a bit of thanksgiving

I thought I'd better share just a bit of our Thanksgiving before we host our holiday party on Sunday in a house decked out with lights, tree, garland - the whole works. {This is big, we haven't decorated an inch of our house in over three years}.

We decided quite last minute that we would head up to Garden City to spend Thanksgiving with my family. And you can guess I went a little crazy the day before prepping and baking a few things to bring with and share.

And then those few things turned into a feast.

And dessert of course.

The only thing that kept me going were the cupcakes, carbs and coffee.



In fact, I think I turned in to the monster on my coffee mug.

Regardless, I got everything done, put all of those carbohydrates to good use (10.63 mile run for.the.win.) and was ready to hit the road bright and early on Thanksgiving morning.

(hardly edited)

5 hours of time with family was sandwiched between our 5 hour drive that we used to catch up and listen to a book on tape cd iPhone.

A walk in the woods with Nic, Maia, my cousin and her pup was the highlight of the day, followed closely by the pumpkin cheesecake cake that I brought.

It was seriously off the hook and left the other three pies for leftovers.



The recipe will be coming soon.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Holy crap, it's December.

It is a very good thing that the turkey I cooked for Thanksgivng was delicious, because we have eaten it for every meal since the big one...and still have some left!

I thouhgt I'd give a quick run down on the feast that I cooked up for the fam - no one had to lend a hand except Ike, who helped out with the fruit salad.  That's what you get when you visit Iowa, a relaxing mini-vacation where you feast like kings and queens.

And Nancy...I adjust the menu to the guests visiting, I promise! :)

Here's what we feasted on:



And in no particular order:

1 - Roasted Potato and Garlic Soup (The Cafe Brenda Cookbook)
2 - Cranberry Fruit Salad (The Cafe Brenda Cookbook)
3 - Bacon Wrapped Turkey Breast Stuffed with Wild Rice (a la Iowa Girl Eats, with many of my own modifications)
4 - Butter, REAL Butter (a la some happy cow)
5 - Pan Roasted Green Beans with Toasted Walnuts (a la my brain)
6 - Pumpkernickel Rye Buns (The Cafe Brenda Cookbook)
Not pictured - Pecan Tart (The Cafe Brenda Cookbook)

By now you've noticed that this menu was mostly taken from The Cafe Brenda Cookbook.  I've had this cookbook sitting on my shelf for at least 2 years now and not once have I cracked it.  You see, my mom got it for me a while back (even had it autographed for me), but at the time I really wasn't "in to" vegetarian cooking.

Well, while I was sitting on the couch Tuesday night finalizing my Thanksgiving dinner shopping list, I decided to crack the book open to see what it had to offer.  Well - clearly my plans changed as I flipped through each section of the cookbook finding some very promising dishes that would be perfect for Turkey Day.  I scrapped my original plan (except for the turkey...I had been planning on devouring that for weeks now!) and re-wrote the menu.

Glad I did.  Everything was receied with "yummmmmmmms" and "oooooh my." (Unless of course they were faking, but I highly suspect they weren't.)

I also departed from the traditional Thanksgiving Buffet and decided to serve everyone as they sat - hey, like I said above, you visit Iowa, you are treated well.

Such a fun meal and I highly enjoyed all the planning, prepping, cooking and of course, eating.

for this i am thankful

Beautiful china handed down to me from a very good family friend.





Technology...



...for it brings families together even if an ocean separates them.



...and for the fun family pictures it allows us to take.











My dorky husband...



who loves to check out my sister when I am not looking...



...but makes me happy nonetheless.


(sorry, parting from the theme of just using photos that I took today...but I just am so in love with this one!)

My beautiful Mom and Roger - who braved the crappy weather to spend Thanksgiving in Iowa.



My awesome brother - who meets me in Tulsa to run a half marathon that he didn't train for...and then flies up to Iowa 4 days later to spend a long weekend with us.



My amazing sister who is living it up in Sweden, but still got to hang out in our living room with us today.



For a beautiful Thanksgiving spread that my family actually liked...





...and for no one choking on a toothpick that may or may not have gotten lost in the turkey breast! :)





(Did you see my Route 66 Marathon race recap - didn't want you to miss it by publishing two posts so close together)