Thanksgiving

I'm sorry to tell you that I forgot to take my camera to my in-law's house and therefore have no pictures to share with you.

But here's what we did (and I'm posting on Kohler Eats because the post will inclue food of one kind or another):

We woke up and went to iHop for breakfast.  We dropped little miss off at Gramma's so we could also enjoy a movie while we were out.  Thanks Gramma and Big Daddy!

I was afraid iHop would be crowded and while it was full, we didn't wait for a table and service was not bad at all.  Here's what we ordered:  Me (pumpkin pancakes with eggs and a side of ham), My Man (some kind of huge thing with eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and pancakes), #1 (Kid's meal with pancake, bacon, sausage, egg and he ate every bit of it and started begging for more), #2 (pancake with yogurt and strawberries), #3 (chocolate chip pancake), #4 (chocolate chip pancake).  Everyone ended up eating my ham.  There were no leftovers.  If we wouldn't have ordered drinks (water only), the bill would have only been about $30.  The soda and juice were $2 a glass.

After breakfast we went to see Puss in Boots.  Very cute movie.  A lot like Shrek in that there were a few parts that adults laughed at and the kids didn't get.  But the rest was funny and cute.  The Kitty Galore was a bit on the sexy side for an animated film but it was lost on my boys (thankfully). 

After the movie, we headed on over to Gramma and Big Daddys'.  They were in a whirl of getting things ready so we enouraged the boys to play downstairs until dinner.  They were starved and told us about it repeatedly.  When dinner was ready, they were ravenous.

Here's the menu:  turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade rolls, green beans, mixed veggie casserole, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, craberries and strawberry pretzel salad.  Dessert was: pumpkin coffee cake, pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and chocolate chip pie.  We ate and ate and ate and ate.  Oh and we also had wassail with spiced rum. 

Then we cleaned up the kitchen and relaxed for a bit.  Because we ate later in the day, my boys tuckered out quicker and we ended up heading home before watching our traditional Christmas Vacation.  I was bummed about that.  But after getting kids ready for bed, I headed off too so I could catch some zzzzz's before shopping with my sis on Black Friday.

Mock Thanksgiving

Whenever I say the word "mock" I think of the Friends episode when Monica made the "mock-late."  Does anyone remember that?  Speaking of Friends...if I were to sit and re-watch every episode I think I would get it in a whole new light.  I absolutely loved that show when I was in college (sitting in the chapter room with all my besties every Thursday).  But now that I'm a more seasoned woman (what?), I think I would love it even more. 

But my post today isn't about Friends.  It's about Thanksgiving. 

Last Friday night, I decided to have a Mock Thanksgiving with my little crew.  I knew whatever I made would never hold a candle to my mother-in-law's great cooking so the dinner I made would have to come before the real deal.  I got a little boneless turkey breast (3lbs) and roasted it in the oven.  I made green bean casserole (the good way with canned soup, canned green beans and those little onion thingies), mashed potatoes, turkey gravy from a packet, hot rolls (Rhodes frozen), and the real star of the show...Stovetop Stuffing.  How Betty Crocker am I?  The kids loved the turkcy (it really was easy and delish considering it was no work at all).  They tolerated the stovetop stuffing and green bean casserole.  And they loved the rolls and mashed potatoes/gravy.  For dessert, I had Christmas themed ice cream sandwiches for everyone.  It was a good meal!

Later on we made our traditional "Thankful Tree." I'll post more on that later...and probably over on The Kohler Kids side.

This Week

This week we will be eat red meat 4 out of 7 nights.  Basketball starts this week, but thankfully, practices don't start until 8pm.  I know that's late considering bedtime, showers and all that but it sure frees up our family dinnertime.  I am thankful.

Monday - Kohler Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread
Tuesday - Round Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls
Wednesday - Turkey, stuffing, potatoes and rolls (my mock Thanksgiving dinner that I serve before we go to my mother-in-laws and eat her delish cooking!)
Thursday - Roast, carrots, noodles, rolls
Friday - Burgers, fries, mac-n-cheese
Saturday - OUT
Sunday - birthday party for my niece

Eyeball Pops

One of the treats I made for #1's class party was donut pops.

School rules don't let you take in anything "homemade" anymore so I used store-bought donuts, dipped in white chocolate and then decorated them.

The top picture here is what I did with the leftovers.

(a couple were done by #3)

Here are what I made for the kids.

EYEBALLS!

Haunted Brownie House

In years past, I've gotten one of those gingerbread houses for Halloween.

This year, I found a brownie house.

It looked just as fun and maybe even a bit more edible?

The boys were excited to help!

Yummy!

The older two tried very hard to replicate the box picture but with the two youngest around to "help", they soon gave in and just stuck stuff everywhere as well.

Next year, the request has been made to have two houses (one for the older two and on for the younger three).

Spider Cupcakes

I saw a cute example in a Halloween magazine where you took black icing in a tube and put circles on top of the white frosting and then took a toothpick to make web designs on top of the cupcakes.

I don't really like the taste of the black icing in a tube so I decided to make my own.

I used canned white frosting and royal black to make the webs.

It was more labor-intensive...and the kids probably wouldn't have minded the black icing in a tube.

But they were still fun!

The boys especially enjoyed the skulls and poison references for these cupcakes.

On a side note, when the boys were little and just starting to associate Halloween with scary stuff instead of cute little costumes (Buzz and Woody, for example), the only thing I let them do that was scary were skeletons.  My reasoning was that skeletons really aren't scary when you think about it, they are simply parts of our bodies.  Since then, the idea of skeletons (and skulls) has become a staple in our home.  If the boys see clothing with a skull, they are desperate for it.  Skulls = cool.

So my girl this year, got a sparkly skull shirt to wear during the day on Halloween.

I'll post more on it later!

Halloween Sugar Cookies

Because I'm an awesome mom...

(haven't said that in a while)

I made sugar cookies once again.

Aren't they so cute?

I used my Grandma's sugar cookie recipe.

And the royal icing recipe is the standard Wilton one.

I used skeleton, cat, ghost, pumpkin, moon and cat cookie cutters.

The skeleton one could also be used for Frankenstein but I ran out of time.

The kids loved them, and so did My Man and I.

The the funny thing I learned about using royal icing to ice your sugar cookies is that the icing acts of a kind of barrier making the cookies stale-proof.  I made them on a Thursday and by Monday, they were still just as perfect as the day I made them.  Who knew?

Pumpkin Cupcakes

A while back I said that we would be busy making Halloween goodies in the kitchen and that is no lie.

The pumpkin cake pops were only the beginning!

Today, I'm posting about the pumpkin cupcakes with maple frosting.

Oh my goodness!

These were sooo good!

I got the recipe from a friend who made them at a sorority meeting and I knew I had to make them.

I'm not usually a fan of frosting with cream cheese in it (cream cheese and sweets should never mix in my book) but I was easily swayed with this frosting!