My FIRST (Hosting) Thanksgiving

My FAVORITE season of the year is finally here: CHRISTMAS SEASON! (And it is also basketball season which is an added bonus). But, this year, the path to the Christmas season had a new hurdle for me, hosting my first Thanksgiving dinner.

With Eric scheduled to work the day after Thanksgiving, there was just no reasonable way for us to spend Thanksgiving at home like we have the past three years, so I decided to act as the hostess. This way we got to spend time with our families, without having to travel.

Eric's parents arrived Tuesday evening and we visited our new favorite local restaurant, Abbott's Grill because I was not going to try and store any additional food to cook meals before the big day. My parents and sister arrived Wednesday evening and we ordered pizza from Papa John's to do our part in helping to make the night before Thanksgiving one of the busiest nights of the year for pizza take out places.

Once everyone arrived, it was time for the big day! I will admit I was nervous, but I also was feeling confident due to the fact that over the past three years, my culinary skills have improved drastically! Thursday morning was an early morning for me, but I wanted to make sure that everything got moving on scheduled. I started off with mixing together the "wet stuffing" to go in the turkey. 

For most of my recipes I tried to keep them simple, knowing that I would have enough other stress, I didn't need to add in any complicated recipes. My stuffing recipe (for both the wet and the "dry" - I'll tell you the only change later) came from my trustworthy Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, page 480 "Old- Fashioned Bread Stuffing". The recipe is simply:

• 3 stalks chopped celery
• 1 large chopped onion
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 12 cups dry bread cubes (I used about 9 cups of herb seasoned bread cubes instead)
• 1 cup chicken broth

Saute the celery and onion in the butter, then add seasoning and pepper to the mixture before pouring it over the bread crumbs. Mix it all together, and then slowly add the chicken broth while stirring so that the moisture gets evenly distributed, rather than some bread becoming overly soggy! (Gross!) 

I made two separate batches of this recipe. The one in the picture went inside my turkey, the other one I just baked in a casserole dish for about half an hour. The only difference was in the casserole dish, I used ground sage instead of poultry seasoning.

Then came the big moment, prepping the turkey, stuffing it, and getting it in the oven. Here are the before and after pictures of my turkey! (Please ignore my outfit, I was just going for comfort)

I also kept the turkey VERY simple. I rubbed it down with about half a stick of butter, and then put just a bit of salt and pepper on top. I also accidentally roasted the turkey "upside down" (breast on the bottom), but it made the turkey breast so moist and juicy that I think I will make it that way every year! My turkey was about 20 lbs, and because it was stuffed it cooked for about 5 hours.

I had a flawless system of keeping track of when things would be done (picture below), but it was the best I could do with my lack of timers. It worked out though, because nothing was burnt or overdone!

My sister provided the art work for the "timer board".

For the sides for our wonderful dinner we had mashed potatoes (cooked in the pressure cooker), sweet potato casserole (made by my Mom, I will need to get her recipe and add it here later), green beans amandine, corn casserole, homemade gravy, fresh cranberry sauce, and rolls (just generic frozen rolls from Walmart). Check the caption for each picture if you're interested in any of the recipes (except the sweet potatoes, because I'm still working on getting that!).

My Dad made the mashed potatoes in the pressure cooker. Peal and chop the potatoes, cook them for about 7 minutes in the pressure cooker, then mash with heated milk. Quick and easy!

The sweet potato casserole is the front left on the table. It is cooked and chopped sweet potatoes with a sauce of crushed pineapple and brown sugar, topped with marshmellows. 
The cranberry sauce is all the way at the back of the table. It is just the recipe from the back of the Ocean Spray cranberry package.

Left: Green Beans Amandine from pg. 575 in my cookbook.
(It's just cooked green beans, tossed with almonds and butter)
Right: Corn Casserole from this recipe I found on Pinterest.

Eric and my Dad made the gravy right in the turkey roasting pan. They weren't following a recipe, they just "made gravy".

For dessert my Mom made homemade pumpkin pie, and my mother-in-law made a home made apple pie (I didn't get a picture of either of these before they were eaten!). I had also made spritz cookies, and my absolute favorite soft snickerdoodles. I have made these many times before, so check out my "Christmas Countdown" post for a link to the recipe.

I of course had other food for breakfasts, and snacks both on Thanksgiving and the day after. I have include a few pictures below, just because I'm proud of my presentation skills!

 Breakfast spread Thanksgiving morning.

Snack-itizers to hold people over until dinner.

All in all, I am extremely proud of the results from my first hosting attempt. Thankfully this has given me confidence to host many future family events. As much as I will always want to be at my childhood home for the holidays, it is great to know that I can re-create a little of that holiday magic in a new setting. I hope that magic will continue to grow over the years. 

Now that the quiet has returned to our apartment, Eric and I spent the day relaxing, decorating for Christmas, and watching football. I will post decoration pictures soon! And perhaps more exciting (and in the tone of where this blog seems to be going), I will post more of my culinary adventures, including one of my favorites: Christmas cookies!!!

I hope that your Thanksgiving was full of love, family, and tasty food!

Until my next food adventure!

~C

the Calm Before the Storm

With Thanksgiving just two short weeks away, these past few days have definitely been the "calm before the storm". Over the weekend Eric and I had a number of culinary adventures.

Friday night we treated ourselves to a night out in one of the nearby small towns (although everything is a "small town" around here). Our night out was really just dinner, with drinks at Abbott's Grill  where Eric ordered the Frog Leg and Jambalaya special, and I had a delicious roasted pork with butternut squash and bacon roasted Brussels sprouts. I had never had butternut squash or Brussels sprouts before and they were both quite tasty. I also tried Eric's frog legs (they were new for him too) and I have to say it wasn't horrible. I don't know that I would ever order it on my own, but it was pretty good. I won't say it tasted like chicken, but it wasn't that far off. Then to really treat ourselves we got dessert (we never get dessert). Dessert was new for both of us since we ordered a toasted coconut flan. It was SO good. I wish I had taken my camera for pictures, but... live and learn.

After a nice dinner out, we decided on Saturday to have a nice dinner in the apartment so we made clam chowder (recipe provided by my Taste of Home cookbook). It was so much fun to spend time in the kitchen together cooking, and then enjoying our yummy results. I love lazy Saturdays with Eric, they are very enjoyable.

One thing we are working on is getting better at eating leftovers. I have really found a passion and love for cooking and so I enjoy making new dishes every night. The problem is, with only two of us (for now) we always have leftovers. Eric doesn't ever take leftovers into work for lunch the next day (he wouldn't want to deviate from his PB&J with a granny smith apple), and I can only take so many leftovers with me for lunch. But we did spend a couple of days eating leftovers and have almost gotten rid of everything!

Tuesday was Veterans Day (thanks to all the former and current military and their families!) and since I had the day off from work, I made one of Eric's new favorite dishes: Roasted Pork with Sweet Potatoes. I love getting the Food Network Magazine, and I love when we try recipes that are super successful. This was one of those times! It sounds so simple, and it is so simple to make, but it is SOOOO yummy. The pork is tender and juicy and it just melts in your mouth. I have included a picture from the Food Network site here (we ate it too quickly for me to get a quality photo).

The only "change" to the recipe that Eric and I make is that instead of cutting up sweet potatoes into wedges, we buy a bag of sweet potato french fries (thanks Ore Ida). They work great, and are much easier to use than having to worry about chopping up big sweet potatoes.

Tonight I have andouille sausage Jambalaya planned. Don't worry, it's nothing fancy (I would go crazy being fancy every night), I just use Zatarain's rice and spice mixture. We do doctor the recipe though by searing the sausage in butter first, and then replacing one cup of the water with a cup of spaghetti sauce. Typically I use Classico Italian Sausage sauce, Eric says it just adds another layer of flavor.

This weekend I will be working on my lists to prep for my first hosting gig for Thanksgiving! It is an exciting time in my household. If you have any tips, tricks, or suggestions on how to make my Thanksgiving more of a success, let me know!

Until my next food adventure!

~C

Countdown to Christmas!

My absolute favorite time of the year has finally started! We made it past Halloween and so now I can publicly be excited about the holidays. Typically I put my full focus on getting to Christmas and while Thanksgiving is nice, I just view it as a check box on the way to the big day. This year is different. This year, I am hosting Thanksgiving for the first time! The pressure! Well, Eric and I are hosting, but with his work schedule I know that I will be doing a lot of the grunt work, and I am so excited! We are hosting both sets of parents, my sister, and maybe my uncle (who is also my godfather). It will be a packed house, but hopefully it will be packed with love and yummy food.

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I have been reflecting back on my own culinary journey and I am proud to say that I have grown A LOT, mainly over the past five years. I have posted a number of pictures of the things I have made in the past and I am impressed with all of those, and the things I haven't posted pictures of yet. One thing I have noticed though is that I have become much less afraid. If you are someone who isn't "good" at cooking or baking (or both) don't be afraid to try! If you have to throw out a meal every once in a while and order pizza, well then you will have at least learned something from that experience.

I hope to be able to track my food explorations better on here, and I will start today with something to really get you in the holiday spirit if you aren't there yet. One of the best parts of the holidays is the desserts! Today I didn't have school (thank you America for Election Day!) so I started off the dessert train with one of my all time favorites: snickerdoodles! I have included a few pictures here, and the link to the recipe. I will never claim to come up with these things on my own. I hope you try this recipe (it's super easy) and get your culinary journey started.

Cookies to take into Eric's office, and also to give as a gift to a friend today who I haven't seen in too long!

An artsy shot of some cooling cookies. It's difficult to let them cool before digging in!

Until my next food adventure!

~C

New School Year, New Adventures

Well, it is October. Fall has arrived, and with it the new school year. And trust me, "new" is an understatement. After being in a vocational/technical district for my first three years, I am starting to learn just how different it actually was from "normal" public schools. I am adjusting to this new life, which also involved a new mailing address, it has just taken me a while to feel like I was finally settled in.

I know it may seem crazy to be writing a post on a TUESDAY (I am a teacher after all, I should probably already be in bed), but I wanted to write about something NEW that I am going to be trying in my classroom. My new students have an age old problem of "forgetting" that we have homework, or a quiz, and so my new solution is something that I actually stole from a fellow math teacher who works across the hall.

Have you heard of "Remind"? Well I hadn't either until this school year, and I hope that it is as successful as I imagine. Simply put, Remind is a way for me to text all of my students without having their phone numbers, or them having mine (trust me I may be crazy to teach math to ninth graders, but I'm not that crazy). I hope to use this in combination with my Edmodo class websites to eradicate late work and missing assignments. HAHAHA!

But in all seriousness, I hope that it does help my students remember to do their homework (thus improving their grades, thus making my life easier). At the end of the day, I am in this for them, and so if this helps, then I will shout it from the rooftops (they are, after all the highest point in Delaware).

I will report back my findings, and hopefully they will all be positive. For now I am off to complete another school related task: taming the tornado that is my classroom. I have tried a few organizational tricks that I will post about later to make things flow better, but it always seems like I have to spend precious minutes at the end of every day reorganizing my life. Today my task is to organize my teacher desk!

Wish me luck!

~C

Disc Golf, Tastings and Teeth, Teeth, Teeth

Having gone over the midway point in summer, it is now "crunch time" to make sure I get everything in before school starts again. With Eric having a more "normal" schedule, we get to do many fun things on the weekends.

This past weekend we avoided the strong summer thunderstorms that blew through our area, and managed to have quite a bit of fun disc golfing, and then later on going to a local vineyard for a wine tasting, some BBQ and a little live music. This summer Eric and I have visited a number of disc golf courses throughout Delaware. Many of the state parks have disc golf courses that host tournaments, but luckily for us, they are also open to the public! Our most recent disc golfing adventure took place at Killens Pond State Park, in Felton (website). We aren't very good (yet!), but we have fun, and we are at about the same skill level, so we typically compete against each other, rather than par. This time I had my camera and so I was able to get a few pictures during our time at Killens Pond.

Eric was the one who lost his discs this time!

He was also our trusted score keeper.

In the end Eric won by one stroke, but we both had fun.

After an afternoon of disc golfing we drove up to Dover (aka civilization) and Eric was finally able to find a new pair of flip flops that he liked. This may seem like a silly thing to point out, but we have been searching for ones that he likes pretty much all summer! After getting Eric some new shoes, we headed down to Marydel for a stop at one of our favorite places in Delaware, Harvest Ridge Winery. 

 

This was our second trip to the relatively new winery, and we were not disappointed. We started with a wine tasting during which we had the opportunity to try a few new wines that we hadn't been able to try last time. This time around we didn't get to take a tour of the facilities, but there were a number of other items on our agenda that needed to be taken care of. 

There was a food truck at the winery that evening serving some very yummy BBQ!

We also got to play some corn hole (we were horrible) and listen to some live music.

After a wonderful day out and about in Delaware we headed home to enjoy the rest of our weekend. Little did I know how much I should have appreciated every second of that relaxation, because this week... it is all about the dentist for me. 

 

Today I had a regular dentist appointment (which was far overdue) to get a check up. Thankfully, because of summer vacation, my schedule for follow up appointments is very flexible. Little did I know how thankful I would be for this flexibility. Over the past two weeks I had been experiencing some tooth pain, which ultimately resulted in me being unable to get hardly any sleep last night. At my appointment today my thoughts were confirmed and I will be getting to spend the rest of the week going to a variety of other appointments. Tomorrow I have an evaluation with an endodontist to address two potential root canals (yuck), then Thursday I head back to the dentist for (potentially) three fillings, and Friday I will be back once again for a cleaning. After that I will likely have more appointments to address the root canal issue, but it sure looks like the rest of my summer will be spent in dental chairs. I just hope that I am able to get everything taken care of before the school year starts.

Thankfully Eric got a clean report and only has to go back to get a cleaning at the beginning of September. We always seem to be opposites of each other, the perfect pair. Like our wine selections last weekend. So here is a toast to the rest of your summer, may it be fair less painful than mine!

Another Summer, Another Move

Well, my initial desire to keep up with this blog has flopped, but I am not going to just give up!

It is nearly the end of July, and since my last post much has happened, and I have even managed to get a few more things crossed of my list of goals for 2014! Let's start with "the list", and then I'll fill you in on what else has been going on. Here is the "updated" list.

1. Eric successfully passing the PT licensure exam

2. Katie's basketball team having a successful, positive season to send her out on a great note

3. Eric finding a good job that he enjoys and can be enthusiastic about

4. Me being able to find a job in the same geographic location as Eric

5. That Eric and I do not have to live apart (we spent 6 months apart last year)

6. Katie finding a good job after graduation

7. Ryan (my cousin) finding a safe place to live in Wisconsin for his new job!

8. My parents smoothly transitioning to Katie finishing her basketball career

9. My students have a successful school year (and semester finals in two weeks)

10. Eric and I can transform ourselves into the healthy people we want to be

11. All members of my family stay healthy and safe

12. All my friends stay healthy and safe

13. That I am able to stay better connected with my friends and family

14.  That in all things I try to stay positive, and find the good even if it all looks bad

So I highlighted the new additions to the "done" list, just so that they stick out and I remember to talk about all of them! I think, for ease on my own part, I will just go down the list and update you on how all of these goals were accomplished.

2. Katie's basketball team having a successful, positive season to send her out on a great note.

I don't know how accurate all of the statements I made in this goal are, but for the most part, each of these happened in some way. After what initially appeared to be a disappointing season, the team pulled it together and won out to make it to the conference playoffs! Bonus basketball, as we called it. Although they lost in the first round, and as a result didn't make it into any national/regional post-season tournaments, it was still great that they made it to the conference tournament again. Katie, and her classmate Jordan, made it to the conference tournament all four years of their careers, and while it would have been sweet to win, finishing the season by winning 5 (I think!) games in a row was great. 

Katie (right), Jordan, all parents, and of course the Eagle on Senior Night

3. Eric finding a good job that he enjoys and can be enthusiastic about.

Eric has found a good job. His first day was Cinco de Mayo and so at this point he is almost three months in. As with any first job, there have been a few bumps in the road, and every day hasn't been rainbows and jellybeans. But, there are days where he enjoys going to work, and he is definitely happy when the weekends roll around. I hope that has he gains more experience, and falls into a better rhythm, that he begins enjoying his work on a more regular basis and can then get more enjoyment out of the other aspects of his life. He is nervous, however, to find out the new company name at the end of the month. When he was hired, the company was in the process of merging with three other companies from around the area, and now that the merger is complete, they will be releasing their new name.

4. Me finding a job in the same geographic location as Eric.

Luckily, this goal was pretty easy to tackle. In fact, before the school year even ended, I had a job just seven miles from Eric's work! This coming school year I will be at Woodbridge High School, in Bridgeville, Delaware. I will again have ninth graders, and I will be teaching Core Plus 1, which is what I taught during the fall semester last school year. One of the most exciting parts of this new job, is that I get to do it in a brand new school. Eric and I went in to see the school on Monday and it is beautiful! Here is a picture of what the new school is going to look like! I will take some pictures of my new room and post them later.

5. That Eric and I do not have to live apart (we spent 6 months apart last year).

I put this goal on here as more of a "gimme" than anything else, because it was very unlikely that we would have continued living apart, regardless of goals 3 and 4. We still live in Delaware, but now we live in "Slower Lower". Our new place is about 90 minutes south of where we were last year, which might not have been my first choice due to the distance from the rest of my family, but it is exciting to get a fresh start. Yesterday we turned in our keys to our old place, and "officially" became Sussex County residents. 

Although I am sad to be moving out of the old place, I am happy that it is over. As a teacher, with summers off, our moves the past two years have rested primarily on my shoulders, and so I am glad that everything is taken care of. Painting and cleaning are finished, and now I can just enjoy the remainder of the summer!

6. Katie finding a good job after graduation.

Somewhat against her will, Katie went back to her summer job again (one last time), but I think that it worked out the best because this week will be her last week there! Next week she starts her first "real" job, and guess what?! She is going back to the place she has so loved for the last four years. Returning to Juniata, she will have two new roles. First (and probably most exciting for her) is the role of assistant coach! Her assistant coach is returning to grad school, and Katie will be stepping in to fill her shoes. It will be a great experience and gain her qualifications that will help her in the future. Her second role will be that of "Resident Director", which comes with housing and food, and only nine duty nights throughout the whole school year. Katie is very excited to start and I am excited for her. Plus, it also means she will only be about half an hour away when I come home to visit!

Eric, Katie, Mom, Dad, and me at Katie's Graduation!

It was a little chilly that day, but all I could think was "When did my baby sister grow up?!"

8. My parents smoothly transitioning to Katie finishing her basketball career.

I was concerned about my parent's transition, although looking back I'm not sure why. They seem to have embraced their "empty nest". They go on "old person field trips" as Katie calls them, with their friends, and now that Katie will be coaching at Juniata, it will be a much smoother transition for them. Also, my Mom has said that they will always have Penn State basketball to fall back on when Juniata is away. Mom and Dad helped us with the "big" move of all of the furniture at the end of June and spent a few days visiting. Then over the fourth we had a mini family reunion at Aunt Joanne's and Uncle Johnny's in New Jersey. Not everyone was there, but it was still great to see everyone. Then at the beginning of August they might becoming down to visit again, but we will see. 

Some of my other goals, I won't be able to "accomplish", they are just ways that I hope to live my life in the future, but I will be sure to keep any updates coming. Other than my goals, here are the "highlights" from the last five months:

• I successfully finished my third year of teaching and, although the new school changes it slightly, I am no longer a "novice" teacher in the state of Delaware.
  
  
• Eric and I spent Memorial Day weekend camping at First Landing State Park with some friends. It was a lot of fun, and we had PERFECT weather.

• We also had a great weekend in June with another set of friends in Bucks county. We went tubing on the Delaware river (I got stuck in the rapids, but it's ok), and played some very intense games, as well as an insane game of badminton.
• Katie came to visit for the week of her birthday and we went to the pool and the beach, and just had quality sister time.
• And of course, I have been trying out plenty of new recipes. Some have been much more successful than others. Here is a sampling of a few of the better ones:

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole (recipe)

Top: Strawberry Lemonade Bars (recipe)

Bottom: Key Lime Shortbread Bites (recipe) ~ These are AMAZING

Left: Peach Cobbler Muffins (recipe)

Right: Pizza Bagels (no recipe required!)

With the first half of the year over, and the last year of craziness behind us, I am looking forward to a calm and "normal" remainder of 2014. Whatever that may bring... I also hope to continue working toward my goals, and keeping up with postings on here more frequently! I think the next goal on my list will be to really focus on becoming more healthy, so I should probably go for a walk now!

~ "Eighty percent of success is showing up" -Woody Allen