Day after Thanksgiving

While lots of people went out to hit the sales, I've been sitting at the in-laws house hitting the online sales. I could drive up to the mall, but I wasn't really feeling like battling the crowds. Also, the Hubs took the car to go shoot guns with his dad. It's not Thanksgiving without some gun shooting I guess. So I've tried to fill my day with things other than dozing on the couch.


While sitting here with the Food Channel on full-blast volume, I have been productive. I updated my computer's virus software, finished shopping for the Hubs's birthday and Christmas presents, bought a little something for myself (Twilight DVD was only $8), and helped clean the MIL's kitchen. I tried not to make too much noise because she was dozing on the couch, but I figured it would be nice of me to clean up after our lunch of Thanksgiving leftovers.

What has been exciting is watching the Black Friday deals coming up each hour on Amazon.com's Black Friday deals*. I don't need a new GPS unit, but I did get tempted to buy a new TV. Since the Hubs and I just had a talk about saving money, I resisted, but it was hard. I'm now waiting to see how low the Mad Men - Season One on blu-ray will be. If it's below $10, I'm buying.

While doing my shopping, I've gotten to catch up on about three episodes of Say Yes to the Dress, a couple episodes of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, but now I've taken control of the remote, while the MIL does her knee exercises. It might not be the most girly thing, but I really wanted to watch the Auburn vs. Alabama game. For me and my SEC-loving self, it's one of the biggest games of the season. For those that aren't up on their football lingo, that's the Southeastern Conference. These yankees up here just don't understand real football. As the carpool says, the Big Ten is like football in slow motion, and compared to the tradition and excitement of SEC, I agree. Yes, I did go to Michigan State, and I will cheer for them while cheering against Univ. of Michigan and Ohio State, my heart will always live in the SEC.

I will also argue that it's the best conference in the country. What other conference has as many top teams in it? Love it! Yep, I'm one of those girls that love some football, knows what the option is and a nickel defense, can yell at the refs when they make a piss-poor call because I know what the rules are, and loves it all!

Well, I was hoping to sit and enjoy the game, but the MIL wants me to work on her computer. I guess I should be a good DIL and go take a look.

*I'm an affiliate of Amazon, but I wouldn't write about something if I didn't love it. They really do have good prices going on.

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I'm thankful today

We now sit and watch football, but earlier today we were busy in the kitchen. With the mother-in-law laid up with a bum knee, my sister-in-law and I took over the kitchen to make a yummy Thanksgiving dinner. It turned out great, if I do say so myself.

To the left you can see the carnage that was left over, but first let me give you a tour of some of the things that were made.


For me it started on Tuesday night with the baking of the desserts - pumpkin caramel cheesecake with a gingersnap crust, apple dumplings and a pecan pie. I also took my first foray into bread with the preparation of the dough for the dinner rolls.

mixing

bread rising

Those items were then packed up in a cooler and transported up to Michigan with us. On the way, I talked to SIL to plan the rest of the dinner which would include corn pudding, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and apples, and other sides. Oh, and the most important thing - the turkey! She came over to the house, and we got to cooking.

the starting of good stuffing

sweet potatoes with apples and walnuts

this is before they cooked

the Hubs got in on the action with a little potato peeling

Since I'd never ventured into bread-making territory before other than the occasional banana bread or zucchinni bread, I was a little worried. I mean the whole yeast thing just scared me a bit. Just in case we had brought some back-up Parker House Rolls, but we didn't need them. After baking one batch of my dinner rolls that look more like muffins, we decided to go with them. They were a hit...or the family was just trying to make me feel good. They ate them at least.

If you can't tell, I'm pretty proud of these little guys. Yeah, they aren't the prettiest rolls that'll ever appear on a dinner table, but they were pretty tasty. Next time though I might tweak the recipe because they were a bit heavy.

So everything was done, and we were ready to eat. So let's dig in.

At this time I had to put the camera down so I could get in on that action. I have to say I sure am glad I had some room in my pants because I ate. We all did. In the end there were only two survivors left at the table along with the carnage.

As you can see, we had plenty of food. I think we might have overdone it, but hey, it's Thanksgiving and who doesn't love Thanksgiving leftovers?

You would think we would be done at this point. Oh no...there's always dessert, and after taking a break, we dug into that as well.

pumpkin cheesecake

pecan pie

apple dumplings

Overall, I have to say good job to the SIL and me. Everyone seemed to have a great time and full bellies. We might have set the bar too high though. This sort of thing might become expected of us.

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Getting ready for our adventure north

Thanksgiving is just two days away, and the desserts are baked or baking. The Hubs and I will be heading out in the morning for our adventure to the great North known as Michigan. This is the first year we're swapping out Thanksgiving and Christmas with the families. Before this year, we didn't travel at Thanksgiving, and we would switch off who we spent Christmas Day with. Not anymore.

Last Christmas our normal nine hour drive turned into almost 15 hours with an overnight stop because of an ice storm. The Hubs was already tired of having to be gone from our home at Christmas, and he came up with the idea of switching the holidays. So this year we're heading to visit his family at Thanksgiving, and next year we'll go at Christmas.

I'm not really sure how this is going to go. The reality that we won't be there at all at any time around Christmas might not have hit his mother yet, I don't think. She hasn't really said much about it as far as I know, and we'll see how this visit goes. The Hubs keeps telling me that he's setting the precedent now so when we have kids it's already routine. I'm not arguing. Personally, I'm not a fan of Michigan. Yes, Michigan - the entire state. I lived there for four years, and it's where I met the Hubs. The truth is that I'm a Southern Girl. Luckily, I was able to get the Hubs to move down here with me.

So in preparation for our trip north, I baked three desserts tonight, all of which came from The Pioneer Woman. We'll be dining on the Pioneer Woman's Pecan Pie, Apple Dumplings and Caramel Pumpkin Gingersnap Cheesecake. Whoa...say that last one three times fast. It's a mouthful. I haven't made any of these before, so I'm a little nervous.

I get a bit stressed out cooking for the Hubs family. They are all good cooks with recipes that are handed down. They are also a little critical. The comments might not be said right to your face, but later you might hear snippets of things people have said about what you served. The Hubs told me to make something I know and have done before, but I couldn't decide on any of my usual recipes. There was either the chocolate swirl cheesecake, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, and all my other boring recipes. I just wasn't excited to cook any of those, and I'd been reading The Pioneer Woman for awhile now. Her recipes always sound so good, and her pictures just make your mouth water. I decided to take the plunge and make three of her recipes at once.

Well, actually four, but the dinner rolls already look like they are going to be a disaster. I believe I got the first part of the recipe too hot, and I put the yeast in too early. Because of the temperature, I believe I killed the yeast because that bread is not rising. Oh well, I was prepared. I had bought two things of rolls just in case. I know I can make a mean dessert, but the only breads I'd ever made before were things like zucchini bread or banana bread. Things that don't go through the whole yeast rising thing. Obviously, I need to work on that more.

The next few days will probably be my hardest in the 30 Posts in 30 Days challenge. I'll have my laptop with me as well as my phone, but finding the time to blog might be tough. I plan on succeeding though even if it's just a sentence or two. I mean, I have to keep my readers up to date on the adventures. There are sure to be good ones. My friends at work always enjoy my post-Michigan visit with the in-laws stories, especially when they include things about socks and bathrooms and shag carpet.

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