Skip to main content

Count Down to Thanksgiving!


I've got my count down list ready for Thanksgiving and the cooking starts TONIGHT! Our first guests arrive tomorrow, Nick and Sachiyo are driving from Seattle. I have five days of cooking starting now and no time to waste to the biggest eating day of the year! As long as I stick to my list (I don't follow the times, only the days) I'll be on schedule with everything falling into place nicely! Of course, it's not just Thanksgiving I'm preparing for. With Nick and Lauren coming into town, I want to plan meals around my visitors, too. We're having a little pre-Thanksgiving gathering on Monday night since my brother and his wife have to work on Thanksgiving so this will be a nice little visit with them while Nick and Sachiyo are here. I am making chicken and dumplings tomorrow which I know will taste delicious after a long 8 hour drive. We've made the drive many times, Seattle to Boise, so I know exactly what will taste good on arrival.

I am making pumpkin bread tonight to munch on for breakfast or whenever next week and Monday night is dinner with everyone coming over so I'm making beef stroganoff with squash and roasted asparagus with chunky apple cake for dessert. We will also have the first of our holiday drinks white cranberry spritzer which is every one's favorite. On Tuesday, we are going to make our homemade tortillas and have tacos. Wednesday is when Lauren arrives and not sure what we'll have for dinner since we'll all be preparing for Thanksgiving. The nice thing about Nick and Lauren coming is that they both always have definite ideas about what they want so I'm always flexible to change my list. I'm a host that accommodates my guests! So, this is my list for now but as always, it's tentative and most likely will change at some point or another!

Now back to my pumpkin bread since it's on the list for today and I must stay on schedule!




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free.  But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one.  My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations  and we all loved them. My friend lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends.  We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop.  She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots.  We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.)   The views are always quite lovely, too.  Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception.  I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, t...

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of  meatloaf .  This must be meatloaf season.  It was surprisingly similar to the  Pioneer Woman's version  who was also recently on.   I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book,  Food Matters .  His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese!  I must be doing something wrong.  The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life.    If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health.  He tells his story in Food Matters and provides ...

Two-Bean Soup with Kale

This hearty vegetarian soup warms up chilly nights.  Use any type of canned beans you happen to have on hand and add chicken or Italian sausage for a heftier dish, if you prefer. Makes 4-6 servings 3 Tbsp. olive oil 1 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped carrots 1/2 cup chopped celery 1/2 tsp. salt, divided 2 cloves garlic, minced 4 cups vegetable broth, divided 7 cups stemmed, chopped kale (about 1 bunch) 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed, drained and divided 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar 1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary or 1 tsp. dried rosemary 1.  Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add olive oil to pan; swirl to coat.  Add onion, carrot, and celery, and saute 6 minutes or until tender.  Stir in 1/4 tsp. salt and garlic; cook 1 minute.   2.  Stir in 3 cups vegetable broth and kale.  Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simme...