 Thanksgiving isn't just a meal in my house. It's a week long celebration with family, friends and lots of food.😅 Some of us live hundreds of miles apart so when we do actually manage to get together for the holidays, we try and spend at least several days together. Sure we do the traditional turkey, mashed potato and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving day but we also have lots of leisurely breakfasts, easy to fix lunches and casual dinners together during the days leading up to and following Thanksgiving. This year, I've got some fun theme meals planned for Thanksgiving week. A homemade pasta night, a nacho average taco party, a pumpkin palooza breakfast, a waffle brunch bar, a burger bash, a birthday dinner for my daughter and a Thanksgiving cookie decorating party.🍝🌮🥞🧇🍔🍪 I'm still trying to figure out how to squeeze in a chili cook off too.😂  I do recognize that my Thanksgiving week menu probably sounds overly ambitious to most of you but I love big family meals. I also come from a family of cooks and our meals usually become a group effort so I don't bear the burden of doing all the cooking my myself. Cooking for family and friends is my love language so a house full of Thanksgiving guests to cook for is my dream.😅 These Olive Oil Cinnamon Rolls made their first appearance in my kitchen a couple of years ago at Thanksgiving. Unlike most cinnamon rolls these are made without butter and I know what you're thinking - How can butterless cinnamon rolls be any good?😂 The truth is I had low expectations for these olive oil based cinnamon rolls too but to my surprise - they were really delicious.😋 And as an added bonus, these rolls can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator overnight. All that's left to do is in the morning is to pull them out and bake them up hot and fresh for all my guests.  Olive Oil Cinnamon Rolls Dough 3/4 cup milk (lactose free is you prefer) 1/4 cup sugar 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast 2 eggs 3 1/2 cups flour 1/4 cup olive oil 1/2 teaspoon salt Filling 3 Tablespoons olive oil 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 Tablespoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon cardamom 14 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest 1/4 teaspoon salt Icing 4 Tablespoons milk 1 Tablespoon lemon juice 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 cups powdered sugar
 Bake rolls 25-30 minutes at 350.
 Ciao!
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 When you go to the ice cream store - which flavor calls your name?🍦 Personally - I'm a chocolate and sweet cream kind of girl.🍫 Double chocolate, mint chocolate and chocolate chip are my go tos. And the chocolate has to be really good quality before I even consider indulging in a scoop. I know - I'm an ice cream snob.😂 I'm a creature of habit so it's rare that I stray away from chocolate in my ice cream but on the rare occasion that I do, it's usually for a toasted coconut or honey almond flavor. Ice cream flavors like butter pecan were never really on my radar until I made this recipe for butter pecan blondies with pecans toasted in rich, salty butter!!🧈 I'll say it again for those in the back - PECANS TOASTED IN BUTTER!!!  Clearly it took me longer than most to grasp the concept of buttered pecans - I mean it's right there in the name after all. 🤦🏻♀️😅 I know. I know. But now that I've started buttering my own pecans - I'm addicted. I've been adding them to all kinds of recipes lately - Pecan, Butterscotch, Dark Chocolate Cookies, Toasted Butter Pecan Cake, Pecan Sour Cream Coffee Cake and Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes. I've basically started toasting my pecans in butter before I adding them to any recipe with pecans in the ingredient list.😬 Safe to say buttered pecans are my newest obsession and this recipe for Butter Pecan Blondies takes that obsession to the next level. Combining browned butter, toffee bits, some of the best dark chocolate and buttered pecans is going to make these blondies the favorite at your Thanksgiving get together.
Butter Pecan Blondies Buttered Pecans 1 Tablespoon butter 1/2 cup pecans, chopped Blondies 8 Tablespoons butter 1 cup brown sugar 1 egg 1 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 cup toffee bits 1 cup dark chocolate chips
 Bake 25 minutes at 350. Cool 20 minutes in pan.  Remove from pan using parchment sling.  Cut into 16 squares.  Ciao!
 For years, I've set aside at least one day every Fall for apple pie making and it usually coincides with our annual trip to the North Georgia apple orchards.🥧 Some years I've even made it a cooperative effort by inviting friends to join me for a pie baking day.🥧 Baking is always more fun with friends.👩🏻🍳🧑🏻🍳 The day goes like this: I peel and slice TONS of apples.🍎🍏 I put all of my sliced apples and spices into a big dutch oven and cook them down for 10-15 minutes so that they release some of their juices before I add them to my pie. I make my favorite buttery homemade pie crusts. I make pies, cover them with plastic wrap and foil and put them in the freezer so that I can take them out, defrost them and bake them up fresh over the holidays. Before you start to email me, I realize that pre-cooking my apples isn't a typical practice for a lot of apple pie bakers... but it's what works for me.🤷🏻♀️ It keeps my pies from getting soggy and I end up with a pot full of the most deliciously spiced apple juice that I've ever tasted.😋  I'm not one to waste any food and certainly not something as delicious as freshly extracted apple juice. I cook my leftover apple juice down until it's thick and syrupy and perfect to use in recipes like apple cider donuts, apple cider glazed chicken, apple cider caramel rolls or this baked apple cider french toast. You don't have homemade apple cider, you say? No worries. Store bought apple cider works just as well for this recipe. And as an added bonus, you will probably have some leftover cider to try one of my other delicious apple cider recipes too.  Baked Apple Cider French Toast 1 loaf French bread 6 eggs 1 cup apple cider 1 cup whole milk 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon orange zest 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon salt Cinnamon Apples 1/4 cup butter 4 medium apples, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch slices 1/4 cup apple cider 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup pecan halves Toppings Powdered sugar Maple syrup Salted caramel sauce
 Ciao!
 It's November 3d and Halloween is officially behind us so naturally I launched myself into full Thanksgiving mode today.🦃 This means that I posted my Thanksgiving dinner menu and list of ingredients on my refrigerator and started ironing my tablecloths.😬 Too soon?😂 What can I say? I like to be prepared.🤷🏻♀️ I also like to do as much meal prep as I can ahead of time so I have enough time left over to make Thanksgiving treats for catering clients too.🥧🥮  One of the things that I usually make before Thanksgiving day is the turkey gravy. It's one of the most time consuming side dishes for me to make. Is it even a side dish? Maybe it's a condiment. I don't know. Either way - the process of gravy making takes me a couple of hours so I like to get it done early. My turkey gravy recipe involves using the neck, the giblets and the drippings from a whole bird so I took advantage of the sale on frozen turkeys last week and bought two - one to cook for gravy purposes and the other to save for Thanksgiving. I smoked my first turkey on my Big Green Egg and made some delicious gravy - if I do say so myself 😅 - and then used the turkey meat to make turkey salad, turkey stew and this Turkey Noodle Casserole. If you're planning on having any leftover turkey this year after Thanksgiving dinner, I highly recommend that you save this recipe. You'll be glad you did.😋  Turkey Noodle Casserole 12 ounces egg noodles 6 Tablespoons butter 1 onion, diced 2 carrots, sliced thin 3 stalks celery, sliced thin 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 3 cups whole milk 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 4 cups shredded sharp cheddar 4 cups cooked, shredded turkey 1 cup sour cream
 Top with remaining cheese.  Bake 30 minutes at 350 until bubbly and golden.  Ciao!
 Happy Halloween  It's Halloween and I'm gearing up for a fun night of passing out candy to all of the spidermen, princesses, pirates and puppy dogs. I love seeing all of the costumes and it's not unusual for us to get well over 300 trick or treaters in our neighborhood on Halloween night so assuming that I factored in enough extras for my husband, I bought plenty of treats for everyone.😅 Passing out all that candy can be exhausting so I made us a charBooterie tray - you know - to keep our energy levels up.🥨🍪🍫😂  Halloween should be a fun night of indulgence for everyone so if you happen to be escorting young trick or treating through my neighborhood tonight - stop by for a special treat. No need to pick your favorite candy out of your child's pumpkin - I've got extra bags of Halloween toffee just for you.😉  This toffee is super easy to make and even though I made a Halloween themed version for tonight - you could easily make this for any occasion. I'm already thinking about swapping out the orange and yellow sprinkles and candy for red and green Christmas sprinkles or fun Valentine decorations. 😅  Halloween Toffee 35 saltine crackers 1 cup butter 1 cup brown sugar 1 1/4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips Candy eyes Reese’s pieces Halloween sprinkles
 Place in frig until hardened.  Break into pieces.  Happy Halloween - stay safe.
Ciao! |
