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Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!

 

united states turkey GIF by Thomas Kastrati

While next week my favorite day will be Thursday, it is a given that 99.9% of the time, Friday is my favorite.

And I love to share my Friday Favorites.

This week I began preparing for my Sunday before Thanksgiving dinner.  I’ve decorated, made pie crust, baked pecan pie bars, and picked up a few grocery items.

My favorites this week are centered on getting ready for our big dinner…

Favorite # ONE

Cheesecake-Pumpkin-Pecan Pie

aka

Chumpkan Pie

It’s a beautiful thing and I have made it only once before.  Three layers of deliciousness make up this three-in-one pie.  The cheese cake layer is first, followed by the pumpkin custard layer, and topped with gooey pecan pie filling.

I’m not even going to attempt to type up this recipe because it is long and involved. You can find the recipe here.

You REALLY need a 10″ dish for this recipe.

Favorite # TWO

Pâte brisée

Martha Stewart’s recipe for pie crust has never let me down.   Instead of using the pie crust in the Chumpkan pie recipe above, I’ve made Martha Stewart’s pâte brisée for my Thanksgiving Day pies.  I can make it in advance and store it for weeks.  In this case, I made it last Sunday.

Speaking of Martha Stewart, Snoop Dogg was honored with a star on the Hollywood walk of fame this week.

Ms. Stewart and Mr. Dogg are quite an interesting pair.  You can read about them here.

(I have no idea why I included that bit of information)

Favorite # THREE

Pecan Pie Bars

These are delicious.

If you’ve never tried a Pecan Pie Bar, you must.  I’ve posted the recipe here.

Favorite # FOUR

The Hallmark Channel

I tuned in last Tuesday and I haven’t been able to change the channel!

Favorite # FIVE

Fall Décor

To prepare for the festivities, I’ve pulled out some of my fall decorations!

Commercial Salt And Pepper GIFto be continued…

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Gratitude

I cannot believe that it is NOVEMBER already!
Once again we will celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in just TEN days.  And there are so many things to be thankful for.
Growing up, I remember many hymns and songs that I learned in church.
One in particular was

Count Your Blessings

(by Johnson Oatman, Jr.)
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God has done.

 

So that is what I’m going to do…

Count My Blessings!

 

Love – LB by my side, Elvis always at my feet, Mama right next door

Family – Those who will be with me during the coming holidays and those I’ll see again someday

Memories – I have so many happy ones

Home – My most favorite place to be

My bed – I thank God for it every time my head hits the pillow

Electricity, indoor plumbing, and modern appliances

Health – I am SO blessed to be healthy

My treadmill – I don’t have to go to a gym or hit the sidewalk

The Job – I don’t like it, but it helps to have a paycheck

Some of my coworkers – You know who you are

Weekends – What everybody’s working for

Time – it isn’t promised, but I’m thankful for the time I’ve been given – including the few minutes I have to write this gratitude post

 

Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions.
The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.
~ Zig Ziglar

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

TBB Asks: Giving Thanks Edition

The first Monday of the month signifies TBB Asks time.

The Blended Blog is focusing on Giving Thanks and I’m linking up to take part in the Giving Thanks Q&A.  The linkup post was shared by Andrea and can be found here.

The “Thankful Food for Thought” that Andrea shared was especially noteworthy:

and I agree!

Thankful people are Happy people!

 

 

Have you ever kept a Gratitude Journal?

I’ve never kept a journal.  However, my blog serves as my journal of family, friends, and the wonderful life that I enjoy.

Hosting Thanksgiving at your house: Yes or No?

One of my newer traditions is hosting my Sunday before Thanksgiving Dinner.  My Mama and kids will meet at my house for a foretaste of the National holiday!

A new family member will be celebrating her first Thanksgiving with us this year!

Favorite food from The Thanksgiving Meal?

Dressing.  Not stuffing. Dressing.

It has been said that if it is stuffed inside the turkey, it should be labeled stuffing; if it is baked as a casserole, then the correct name for it is dressing.  Here in the south, we just call it dressing.

Unless it comes from a box

What one thing in Nature are you most grateful for?

Big Beautiful Colors

Tiny Little Creatures

Pumpkin Pie: Yes or No?

YES!

Traditional Cookbook: Yes or No?

Although I have a LOT of cookbooks, I rarely use them.  Most of my recipe experiments come from Pinterest.

Oven Baked or Deep Fried Turkey?

I love an oven roasted turkey!

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Yes or No?

Absolutely.  Thanksgiving dinner tastes even better the following day!

What is one Household Product you are most grateful for?

All of them!

Are you most grateful for home cooked meals or restaurant meals?

Home cooked meals are the best!Smothered in GRAVY!

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.


Filed Under: TBB

Friday Favorites Halloween Edition

This week I returned to work from my wonderful fall vacation.  After a week back at work, Friday is once again my favorite day [to say the least]

and good reason to focus on my favorites.

My Friday Favorites

Tim Burton Halloween GIF

Featuring favorites from Halloween 2018.

Favorite # ONE

Apparently these are my most favorite item of the weekas I cannot seem to keep my hands off of them.

I purposely did not buy M&Ms to avoid temptation, but it seems that there is no prejudice when it comes to chocolate.

And there is a whole jar of them by the front door!

If only I had some Trick-or-Treaters to show up at my door! (Pictured: Amanda, Richard, Emily, Kyle, Dillon, Stephanie, Sydney, and Elizabeth)

 

Favorite # TWO

Dressing up with LB for Halloween…as a 1920’s Gangster Fella and Flapper Girl.

This year we ran out of time to work on a new Halloween costume, so we recycled an old one from 2012.

Some other costumes that were impressive:

My sister Gina who is apparently celebrating the Day of the Dead.

And my sister’s sweet grand-babies as the Three Little Pigs.

My precious Glam-baby Rory as Pascal the chameleon who lives with Rapunzel.Apparently she doesn’t appreciate being caged.

Favorite # THREE

Other costume favorites from the past:

Sandy and Danny

A Pirate Wench

Poison Ivy and the Riddler

Favorite # FOUR

Party Time at Wayne and Laurie’s

Every year we attend the Balasso Halloween Bash, which you can read more about here.

Even though Halloween was a mid-week event, we had a scary good time.

Favorite # FIVE

I’m not necessarily a fan of the song lyrics, but I do like this creepy Backstreet Boys video.  The dance is fun, and the characters are cute.

Disclaimer: This production by the Backstreet Boys is most likely PG-13.

 

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Fall Vacation

Our vacation began innocently enough.  A stop in Dahlonega, Georgia a week after GOLD RUSH DAYS.

We stayed at the Dahlonega Square Hotel and Villaswhich was very nice.

We visited the Dahlonega Gold Museum…And various shops..And enjoyed brunch at Picnic Cafe.

Then afterward headed toward North Carolina for mountain roads and a search for waterfalls.

There is a self imposed challenge to find the most beautiful waterfall in the southeast.  Last year there was the creepy climb to see Rufus Morgan Trailhead.

This year we attempted to have a less creepy encounter.

 LB tried to keep things safe and purchased a waterfall brochure while we were in Georgia to study before venturing onward.

He decided that while on our way to Highlands we would look for the Trahlyta falls in Georgia.  We followed the GPS and took a turn down a road which promptly became a one-lane, unpaved road.I immediately [but silently] don’t like this.

After two miles of hoping no one would be coming in the opposite direction, and a bit of confusion, there was a sign:

A sign?

The road eventually led us to a small parking area where we saw that others had found the same location and were setting out to investigate.

Well if HE did, I probably will too.

I changed into my big girl boots, and we set out to find the falls.

We reached the bottom of the falls and LB felt adventurous, and he took off onto the rocks.He quickly discovered something that looked like it didn’t belong.  It was a walking stick.  My first thought was, “it probably belongs to the people that went down the trail ahead of us”.

LB rescued it anyway.

We continued up and met the couple that hiked up ahead of us.  Sure enough, the man had dropped his brand new walking stick and would likely not have been able to retrieve it alone.  LB happily handed it over to him and the couple gratefully used it to continue their descent.

Shortly thereafter LB and I began our trek down the trail.  As another gentleman came toward us, I had an uneasy feeling and thought “I wish I had a gun stuck in the back of my pants right now”.

We continued past him to the car.

As we were leaving, LB pointed out a sticker on a truck that had parked beside us.

MURDER RIDE?

Anyway… we made it safely to our next destination.

 

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Can You Bake Some Pumpkin Muffins?

Yesterday as we drove back to Jacksonville to spend the final day of fall vacation at home, LB asked, “what can you make with pumpkin [for me] when we get back home?”

The pumpkin possibilities are endless!

Dey’s uh, pumpkin-kabobs, pumpkin creole, pumpkin gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. Pineapple pumpkin, lemon pumpkin, coconut pumpkin, pepper pumpkin, pumpkin soup, pumpkin stew, pumpkin salad, pumpkin and potatoes, pumpkin burger, pumpkin sandwich…

(source)

er… can you [just] bake some pumpkin muffins?

Absolutely!

So I went on a Pinterest search for pumpkin muffins with an added bit of sump’n.

I found these Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Muffins from The Novice Chef.

As the Novice Chef states, these spiced pumpkin muffins are moist and topped with sweet cream cheese that melts into them as they bake and only take 30 minutes!
And she is right!

For the muffins you will need all purpose flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, salt, a can of pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract.

For the fancy cream cheese swirl you will need, cream cheese, granulated sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla extract.

Here is how it is done:

Preheat your oven to 375°F.

If your oven is like mine, it will take 30 minutes to get there.

Place paper baking cups into a muffin pan and set aside.  Then, in a medium bowl, whisk flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda and salt until well combined and set it aside.

In your standing mixer, mix together the canned pumpkin, sugar and brown sugar.  Beat in eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Then slowly add in the flour mixture, mixing until there are no lumps.  This mixture looks really good.  Stick your finger in it and give it a taste.

Good, huh?

Wash your hands and continue.

Fill the muffin cups about three quarters of the way full.

Nice.

Now, after LB (or your significant other) has licked the bowl clean, wash it so you can use if for the cream cheese swirl.

In that same mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add in the sugar, egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.  Top each muffin with about 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture and use a toothpick to swirl it into the batter.

It will turn out better than you think.

Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

And LB exclaims

“the holiday baking season has begun!”

 

 

Pumpkin Cream Swirl Muffins

  • Servings: 18
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

Muffin:

  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin spice
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin (pure pumpkin puree)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Swirl:

  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Place paper baking cups into muffin pan.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda and salt until well combined.  Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat together pumpkin, sugar and brown sugar.  Add eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla extract.

Slowly add the flour mixture, mixing until smooth.  Fill muffin tins 3/4 full.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add sugar, egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.

Top each muffin with about 1 tablespoon of cream cheese mixture and use a toothpick to swirl it into the batter.

Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

NATIONAL BLACK CAT DAY

Today is

Don’t be superstitious!

black cat GIF

October 27 is National Black Cat Day, and it is all about celebrating the beauty of these sleek creatures.

And the fluffy ones too!

“While this time of year black cats may decorate many thresholds for Halloween and windows for spooky decor, these felines deserve the love and attention just as much as their tabby counterparts.  Old notions have given these furry critters a bad reputation.  National Black Cat Day is about turning that reputation around” (source).

HOW TO OBSERVE

If you are a cat lover and considering adopting, don’t overlook the sweet little black cats looking for love.  There is no rational reason to be afraid of black cats, so open your home to the dark side!  Take a picture and post on social media using  #NationalBlackCatDay to share (source).

Stories about my black fur baby Elvis Cat Starling can be read here and here.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

 

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