Double Dinner Date

Last night Matt and I caught up with Billy and Ashley after work for a quick bite to eat at the Portsmouth Brewery :-)

We hadn't seen them since their Halloween Bash! It was great to catch up and hang out for a few hours before we all went home to dogs, laundry, grad school homework, bills - all the things that make up regular nights and life. Sometimes it's all about the simple things - like my wonderful burger (no bun) with caramelized onions, mushrooms and bacon! YUM!!

Turkey Day take 2

Saturday was Rand Family Thanksgiving and it was a blast - Ally was able to show up and so the 5 of us (plus Reese!) enjoyed turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, pie, apple -pear cobbler/crisp... YUM!!

Needless to say the fridge is now full of turkey leftovers that I packaged up for lunches :-)

The big pot is pumpkin-squash bisque

considering this was FULL, we've done a fairly good job!

Gluten-Free apple/pear cobbler/crisp. Third time's the charm!

Recipe for Apple/Pear Crisp

Ingredients:

gluten-free bisquick

light brown sugar

unsalted butter

3 types of apples - whichever you like best but I recommend including Granny Smith as 1 of the 3

red pears

bosc/brown pears

Depending upon how large a batch you are making, your number of apples and pears will change. The above is my 9x9 brownie pan that I used and it worked very well! I used 2 apples of each kind as well as 2 pears of each kind and it filled the pan nicely. 

preheat oven to 375

lightly spray baking pan or rub with butter to grease pan

core and chop into large slices all apples and pears

gently toss all fruit in the gluten-free bisquick and place into baking dish

melt butter (I used 1 1/2 sticks) and add equal parts bisquick and light brown sugar. You want the consistency to be like warm fudge (slightly stiff but still mold-able)

spread the 'topping' over the apples and pears like a crust. You want to be able to cover the entire top

bake in the oven for 50-70 min until bottom is bubbly and top is golden brown - see above picture. 

It can be served hot (let cool 15min before serving) OR cool (let cool 50min). Enjoy!

Happy Turkey Day!

The table setting

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!

Some board games - I think this was Sorry! but Monopoly was broken out after dinner

cozy fire

playing w/Reese

Skype w/Oliver & Melissa in Texas

late lunch/ apps:
homemade pumpkin squash bisque

cantaloupe melon w/ prosciutto

dinner:

spinach cranberry salad w/raspberry dressing

cranberry relish

turkey

hot turkey gravy

green beans w/sundried tomatoes

mashed sweet potato

dessert:

blueberry and pumpkin pie

I hope your day was just as tasty and fun!

Visit from an Old Friend

Not that she's old! Just that I've known her for a loooooong time! :-) Over half our lives. We met in middle school and have been friends (and big nerds together!) ever since - way before husbands, houses, dogs. It might be why we are SO bad at taking pictures when we are together! We are really bad - no joke, I think I have only a handful of photos of us!
I meant to take pics last night and once again got caught up chatting, laughing, eating sushi (YUM!) and hanging out by the fire - ie no pictures. But hey, now that we are married, we have each other in our wedding pics! case and point:

Catherine, thank you for a wonderful visit and we cannot wait that long again!! xoxo

Pumpkin Bread

I was looking at my food cabinet a week or so ago (making the grocery list) when I realized how much canned and boxed food stuff we still have that is not gluten-free. Since Matt decided to join me on the gluten-free 'wagon' it's just been sitting on the shelf not being eaten. So I pulled everything out and stacked it on the counter. It was a pretty sizable stack that was given away to a local friend who is just starting out in her first apartment. (I hate wasting food!)

Well, I was taking stock of my baking cabinet last night to see what I'd need to pick up for Thanksgiving and found a few more items..... So I used some of them to bake Matt a cream cheese frosted pumpkin loaf that went to Liberty for a Friday potluck. Yes, I cheated and used a box mix!!

The rest will go to a local food drive. But the more exciting thing for me is that it means more cabinet space in my kitchen!

I've already been thinking about how I can re-organize to make food items easier to find AND possibly take back some cabinet space for dishware that currently lives on shelves in the basement (spare mugs, holiday dishes, wooden salad bowls, etc).

6 days to Thanksgiving!

Uncovered Yard

Yesterday was Veteran's Day and I had a holiday from work. I didn't however spend the day on the couch or even shopping. I spent it in the yard. raking, weed whacking, chopping, trimming trees and doing general clean-up on an area of the yard I started way back in March! yep. no defense. no clue where the summer went.

So here's a refresher from March - I made it through to the driveway

and looped around so the edge of the driveway was done and connected to the yard
this view is looking towards our house and deck.

this view is looking towards Scott's house. ie our house and deck and behind me.

OK. here's the update. I spent about 4 hours and would have made more progress but for a blister that formed and busted underneath my leather work gloves. ouch.

this whole chunk of yard was cleared from
the road (on the left) to the stump and rock (on the right)

I'm standing in the driveway for this shot looking back towards the house and deck.
the trees on the left have been pruned as well as all the junk around them cleared away

entire giant rock hiding among the junk weeds, pricker bushes,
vines and other assorted wildlife.

Uncovered giant stump of an old tree as well as some young trees
that I decided to prune and keep.

I'm standing in the yard looking towards the driveway.
the handle of the weed whacker (bottom left) is where I started
clearing up towards the rock and tree stump.

See how much more of the neighbor's you can see now?
Not really the plan, by the way - but you have to clear out the junk
before you can plant the pretty bushes and trees to hide the view!

Here's an AFTER wider shot. I'm standing with my back to the house and deck. 

This is the BEFORE shot again so you can compare more easily!

Yes, there is still more to do. BUT, every bit helps AND I figure, the more I can do in the fall, the less clean-up I will have to do in the spring! This means more grass can grow, garden locations can be planned along with where the future hedge will go :-)

Decorating for Thanksgiving

I had originally thought I would do this post next weekend, but apparently  Thanksgiving decor happens in September now! Some of you have listened to my frustrations (and I thank you for your patient ears!) but seriously! I bought Halloween decorations in October, why should I have to get any missing Thanksgiving decor before Halloween?!
sigh. apparently it's already Christmas. So, as my friend Catherine informed me on Saturday - I'm very behind this year! - I decided I'd better get a move on and get the house done for Thanksgiving!

I really wanted a bittersweet wreath for the front door. No dice. 

So I made one! 24" grapevine wreath

2 rolls of ribbon - 9ft each

finished front door! (w/ a 60% coupon, total cost for the wreath was $12!)

only the super sparkly ribbon shows from farther back.
but for a last minute, $12 wreath, I'm calling it done!

Yep. This is a holly bush. No, it's not the mums I wanted - once again, I was too late.
But it fills the urn, which was looking very sad empty!

Pinterest printable for the fridge replaced
the lovely homemade Halloween picture from out neighbors

The living room mantle got a new mirror, framed Pinterest printable and orange candles

I had spare frames left from the hallway gallery project, so all I used was printer ink and paper! 

The hutch in the dining area got a few new additions as well.

colorful mini-pumpkins

yes, they are covered in glitter :-)

This will be part of the centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner,
but for now it will sit on top of the hutch.

A popular play on the 'Keep Calm' retro signs. 

I switched out just a few things in the guestroom

added the Yankee Candle

changed up the wall a bit with a few Pinterest printables

wire tree - a gift from Africa

this printable was fairly simple but I liked the word choice and colors

This one just cracked me up! LOL

Other bed side table got a smaller printable in a clear magnetic frame

Lesson learned: get creative when things don't go your way - AND, no matter what time of year you see something perfect - freakin' buy it then!!!

Snow and Curb Appeal?

I had posted earlier when I painted our front door from dark matte red to shiny black. But as I left the house this morning I snapped a shot of the new view - ie the black door in the snow. I started thinking how much I really like the black and what if I did more black? How would it change the look of the house?

Enter paintbrush!

These two pics (above and below) are before the front door was painted black. ie, how we bought the house.

Since our neighbors door shows in this photo (taken this morning) you can see the difference between the matte red front door and the shiny black front door with the color scheme of the house.

Here's a cropped view of just our side. I love how clean the house looks with the now matching front door and shutters.
Power-washing the house this summer has also helped!

Pardon the slightly sloppy 'paint' job.
I've turned the sidelight panel on the front door black, keeping the white trim around the windows
and I've also turned both garage doors black. 

The sidelight panel painted black gives the front door a bit more presense - a little UMPH! if you will. The more I look at it, the more I think I like it. The garage doors, on the other hand.... hmm... not so sure about.

What do you think?