Tuesdays with Dorie Holiday “Twofer” Pie: a blend of pumpkin and pecan

Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll! (I know – you’re probably wondering why I’m blogging on Thanksgiving evening instead of enjoying family time….well, I figured blogging about pie might be a little more fun than watching A&M get slaughtered by Texas….hubby isn’t happy.)  This week’s TWD recipe was chosen by Vibi of La Casserole Carree. As I said before, it’s a Holiday “Twofer” pie – a layer of pumpkin pie and a layer of pecan. I thought it was just ok…a little too sweet in my opinion, but still very tasty. The dark rum added a whole lot of flavor. Here are just a few more Thanksgiving pictures! Enjoy!

Hubby, brother-in-law, nephew and Daddy playing football across the street.

My Thanksgiving Table

Pies galore! Pumpkin, pecan, buttermilk, and of course, my TWD pie.

Nephew having his pie on the floor! Silly boy!

It was a great day! Hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving! On to the Christmas decorating!!

Thanksgiving is upon us – one of my absolute favorite holidays. To me, Thanksgiving means having all of my family together, eating the best food we’ll eat all year long (I have to admit, the canned gelatinous cranberry sauce goo is my favorite part! And hubby’s too, incidentally – we so belong together!), and most importantly, the start of the Christmas holidays! The day after Thanksgiving is when we pull out the Christmas tree, ornaments, lights and our favorite holiday music and decorate our little hearts out! My favorite day of the year….seriously.

BUT – Thanksgiving isn’t just about food and family – it’s about giving thanks. The more I live, the more I learn just how much I have to be thankful for in my life. Especially this year. Allow me to take a moment to get real personal and share some of the things I am most thankful for (If you don’t want to take the time to read about my thankfulness, that’s cool- just scroll down and at least check out my bread!):

I’m thankful for my hubby. All the time. Even when we fight, because that means we’re a part of something worth fighting for. This past year has been the hardest of our married life, but we worked together and came through our troubles even stronger and more “together” than we started out.

A loving family – both my own and my husband’s. Especially my mommy.

My new house – it’s everything I ever dreamed of and I love being in it.

I’m thankful for Baba.

I’m thankful that I’ve already made my greenbean casserole – one less thing I have to do tomorrow.

The ability to sing. I would be one boring, plain-vanilla girl if I didn’t have my voice.

I’m thankful for my kitchen – it’s my favorite room in the house! I’ve made some wonderful meals and goodies in that kitchen!!

My blonde hair….seriously. I know it sounds silly, but this is my Thanksgiving list!

My friend Jessica – it’s nice to have a close friend again.

I’m thankful for my parents’ new house and all that goes along with it (no more Josephine – woo hoo!!!)

Of course there are tons of things I’m leaving out (our troops, the food on our table, our safety and health, etc) but there’s simply too many to list today, so I decided to keep it brief!

One last thing I’m thankful for is my cranberry orange bread….it’s delicious, it’s good with coffee….it’s good bread (even if the pictures aren’t!)!

I first made this bread last year at Thanksgiving and it was a great success – not too sweet, nicely tart, and really tasty, so I decided to make it again – this time for hubby’s parents who came up to help us with some fix-it projects this week (thank ya’ll again!!).

(and since it’s the Thanksgiving season, I thought I’d let the pilgrim people in on the bread action!)

Cranberry Orange Bread
-Allrecipes.com

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup orange juice
Grated peel of 1 orange
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
2 tablespoons hot water
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. In another bowl, beat egg. Add orange juice, peel, butter and hot water. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Gently fold in cranberries and walnuts. Spoon into greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

(Please, please, please forgive the horrible picture…..I was in a hurry and it was already dark!)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, YA’LL!!!

Do you like my fireplace? Its the first one hubby and I have ever had! We’ve always lived in an apartment, so when we moved into this house (which has two fireplaces, by the way!), we were super excited to have our first fire! So its no surprise that as soon as the weather changed and got a little cooler, we got a big fire in the fireplace and had a cozy little picnic on the floor in front of it!

It doesn’t get cold here in Texas until much later than the other (normal) states. In fact, here I am writing this post a week before Thanksgiving and its about 65 degrees outside (which we consider pretty chilly, by the way). So needless to say, as soon as the temperature drops below 80 degrees, I bust out my stock pots, fuzzy house shoes, and blankets and get ready for some cold weather comfort food! As I’ve said a million times, hubby loves his soups, so that’s the first thing I think of when it gets chilly outside.  This potato soup is a perfect meal for a chilly evening at home – and it only tastes better when you eat it on a blanket on the floor in front of your blazing fireplace! YUM!! (sorry for the crummy picture, it was already dark outside and I was too hungry to care)

Potato Soup
-my mom’s recipe

5 -8 medium sized Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (this will make a pretty big pot, but if you want enough for a large crowd, I’d use 8-10)
1 yellow onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
milk (approx. 1/2 – 1 cup, depending on how “soupy” you like it)

Put the potatoes and onion in a large stock pot and cover with water; let it all boil together for 10 – 20 minutes, or until potatoes and onion are extremely tender and mushy. Drain most of the water (you can leave some in if you want a thinner consistency), then mash up the potatoes with a potato masher or a large spoon (if you want it super smooth, you could use a blender, but I just use a masher – I like a few lumps) and return the pot to low heat. Add the milk until you get the desired consistency, then season with desired amount of salt and pepper. Stir constantly for 2 -5 minutes, then remvove from heat and serve. I like to top mine with cheddar cheese and bacon bits.

Well, our vacation to Mexico was completely wonderful! We really enjoyed the food, scenery, weather and of course, the relaxation and couldn’t have asked for a better trip! BUT, it really is great to be home and blogging again! Here are just a few pictures from our trip to Playa del Carmen…enjoy!

I’ve got a few posts stored away that I’ll be posting in the next couple of days, so I’ll see you soon!

Back in August hubby and I had vacation plans to go to Mexico for a week for our anniversary, but thanks to dadgum Hurricane Gustav, we had to reschedule. So guess what….ITS TIME TO GO TO MEXICO!!! Finally!!! I’ll be back in a week – see ya then!!!

…….wasting away again in Margaritaville…la, la, laaaaaa!!

You know how sometimes you think too hard about something? You’re trying so hard to come up with something new, you forget all about the old standby “somethings”. That’s what happens with me frequently. Now that I’ve sort of gotten past the point where spaghetti or a casserole was my best dish and I know a little more about food and cooking in general, I spend a lot of time trying to think up good ideas for dinners that might be a little more involved than say, spaghetti (not that there’s anything wrong with spaghetti!). So the other day as I was talking on the phone to my mother and thinking aloud about what I was going to cook for dinner, throwing out all kinds of possibilities (and coming up totally empty-handed, I should mention), and she suggested that I make beef tips.  Beef tips?! Tender chunks of roast slow-cooked all day long in a thick, creamy sauce served over white rice….why didn’t I think of that?! Perfect!  And it was, too – I was so glad she suggested this, because it really hit the spot and hubby loved it. When I asked him if he had ever had beef tips, he replied, “Yeah, in those microwave dinners…” Oh dear. So, I was happy to set him straight on what real beef tips were supposed to taste like! I think he was happy I did too!

So, thanks, mommy, for coming to the rescue and saving me from over-thinking my meal!

Easy Beef Tips
-recipe from MY MAMA!

1 lb. chuck roast (or any kind of roast meat you want), cut up into small chunks
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small can mushrooms, drained (this isn’t part of the original recipe, but I thought it would be a nice addition)
Approx. 1/2 a can chicken or beef broth (If you’re using homemade, I’d say to use about 1/2 cup)
cooked white rice (however much you like)
salt and pepper to taste

Season the roast with salt and pepper and place in a crock pot with the cream of mushroom soup and chicken broth (sort of mix it all together to get rid of any lumps in the soup). Cook on low heat for 6 – 8 hours. Add the mushrooms when there’s just a little cooking time left. Serve over cooked rice.

A few weeks ago, we had our good friends Michael and Andrea (who happens to be a fantastic photographer) over for snacks and a Harry Potter fest. I had no idea what I was going to serve, but I knew I didn’t want it to be too fussy or involved – it was supposed to be just junky snack food, after all! So I decided to flip through one of my Gooseberry Patch cookbooks that is specifically for having company and found this recipe. Cream cheese, chicken, cilantro, rotel tomatoes….how can you go wrong with that cast of characters?! Sure enough, this was some seriously good dip – in fact, these little roll-ups didn’t even make it out of the kitchen! Once hubby and Mikey got a taste, they pretty much devoured them in no time. So, needless to say, I didn’t wait long before making it again – this time for my mom, who was visiting for a couple of days (the ultimate test, mind you).  Thankfully, she loved it too! In fact, she didn’t wait long before making it herself! This is good dip, people.

The recipe is for dipping, but they also suggest spreading the dip on torillas, rolling them up and slicing them to make roll-ups, which is what I chose to do – perfect for parties!

Festive Chicken Enchilada Dip
- Gooseberry Patch “Come On Over”

2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon minced garlic (I used garlic powder)
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
cayenne pepper to taste
salt to taste
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped or shredded
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
4 green onions, chopped (I used onion powder)
10-oz. can diced tomatoes with green chiles (Rotel tomatoes)

Mix cheeses together until well blended; add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Serves 6-8.

Do you see this giant mess of a kitchen?? That would be my kitchen…..after my first attempt at making this week’s TWD recipe.  What a MESS I am when I get in a hurry!!! Yikes!

Ok so anyway, this week’s TWD recipe is one I have been waiting for for quite some time. I had never even heard of Rugelach until I saw Ina making it one day on the Barefoot Contessa – you know, that adorable episode where she makes Jeffery a big ‘ol traditional Jewish meal? So cute! – anyway, I decided right then I would try my hand at making these cute little crescents myself. Its a shame I waited this long…but whatever – now I can cross them off my “Dying To Try” list!

So, now I have Piggy of Piggy’s Cooking Journal to thank for choosing these tasty little cookies and forcing me to finally try them!  For those of you who don’t know, Rugelach (or “Little Twists”) is a traditional Jewish cookie that starts with a cream cheese dough topped with things like raspberry jam, apricot jam (which is what I used), chocolate, raisins, walnuts or pecans, sugar and cinnamon, etc, then cut into wedges and rolled up crescent-style. Very tasty. Dorie’s recipe calls for a thin layer of jam, a sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar, pecans, chopped chocolate and raisins – I, however, omitted the raisins (duh!) and used walnuts instead of pecans. I have to say, these were the biggest MESS to make, but in my opinion, worth all the effort (and clean-up).

I really enjoyed these – hubby hasn’t tried any yet, but I’m sure he enjoy them too!

If you would like the recipe, head on over to Piggy’s blog and she’ll fix you up!