Not a traditional thanksgiving

{breakfast pie.... cheesecake and pumpkin pie}

This year wasn't a traditional Thanksgiving. I went to a friends house where he made an injected deep fried turkey, and she made a couple of side dishes. It wasn't the usual Thanksgiving that I am use to, but it was a lot of fun.

{the gift that I made for the hostesses... a bottle of Cupcake wine, a WoodWick candle and a box of candy}

{appetizer cheesy spinach dip ..recipe to come}

{the turkey}

{into the deep fryer}

{New Orleans style injected turkey}

{insanely juicy turkey}

{mashed potato salad}

{green bean casserole}

{the spread}

{my plate}

{the pumpkin roll i made}

{dessert spread two store bought pies lemon cream and coconut cream also my pumpkin roll}

One of my friends is from Texas and the other is from Louisiana neither had ever heard of pumpkin rolls so they were very impressed with mine. The whole pumpkin deal must be an "up north" thing

{their gorgeous tree}

{i love the bow}

Hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Just a side note... the 12 days of giveaways begins December 1st!

xo

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Enjoy your day with family & friends!

xo erica

Pumpkin Roll

A lot of you made comments about the fact that the Pumpkin Roll looked to challenging to make. Well it's actually really easy. I tried to take pictures for you, but you have to work kind of quickly at times so some pictures aren't so great. Sorry!










Pumpkin Roll

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin

Directions

Preheat Oven to 375° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with parchment paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a flour sack towel with powdered sugar.

Combine Flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes.) Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

The Filling

• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar for decoration
  

Beat cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.


For those who are celebrating have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your time with your family and friends

xo

Fashionable Ways to Avoid Kitchen Mishaps

{Band-Aid}

'Tis the season for kitchen mishaps. There is nothing worse then working on preparing a gorgeous meal for the holidays while looking fabulous and then cutting yourself. Blood is not fabulous so this holiday season be sure you are prepared for anything. Get yourself some cute Band-Aids that's right I said CUTE band aids! Forget the boring plain ones. Band-Aid brand has a ton of cute band-aids out there. Anything from Mickey Mouse and Hello Kitty to...

designer Cynthia Rowley Dress Up Band-Aids and Transformers.

{apron from The Hip Hostess}

'Tis the holiday season for spills. This year don't ruin your clothing. Make sure you are prepared with a chic apron. I love The Hip Hostess aprons for multiple reasons. One they are beyond adorable and two they are made in Michigan. I actually bought one a few years back at a craft show in Michigan at a local high school. Who would have thought that they would go from being in a craft show to having an extremely popular website.

{cutesy pot-holders}

Use pot-holders(oven-mitts), not a dish towel when removing pots from the stove or oven. Dish towels can catch fire easily and they do not adequately protect your hands. Like dish towels pot-holders come in fabulous varieties so they'll always leave you and your kitchen looking fabulous.

Best Wishes in the Kitchen this Holiday season!

xo

Thanksgiving Treats

{Overnight Caramel Apple French Toast}

Don't have time to create breakfast Thanksgiving morning? Not a problem my amazing Overnight Caramel Apple French Toast will be your hero this year. Perfect to pop in the oven and enjoy while watching the Macy's Day Parade.

{Apple Pie}

From Thanksgiving until the New Year desserts, goodies and treats line our kitchens. You can't get away from desserts for the holidays. This year I got a lot of request from people who wanted to make an apple pie without the hassle. So have no fear the easy apple pie is here! (Don't worry Meeme & Mummie I will be making my apple pie from scratch!)

To make my apple pie I bought Pillsbury Pie Crust from the refrigerator section and had a can of Lucky Leaf Apple Pie Filling at home.
I unrolled my Pillsbury pre-made pie crust and used my cute little apple pocket pie maker to cut out the apple shapes. I then put it into my apple pie maker and filled with the Lucky Leaf Apple Pie Filling. Closed the apple and pressed tightly.
15 minutes later I had this adorable little apple pie. You can make a big pie as well I just thought that these mini ones were way too cute for Thanksgiving.

{Pumpkin Pie from 2009}

Easy as Pie Crust

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced small
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 7 to 8 tablespoons ice water

In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, and sugar until well combined. Using clean hands, add butter and toss until just coated Rub butter between thumb and forefingers to incorporate into flour mixture until butter is in bean-sized pieces and comes together in quarter-sized clumps when squeezed in palm, approximately two minutes. Add shortening, toss until just coated in flour, then rub into flour mixture until mixture forms pea size pieces (Note* you want some big chunks to remain) and comes together in fist-sized clumps when squeezed, about one minute. Drizzle half ice water and rake through mixture with fingers until just moistened. Drizzle in remaining water 1 tablespoon at a time and comb through mixture with fingers to moisten up. It will go from being a "shaggy" mess to coming together. Dough is moist enough when it is moistened through but is not wet when pressed. (Do not overwork the dough... overworking will make it become tough and unusable)

While rotating the bowl with 1 hand, push dough between other palm and side of bowl to gather into a ball. Turn dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and press it into a flat disk, then close in wrap. Place in coldest part of refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before rolling out and forming into a crust.

{Pumpkin Roll from 2009}

I use Libby's Pumpkin Recipe for my Pumpkin Roll. You can find it here.

{Turkey Leg & Mashed Potato Cupcakes from 2009}

{Mashed Potato Cupcake from 2009}

Best of luck baking this holiday season!

xo

POMtini

I recently hosted a POM Wonderful Dinner Party. The party was a huge success everyone loved the food and drinks. One item they absolutely fell in love with was my POMtini.

In order to make a fabulous drink look gorgeous rimming a glass in sugar is essential. However plain old boring white sugar wouldn't look as classy. Here is the secret to coloring sugar. This also works as great sanding sugar for cookies.

Colored Sugar

{1/4 cup white sugar goes into a baggy}
{add three drops of red food coloring}
{close the bag and squish the color into the sugar. the sugar will absorb all the color}
{voila! rimming sugar or sanding sugar made easy!}

POMtini
1 3/4 oz. SKYY Infusions Cherry Vodka
3 oz. orange juice
2 oz. freshly squeezed pomegranate juice
1 oz. pineapple juice

Combine all ingredients and enjoy!

Cheers! xo