Category: countdown to Thanksgiving

Posted in countdown to Thanksgiving, menu plan monday

Menu Planning Monday – Week of November 23

Posted on by traci
Menu Plan Monday

Hello!  Happy Thanksgiving week!

Last week, I didn’t make a menu s,o our eating was crazy.  Actually, it was a crazy part of the week.  This week, I will have a plan since it’s Thanksgiving week.  I need to simplify my life this week.

My Menu

Monday – Leftovers from Saturday’s and Sunday’s meals – either chili or cheeseburger pie – If you don’t want either of those, you can make yourself a sandwich.

Tuesday and Wednesday – One day, we will have pumpkin chili and the other day we will have pulled pork sandwiches from the freezer.  We have new bbq sauce from Jungle Jim’s that Hubby wants to try.

Thursday – Thanksgiving Dinner (Link with menu and printables)

Friday – Leftovers

Prep for this week:

Monday – peel and cut potatoes, soak potatoes in water, peel and cut up carrots, hard boil the eggs in the oven, and pull out the Cool-Whip from the freezer.

Tuesday – peel eggs & put in red beet/vinegar mixture, drain potatoes and cook in the slow cooker, make mashed potatoes, make the pumpkin pie sheet cake, make the makes it own crust apple pie, & white salad

Wednesday – Make Honey Glazed Carrots, Macaroni and cheese and Cheese, and Stuffing; cut up veggies for the veggie tray; make Monkey Bread for breakfast and Young’s Dairy Pumpkin Muffins, pull pulls, cranberry relish, and pumpkin butter out of the freezer.

Thursday – Make green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole, Bake the rolls, Whip the whipping cream, put together the relish and veggie tray, and enjoy the dinner

Have a great Thanksgiving!
Traci

Posted in countdown to Thanksgiving, Menu planning

Thanksgiving Menu with Printables

Posted on by traci
Countdown to Thanksgiving

It’s a week until Thanksgiving s,o I thought I would share my menu for next week. I will include grocery list and a printable of the menu with a link to all of the recipes on my two cooking blogs.

The grocery list is divided into different areas of the grocery store. It also has a key to all the recipes so you can cross out the ingredients you don’t need if you are not going to cook those recipes.

You could also visit my Countdown to Thanksgiving for other recipes if you would like something different ththanhat I put on my menu.  🙂

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For starters, I will have a veggie tray and a relish tray. Veggies on the tray will be cucumber, celery, carrots, and mini bell peppers. We will have peanut butter, hummus, and ranch for the veggies. They love celery with peanut butter. I got black and green olives, bread and butter and dill pickles for the relish tray. Simple but delicious.  🙂
I will make the veggie tray on Wednesday, so it’s ready. The relish tray won’t take long, so it will be done before people come on Thursday.

My mother-in-law is making the turkey. I’ve provided a great recipe for turkey breast recipe. It also includes an easy gravy dish.

Onto the yummy part of the meal:
On Wednesday, I’m going to cook the stuffing, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes. They will put into baking dishes to be warm on Thanksgiving.
On Thursday, while serving Thanksgiving lunch to the veterans, I will have the green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, and honey-glazed carrots cooking away.
I’ve already cooked up the cranberry relish and froze it, so it’s one less dish to worry about.

I included two types of bread with the menu. One is a sweet bread baked as muffins. We love Young’s Dairy pumpkin bread around here. I’ve decided it would be better served as muffins for Thanksgiving. You certainly bake it ahead of time and then freeze it. Take them out of the freezer on Wednesday to thaw out.
The other bread is my pull-apart dinner rolls. You need a bread machine for these rolls. If you don’t have a bread machine, fill free to change the bread with already-bought rolls. Anything to make your life easier. I’ve already made the dough and then flash-froze the rolls. I’ll pull those out of the freezer on Wednesday, let them rise, and then bake them before leaving to serve the veterans.

I have 3 desserts and homemade whipped cream on the menu. You could make these desserts on Tuesday and store them in the fridge until Thursday. Grandma’s White Salad is better when it sits for a while. The other two recipes are for the Makes it’s Own Crust Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie Sheet Cake. I would make the whipped cream on Thursday morning, though. It doesn’t take long to make – five to ten minutes.

I hope you enjoy my Thanksgiving Day dinner menu, and that it’s a blessing for you.

ThanksgivingGroceryList

ThanksgivingDinner (1)

Happy Eating,
Traci

Posted in countdown to Thanksgiving, Dessert, Pumpkin

Pumpkin Pie Sheet Cake – Countdown to Thanksgiving

Posted on by traci
Countdown to Thanksgiving

I’ve been told stories of my grandpa and Uncle Corky loving pumpkin pies so much that their mom would bake extra pies just for them. Know-it-All is also a lover of pumpkin pies. He can eat them during the whole entire year, not just in the fall.

This cake is the best of both worlds. It’s not just a pie. It also has a cake-like crust. Yum! Serve it with homemade whipped cream spiced with pumpkin pie spice. Extra yum!

Pumpkin Pie Sheet Cake

Pumpkin Pie Sheet Cake

Adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Stars of the recipe:

Crust:

  • 2/3 c. granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2  tsp. salt
  • 1/2 c. butter (1 stick), melted (I usually place the butter in a microwave for a minute.)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 lrg. Egg (Poke the egg yolk with a fork.)

Filling:

  • 2 lrg. eggs
  • 3/4 c. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 (15 oz.) can of pumpkin
  • 1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk or 1 c. heavy whipping cream

Steps:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Prepare the crust by mixing the sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour the melted butter, vanilla, and egg. Stir to combine.
  3. Press the dough into the bottom of a lightly greased 9 by 13 in. baking pan.
  4. Prepare the filling:  Using the same bowl (make sure there are no dough clumps left in the bowl), whisk the eggs until light and creamy. Stir in the sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin until combined. Stir in the evaporated milk or cream.
  5. Pour over the crust.
  6. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle comes clean.
  7. Cool completely.
  8. Serve with whipped cream.

Keep it in the fridge.

Happy eating,
Traci

Posted in Bread and muffins, countdown to Thanksgiving

Pull Apart Dinner Rolls – Countdown to Thanksgiving

Posted on by traci

I’ve made these rolls twice.  They are fairly easy to make with the use of a bread machine.

People love the fluffiness of the rolls.  They also love the deliciousness of these rolls.

These would be a great addition to your Thanksgiving table or for Sunday night dinner.

Pull Apart Rolls

Pull Apart Dinner Rolls

Stars of the Recipe:

  • 1 c. lukewarm water
  • 2 Tbsp. softened butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 c. sugar
  • 3 1/4 c. BREAD flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 3 tsp. yeast

Steps:

  1. Always add the wet ingredients to the bread pan first.  This is, so the yeast is away from the liquid before the kneading begins.
  2. Place the ingredients in the pan in this order:
    1. butter
    2. egg
    3. water
    4. sugar
    5. flour (cover ALL of the wet ingredients)
    6. yeast (Create a shallow well in the center of the bread flour – Place the yeast in that well.)
    7. salt (Sprinkle around the sides of the pan but NOT over the yeast.)
  3. Set your bread machine to the dough cycle.  Periodically check on your dough.  Add a tablespoon of water at a time if the dough looks dry.
  4. Once the dough is finished, place the dough on a lightly floured surface.
  5. Cut the dough in half and then again in half until you get roll-sized dough pieces.  (14 pieces)
  6. Tuck each piece into a round ball.  Place in a sprayed round cake pan so that they are touching.  (I get 14 in a cake pan.)
  7. Allow to rise for another 1/2 hour in a warm place.
  8. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.
  9. While they are still warm, rub a stick of butter on them.
  10. Enjoy!
Posted in breakfast, countdown to Thanksgiving, Pumpkin

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese – Countdown to Thanksgiving

Posted on by traci

I have an app called Timehop.  When I was looking at my Timehop for Sunday, I found a recipe I had posted a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese.  I had 3 of the necessary ingredients already.  When the Imaginative One and I went to the store, we got the final ingredient.

This cream cheese would be great for a simple Thanksgiving breakfast.

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese #2Pumpkin spice cream cheese

Stars of the recipe:

  • 1 (8 oz) container of whipped cream cheese
  • 1/4 c. brown sugar
  • 1/4 c. pumpkin puree
  • 2 -3 tsp. Pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon

Steps:

  1. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
  2. Mix all ingredients well combined using a hand or stand mixer.
  3. Enjoy!

I had mine on a plain bagel.  Yum!

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese

Happy eating,
Traci

This is linked to Whimsy Wednesdays.

Posted in countdown to Thanksgiving, weekly ramblings

Weekly Ramblings – November 8, 2015

Posted on by traci

I usually do the weekly ramblings on Saturdays.  This week I’ve decided to do this blog post on Saturdays.

This week I’ve posted three recipes for the Countdown for Thanksgiving series.

Countdown to Thanksgiving
  1.  Creamy Mac and Cheese is a new favorite of ours.  It’s a delicious side dish or a main dish for a meatless Monday.
  2. Creamy Fruit Salad is a favorite of mine.  It’s my own version of a salad from a local meat market.
  3. Makes It’s Own Gravy Turkey Breast and Easy Gravy is the main dish my mother-in-law raved about for a week after I served it to her.
Creamy Mac and Cheese #2
Landes Meats Creamy Fruit Salad
Makes It Own Gravy Turkey Breast (Pics deleted by accident)
Makes It Own Gravy Turkey Breast (Pics deleted by accident.)

I also reposted my Aunt Janet’s Pecan Cookies this week.

My Aunt Janet's Pecan Cookies

The boys and I have started what the Imaginative One calls the proto-types of Christmas baking.  On Friday night, we made peanut butter blossoms.  The batch is almost gone because it’s one cookie we can’t stop at one.

Yesterday Wee One and I tried out a candy recipe.  It’s an easy two-ingredient recipe.  The candy is also delicious.

On my Timewarp today, I found a recipe I posted 6 years ago for pumpkin spice cream cheese.  After church today, I went and got the missing ingredient for the recipe.  I had 3 of the 4 ingredients at the house.  I will post the recipe later this week.  It’s absolutely delicious.

This morning I also made Honey Vanilla Creamer for my coffee.  It’s absolutely delicious.  It’s another recipe I’ll share in the next couple of weeks.

I haven’t forgotten my promise of a giveaway after the 31-day challenge.  The giveaway prize has been bought.  However, I will delay the challenge until after the holiday mailing season.  The giveaway will be in January.

I’ll see you tomorrow with our weekly menu!

Happy eating,

Traci

Posted in countdown to Thanksgiving, Dessert, fruit, Landes

Creamy Fruit Salad – Countdown to Thanksgiving

Posted on by traci

Close to where I spent my teenage years is a meat market and bakery called Landes Meats.  The owners are German Baptists.  The food there is incredible!  In fact, I have a mile-long list of favorite foods from there.

It’s not far from where I work now, but in the opposite direction from where I need to go home, so the visits to Landes Meats are few and far between.

One of my favorites is the Creamy Fruit Salad.  I usually buy two salad containers and savor them for days afterward.  Since I can’t get there often, I decided to recreate one of my favorites.

Once you try it, you’ll see why it’s one of my favorite fruit salads.

Landes Meats Creamy Fruit SaladCreamy Fruit Salad

Stars of the recipe:

  • 2 (15 oz) cans of fruit cocktail
  • 1 small package of instant vanilla yogurt
  • 1 (10 oz) jar of maraschino cherries, drained and halved
  • 1 (15 oz) can of mandarin oranges, drained
  • 1 c. mini marshmallows
  • 1 (8 oz) container of Cool Whip

Steps:

  1. In a large bowl, place the fruit cocktail, undrained.  Sprinkle the yogurt over the fruit cocktail.  Set aside for at least 5 minutes.
  2. Add the maraschino cherries and mandarin oranges.  Stir to combine.
  3. Fold in the Cool Whip and marshmallows.
  4. Refrigerate for a least an hour.
  5. Enjoy the creamy fruit salad as a delicious dessert!