Sunday Desserts - Rudolph Cookies...

Sunday dinner is in a few minutes, so I am quickly going to show you what I made for dessert.  I got the idea from a Pin that took me here.

I had a roll of prepared sugar cookies in the fridge that needed to be used, and that suited my energy level today just fine.  Once they were baked and cooled, I decorated them right on the cookie sheets.

I melted some chocolate chips, put the melted chocolate in a sandwich bag, and snipped off the corner to pipe on the antlers and face, and I used some red candy cake/cookie decorations for the nose.

These are about the easiest thing I've made since I don't know when, but I think they are pretty darn cute!

Sorry if it's too Christmas-y too soon, Caroline.  Bwahahaha!

edit:  Caitlyn reminded me that it was still November, and we were supposed to have another pumpkin dessert today.  :)  Ah well, Caitlyn...cook's prerogative!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all had a wonderful day today...wherever you are, whatever you have to celebrate.

I have so very much to be thankful for this year...this life.  

Since I have a sweet little girl with me for the evening who is needing to go to bed, I will just quickly post some photos of feast prep.  I only did a turkey, the dressing and gravy, and Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Butternut Squash.  Kasey and Beau did all the rest of the food and hosting duties.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Butternut Squash

recipe posted at What's Cookin' 4 Miles North of Nowhere?

 celery and onions for the dressing...which I forgot to take a photo of finished

The star of the show...turkey

Not a pretty presentation, but shows the excess of feasting we enjoyed.  As delicious as everything was, the best part was not what was on the table, but being able to share the day with those seated around it.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

I'm not very far into it yet, so I'm reserving judgment, but so far so good.

Making it Monday...

I have not done a stellar job at keeping up with my goal of sending 52 letters in 52 weeks this year.  But I did make a few cards today, and they are now in the mailbox awaiting the mailman.

With this week being Thanksgiving, I used somewhat of an Autumn color scheme, even though they weren't really Autumn cards.  I made two with a simple bunting (inspired by this one I saw on Pinterest).

Another two were made using teal and brick-colored cork sheets and copper-colored brads.

A letter was written in each, and they now are in the mailbox awaiting the postman.  Also in the mailbox is a letter that Chloe wrote to her great-grandmother last night while she was spending the night here.  The letters the girls write to her are always answered promptly in kind, which they love.  

Later this afternoon a friend is coming over to get some help crafting table decorations for her Thanksgiving gathering, so now I need to put away the card-making gear and clean off the table. 

A beautiful pumpkin pie...

photo credit:  Bing images

If you recall, I announced to my family at the beginning of the month that our Sunday family dinner desserts throughout the month of November would all be pumpkin based.  The first two weeks were great, third week was okay but no one's favorite.  Every week Diego suggested just plain ol' pumpkin pie (his favorite) for the next week.

The boys are going to be with their other parents for Thanksgiving.  That means that our feast will have three fewer chairs around the table.  So I thought I would make Diego his pumpkin pie as the Sunday dessert today.

I had all the ingredients in the pantry, and it went together quickly.  Really quickly.  In fact, once it went in the oven, I thought, "Well, that was easier than I remember." 

It turned out beautifully.  I let it cool, and transported it to Kasey's.  After dinner, Diego was the first to cut himself a slice.  When I got around to getting a piece, the first bite made me laugh at myself.  I hadn't put any sugar in it!  It was so...blah.  I felt so bad for Diego!  He hadn't said a word.  Ah, well, I'm sure he will get some in a few days.  If not I'll make him another...with all the ingredients next time.  :)

Making it Monday...

I'm late getting a card off for my sister's birthday, but it will go out today.  Our gray and dreary weather makes me yearn for someplace that has beautiful Autumn colors.  I edited the photograph to appear more as a watercolor, and printed it on watercolor paper.  I mounted it on a brick-red layer of cork and a kraft card base.

A friend called me this morning and asked me to make a gift-enclosure card for her to tuck into a gift basket of Fall-garden bounty, I made it easy on myself by using the same photograph.  

It's one I took a few years ago when Carey and I went to Kentucky for my birthday.  Sigh...that was such a fun trip.

I have no words...

Quick post...

I'm going to see if I can't squeeze in a quick post before midnight.  :)

The past couple of days I have had a nasty headache.  I'm not supposed to take the only pain med that seems to help because of the interaction it might have with a prescription I take.

Today I had quite a few chores to get done, and I got most of them done or at least started.  Then my sweet son came by and finished them all up for me...seasoned and cooked up lots of ground beef so that I can get it in freezer for future recipe starters, drying linens, putting them back on the bed, getting his dad's supper and keeping it warm.  I fell asleep, and was surprised to find him still here when I woke up.  He must have been worried, as he stayed till his dad got home.  :)  I'm really sorry to have worried him, but it's nice to feel the love and concern.

I finally gave up and took some pain reliever, and am feeling much better.  I work tomorrow, so I had to do something about it.  Now I've also managed to scratch 'pay bills' off the list, and sent a little love to a sweet friend who is having a hard time right now.

Looking forward to tomorrow at work.  Monday was my first day at this branch, and it was an optimum balance of quiet time to catch up on computer system updates since I last worked and challenging tasks that keep my noggin working.  

I just noticed that tomorrow is Friday the 13th...but the 13th has always been blessed days for me, both my kiddos born on the 13th of separate months/years, so I'll go forward without worry.  :)

G'night!

I missed the 7th again...

The 7th slipped right past without my notice, so I guess I will do a quick 8 on the 8th.

1.  Tomorrow is Chandler's birthday.  That's his card above.  He called it fancy.  :)

2.  Tonight was Sunday Family Dinner with the kids, and we laughed SO much.  Lots of silliness.  :)

3.  I made another pumpkin dessert, and it was okay, but I don't think it will be made again.  It was very sweet.

4.  I have to work tomorrow and Friday at an office I've never worked in before, and it's the closest to my house of any.  It will be nice not to have to leave as early as I normally do when I work.

5.  Over the weekend I accomplished a grocery shopping extravaganza which included the health food store, the warehouse store, the big box store (blech), and my regular grocery store.  I am going to do some cooking ahead and some assembly of mixes for later use.

6.  Oh, and after spending an hour and a half in the warehouse store and the big box store, I looked down and realized that I was wearing my tee-shirt wrong side out.  Classy, that's me.

7.  November.  NOVEMBER!  Oh my goodness, it is truly time to get into holiday gift prep mode!

8.  So much to do, so much to do, so much to do...

My love is retro(active)...

I went a little old school when preparing dinner tonight.  My crazy husband used to eat a lot of TV dinners, and Salisbury Steak was his favorite.  Unfortunately his aging system no longer tolerates the pre-fab ingredients well, so he has given up his beloved Hungry Man Dinners.

These days he still takes frozen dinners to heat up at work, but they are all homemade by me.  We have a large collection of freezer-safe / microwave-safe containers.

Since he's been a little down...he had a slight (but hilarious to me) accident when he was cutting his hair yesterday, after which there was no alternative but to go cue ball, and he has to work an extra day this week...I thought I would try to make him something that says, 'You are special to me."

I made it up as I went along, but it turned out really well.  Both Carey and Jared really liked it.  I had to write the recipe out before I forgot it.  I put it up over at What's Cookin' 4 Miles North of Nowhere.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

A Highland Christmas by M. C. Beaton

I will be starting this one later this evening.  I picked it up from the library on Monday after quilting.  One of my quilting friends recommended the book series.  I enjoyed the television series, and my friend assured me the books were even better.

The library had quite a few of the series, and it was hard to select one to start with.  I know it may be a little early to be reading Christmas, but I need inspiration to get started on Christmas gift making, so I thought this might put me in the mood.

*****

This morning I managed to finish the book from my last WIRW post about three weeks ago.  I gave up on it about a quarter of the way through, and didn't intend to pick it back up, but after a couple of weeks I did.  It wasn't worth it.  It is in a tie for worst book of the year so far.

Sunday desserts, Pumpkin Bliss...

At about 2 a.m. this morning I decided to get an 'early' start on making today's dessert.  I started by looking for a recipe on Pinterest, but couldn't find what I wanted.  The pumpkin cheesecake recipes appealed to me, but I didn't have enough cream cheese.  I did however have some No-Bake Cheesecake mixes in the pantry, so I just started gathering things out of the pantry and came up with my own.  It couldn't get much easier.

I put the recipe up at What's Cookin' 4 Miles North of Nowhere.

I thought we should sample it before taking it to Sunday dinner...didn't want any unpleasant surprises...also, it's very hard to get photos if I wait till we are already at Kasey's...so this afternoon I cut a piece out and photographed it.  There were no complaints from Carey, as he and I split it after its photo session.  :)  It really is good...cool and creamy, with a little crunch from the pecans on top and the crust on the bottom...gave me my pumpkin-y, cinnamon-y fix.

I garnished only half with pecans as some of the kids don't like nuts.

I made an announcement last week that all Sunday desserts in November would be pumpkin ones.  I think they will approve of this one.