Thanksgiving Shepherd's Pie

    Not sure what to do with all of those Thanksgiving leftovers? Make a casserole! Seriously, all I did was layer leftovers in a casserole dish. 

Thanksgiving Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

- leftovers:

    -stuffing

    - mashed potatoes

    - green bean casserole

    - turkey 

    - ham

    - sweet potato casserole

- 3/4 cup of gravy

- 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

- 1/4 cup french fried onions

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start with stuffing, press it into the bottom of desired sized baking dish. Layer leftovers. Add gravy after the turkey and save the mashed potatoes for last. Top with cheese and onions. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. Serve with cranberry sauce.

Happy Thanksgiving 2015

    Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm sure by now everyone has a fully belly and happy families! My family eats a huge lunch and then naps in the afternoon. I think I had my first glass of wine at 11am! Even though Thanksgiving is finally here, I've definitely been celebrating for the last two weeks. I wanted to highlight some of my recipes so we can pin them for next year!

Mom's turkey feast!

       After Friendsgiving, I was more than happy to throw in the apron and have mom take over for Thanksgiving. I decided that I was only making two things, the cranberry sauce and the appetizer.

 

Here's my recipe for Cheesy Sausage Puffs!

    I'm sure you're all sick of hearing about my Friendsgiving by now. Too bad! It was freaking awesome! We ate so much and it was my first time making a turkey by myself!

A cheese tray is always sure to keep guests happy!

Here's my recipe for The Best Sweet Potato Casserole!

The turkey is the star of the Thanksgiving dinner!

  

Here's the recipe for my Apple Cider Brined Turkey!

And of course, the most handsome man alive carving my beautiful turkey!

Once you're stuffed with turkey, it's time for the sweets!

I made this pumpkin layer cake for our luncheon at church

and everyone loved it! I even had to send a few recipe emails!

Here's the recipe for my Pumpkin Layered Cake!

Here's the link for my Pecan Pie Bars!

Here's the recipe for my Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifles!

I didn't go too crazy with my decorations. I did have a lot of candles though.

Our seat place cards came out pretty cute!

I found the chalk board skewers at Michael's!

Then, I just stuck them in some chocolates!

Lots of candles, pumpkins, and pine-cones!

I hope these recipes and tips have been useful! 

And I hope you are all having an amazing Thanksgiving!

Cheesy Sausage Puffs

   I found a similar recipe months ago and I've been wanting to try these! What better excuse to make them than it being Thanksgiving Day! You really can't go wrong with sausage and crescent rolls. My one piece of advise, make sure you pack these little sausage balls really tightly so they don't fall apart.

Cheesy Sausage Puffs

Ingredients:

- 1 roll of Pillsbury crescent rolls

- 1 cup of finely shredded cheddar cheese

- 1 pound of spicy ground sausage

- 1/2 teaspoon of ground thyme

- salt and pepper to taste

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. In a skillet, lightly brown the sausage. Sprinkle the meat with the thyme, salt, and pepper while cooking. Make sure to break it up really good into crumbles. Once the sausage has cooked most of the way through, drain the fat and place the meat into a bowl. With a pizza slicer, slice the crescent rolls into tiny pieces. Add the cheese and crescent roll pieces to the meat. Mix with your hands really well. Form the mixture into tight little balls and place on prepared baking sheet. You can kinda make these as large or small as you'd like, just make sure to adjust the cook time accordingly. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

Crescent Pieces!

Pecan Pie Bars

    Pecan Pie is a necessity for the holidays! If you're having a crowd over for dinner this is the perfect idea for dessert! I made them for my Friendsgiving Celebration and we loved them.

Pecan Pie Bars

Ingredients:

  For the crust:

- 2 cups of flour

- 1/3 cup of sugar

- 1/4 teaspoon of salt

- 2/3 cup of cold butter

  For the top:

- 3 eggs

- 1 cup of light corn syrup

- 1/2 cup of granulated sugar

- 1/2 cup of brown sugar

- 2 tablespoons of melted butter

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 2 cups of chopped pecans

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 pan with tin foil and spray with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs. I used a fork and then my fingers. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan and bake for 20 minutes. While the crust is baking, start the topping. Beat together the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir in the pecans. Once the crust is ready, pour the topping over it. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until it is no longer jiggly in the middle and the top is golden brown. Allow it to cool completely before slicing with a sharp knife.

Apple Cider Brined Turkey

    Practicing for Thanksgiving last week, I cooked my first ever brined turkey! I was a little nervous once I had boiled everything together, it didn't smell as wonderful as I'd thought it would. My nerves didn't subside until we were slicing into the juiciest, most tender turkey I've ever had! On top of soaking it for almost two days, I rubbed it with butter! Lots of butter. Oh, and not to mention roasted garlic and fresh rosemary! Making your own roasted garlic is super easy and I highly recommend trying it! Here are directions how!!

Apple Cider Brined Turkey

Ingredients:

  For the Brine:

- 3 cups of apple cider

- 2 gallons of water

- 6 large sprigs of fresh rosemary

- 1 tablespoon of minced garlic

- 1 and 1/2 cups of salt

- 2 cups of brown sugar

- 3 tablespoons of whole peppercorns

- 6 bay leaves

- The peels of three large oranges

    Mix everything together in a giant stock pot and bring to a boil. Let it completely cool and soak your thawed turkey for at least 12 hours. 

  For the butter rub:

- 3/4 cup of butter, softened

- 3 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary

- 5 large cloves of roasted garlic

    Mash the roasted garlic and then mix with the butter and rosemary

Here's my butter rub!

    Once the turkey is removed from the brine, pat it dry with a paper towel. Then, rub the butter mixture everywhere. I mean everywhere. You want to make sure to get it under the breast skin and inside the turkey as well as all over the outside. I put a couple of sprigs of rosemary on the inside instead of stuffing it. Next, you want to roast your turkey according to it's weight! Here's a good guide! I cooked my 15 pound bird, covered in a roasting pan for about 3 and 1/2 hours at 350 degrees. I uncovered it for the last hour to allow it to brown.

Good luck my friends and Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Best Sweet Potato Casserole

    What would Thanksgiving be without sweet potato casserole? My family is usually the mini marshmallow and canned yam type. I thought I would mix it up with a little brown sugar and chopped pecan topping. I love this recipe! I'll definitely be making it for years to come.

The Best Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

- 3 pounds of sweet potato (about 4 cups) peeled, cooked, and mashed

- 1/2 cup of sugar

- 1/2 cup of butter, softened

- 2 eggs

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 1/3 cup of milk

- 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

 For the topping:

- 1/3 cup of butter, softened

- 1 cup of brown sugar

- 1/2 cup of four

- 1 and 1/2 cup of chopped pecans

     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the mashed sweet potato, sugar, 1/2 cup of butter, eggs, vanilla, milk, and cinnamon. Spread into the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking dish. Next, mix together all of the topping ingredients. Spread the topping evenly over the potato mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the topping has a light golden brown. 

Easy Fall Punch

    I almost forgot to post my punch from our luncheon last weekend! It's really good and super easy. You could whip this up in minutes and it's great for a crowd!

Easy Fall Punch

Ingredients:

- 1 tube of frozen concentrate lemonade, thawed

- 1 tube of frozen concentrated orange juice, thawed

- 1 cup of sugar

- 6 cups of water

- 2 cups of cranberry juice

- 1 (2 liter) bottle of 7up or Sprite

- sliced oranges and lemons for garnish

    Dissolve the sugar in the water and then add everything else. Chill and serve!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifles

    So, I decided to throw a little Friendsgiving party this year! I got to practice some Thanksgiving recipes a little early. Which works out because now I can post them in time for you to use them for Thanksgiving next week! I decided to skip the pumpkin pie for this dinner because we'll have plenty of that next week. I tried something a little different. These trifles are so rich! And it's nice because you can make them as big or small as you want to. I made them kind of big and I doubled the recipe for 10 people.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifle

Ingredients:

- 1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened

- 1 cup of pumpkin puree 

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 1/2 cup of sugar

- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

- 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

- 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

- dash of ginger

- 1 (8 ounch) tub of cool whip

- 18 biscoff cookies

- 1 tablespoon of melted butter

    Crush 12 of the cookies, mix the crumbed cookies with the melted butter, and set them aside. In a mixing bowl, cream the soften cream cheese until smooth. Add in the pumpkin, vanilla, sugar, and spices. Fold in half of the whipped topping. Take the crushed cookie mixture and press into the bottom of serving glasses. Spoon or pipe layers of the pumpkin mixture and the remaining whipped topping. Crush the remaining cookies and sprinkle on top. You could serve it like this or chill in the refrigerator for a while first.

I love these people!
We had an awesome Friendsgiving!

Cinnamon Spiced Applesauce

    If only I could bottle up a smell and send it to you! This slow cooker applesauce recipe has to be the easiest ever. It tastes like apple pie! It's the perfect after school snack. You could even can it and give as gifts. If you're looking for a low sugar snack, you could leave it out and I'm sure that it would still be delicious!

Cinnamon Spiced Applesauce

Ingredients:

- 10-12 good sized apples, I used ginger crisps

- 1/2 cup of sugar

- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

- 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

- 1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves

- dash of ginger

    Peel, core, and chop the apples into 1/2 inch pieces. Place them into your slow cooker and stir in the sugar and spices. Cook for about three hours on high. Stirring the mixture every 30 minutes. Once finished, you could blend it more. I liked the texture though so, I left it the way it was.

Pumpkin Layered Cake

    Every year around Thanksgiving, our youth group holds a luncheon to raise funds for summer camp. I must say, it went very well this year. The kids did such a great job! I made my homemade cranberry sauce, a fall punch, and a pumpkin layered cake! This cake has a layer of yellow cake on top and a layer of pumpkin pie underneath! Top it with a pudding spiced whipped topping and you can't go wrong!

Pumpkin Layered Cake

Ingredients:

  For the cake:

- 1 box of cake mix, plus the ingredients to make the cake

- 1 (30 ounce) can of pumpkin pie mix

- 1 (12 ounce) can of evaporated milk

- 2 eggs

- 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

  For the topping:

- 1 (3.5 ounce) package of vanilla pudding mix

- 1 cup of cold milk

- 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

- 1 (8 ounce) tub of whipped topping

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the cake mix as directed and pour into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Mix together the pumpkin pie mix, evaporated mik, eggs, and pumpkin pie spice. Pour the pumpkin mixture over the top of the cake batter. Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes, or until dark brown and no longer giggly. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla pudding mix, pumpkin pie spice, and milk. Fold the whipped topping into the pudding and place in the fridge to chill for at least an hour. Once the cake is cooled, top with the topping. I like to pipe it on top with a ziplock bag. You could go a step further and top with some sprinkles or a bit of cinnamon!

The kiddos enjoying some lunch after their hard work!