt’s first year really hosting.  Matt fried the turkey and I made maple sweet potatoes, mac and cheese and green bean casserole.  Matt’s mom made the corn casserole and two stuffings.  Everything was delicious.

    I must say I’m pretty impressed with my cooking skills.  Everything I made, with the exception of the chocolate meringue pie, were new recipes.  I know most of this stuff isn’t super hard anyway but I am still proud of myself.  They are recipes that will be added to our Thanksgiving Dinner menu.

    Thanksgiving table

     

    Matt prepping the turkey

     

    The bird

     

    The fried turkey

     

    Corn casserole, stuffing, mac and cheese

     

    Mac and cheese

     

    My dinner plate.  Yum!

     

    Last but not least, delicious chocolate meringue pie.

    I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

    ~k

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Hello November

    Today I had lunch outside with the hubs.  Actually we’ve had the windows open for a few days now and one might even say it’s a bit warm in here.  Literally, it’s kind of hot in the house, in NOVEMBER!  I am not going to complain though.  This weather has  been amazing for this time of year.

    I hope the weather stays this way for a few more days.  With Thanksgiving only a few days away, it would be nice to enjoy the season, a warm season that it.

    And while I’m at it, wish me luck.  I will be cooking my first Thanksgiving meal, mostly by myself.  Matt will be frying our turkey in the new oil less turkey fryer.  {We did a test run over the weekend with a small turkey breast and it turned out pretty nice.}  Tomorrow night I will start working on the desserts.  EEEKKK!

    I’ll be back next week to let you know how it all went.

    Happy Thanksgiving!

    ~k