I hope you all had a marvelous Independence Day! Our holiday was pretty low key…we relaxed around the house with the boys, made a killer celebration dinner (including a new recipe: strawberry rhubarb crisp, which I’ll share below), and then yes, we braved the local firework display with our two 3 month olds. We had decided to punt the fireworks this year–my hubby and I were both a little bummed about missing them. But while catching up on my blog reading yesterday, I read that a lot of moms take their babes to see fireworks. Many babies do perfectly well with the noise, especially if they are commonly exposed to loud sounds. Since our two little guys frequently put up with Paul the Dog barking and have yet to cry from his loud voice, I figured we were probably safe. So off we went and it was perfect! We found a nice little spot in the grass, spread out our quilt, and watched a lovely little display with our two boys, who were a little more quiet and less squirmy watching fireworks than they had been all day! Woo hoo!

As for that strawberry rhubarb crisp, all I can say is YUM! I love rhubarb, but I’ve always been a bit stand-offish when it comes to doing anything with it myself. It looks like pink celery, folks! But don’t let the color scare you away. I was determined to use it in a dessert this Independence Day, and I found this recipe from Anne Burrell on Food Network.

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 quart strawberries, stemmed and quartered
• 4 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch lengths
• 1 cup sugar (Anne only called for 1/2, but I wanted it to be a bit sweeter!)
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 orange, zested and juiced
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Topping

• 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/4 sticks butter, cut into small
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Pinch salt
• 1 to 2 tablespoons water

Yummy!

And now, totally unrelated to Independence Day or strawberry rhubarb crisp, I have a musing I’d like to share with you. Did you (or your daughter or your sister or your cousin or your neighbor or your best friend…) ever have an American Girl doll?

I had Samantha and I LOVED her. I had almost all of her clothing and would change her outfits frequently. While changing her clothes was always fun and exciting, it was kind of a pain due to the fact that she really offered no help when it came to putting on all her fabulous Victorian garb. And her fingers! They seemed to get caught on everything! But in the end, she always looked so stylish…

Well, that’s what I think of almost every time I get the boys dressed.

They were installed by the previous owner. I seriously don’t know what she was thinking! These types of  lights already kind of look like boobs on their own, but hang two of them together? All I see are BOOBS!

So we bought some light fixtures a few months ago at Home Depot. But when we took down one of the boobs to install them, we saw there was a huge footprint underneath the fixture that we would need to patch and paint. The problem? No more yellow paint (which I want to get rid of at some point, but that’s a MUCH bigger project). So we were going to have to paint the whole soffit another color, probably white.

UNTIL…I was putting away the paint for the nursery (I’ll be telling you all about my paint storage technique next week). And I discovered this little gem:

I was SOOOO excited to find this. You see, the lady who lived in the house before us left all her house paint, nicely labeled by room. However, she didn’t store it well, so most of it was pretty icky, and was the paint was degraded to the point where it didn’t match the colors on the wall anymore. That is, all the paint except for ONE can. And that can? The paint for the kitchen! Hurray! I had totally forgotten I had it.

So the Hubby took down the boobs:

And then he spackled the old holes and used an electric sander to sand down the rigid line in the paint where the boobs were:

Then he used that fabulous little sample of paint to touch everything up. I am SO happy we don’t have to paint that whole soffit now (which goes around the whole kitchen)!

Last, but not least, he installed the new lights. I LOVE how they look! See how they coordinate with the chandelier we installed a while ago?

So there you have it…the story of how I got rid of my boobs.

I used one of these kraft molds and lined it with parchment paper. I stacked the cookies inside like so:

Yum Yum Yum! Then I folded the parchment over, and wrapped it all up with some green rafia I had on hand. I wrote a little note on a scrap of fun paper, and just slipped it on the rafia. I love how it turned out!

For only a little over $1.00 I made my neighbor smile! Have you done a random act of kindness lately? I challenge you to do one today!

So I stumbled across the website Sweet and Saucy Supply a few weeks ago, and have since become obsessed with their amazing cake stands! Wouldn’t you just love to have one of these on your dessert buffet table?

This little beauty just says SPRING to me. It’s so sweet and simple.

And not that I’ll have any use for this in the near future…but I can just see this one as the centerpiece for a little girl’s birthday party. Lovely, lovely.

Oh, and I just LOVE this shade of blue!

So next time you think your cake needs a little visual punch…you know where to turn!

Ingredients

• 1 Large  French Bread
• 6 – 8 eggs
• 2 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 cup Milk
• 2 tablespoons Sugar
• pinch Salt
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla
• 1 Cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 Cup softened butter
• 2 TBS light Karo syrup
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 Cup packed light brown sugar.

Method

Start by cutting a loaf of french bread into slices.

Next, combine the eggs, cream, milk, sugar, salt, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Dip bread in mixture and place in buttered casserole dish. Cover and put in the fridge overnight. Go to bed. Because if you’re anything like me, you’re making this at 11:30pm on the night before Thanksgiving.

Wake up. Preheat oven to 350. Enjoy the fact that you’re almost done making breakfast already! Mix together pecans, butter, Karo syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar.

Spread on French Toast.

Bake for 45 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

I always start out the Thanksgiving ritual by setting the table the night before. I find that by doing this Number 1: I can enjoy the table that much longer and Number 2: It makes the day-of go pretty darn smoothly. I covered our table with a standard canvas drop cloth (you can find these at your local hardware store for $7 or so). We used drop cloths for curtains in the Man Cave last summer, and they were so versatile, we bought three extra to have on hand for tablecloths. After the drop cloth “tablecloths” I used our rustic wooden placemats to give the table some texture.

We only have six china places settings, so I just used our standard dishes. I laid a burnt orange napkin on each plate and topped with a red pear. I just love the way it turned out! The centerpieces were simple vases filled with candles and cranberries. Lastly, I sprinkled some smooth stones around the vases, which not only gave the table more texture, but also brought in a sense of family for me. You see, these stones, when flipped over reveal the names of friends and family members who attended one of my bridal showers! My best friend Leslie had people sign these stones rather than a guest book–I thought Thanksgiving was the perfect time to break them out!

The other thing I do the night before Thanksgiving is label all the serving dishes so I know exactly what I’m going to put in each one. This makes that last-minute crunch time easy peasy, as I already know what’s going where and I’m not pulling serving dishes and utensils out of the cabinets at the last minute.

The morning of Thanksgiving I get up, make breakfast (which I’ll share with you tomorrow), and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade with my hubby. He actually marched as part of the honor band in the parade in college! I love to watch all the Broadway shows perform in Herald Square–especially the Rockettes. I just love them!

About halfway through the parade, I start prepping the food. Our menu this year:

Appetizers:

Orange-cranberry dip and crackers & Bloomin’ Onion Bread

The star of this course was the Bloomin’ Onion Bread. It was so easy and YUMMY! I’m ready to make it again very soon.

Main Course:

Pioneer Woman’s Dinner rolls

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Turkey with gravy

Mashed potatoes

Cranberry sauce two ways (the homemade stuff and the weird congealed stuff from a can)

And friends brought over sweet potatoes, stuffing, and green bean casserole

I love all this stuff…but I really loved the turkey the Hubby did. He rubbed it in Italian seasoning and butter, wrapped it in bacon, stuffed it with bacon, and then roasted it breast down in an oven bag with apples, cranberries, onions, rosemary, and parsley. It was moist and flavorful and cooked really quickly! What’s not to love about that?!?

Dessert:

Vermont spice cake with maple cream cheese frosting

And friends brought cranberry bread pudding and berry pie.

I just LOVED this spice cake recipe. I’m definitely adding it to my fall repertoire. It was deeeeelish.

Here’s a shot of our whole group together:

And here’s the aftermath…

But there is just one thing I cannot make from scratch–turkey gravy. I know you’re supposed to use those weird bits–giblets, liver, etc.–that come in the turkey, and that REALLY freaks me out. So I decided to put my weird feelings aside and find a good tutorial. Who else should I turn to, but my dear friend the Pioneer Woman (okay, we’re not really friends, but I consult her so much, I sometimes feel like we’re friends). She has an excellent tutorial on how to make turkey gravy. And I read it. And like I said it’s an excellent tutorial. But I just couldn’t get over this picture:

Courtesy of the Pioneer Woman

I tried. I tried to tell myself: “Kate, you are a grown-up. You are a soon to be mother of two, who will have to deal with many gross things in the future. You used to want to be a doctor and held pig brains and sheep hearts and dissected all sorts of creatures.” But despite the Pioneer Woman’s encouragement, I decided that I just can’t do it!

So I did what I do every year…I bought the packet. I might add some drippings from the turkey in there, but I just can’t touch those icky parts. And it makes me feel a bit guilty…like I’m a Turkey Day failure. But friends, that’s just how strongly I feel about not touching those weird parts! I hope you won’t judge me .

How about you? Are you brave enough to make “real” gravy?

For Christmas that year, my little sister bought him an *ahem* more masculine apron to wear on such occasions.

Our friends are taking care of sweet potatoes and stuffing…which leaves appetizer, cranberry sauce, veggies, potatoes, and dessert for me. Woo hoo!

Appetizer…I usually do a cheese plate. But I can’t eat all the cheese I like, and so I’m thinking about doing something kind of fun and different. Any suggestions? Something that doesn’t have to stay super hot and is fairly light. I started looking for recipes, and it seems that every appetizer recipe includes goat cheese, brie, or blue cheese–NONE of which I can have. After looking for 30 minutes, here are my front runners: Hot Bacon Cheese Dip, Pear, Onion, and Jack Cheese Strudels, Bacon-wrapped Water Chestnuts (these sound weird but I’ve had them before and they are delicious!), or Artichoke-Parmesan Crostini. Thoughts?

Cranberry Sauce…I’m a werido and love the congealed stuff in the can. But I usually do a simple version of the real stuff for the Hubby (He doesn’t like peanut butter OR congealed cranberry sauce–how did we end up together?!?).

Veggies…This is the big question. Green bean casserole? Green Beans Almondine? Brussels Spouts? Glazed carrots? Turnips? I just can’t decide!!!

Potatoes…I do mashed. That’s the one thing for me that has to be super traditional. And Thanksgiving evening, I make potato patties, which I then fry in butter the next day. Love them!!!

Dessert…Typically my favorite course, but once again, I’m torn. Apple pie for my hubby?  Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies half dipped in chocolate (a favorite of my childhood)? Pumpkin cheesecake? Or the one that’s really making my mouth water…this Vermont Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting? Decisions, decisions, decisions…

What are YOU making for Thanksgiving?

• Bought and replaced the wiper blades on my car.
• Walked the dog.
• Got a pedicure.
• Went to Michael’s to get supplies for a project.
• Got Thai food take-out–yum!
• Did some laundry.
• Put together farewell gifts for our Officer Spouses Club.
• And I’m currently putting the final touches on a project I’m going to share with you tomorrow night.

Whew–I guess I’m officially out of that first trimester fatigue!

While I finish up this project, I thought I’d share with you these adorable little single serving pie in a jar I found on Our Best Bites.

Our Best Bites

Isn’t this little single serving pie just ADORABLE?! I’m definitely making some of these sometime soon! Here’s a link to the tutorial. These would be so great to take as a new baby meal, don’t you think?  Love them!

And all this:

If you can’t figure out what’s in the picture,there are a ton of tomatoes, avocados, carrots, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, swiss chard (which I have to figure out what to do with!), leeks, lettuce, collard greens, two different varieties of eggplant, squash, zucchini, and even some flowers!

And I’ll pick up a box of organic produce like this EVERY week, without even setting foot in the farmer’s market! Looks like I’ll be learning some new veggie recipes!