With Thanksgiving just a week away, I’m starting to plan our menu. We’re spending Christmas with the fam, so it’s Thanksgiving with friends this year. With Thanksgiving I’m always torn between traditional and something totally original. My husband is taking care of the turkey (cooked in a bag, upside down, stuffed AND covered in bacon–yum). Here he is carving the Turkey a few years ago (hope he doesn’t kill me for posting this pic ):

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?

My Hubby has been gone for a few weeks for training and is coming home tomorrow. Woo hoo! I’m excited to welcome him home, on Veterans Day of all days–I think he’s going to be surprised to see a little more of me than when he left! Anyway, the last day before he comes home whether it’s for six days or six months is always a little hectic. Lots of things to do, and today was no exception. I was happy to be pretty darn productive this afternoon. I went to work, came home, and did the following:

• 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!

I am sooooo excited. Today, my Hubby and I joined a CSA. What is a CSA, you ask? Well, CSA stands for Community-supported agriculture, and by joining you literally purchase a share of a farm’s harvest. For a little under $30 each week, we’ll pick up a box of produce every Tuesday filled with veggies and fruits the farm has yielded that week. It’s pretty cool. Today, I picked up this:

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!

Sooo…I like to think of myself as a pretty decent baker. I’m no Bakerella, but I can hold my own. Last night, I needed a simple cookie recipe, and I wanted to try something new. I used a recipe site that I’ve used several times before (which will remain nameless) and it was, well…bleh. I mean not horrible, but not something I would voluntarily waste calories on! I double checked the recipe, and I didn’t forget anything, so maybe it was the recipe and not my failure in the kitchen. But it doesn’t make me feel any less inadequate! Either way, I wanted to share this failure with you, my blogworld friends, so you  know that it’s not always peanut butter tarts and perfect chocolate chip cookies here. Sometimes you get…well, this: