Category: Thanksgiving

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake

11/19/2019

This post contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you purchase from them.Thanks for your support!

Do you enjoying adding a new delicious dish or two to your Thanksgiving Dinner? The traditional food is so good and we look forward to it each year when Thanksgiving rolls around, but it's always fun to have a new dish to talk about when the meal is over and people will only have good things to say about this Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake!
This recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake is a twist on an old recipe that I have had hanging around in my recipe box for years. The old recipe had a cracker crust and walnuts. I decided that pecans are more of a favorite at our house and of course a gingersnap crust would go so well with pumpkin! So I decided to give it a try and guess what! I was right!
The ginger flavor and crunch of the gingersnaps make a crust that I may start using in loads of other applications! It is so easy to make in a food processor! It takes a little finesse to smooth it across the bottom and up the sides of the spring-form pan. (I used a fork and then my fingers.)

I mixed the filling in myKitchen Aid. I learned that it is very important to stop and scrap the bowl frequently or you may end up with some leftover lumps of cream cheese. (You may notice a couple in my slice of cheesecake, I'm glad this was my test cake. Although, they didn't detract from the deliciousness of the cake at all!)

Do you see that candied pecan topping? There is no need to cook on the stove top. You just mix the ingredients in a bowl and then spoon on top of the almost completely baked cheesecake and bake it for 10 minutes longer. The topping comes out perfectly crunchy and gives a beautiful texture that offsets the creaminess of the pumpkin cheesecake itself! Lindsey, my pumpkin loving daughter is going to love this dessert!

This Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake came together so much easier than I expected that it would for the impact I know it will make on Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoy it! Let me know!

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake

3 Comments

2 Special Projects for Thanksgiving

11/7/2019

14 Comments

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. But, all opinions expressed are my own.

Lindsey and I were talking about Thanksgiving plans for this year and it got me to thinking about a special project to show my family and friends how thankful I am for them. I decided it would be nice to do a little gift on each place setting this year. I thought about hand lettering something at first, but that would take a lot of time with questionable results. Then, I remembered the set of stamps that I purchased from the Target One Spot a couple of years ago. I hadn't used it yet, but now I knew I had the perfect project to use them for.

If you can't find these stamps at Target this year, there are of course a lot of others that you can find and use. For example...

I had some little wooden circles left over from our Christmas in July projects. I chose 3 colors of acrylic paint that I felt would coordinate with my dishes and tablecloths and painted the circles. Then, I used a black stamp pad to stamp the design on the light colored circles and white on the dark colored circles. I love how they came out. Even the spots where the ink is a little missing add to the rustic look.

I decided to use jute as the hanger on these little ornaments. I cut about a 6" length of jute and glued the ends with a glue gun to the front of the ornament. Then, I tied a bow with another length of jute and glued that over the ends. This way, there are no unfinished ends on the front or the back.

This is an example of a way you can use the ornaments around the house to add a little extra gratitude touch for this Thanksgiving season!

You could also hang them on plants, cupboard door knobs, a little tree for a centerpiece, the possibilities are endless.

Now, on Thanksgiving, I want to slip them in a napkin on each place setting. I want to use cream colored napkins, but I didn't have any. I could only find white! So, I purchased some fabric and made my own.

Out of a yard and a half of fabric, I was able to get 6 napkins that are 16 inches square.

A couple of years ago I had to purchase a new sewing machine. I got a Singer Brilliance (that is a refurb version) and I have loved using the special decorative stitches that it has programmed into it. Here is the newest version, called Sew Mate. These are nice machines at a reasonable price.
These napkins were simple to sew. I just folded over the edges twice and used a decorative stitch to make them special.

Once the napkins are sewn and pressed, you are ready to fold them! Here is a gallery of pictures to show you how to do it.

Here they are, all ready for Thanksgiving!

If you know me at all, you know that I love dishes! So, I am using two different dishes to try out a place setting to use these special projects on. Which one do you like best?

If you don't want to wash napkins later, you could always use nicer paper napkins. But, I am so happy with how these came out. Here is a close-up of the decorative stitching.

Ugh! I just love these projects so much! They are simple and sweet! I hope you love them, too!

Look what I found!

14 Comments

Friday Fun Day-Fall Decorating!

8/30/2019

5 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchased made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!

With Labor Day Weekend upon us, it is the perfect time to break out the Fall decorations and perhaps add a few new items to the mix. I love getting into the chest where my Fall items are stored and finding things I didn't remember that I owned! But, I also love going into the stores and seeing new ideas and getting inspiration there.
Maddy and I went on a little Fall shopping spree and we came back with some great stuff that is pretty inexpensive!
First of all, look at the adorable Thankful Chalk board that Maddy decorated. We found the plaque at Michael's for about $2.50. Maddy had a great idea to turn it into a chalkboard that family members can write things that they are thankful for everyday or every week throughout the season, whatever your pleasure.
Of course, I already owned the chalkboard paint. I painted the base coat and did a thin wash of brown acrylic paint around the frame. Then I was nervous about writing "thankful," so I made Maddy do it! Ha ha! Look how cute it came out! She always thinks of the cute details like the little leaves and dots. She did it all with one chalk marker! Free hand! I would have written thankful and left it at that! Here are a few close-ups:

Michael's had a lot of their Fall decor on sale for 40% off or more. This weekend would be a great time to check it out before it is all gone!

Another great place we found to shop was at Dollar Tree! We found so many things to craft with and decorate with that we can't wait to show you some of our creations in up coming posts! In the meantime, here are some of the things you are going to love! (But I'm not going to tell you all of our secrets yet! Use your imagination and see what you come up with!)

All kinds of Fall leaves! If you want a bunch of the same kind for wreaths, you can order them on line and have them shipped for free to the store for free pick-up!
They have all kinds of pumpkins, but these velvet ones are gorgeous in person and for $1, they are well worth the price! We picked up one, and now I want more of them. They come in a variety of colors.
These placemats are beautiful and affordable!
There is a ton of different types of ribbon for Halloween and Fall decorating! I have an idea that I can't wait to share!
I couldn't resist this owl and some of the other sparkly light up decor!

My goodness you guys! There is so much fun stuff that I can't even list it all! You have to click the links and see for yourself! Just remember, at Dollar Tree, you have to shop fast because everything goes fast! Especially if you want stuff for Halloween!
Decorating for the seasons and holidays is so much fun to do with kids because they get so excited. I was glad that my daughter and my granddaughter have been here to help at my house! (Even though my granddaughter is not quite 2, she sure gets excited about the stuff!) So, have a FUN Labor Day weekend and get in the Fall mood! If you are still have high heat and humidity like we are, it may even help you feel a little cooler!
Click on our Halloween category to see past ideas! Also our Fall category has great ideas and recipes!

PS: How do you like our new look? Let us know in the comments!

5 Comments

Friday Faves #40~Top Thanksgiving Choices

11/17/2017

0 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for any purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

First let me apologize for not putting up last week's Friday Fave post! Last week was Lindsey's baby shower and I just couldn't get to the computer to put up the post! But, her shower was a lot of fun and she was truly "showered" with some great gifts. I will post about that later But, today we are in true Thanksgiving mode. Earlier this week I posted about my best tips for a less-stress Thanksgiving. I called it Thanksgiving Prep 101, and even though there is even less time now, you can still pull out a super meal if you follow those tips.
One of the obvious things I suggested that you to do to get ready is to plan your menu. It is always important to include family favorites and make sure that there is something each person loves on your Thanksgiving menu. It is great to make a list and to plan your shopping list so that nothing is forgotten. Obviously there will be the turkey, but what about the rest of the dishes? That is exactly what we are talking about on this edition of Friday Faves:

What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish? (Besides Turkey!)

Madalynn loves the stuffing! Our family loves a good, savory, traditional Sage Stuffing. Maddy isn't the only one who loves it, I think that the rest of my family does as well. The secret to the stuffing is to keep it moist, not too dry, and give it plenty of flavor. I use an egg in my mix, broth, melted butter, onions and celery in my stuffing. There are never any complaints, except when it is all gone!
Alicia loves candied sweet potatoes. So does Lindsey and so does my husband. I put in brown sugar, a bit of maple syrup and top them with the traditional marshmallows.
Lindsey's first choice is the pumpkin pie, of course. She taught you how to make our family recipe on this post. Pumpkin Pie is so easy to make, and store bought is not nearly as good. The only store bought Pumpkin Pie I will eat is from Costco. But, really, just bake it yourself! Lindsey shows how to make the pumpkin puree here. Or, just buy a can of it. Top it with real Whipped Cream to make it even better.
My favorite Thanksgiving food is the Giblet Gravy! I've just got to say that I make super good gravy. I will have to do a tutorial for you one day. It isn't that hard not to get lumps! I love it with the giblets (liver, heart and meat from the neck) chopped up into it, made with the drippings from the turkey. Season it with salt and pepper. It is so good over your mashed potatoes, stuffing and the turkey itself.

If you are really not sure how to cook all of the dishes you need to cook for this Thanksgiving, you can always turn to Panna and watch their teaching videos so that you can make an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. I have shown you some of the things that I have learned from them on posts here and here. It is so enlightening to cook along with a famous chef! They have classes to cover all of your favorite foods!

Remember, once you print off your recipes from your favorite bloggers, keep them in a binder to keep them all organized for a later date. You can use our printables from our shop to make your Bloggelicious Binder to keep all of your baking recipes in one place. Not only is it practical, but it is so cute, too. An organized binder like this one would make a great gift for the holidays!

Also, up in the collage, I included our free printable from last Thanksgiving. "Eat Your Pie!" It is still available and would be a lot of fun to put up on the dessert table! The picture is a short cut to the PDF file! Just click on it to print.