Thanksgiving 2013

OK, so I have some catching up to do... 

Thanksgiving was SUPERB. I must say, I blew my own socks off with how good the food was!!

I had roasted and pureed and frozen a pumpkin earlier this fall from our garden bust since I was making two pumpkin desserts, I knew I had to get more pumpkin. Since they don't sell convenient canned pumpkin here... the process is always the same. This time I used a "red kuri squash" or "Hokkaido pumpkin" as they call it in Finnish.

It was the most vibrant orange that I had to take pictures. 

I saved some seeds in case we can grow some of our own...

The table was festive. Thanks to my sister for lending her tablecloth! 

 

Green bean casserole. The mushroom sauce was delicious and the crispy onion topping even more so!

The recipe can be found here from smitten kitchen

 

Whole turkeys here cost more than anyone was willing to spend so I opted for a turkey roulade (recipe here from the cozy apron.

I was unpleasantly surprised at the grocery store when the turkey filet section was cleared out. So we went with good ol' chicken breast. I think because I wasn't able to buy skin on breasts, the chicken was a little dry. I could have and should have not had them in the oven for the full time. But hey, hubby and I didn't care as we prefer dry chicken. I know, weird. 

Anywho, the recipe made a really delicious main course and I would eat this and make it a 100x again.

(Didn't hubby do a good job of rolling those up?)

 

This got a little torched in the hub-bub of the last 30 minutes. But this is a sweet potato sage butter casserole. My sister and her husband went nuts for this and it's the one casserole I made two of because I knew it'd be popular. We love our starchy carbs in this family. 

Martha's recipe here. 

By the time everything was ready, we all charged at it ravenously so I forgot the picture of the stuffing but you can see it in the corner on the left of the plate there. And the cranberry sauce was orange scented and super yummy and fruity. I used frozen lingonberries since they were cheaper than cranberries and it turned out just fine. I also reduced the sugar somewhat. 

Martha's orange cranberry sauce here.

Martha's cornbread stuffing here

(I omitted the chestnuts and instead of baking a cornbread, I bought a nice loaf of gluten-free bread)

Dessert was the traditional pumpkin pie. My nephew has said many times that it's his favorite so I took it seriously. I don't think I mentioned it before in this post, but everything you've seen has been gluten-free because of my dad's celiac disease. 

Hence the pie crust looking so dark. I didn't burn it! It is made with half buckwheat flour and half gluten free flour mix. Gluten free pastry doughs have been my downfall many a time baking for my dad, so I was pleased to make a half way decent one! 

Finns can see the recipe I used here at pirkka.

It's tough to find a recipe without evaporated milk and canned pumpkin! (things we don't have here)

 

The grown-up dessert was a pumpkin creme brulee. I'm really into them right now since I splurged on a set of ramekins and a brulee torch a couple months ago. 

These were a SUCCESS and we all practically licked the ramekins clean. 

Recipe here at love and olive oil

All of these recipes and the ideas for the pie and table setting can be found here on my thankgiving pinterest board. 

 

And because no post is complete without a flower picture, here is my amaryllis that was in perfect bloom for the occasion. It's already wilted now. But it was glorious while it lasted!!!

 

Ah, now on to Christmas feast plans...

Fall flowers,crochet, and the cutest baby alive!

A friend brought by a pretty bouquet that I added some red roses to. It lasted for about a week and made me smile every time I looked that way. :)

I've been crocheting a lot lately. Some things are gifts so they will have to wait till after Christmas. ;)

This is what Elisabeth will be wearing in her Christmas photos.

Pattern here: http://www.bustingstitches.com/2012/11/santas-little-elf-hat.html

A bonnet for my first ever niece's newborn photos (if it fits!). It looked pretty small though ;)

Pattern here: http://crochetlatte.com/2012/07/06/apricot-baby-bonnet-free-pattern/

 

Turkey leg hat for my friend's son's first Thanksgiving! Hope it gets to him on time through the mail! :) (He was born yesterday!!) :) :) :)

Turkey leg pattern here: http://www.nyanpon.com/2012/11/tiny-turkey-leg.html

 

And a fall door hanging (or potholder) using this pattern for the mushroom. First time I've ever understood a diagram!!

Pattern: http://extras.ex.funpic.de/Fliegenpilz%20Kristina%20Lehne.pdf

For that little niece, I also made a mermaid tail and headband for the newborn photos. I hope this fits as well!!

 (Thanks De!) :)

 

I've also taken up knitting as well... Yeah, I know. I can't believe it myself.

Have I mentioned it on the blog before? If I have, sorry for the repetition. I can barely remember my name these days. :D 

Finnish mittens pattern here: http://www.yhteishyva.fi/viihde-ja-vapaa-aika/neuleohjeet-ja-askartelu/neulotut-lapaset--kolme-perusohjetta/0218010-208740

How's Elisabeth I hear you possibly ask? ;)

She's a ridiculous 5 months old (!) and I'm still in shock that I had a kid to begin with some days. Time is flying! 

She's so busy and interested in everything. She's really calm. And has a great sense of humor. She is sitting pretty well now. And is teething! 

My muffin!

These little long hairs crack me up. The rest of her head is a light reddish blond and pretty much just fuzz. 

 

I know I'm biased but she's still the most beautiful baby ever. :)

 

Christmas card outtake ;) 

Love it!

Well, that's it for me. Again.

See ya around!!

Happy Halloween!

It's my little muffin's first halloween. Oddly enough, she is not going as a muffin.

We aren't actually going anywhere or celebrating in any way. Just thought it was important to capture the day in some way for her! 

Her BFF didn't think it was so funny!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

First snow and lots of food

Since last time...

We had snow! 

It came and went twice. And lasted a few days where we are (lots of tall buildings and shade keeping the ground cold). My baby's first snow! :)

School going folk had last week off for autumn break.

My nephew stayed with us for a couple nights and watched the (old and best) Star Wars trilogy, made homemade fluff (!), popcorn balls and ice cream. 

We invited some friends over for coffee last Saturday so I made red velvet cupcakes.
The recipe called for 2 tbsp of red food coloring but I had only paste/gels so it was hard to gauge how much I needed. As seen, they didn't turn out nearly red enough, but they were still delish.

Having grown up in the 90's, I associate carnations and baby's breath with being "garbage flowers". I remember them always looking tacky and cheap and stuffed EVERYWHERE. Yeah, I'm a flower snob (even as a kid)... But wasn't that always obvious?

Anywho, never were they my favorites. 

However, they've really grown on me lately. Mainly because I have torn apart cheesy bouquets and made my own little arrangements. 

Like below. 

I think this little posy is so cute. And over a week later, it's still looking so nice!

....so my bad carnations and baby's breath... it seems I was wrong!

With the leftover cream cheese frosting, I made carrot cake. Yum. 

The lighting of this photo (and the rest) is pretty horrendous since they were taken after sunset in our home's artificial light. 

Oh well. The food was still amayzazing!

On my culinary kick, I decided I wanted to try my hand at making my own pasta. 

It actually turned out really well!

It was a bit thick the first time (as in this spaghetti dish) because I didn't roll it out (old fashioned with a rolling pin!) thin enough and I cut it rather thick... Didn't realize it plumps when cooking! 

But since we made egg noodles essentially (eggs + flour), we were inspired the next night to create a homemade chicken noodle soup!

Hubby did the rolling out this time with his man muscles and got them far more perfect than when I did it :D Go figure!

Also this week, I have made raspberry muffins ("healthier" than cupcakes and without frosting = muffin). 

Didn't get around to pictures though.

And dinner last night was a chicken pot pie. It was so yum, we didn't get pictures of that either!

In a frying pan I sauteed: garlic, onion, carrots, celery, and small chunks of rutabaga. Oh and chicken!

In a pot I boiled small chunks (to cook faster) of potatoes and rutabaga. 

(Trying to use the rutabaga bag we bought, hubby loves them!)

Then I added to the chicken mixture some seasoning that sounded good (salt, pepper, herbs). A dash of cream and dumped it in the casserole dish.

I made mashed rutabaga and potatoes and dumped that on top of the chicken and baked it until it was looking golden brown and delicious. 

Leftovers for lunch!!

I am just loving getting back in the kitchen! 

I like hubby's cooking and he's taken good care of me the past year as head chef, but man, I love having time to chop and peel and stand at the stove.

I'm one of those people that enjoy creating with food as well, I guess. 

Hmm... what else to ramble on about... :D 

I guess that's it for me.

This post took me two days to write since it's hard to get a chance to sit and upload pictures and think of what I want to say etc all at one go.

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time, au revoir!

Cheese party!!

Decorating for fall with gourds grown at our garden.

(The garden is so severely neglected it breaks my heart. But at least my gourds are here to cheer me up!)

Sunday we had an out of control cheese party. 

I say out of control because we had a lot of cheese (6 kinds!) and only 4 people eating it. 

We gorged. 

It was yum. 

 

We had a Dutch gouda, some kind of swiss and a French Saint Morbier (or whatever it was called... it was the least favorite!)

 

Blue cheese, goat cheese, brie. 

 

The rest of the brie was encased in puff pastry along with apricot jam and walnuts. 

Super yum!!

 

We had so much fun and I'd definitely like doing it again! 

Especially the baked brie!

Where have I been?

Funny how such a small person can take so much of your time... 

Sometimes it's frustrating to never have time for anything or anyone else... 

But I know this time is fleeting....

So I try to embrace the lazy days and cherish every little milestone, giggle, and smile.

She's the most beautiful, wonderful, calm baby I've ever met. And she's mine!! *

Summer passed us by so incredibly fast... No idea where it went!

So I'm trying to milk fall for all it's worth and so far have been rather successful. :)

Some faithful blog fans have asked when I'm going to continue blogging (so here's for ya'll!).

I'll confess, I did consider just letting the blog slide and just moving on.

And I'll admit I did feel a little more than overwhelmed to pick up from where I left off and bring the blog up to date with everything that has happened (and all the new pictures)... but honestly, it's just so much work and time that I don't have to do so.

Therefore, I'm just gonna say HI, HERE I AM!! 

And try to get here a little more often and share my latest pictures and going ons. :)

She's getting much bigger and is becoming less dependent on me (ok, so I get 10 minutes to myself every so often instead of 2 minutes ;) lol) so maybe I have a chance to get back into the blogging groove.

I really do enjoy having a little journal to look back on!

So thanks if you're still here following! 

And hope you had a great summer and equally wonderful fall. :)

 See ya soon!

*I know all mothers feel this way and I'm totally biased. :D