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Thanksgiving in NYC

Mr. B and I had a very busy Thursday.
We traveled to NYC the night before and stayed with my friends.
I've been visiting them on Thanksgiving since the Accountant and I were dating.
NYC around the holidays is MAGICAL.

When we first started visiting, our friends rented a 1 bedroom loft on the upper east side.
SMALL, but so homey.
All 12 of us would squeeze into the living/dining area and eat a catered Thanksgiving.
Now, TWO children later, they live in a 2 bedroom loft on the upper west side.

Cici is 6...can you believe that?
Fiona is 2.

Energy level for both? A bajillion.
We are all in our late twenties, early thirties...and we jam in there like it's an elementary school sleep over.
Later tonight (Thursday) Mr. B and I will cozy up on a double air mattress and laugh the night away with beautiful friends.

The parade this morning was beautiful.
Pictures forthcoming.
It's something like the 9th year for me.
Absolutely not a {seen it once}, type of deal.

I'm a bit of an OCD packer since we had the {bed bugs} after our hotel stay in NJ.
So.
I planned and photographed our three outfits, washed and heat dried the clothing AND duffle bag on high heat and put each days outfit in a zip lock bag.

I know, I have a problem.
But, getting outfits ready ahead of time helps us ENJOY the days rather than thinking about what would go with and what we should wear when...etc.

Day One....Parade Day

Jean Jacket: Torrid

White Shirt: Wal Mart

Skirt: Old Navy

Leggings and Boots: Le Target Boutique

{I also rocked my gold and white ruffled scarf from The Pleated Poppy}

It was CHILLY today.

Day One....Thanksgiving Dinner and Later Desserts @ Serendipity

Switched the Jacket for the Purple Target Sweater...had a magical time so far.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares of GOODNESS!

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Having the holidays catered is a luxury I am VERY aware not every family receives.
We don't however, get the sweets catered.
Each of us is in charge of bringing something sweet and delicious.

This year, Mr. B and I whipped up some Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares of goodness!
YUMMO!

We used this recipe from Rachael Ray's Site: Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares

INGREDIENTS

1 package pound cake mix (16 ounces)
3 eggs, divided
2 tablespoons margarine or butter (melted)
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, divided
1 package cream cheese (8 ounces), softened
1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)
2 cups pumpkin (16 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts, pecans preferred

Serves 48 bars!

PREPARATION

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.

In large mixer bowl, on low speed, combine the cake mix, 1 egg, margarine/butter and 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice, until crumbly.

Press the mixture onto the bottom of a 15x10-inch jelly roll pan or a Rachael Ray Bubble and Brown Baker.

In large mixer bowl, beat the cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in the sweetened condensed milk; then the remaining 2 eggs, the pumpkin and the remaining 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice and salt; mix well.

Pour over the crust and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until set.

Cool. Chill, then into bars. Store in the refrigerator.

I also added some frosting:

1 and 1/4 cups of Sour Cream

1/4 granulated sugar

1 cup Cool Whip

Amazeballs!

the HAPPY DAY project day #1

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Today's project - saved a very bad, no good, terrible, horrible, very bad day and made it WONDERFUL!

I had planned to make some cake balls for our neighbors.

I also had to pick up LMG and take him shopping with me after school.

Love that child.

LUURRRRVE. Him.

I picked him up, and immediately got honked at and then given the finger off this little suburban side street. It made me feel sad.

"Someone should tell her, " LMG said, "That there are babies without food."

He melts my heart. Kids hear EVERYTHING.

Then, while we were shopping in WalMart, there was some really angry people waiting with us at returns. LMG even held my hand, that's how rude they were.

So far - it was not a very happy day - then...it happened.

LMG and I were making our way into the store from Customer Service and I saw an elderly lady being told her card was declined.

She didn't know how that could have happened and she needed the food.

IF you read this blog you know I'm unemployed, in debt, and have about $200 to pay bills and live off, while debt collectors hunt me down.

But I had $38.00 from that return. I only needed about 5 of that to make cake balls so I hustled LMG and I over to the lady, presented my debit card and asked if I could pay.

She started to cry and the only thing I could think to do was hug her.

I whispered to pass it on and hustled into the store.

Doing good can be overwhelming.

We got our goods and headed to the checkout. The lady behind me had 1 jar of pickles and batteries.

"Let me add hers too." The woman stared at me.

Have a good day. LMG and I left feeling better about the day.

We were headed home on the Mass Pike and passed our now new friend, Kristy with a flat tire.

I can change those and am pretty good.

Like under 20 minutes good.

We'd had such a rough start to the day - I slowed, pulled over and got LMG out of the car. We walked down to Kristy, asked if we could help and commenced tire changing. LMG was out of his mind excited. I on the other hand was scared beep less, as he stood FAR from the side of the road and watched from the grass.

I'd like to say I was fast, but I had trouble with the jack and ONE tire bolt...still 30 minutes later, Kristy was good to go.

She wanted my name and address.

I wanted her to have a happy day. :)

LMG and I got home and commenced cake ball making.

I may or may not have forgotten that they moved Halloween to tonight because of the power outage - oops.

That's okay.

We had candy.

We had cake balls.

We had the adorable printable from the HAPPY DAY project.

We were good.

My 89-year old Nana lives next door so we made Chocolate Cake balls because those are her favorites.

When I asked her if they came out alright - she replied - "I love 'em, better than cake." 'Nuff said.

We also made some for Bill and Doreen who live next to my Nana and love her just as much as us. They cook for her and deliver baked goodness ALL the time. Doreen and Bill are the once in a lifetime neighbors. You know the kind - who come over when your mother has knee surgery and cut up Nana's pills and take care of the yard and trim the trees - just because they're neighbors. During the power outage they brought Nana breakfast EVERY DAY with warm food and hot coffee. Seroiusly?! I live in THAT neighborhood. I enjoyed sharing with them.

And we also made some for our neighbors, Chris and Lauren. They are a 20-something Jehovahs Witness couple who moved to MA from NJ. I know Jehovah's don't celebrate anything except wedding anniversaries and they had their light off tonight for Halloween, but I happened to catch them right as they were eating supper, in the dark. I knocked and they looked at me like - um- we don't have candy and why are you trick or treating. I got away with leaving my goodness by telling them they were receiving a random act of kindness. They walked their dog, Oscar, over later tonight to tell me thank you.

No ya'll, thank you. You let us pile up massive amounts of brush on your lawn after the snow storm. You let my mother read your paper when ours isn't delivered. You rock.

CAN NOT wait for Day #2 :).

Happy DAY, INDEEED!

Happy Day Project Planning and Super Soul Sunday

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Rarely, if ever, do I pray for renewal...for myself.

I've gone through a lot this year, a lot of "life junk", you know?

The kind of "life junk" that is not recyclable and I wish to just throw it all away.

The, "start over life junk".

That being said, my prayers for renewal are usually for others.

That they feel it.

That they share it.

That their hope spring anew.

This year I prayed for renewal in a friend's marriage, as their infertility brought them to the brink.

I mean - it broke my heart.

I prayed for renewal in a friend's marriage, as their indiscretions tore their family apart.

I prayed for renewal in my mother's life, that she might find the truth she so desperately searches for.

But renewal for myself?

That's always felt selfish.

Not a very authentic me.

Today however, after a trying week, I sat after morning service and my mind went a little blank, I took a 20 minute power nap, watched a little super soul sunday on OWN and started dinner with family and friends. I also started wrapping my head around this HAPPY PROJECT and what this week will look like:

Sometime between cutting potatoes and looking for my note paper, I felt it.

An ease.

A comfort.

A breathe of fresh air.

He is mighty to save, and while I've been busy praying for so many around me, he saw my tiredness, my weariness. My haggard heart.

And he filled me up.

My child, I heard, My child, sit and rest awhile.

Sit and know you are loved.

Suddenly - I had the strength of 20 men.

And could cook a billion meals. :)

I am so ready for the coming days, ready to live in joy, celebrate and spread the love.

Dinner.

Check.

Yum.

Dinner: Taco Casserole Recipe

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Now that the power has returned, we're back to baking.
Cooking.
LURRRRVE.
Tonight I did our neighbor's shopping and needed something quick. Cue this SIMPLE recipe that I put in the oven while I emptied the neighbor's groceries.
From HERE: FANTASTIC Taco Casserole
Tweaked here: I don't like black olives so I didn't put those in, and instead put chopped red onion on top with the tomato and green onion. We enjoyed the crunch. As well, we served with corn that we eventually mixed in. I wouldn't mix it into the layers as I think that would make it soggy - but, corn is as GREAT side dish with this meal.

Yum YUM!

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
1 package of taco seasoning
1 can refried beans
2 cups monterey jack cheese
1 cup salsa
2 green onions chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 cups corn chips (coarsely crushed or chopped

Directions:

Brown ground beef and drain.

Add taco seasoning and cook according to package directions, adding proper amount of water.

Put corn chips on bottom of 8x8" dish.

Cook refried beans on stove until hot.

Add 1 cup cheese and 1 cup salsa. Stir until combined.

Pour beans over corn chips in dish.

Add beef to top of beans.

Sprinkle remaining cheese over top.

Sprinkle green onions and black olives over cheese.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until the cheese is sufficiently melted ~10 minutes.

Take out of oven and sprinkle chopped tomatoes on top. Wait 1-2 minutes and then serve.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cookies

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The title of this post is also known as: "We Don't Need No Stickin' Chocolate Chips"

Although - that title is IRONIC, as the only thing we really needed WAS chocolate chips, hence - breaking into the hallowen candy to finish the cookie off.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup backed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extra - 3 if you love the stuff :)

2 cups WHOLE WHEAT flour and 1 cup white flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda DISSOLVED in 2 teaspoons of hot water

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 cups of crumbles or food processed REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

1 cup chopped pecans - or walnuts if you're lame :) - or none if you're allergic - which you shouldn't really make these if you are because you're going to use PEANUT BUTTER CUPS and PEANUT BUTTER :)

Here we go :)

Shout out to the BAKING BUTTER CRISCO.

This ain't yo' Gramma's shortening - but it IS the best baking butter I've found.

Le sigh.

Shout out PAMPERED chef all purpose measuring cup.

One Side Liquids

One side dry stuff.

Both sides warm my heart.

Whip Butter and sugars together.

If you are an adult person you may have a BEAUTIFUL "we got married mixer" and I am jealous of you for that.

Big time.

LBF and I used a hand mixer, which he also found to be a lot of fun. :)

Yum, Yum, Yum. :)

Secret Ingredients

LBF LOVED opening these up and putting them in the food processor.

He may or may not have eaten a couple on the way

(*This worked out just fine considering Halloween was canceled due to the storm and rescheduled for next monday, we'll have plenty of time to get more candy.)

Miss Molly Del Pilar in her halloween costume as Gingerbread Man's Best Friend.

Or Gingy Puppy as dubbed by LBF.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Add to batter the baking soda/water mix and salt. Stir in flour, Peanut Butter Cups, and nuts. Roll into balls, and press with fork onto parchment paper on cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges look done. Beacause of the wheat flour, I just take them out at 11 minutes and lift the parchment paper off the sheet to the cooling rack.

We, LBF and I, added peanut butter with a little powered sugar mix to the bottom of the cookie.

And dipped it in granulated sugar.

And someone little devoured cookies before they were cool.

Oh, Miss Molly ;).

Confession

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I have something I need to get off my chest.

It's not right.

I had to tell Mr. Belding last night over dinner.

I had to tell him because it isn't fair for him to not know.

I've fallen in love.

I've fallen in love with someone that is not Mr. Belding.

It didn't happen overnight.

I PROMISE.

It started with the occasional dinner.

We'd hang out, have a delicious meal of some kind and I'd be really happy.

Then, it started to be almost every night.

The dinner was always good.

Before I knew it, it WAS every night.

Every delicious meal.

I found myself online trying to find new ways to hang out with him.

He was just what I needed and I didn't even know.

You want to know the biggest surprise of all.

Mr. Belding has given us his blessing.

He thinks we make a good team.

He thinks...

We make good food together.

So I get to keep seeing him.

Like tonight.

Where we'll make this together.

Isn't he cute?

(As an aside, I've had my crock for about 4 years. The white model. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being able to change the size - it comes in three, 2, 4, and 6 quart. Especially if I'm making and taking my Buffalo Chicken Dip and I don't want a gigantic pot of it. It's gotten bad reviews, but as long as you take care of him, he'll last.)

Pumpkin Praline Goodness

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It's OCTOBER.

It's pumpkin season.

When I was teaching, we would have brainstormed a list of things writers write about.

Then each student would have decorated an orange pumpkin with their own ideas or personal ideas about what to write about.

Then we'd hang them up and make A PATCH OF GOOD IDEAS and leave them up for writing.

It looks something like this, only the pumpkins are cut out.

My 2nd graders did this activity while I was away attending a conference.

This is what my aids put together :).

27 pumpkins is...a lot.

Anyhoozle. I'm not teaching.

And boy howdy, does that leave time to try some new goodness.

Get a pan.

Get a plate.
Get your mmmmmmm... ready.

What's pictured here is the back of the box of PILLSBURY PUMPKIN COOKIES. That's where all this goodness started.

Can you read the recipe here?
I hope so.
I didn't have Dark Corn Syrup, I didn't even think I had any corn syrup.
But I did.
Just the light kind.
Didn't change the flavor a bit...I guess.

I sprinkled her with a little bit of powered sugar before I cut into squares of unholy goodness.
Pumpkintasticness.

Deliciousness

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Links for the idea and recipe: Whatever which will link you to Crockpot BBQ Chicken recipe.

In LOVE.

Now that I am home, not working, crafty, enjoying the fall and the outdoors, walking, running, blogging, and simply enjoying a life I haven't enjoyed for quite a while; I'm also finding small ways to say thank you to my Neurotic Mother for letting me stay awhile, for virtually free..believe me, virtually free is better than the $600 she was going to charge me a couple of years ago.

Thanks mom.

So, NOW all I have to do is pay my bills. That's pretty sweet.

So I cook/bake a lot.

A

lot.

Since I'm rocking' the gluten free/dairy free/tomatoe/citrus fruit/pepper/egg free life...I'm usually eating edemame or gluten free chicken soup or fruit smoothies from Jamba Juice (obviously I pick out the yogurt pieces) :)

My Neurotic Mother is adorable about all the restrictions.

She thinks it's all in my head.

That stress caused my psoriasis flare-up.

Yesterday, about 2 months after starting the restrictions she mentioned that my skin looked like it was clearing up and what was I doing.

I looked at her.

Blinked twice and munched on some edemame.

Anyhoozle.

I made that chicken with some rice for her and gram the other day and they LOVED it.

I keep thinking about Gram's 90th Birthay (May 2012) and I think this will absolutely make the short list of deliciousness we'll serve.

Go try it tonight - it will not disappoint.

Pinterest Challenge #1 - Creamy Chicken little pot pies

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These Creamy Chicken little pot pies LOOKED so good, and while I'm rockin' gluten free life, my family is not and they gave this 4 out of 4 stars.

They generally enjoy my cooking, or they more accurately generally enjoy that I do the cooking, but this night was DIFFERENT. There was a quiet wonderment about how I had spent all day making this awesomeness. I let them continue to think it took me forever. Instead of the 7 minutes it really took. That's love.

So simple. SOO Delicious.

Here' the link: Pennies on a Platter - Recipe Go NOW.

My attempt is less glamorous, and I missed the shot when they emerged as golden brown goodness.

I made her recipe exactly, and I got 17 rolls! I did butter and breadcrumb after this picture too.

I also put PARCHMENT paper down on ANYTHING but, especially with crescent rolls so there is no residual crumb-age (that's a word, right?).

It's hard to remember life before parchment paper. How did I live and how many perfectly good chocolate chip cookies had to over cookie or burn before I realized one sheet of this stuff is like heaven?

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Thanksgiving in NYC

Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares of GOODNESS!

INGREDIENTS

PREPARATION

the HAPPY DAY project day #1

Happy Day Project Planning and Super Soul Sunday

Dinner: Taco Casserole Recipe

Directions:

Reese's Peanut Butter Cookies

Confession

Pumpkin Praline Goodness

Deliciousness

Pinterest Challenge #1 - Creamy Chicken little pot pies

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