I Really Want Some Leftovers...by Hobie

I really want those turkey sandwich crumbs in the middle of the coffee table.

I will just go over this foot that's blocking it....

 Hmm didn't work, maybe under the foot.....

 Other side?....

 Nope, maybe from this side....

I don't think my parents will notice if I just jump on the table....

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving....I did!

I am Thankful For...

I don't want to get too deep here, but my life is pretty good right now and I'm thankful for many things.

B and Hobie-They are both awesome and fun to live with.  B is a pretty awesome husband, is mildly hilarious (to me), and hardly ever makes me drive us anywhere.  Hobie always listens to me and hangs with me when B goes out of town on work trips so I don't get lonely.

My Family-They are pretty cool and fun and I'm excited I get to hang out with all of them tomorrow and some of them on Friday.  They also support my plan for multiple Thanksgiving meals which is key.  I especially loved brother and sisters beach trip 2010.

B's Family-They are pretty cool also.  And without them I probably wouldn't have visited the states of Indiana and Colorado or gone to a 90th birthday party.

My Friends-My friends (most of who I've known since high school/college) are fun and supportive and have been putting up with me for a really long time.  I deeply enjoy trivia, wedding/bridal shower/baby shower/bachelorette party planning, 5K's, beach trips, dinner parties, dinzee budeez (especially ones where I long con someone in to baking a turkey), occasional trips to Durham/Las Vegas, etc.

Photo by Robert Ross

My House-I love my house and am lucky I live somewhere that I love.  I'm also excited about attempting some decorating renovations over the holidays.  I'll keep you posted on that.

My Job-Ok, this might surprise some people reading this, but let's think about the positives.  I get to leave at 11 on Fridays, can listen to my headphones whenever I want (or need) and I have free health insurance.   Not a bad deal.

My Hobbies-I don't love all the things I do at my job but that's what hobbies are for.  And this year I've picked up both blogging and sewing which I think are adding a lot to my life.  (Plus there's all the wonderful/semi-wonderful tv shows out there that I watch.  TV watching is a hobby right?)

You-I'm thankful for all the people who read and/or comment on my blog. 

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

What are you thankful for?

Easy Last Minute Thanksgiving Dishes

pic from wikipedia

Are you still looking for the perfect side dish or dessert to take to Thanksgiving Dinner?

Well here are some ideas...

I was feeling a little under the weather on Friday evening and Saturday morning so I spent a lot of time watching the Food Network in my bed.  I found this awesome show called 5 Ingredient Fix.  The host made a full 9 dish Thanksgiving Meal with all items having 5 ingredients or less.  Pretty amazing.  Now I haven't tried any of these but here were some of my faves that looked pretty easy to do.
-Brie and Onion Puff-Seems very simple as long as you have access to an oven and would make a great appetizer.
-Spicy Cranberry Chutney-It might sound weird, but she adds some jalapeno in to her cranberry sauce and I'm all about a little extra spice.
-Sauteed Green Beans with Garlic Chips-She actually fries the garlic in some oil before adding them to the green beans.
-Pecan Bars-These seemed easy to make and would be a great alternative to Pumpkin Pie (if there must be an alternative to pumpkin pie).

Now, if you are in charge of the dessert and want something a little different (or extra desserts), I definitely recommend the Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.  These were a hit when I brought them to work.  Plus Shanzie made them for her work the other day and they were gone by the end of the day.

If you have vegetarians or vegans coming to dinner, quinoa salad is always an option.  Here is a vegan one and a vegetarian one (with feta).

I also really like this salad I made a few months ago that has apples, granola, cranberries, and blue cheese in it.  It's ingredients are Fall themed and therefore would make a great addition to Thanksgiving Dinner.

Mac and cheese is always good.  I loveeeee the kind my mom (Gammy's recipe) makes but if you want something a little healthier, here's a recipe for one that has some squash hidden in with the cheese and noodles.

These rich and creamy cheesy potatoes are also a great option and a nice alternative to regular mashed potatoes.

But really if you can't figure out anything to make but want to take something to a Thanksgiving dinner, there's always the classic pumpkin pie.  It's really easy to make.  The recipe is on the back of the can of pumpkin and people typically like it (unless they have a weird aversion to pumpkins).  Plus I made two different pies this weekend and I'm pretty sure pumpkin pie is not that bad for you as far as pies go.  It doesn't have a ton of sugar in it and pumpkin has a lot of vitamins.  (This is in comparison to the other pie I made which had 2 sticks of butter in it and multiple kinds of sugar.)

So Happy Thanksgiving week!
Are you hosting Thanksgiving or going somewhere for Thanksgiving or do you live in Canada and have a whole different day for Thanksgiving?
What are you making for Thanksgiving?
What is your favorite Thanksgiving Dish?

How To Make Easy Inspirational 5K T-shirts....

I had such high hopes for the 5K "Club Shannon" t-shirts.  I was going to use new methods (transfer paper, fabrics, etc) and make them awesome.  But I dropped the ball.  So I ended up just using fabric paint.  My method was not the best but it ended up working out.  In the past I have used stencils and fabric paint to put words/phrases on shirts.  But that was annoying.  So this time I decided I was going to use stamps instead of stencils.  This was also kind of annoying because the stamps that I bought didn't work that well.  Anyways, this is what I did....

1. Buy t-shirt from Michael's (or wherever, they were $2.50 each when I bought them) and fabric paint
2. Wash the t-shirts
3. Lay a ruler on the shirt or mark the shirt with some sort of sewing marking pencil/pen so you know where you want your words and so they stay centered.

4. Stamp the shirts with the letters.  Do your best to keep everything centered or how you want it laid out on the shirt.
5. After you stamp each letter go over it with a paint and a paint brush to make sure the letter is all the way filled in.  I had to do this because my stamps did not work that well.  The stamps sort of just made an outline that I filled in with a paint brush. 
6. Let these dry and present them to your friends on 5K day.  It will make them super strong and ready to meet the challenge of running a 5K.

Just in Time for Thanksgiving...How to Make Your Own Easy Centerpieces

I made these centerpieces for my recent birthday dinner party.  Here is how I did it.

1-Drink a lot of beer and wine (not at one time) and eat a bunch of spaghetti sauce and mayonnaise (also not at one time or even at the same meal).  Ok really you just need some bottles.  For some reason my husband had been stacking empty wine bottles beside the sink so I decided to go ahead and make something out of them.  Then I realized it had been awhile since I had cleaned the fridge so I went ahead and threw away some old mayo and salad dressing and pasta sauce and cleaned out those jars. 

2-Peel off the labels of the jars.  I used a tip that I learned here, and with some assistance from B, I removed the labels from the jars and bottles.

3-Buy some flowers.  I bought a mix of 4 different bunches from Harris Teeter.  I picked Fall colors since that was my theme.  I have heard great things about buying flowers at Trader Joes and Costco as well. 

4-Arrange the flowers and the jars so that they look amazing on your table/tables.  I decided to use green and brown jars on one table and clear jars on the other.  Then I had to arrange the flowers.  That was probably the hardest part.  Sometimes I'm not good at figuring out what looks good together but I think I did a decent job.  I went with single flowers in the tall glasses and groups of smaller flowers in the smaller mason jars.

And there you have it.  Lovely table centerpieces that are easy to make and not too costly.  (PS-I got more complements on the flowers than the giant pot roast I made.)

How to Make It Through a 5K Without Stopping...

1. Start training about 5 weeks before the 5k.  Training includes slow jogging as far as you can outside.  For me this was 1.5 miles at which point I got a serious cramp and nearly collapsed.  For other people this included doing a modified Couch to 5K program (you can google that). 

2. Pick a great 5K team (or join one because you don't want to be left out).  Motivate each other with facebook, gchat, email updates and tips on your progress.  My biggest tip is that if you don't run a lot, then just slow jog as slow as you can (slightly more than a walk). 

3. Use 'Sparkle Cup' or a sparkle cup to drink water before and after your training jogs.

I am so hott!  (not temperature wise)

4. Carbo Load the night before (not Michael Scott style aka not fettuccine alfredo) with a nice veggie pasta.

5. Wear/make a special homemade t-shirt.  Then do some stretchy/weird moves like this to get your body ready.

6. During the race start at the back of the pack.  Quickly pass the 30 kids in front of you and then slow jog at a steady pace.  Stay away from everyone you know and just try to focus on yourself.

7. Finish the race and pose for photo (try your hardest to keep your eyes open).

8.  Brunch it up!

OK but seriously none of us in the top picture were strong runners (joggers?) 5 weeks ago (some of us I'm pretty sure had not jogged/run since high school) but we all trained and successfully completed the race.  Special shout out to Shanzie for deciding we should do this, Mrs. Acorn for telling me I have a nice Kaboose while running, Beezus5 for proving she's a true athlete (especially after the roller skating debacle of 2005), and Curly J for achieving her goal of jogging non-stop the whole time.  That was also my goal and now I can cross that off my 30 for 30 list.  Woohoo.  Now I just need to work on speeding up my slow jog a little bit.

How to Make an Easy Affordable Dinner for a Lot of People...

1-Make something in your slow cooker...
I decided to make pot roast.  It seemed easy and like it would be a nice Fall comfort food dish which was my goal.

Do I look scared in this picture?  Uh yeah, I'm browning a four pound piece of meat.  Of course I'm scared.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast (Adapted from allrecipes.com)

4 pound Roast-(I think it was a bottom round roast that I got on sale, not positive on the exact cut)

1 envelope of Onion Soup Mix

1 can of beef broth

1 can of water

1 large (24 oz?) can of Cream of Mushroom Soup

Carrots (like 4)

Medium Onion

Red Potatoes (about 5 small/medium ones)

Salt/Pepper

To make this I.....browned the meat in some oil with salt and pepper.  This was the hardest part just because the meat was so heavy.  Then I stuck it in the slow cooker.  I mixed the soup, can of beef broth, one can of water and mushroom soup together and covered the meat.  I cooked this on low for four hours.  Then I added in the veggies and cooked on high for about 4 more hours.  I probably could have taken it out sooner but it was very tender and falling apart when I finally took it out and that's how I wanted it.
This pot roast cost less than $20 to make and served like 16 people.

2-Make an easy vegetarian dish

Ok I also made a semi-homemade ravioli bake. Aka I bought some spinach/cheese ravioli in the refrigerator section and I cooked it. Then I layered it in a baking dish with marinara sauce, topped it with Italian Blend Cheese and baked it at 350 for 30 minutes. People also liked this and it was good for the people who were not super in to meat.

3-Have people bring side dishes and appetizers

People pretty much always offer to bring stuff if you invite them to a dinner party.  My friends brought appetizers and salad and wine (lots of wine).  Then I conned my mom in to making her (my grandmothers) delicious mac and cheese.  It is a crowd pleaser.  She also made green beans.

4-Have it on your birthday

If it's on your birthday someone is definitely bringing/making a cake.  So then dessert is covered.

Yes I had my birthday party at my house.  But I enjoy entertaining and people brought tons of stuff.  I don't know the etiquette on throwing your own birthday party so we'll just say B threw it for me but I offered to do some cooking and decorating.

Do you like pot roast or would you have stuck with the ravioli?
Have you ever cooked a four pound piece of meat?
Does this count on my 30 for 30 list as having a dinner party at my house?  I think it does.