Thanksgiving 08 Pictures

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I had a few mishaps in the kitchen, but everything turned out delicious. I'll post more tomorrow. I'm beat and need sleep! Night nite.

Here are a few pics from today:

My kids: Tina, Matt, Eric, April and granddaughter Alyssa

My kids goofing off
The BIG cookies before the toppingOne BIG cookie all done
(I don't add nuts to it like the recipe calls for)

Hot Artichoke Crab Dip

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope your day is wonderful!

Wednesday Thanksgiving Prep

I have some cooking to do today. I have my green beans cooking now and am about to go make the first BIG cookie. I am going to have to go to the grocery store again today. I need eggs, Ukrop's was out of them last night (the guy said he was going to be putting some more out, but I couldn't wait for them to be put out) and I totally forgot to stop off at another grocery store on the way home. I really didn't want to go into a grocery store today, but my son Matt said I had to make his deviled eggs or it would seem like Thanksgiving. I want to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and I have to make my hot artichoke crab meat dip. Tomorrow I'll put the meatballs together and cook them in the crock pot I would make them today but I don't know how good they would be made a day ahead of time plus my family would eat them all before tomorrow. lol

I also have some cleaning to do. I think my laundry is finally caught up. Tonight before I go to bed I want to mop the floors. Oh by the way, my kitchen floor still isn't finished *insert eye roll* They said they would try to get it finished tonight, we shall see. Matt has to clean his and Eric's bathroom tonight after dinner. I told him I wasn't touching it and I mean it! I have to give Emma a bath at some point today or tonight, she really needs a bath! Dinner tonight will be something quick and easy, probably Hamburger Helper, we haven't had that in a long time.

I hope everyone has a good day and happy cooking to everyone cooking today!

The Tuesday Before Thanksgiving

I did some cleaning today. My main thing to get cleaned today was the window in front of my kitchen sink. I took the mini blind down and took it into the bathroom, filled the tub with hot water and then sprayed the mini blind real good with Grease Lightening and then put the blind into the hot water and let the grease Lightening do its thing. After it stayed in the water for a little bit I lifted it up and took the shower sprayer and sprayed it really good, then I laid it on a towel that I had laid on the floor and let it dry for a bit.

Grease Lightening is amazing! That blind was really yucky and now it looks like brand new! I can now look out of my kitchen window and not see spots all over my window. lol The view from my kitchen window is all wooded area and sometimes if I'm standing at the window at just the right time I can spot a deer or two. If I think to do it tomorrow I'll take a pic and show you all what it looks like while standing at the kitchen window. While the blind was soaking I washed the window and threw the valance into the washer.

I got everything put back up and then started on dinner. We had pinto beans for dinner tonight along with some cornbread. It was so good, plain, cheap and simple and it really hit the spot.

After dinner Eric, Matt and I went to Best Buy, Circuit City (it's so nice to have those stores so close to our house now) and Ukrop's (a locally owned grocery store). I was just going into Ukrop's to get a loaf of Baguette bread for my hot artichoke dip (see recipe below) and ended up spending over $40.00. :x We are invited our neighbors house Thanksgiving evening for dessert and the hostess said if I wanted to bring something that would be great so I'm taking The "BIG" Cookie (see recipe below), so I had to get the stuff to make that. I'm making one for us also, my kids said I had to make one for dessert. I'm also making some crock pot meatballs for my daughter April's boyfriend, Curtis. He loves them, this will be his first year coming to my house for Thanksgiving and I wanted to make these especially for him, so I bought the stuff to make those and I bought a few little odds and ends that I needed. I really don't want to go to a grocery store tomorrow if I can help it, the grocery stores are going to be SO busy tomorrow!

Hot Artichoke Crab Meat Dip

Recipe by: The Pampered Chef

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayonnaise

1 garlic clove, pressed

1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped

8 oz. crab meat, chopped (real or imitation, real is better)

3/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions with tops

1 lemon

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper

Additional sliced green onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine cream cheese and mayo. Press in garlic. Zest lemon to measure 1 teaspoon lemon zest. Add lemon zest and all remaining ingredients EXCEPT red pepper and additional sliced green onions to bowl and stir gently until well blended. Spoon into Deep Dish Baker. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Sprinkle with red bell pepper and additional green onions.
Serve with Baked Pita Chips, sliced french bread rounds, Baguette bread, or crackers.

Chocolate Chip Sensation

AKA The "BIG" Cookie

Recipe by: The Pampered Chef

1 pk refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

8 oz cream cheese; softened

1/3 c sugar

1 pt half and half

1 pk instant pudding mix;-chocolate

1/4 c nuts; chopped

Preheat oven to 375.
Roll cookie dough into a ball and flatten. Roll out dough into a 13" circle on baking stone. Bake cookie for 12 - 15 minutes or until browned. Let cool 10 minutes. Loosen crust from stone. Cool completely.
Combine cream cheese and sugar; set aside.
Combine half and half and instant pudding. Let set until firm, about 5 minutes.
Spread cream cheese mixture on thoroughly cooled cookie base. Layer pudding mixture on thoroughly cooled cookie base. Layer pudding mixture over cream cheese layer. Sprinkle chopped nuts over cookie.
Chill until served.

Monday Ramblings

WOW it's been a loonngg day for me! The day didn't start off very well. I forgot to hook the house phone up last night after I had unplugged it and hooked up the Directv so my son Eric could order a wrestling PPV. For some reason I forgot to unhook it and hook the phone back in. My grandson Wesley spent the night with his dad last night and he was to bring Wesley to me on his way to work this morning. He always drops him off really early and at different times so I never know what time to set my alarm so it works out good for him to call me before he comes over with Wesley. Well, since I forgot to plug the phone back up I never got his calls. I also forgot to set my alarm in case he didn't call me in time to wake Eric up. I got woke up at 8:00 by Emma running, jumping on me and she was barking. I jumped up looked at the clock and checked Eric's room, he was still sound asleep. I woke him and then called Tina to see why JJ (Wesley's dad) hadn't called to drop Wesley off. She said well Mama he called and it went to voice mail and he came over and banged on your front door for 20 minutes, you never came to the door so he left, his ride left and now he's probably going to get fired because he is on probation and cant miss any days. I'm in tears at this point thinking I've gotten him fired! I told Tina that I would take him to work but my truck is leaking something and Keith told me not to drive it far. JJ was working 45 minutes away. Tina couldn't come over and take him because she was sick two days last week and couldn't miss any time because she was so backed up on her work. I then remembered Eric's car was here, but I wasn't sure if it would start. Tina told me that I would have to let the car warm up for 15 minutes because it was so cold outside. The car started on the first try and I let it run while I ran back into the house to get dressed, then I drove over and picked JJ and Wesley up and took JJ to work. He was late, but he made it and didn't get fired!

My whole day has been so out of whack because of having to go out this morning. I didn't get my normally morning chores done and the whole day has just been "off". I did get most of the towels washed, dried and put away, I have one load in the dryer and one in the washer to go.

I was going to make BBQ chicken legs for dinner, but when I went to get the BBQ sauce out of the pantry there was a bottle of salsa sitting next to it and I remember I had seen a recipe for Salsa Chicken on the KF board. So I ran to my computer and googled salsa chicken and I had everything to make it so that is what I made. It was super easy and my family and I loved it! Here is how I made it (I didn't follow the recipe I found I just dumped stuff in).
I used chicken legs but you can use any chicken part, next time I make it I'm making it with boneless chicken breast. I laid my chicken legs into a 9x13 pan, then I sprinkled taco seasoning mix over top of the chicken, then I took the bottle of salsa and dumped it over the chicken, covered with foil and baked until done. After it was done I sprinkled shredded cheddar cheese over the chicken and salsa and put it back into the oven until the cheese melted. Some of the recipes I found said to top with sour cream, but I don't like sour cream so I didn't do that. I made a side dish (some kind of noodle thingie from a box mix) and corn.

Turkey Hunting

I went turkey hunting today. ;) I finally ended up buying my turkey at Food Lion after checking four stores, .59 cent a pound with a $35.00 (or $30.00 I forget) purchase. I just have a hard time spending over $20.00 for a turkey and that seemed to be all I was finding around here. Last year I bought my turkey at Food Lion and they were .39 cent a pound, I was able to buy two, but not this year.
I also bought most of the stuff I will need to make Thanksgiving dinner. Tina and April are going to be making some things so that will help me a whole lot! Tina is making mac and cheese (she uses my Mama's recipe and makes it so good) and she is also making broccoli casserole. April is cooking a ham and making pumpkin pie and I think meatball's in the crockpot. I have to go out sometimes this week, maybe Tuesday and buy my bread for my hot artichoke crab dip. I used to make chips out of pita bread, but discovered that bruschetta works great with the dip.

Eric didn't get my kitchen floor finished today. He is almost finished and said he will finish it after dinner tomorrow evening.

Friday

I finished cleaning out my pantry last night. It looks so much better in there and I can actually find stuff! I wish I had of counted all the empty boxes that I threw away. This evening when everyone is at home I'll have yet another talk to those people that live with me about the importance of throwing away the empty boxes instead of just throwing them back into the pantry.

I don't have much to do today. Wesley is here. Mallory went back to her Dad's last night and Carter is in school. Carter and Wesley will be with their Dad this weekend so I will get to see a lot of Carter. He spends a lot of his time with us when it is his weekend with his Dad, since he will only be 4 houses away from us. I'm sure he will be excited to be here and help with the flooring installation. He loves to help. Many times when he is here with me he will ask to help me clean. I give him a rag and he will go to town dusting. He also likes to fold wash clothes and kitchen towels.

I'm not cooking tonight, we will either go out or get take out. I'll also be going to Walmart I guess.

I need to start shopping for my Thanksgiving meal since I will be cooking. Tina had talked about cooking for us, but has changed her mind. Tina cooked last Thanksgiving and it was so good!

I had hoped to get a free turkey at Farmers Foods but I don't have enough feathers. The store has been running a promotion, spend $50.00 and get a feather. collect 6 feathers and get a free turkey. I only have 3 feathers.

Once I decide on my menu for Thanksgiving I'll post it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and a great weekend!