Thanksgiving Recap - Biscuits, Balls and Black Friday

Friends! How was your Thanksgiving? We had an awesome time at home with my folks and extended fam.
Some highlights:

• My secret-family-recipe/bain-of-my-holiday-existence-rolls turned out FABULOUSLY (after years of disappointment)! Busted out the new kitchenmaid mixer, with help from sous-chef Matt and all 7 BATCHES turned out miraculously well. 
• Seeing long-lost cousins, their adorable children, and a surprise NEW girlfriend (brave soul to date into this family, I tell you.)
• Stuffing Balls - sound gross, taste AMAZING!
• Lots of car naps. So glad Matt's a safe driver :)
• Spending a lot of good quality time with a bunch of people I've missed seeing lately, from the 'rents, to good friends, family and event some iphone face time with the in-laws to be! I'm a lucky, lucky girl to have all these people in my life!

here

Big question of the day, though: Did you shop? 

Mom and I sneaked out of the house Thursday night to see the hullabaloo at Target. I say sneaked out, because we'd spent the day earlier complaining about how gross it is that stores open on Thanksgiving. Yeah, major hypocrites. The deals were pretty good, but you know what? We felt GUILTY. Yeah, not so fun after all. Sorry all Target  red rangers, we won't do it again :(. Other than a little trip through Macy's on Friday, we stayed out of the fray after that. Cyber Monday was also a disappointment today - some Gap treats and that's it. (Though if you're into Kate Spade, you should check out her site. I was tempted.) So the retail guggernaut that is Thanksgiving was mostly unaided by my pocketbook. Oh well, I'm sure I'll catch up in the weeks to come.

Hope you're well, all! More posts this week, I promise.

I did it! I did it!

Did what, you ask?

Popped a button on Thanksgiving day? Slipped into a turkey-coma in the middle of the hallway? Battled the crowds on Black Friday? Survived epic Thanksgiving weekend activities with the family? Spent an entire Sunday on the couch watching bad TV with The Boy? Yes.

But that is not the point of this post. The point is to highlight one major accomplishment of the T-Day Vaca: I actually completed a project I pinned on Pinterest.

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!!!!

Yes, boys and girls, out of the kabillion things I pin everyday, I actually made something. Sort of.

What I pinned: Pumpkin Semifreddo from http://www.hungrygirlporvida.com/.

Yummers, from here.

What I made: Salted Caramel-Heath Bar-Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie. Booyah.

(The Booyah is an integral part of the name of this dish.)

BAM!

This was a big hit around the ole' family table. And it was super easy. Nothing like the recipe I pinned, though the Semi Freddo and this recipe were good starting points; I basically just made everything easier.

Ingredients:

Packaged graham cracker pie crust

Jarred caramel sauce

Canned pumpkin

Vanilla ice cream

Brown Sugar

Salt

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Heath Bar Candy Pieces

Directions:

1. Mix salt and caramel sauce to taste (basically everything is "to taste." I don't really do measurements) and cover the bottom of the pie crust.

2. Mix softened ice cream and pumpkin. I used the whole can of pumpkin and about 2/3rds of the ice cream. To soften ice cream, completely forget about it and leave it in the car while you go to a party. This worked wonderfully for us.

3. Add brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Careful with the nutmeg, it can get EXTREME. And don't add too much sugar. Just enough to warm up the pumpkin flavor.

4. Fill the pie crust with the pumpkin ice cream goodiness.

5. Cover the top with Heath pieces and drizzle with salted caramel sauce.

6. Freeze over night, so everything solidifies. Before serving, let thaw a bit so you can cut and serve (and eat) without breaking something.

TA DAH! Finite.

This was super easy, and actually pretty fun after the harrowing experience of trying, and failing, to find all the ingredients on the original recipes. Basically, we just took the general idea and ran with it - a bit of this, a touch of that, swap in this, swap out that ... I think The Boy and I may be closet culinary geniuses. Maybe.

Now here's the real question: Do we have to stop eating pumpkin now that Thanksgiving is over? Please, please no.



Gobble Gobble

From here, via Pinterest.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you are reading this in stretchy pants, with a leftover turkey sandwich in hand. If not, please go and remedy that situation.

As I write this (early, bc you KNOWS I am not at a computer on T-day), I can almost smell the scents of turkey and 'tatoes, the warmth of the oven and the sounds of too many people in the kitchen. Ahhh...heaven.

Now, let it be known that I am an extremely tradition-oriented person when it comes to holidays, sometimes to my detriment. I tend to get all out of whack if things don't go just as they have before -- no, we can't change the carrots and parsnips recipe, Mom!!! and don't even think about skipping over my cranberry jello..... I  just love that on every Thanksgiving, I wake up knowing that the day holds certain wonderful things - people, activities, and most importantly, foods - that have made up my memories ever since childhood. 

 So today, like years past, we'll get up and do a little early morning exercise at the "Turkey Trot." My dad will wear a funny hat, we'll visit with friends, and come home hungry and eager to cook.

Dad will start the turkey on the grill while Mom and I work in the kitchen.
Invariably, the family will arrive earlier than expected and crowd into the kitchen, making the whole cooking process close to impossible and incredibly dangerous. 
And I'll panic that my biscuits (my major contribution to the feast) are as good as my Nonnie makes them.

When the food is ready, we'll jostle around the table, trying to fit everyone in because no one wants to sit at the kids table. My Poppy will say grace, we'll share what we're thankful for, and then we'll dig in. And eat and eat and eat.

We'll spend the afternoon playing games and working up an appetite for dessert (pumpkin pie and persimmon pudding...mmm!) My grandparents will leave early, for whatever reason older folks always do. Then we'll all settle down to watch a family movie (my vote is for Crazy Stupid Love) and have a quick turkey sandwich for dinner.

All this has occurred, unchanged, for as long as I can remember. And I love it.
But I am allowing one BIG change to the tradition this year. The Boy is coming, and I couldn't be happier :)

Thank You

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year. I love how simple and inviting the day is: no religious barriers, no specific rituals, just joining for a meal and reflecting on the things that make us thankful.

Here are a few eloquent thoughts on being thankful, a little perspective, and one funny:

It is not happy people who are thankful. It is thankful people who are happy.-Unknown

The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!  ~Henry Ward Beecher

Forever on Thanksgiving Day
The heart will find the pathway home.
~Wilbur D. Nesbit

Amazing. From here, via Pinterest.

I love Thanksgiving turkey.  It's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts.  ~Arnold Schwarzenegger

A face you can trust. From here.



 Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. I am thankful to you for reading and supporting my blog! xo, E.