Thanksgiving ends and December Begins....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know I did. I was given my favorite assignment of making these rolls, and a bunch of pies and I got to share them with my favorite people.
We had a long weekend full of wallyball, poker tournaments, a late night of card playing at The Terry's cabin, black Friday shopping, and finished it off with Chirstmas tree decorating and the best ever chocolate chip cookies (don't worry I'll share them with you soon).

The first day of December is tomorrow and what a great way to start the month off with a Free Advent Calendar found via Say Yes to Hoboken.

Happy Holidays!

Cupcakes

I provided the refreshments for a church function a couple of nights ago and was pretty pleased with how it turned out. I went with a cupcake theme and served red velvet, pumpkin, and german chocolate. My favorite is the pumpkin (which I already shared a while back), but the german chocolate is a close contender. I have to admit that this is the only one I cheated on and made from a box, but the frosting I made from scratch, which you can find here.

As far as the decor went, I kept it pretty simple and stuck to things I already owned, with the exception of the acorns which I found at the park.

Tip: Since I like cake served chilled, it worked best to freeze the cupcakes and frost them frozen and then they will thaw within an hour.

Baby Shower Ideas

My niece Kellie just had a baby girl and named her Alexis Mae (how cute is that name?!). Actually, I have a lot of family and friends having babies these days. So I thought maybe some of you do as well. Here's a couple of great things I found around the internet that might spark some ideas for a great baby shower:

How cute would these paper owls look spread out all over the tables? Found via A Delightful Blog

Then I'd grab all of my scrap fabric and make a banner like this one to hang above the table.

Image found via flicker

For the gift? I would make another one of these bird mobiles I made for my new nephew last January. For a free download go here. Or give me a call if you have questions about how to assembly it.











Now I kind of wish I was throwing a baby shower for someone!

Pizza Dough

I get asked for this recipe a lot. Honestly, I think pizza is one of my favorite things to make, with the exception of pie of course.

Combine:
2 1/4 Cups Warm Water
2 Tbl Yeast
Let stand for about 10 minutes to activate the yeast.


Add:
2 Tbl Sugar
2 Tsp Salt
1 Tbl Oil
5-6 Cups flour (you know you have enough flour when it pulls away from the sides of your mixer)


Mix for 8 minutes. Roll out and place on pan that has been greased and spread cornmeal all over it. Poke dough with a fork all over so you don't get bubble. Add toppings of your choice. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. Makes about 3 medium size pizzas.

Thanksgiving Invite

Thankgiving is my favorite holiday because it's all about food and family. Over at Design Mom is the great idea to send out Thanksgiving Invitations. I have never thought of this, but I think it's a fabulous idea!

Every year my mother-in-law invites the immediate family over the Sunday before for our own Thanksgiving meal and it has become one of my favorite traditions.

I'm dying to cook a turkey and am currently working on perfecting a stuffing recipe, so hopefully I will have that to share before the holiday comes.

If you have any fun traditions please share.

Menu Tips

Stephmodo not only has a great menu laid out for the week, but has found a way to better articulate her meal planning than I was able to. Click here for her advice on how to save money on your groceries and eat great meals throughout the week. I did it and I never want to go back!

Royal Eatery

I've been craving breakfast food ever since I ate at the Royal Eatery a couple of weeks ago. I was downtown for the semi annual book sale at the Main Library. I scored like 20 books for $20. You should check it out, it goes on every October and April. Afterwards a friend and I headed over to the royal Eatery for breakfast and I can't stop thinking about it.

For nothing fancy, but really good food, check it out.
image via flicker