Giving Thanks: Our New Home

We are officially a month away from my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. I have always wanted to do one of those cute Thankful trees or Thanksgiving advent calendar with my family but I never seem to make it happen. Maybe I should head to Pinterest to find some DIY ideas...

Anyway. With Thanksgiving coming up I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I am thankful for. I have been such a bad blogger lately while working on my fitness business but I'm trying to find my balance and make more time for this space.

Today I am thankful for our new home. The place that covers my family's head and the beautiful area that surrounds it. I have never seen trees so big and tall. On a really clear day you can see great views of the mountains. Breathtaking. My iPhone pics don't do the scenery here justice. I'll go out one day with my real camera and get better shots.

There is also a calmness about living here that I think I needed. Maybe it's the rain but the vibe here is so calm and chill. It blows my mind when I here people say they don't like living in this area. There is tons to do. The first two pics from this post are from a trail I walked on Friday. It was perfect.

I am so thankful that we get to call this place home for the next couple years. It is my goal to explore and see as much as we can during our time here. I'll probably cry when my husband gets his next set of orders. I know a new adventure will be amazing but I can't imagine it getting any better than this.

What are you thankful for today?

Kitchenista: Easy Peach Cobbler

The other day I shared a pic on the blog's Facebook page of one of my favorite desserts, peach cobbler. Since there was such a nice response to that post I figured I'd share my super easy recipe. I also said I would share it and I try to be a Mama of my word so here it goes...

This is what you'll need...

Recipe Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350. Toss peeled and sliced peaches in 1/2 cup of sugar. You can use less sugar (but I like all the 'syrupie' goodness that comes along with more sugar). Cream butter and 1 cup sugar together. Mix in flour. Add egg and vanilla extract. Poor mixture over peaches. Bake for about 40 minutes. 

*I always bake cobblers, pies and cakes on a cookie sheet because spillage happens when I don't use one...*

I have also used this same recipe with honey crisp apples and it was delicious!

Easy enough, right? I'm trying to add to my list of desserts. So far I can make a really yummy pound cake, peach cobbler and chewy cake. What are your favorite desserts that are pretty easy to make?

A Chic Thanksgiving: My Cooking Plan

Now that we've made a menu and gone to the grocery store let's talk about our plan of attack. How are we going to get all this done? With little kids and no one to help it can be difficult to cook such a large meal. To keep frustration and rushing to a minimum I start prepping days in advance. Doing a little bit each day helps me stay organized and in the holiday spirit. 

To start off the week of Thanksgiving I normally check (and double check) my grocery list and recipes to make sure that I have everything. I do any last minute store runs and get all of my fresh produce. If I plan to buy flowers or anything like that I go ahead and make those arrangements too. Or I take note of what my grocery store is offering for decorations. Normally when it's the week of Thanksgiving you can get a pretty good deal on anything Fall/Thanksgiving related.

On Tuesday, I do my mise en place. (Can you tell I'm a Top Chef fan?) I chop up all my celery and onions. I clean and shuck my corn and cut it off the cobb. I cut and clean all my veggies. Once everything is clean and chopped up I place everything in a zip-loc bag or a tupperware container. Everything goes back in to the fridge.

Wednesday afternoon, maybe around lunch I'll start cooking. I make the cornbread for my cornbread stuffing. While that's in the oven I start on my pie fillings and appetizers. When my pies are ready for the oven I get all my veggies going. After my collards, corn and green beans are on the stove I make my potato salad. So by the time Wednesday is over I've cooked all my desserts, the potato salad and all the veggies. If you're like me and you only have one oven then you know it only makes since to make some this stuff a day ahead. 

I normally wake up at about five on Thursday morning because I like to have my dinner ready around one or two. I make my rice and dinner rolls the day of too. Thursday morning is all about the Turkey and casseroles. I make the Turkey last. While the stove is working hard I mix up the lemonade and make sweet tea. I begin heating all the veggies about half way through the Turkey's cook time. Once the Turkey is done I let it rest for a while and then it's time to eat!

This is how I tackle getting all that cooking done. I plan to have Savannah help me as much as she wants. I know it may seem like a lot but splitting it up really helps. I have been asked about sharing the recipes for the Thanksgiving menu I created. I am working on that and hope to share it early next week. How do you prep and plan for big dinners?

A Chic Thanksgiving: The Menu

I have been anxiously waiting for this week to come so that I could start my series on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. I do love what Christmas is about but because that is often lost with the "fuss" of Christmas, Thanksgiving has hands down become my favorite holiday.

I love the time of togetherness with my family. I love the way Thanksgiving smells and the way the air feels outside. Y'all already know I'm an Autumn girl and Thanksgiving is one of the main reasons why.  It's a great time for reflection and recognition of all of our blessings. It's also a time to enjoy some amazing food guilt free.

During this series I will be sharing four different posts. The first is about a traditional southern Thanksgiving menu. Right after I got married my Mother made me a Thanksgiving cookbook full of all of our family's recipes. It has everything from appetizers to desserts. She even wrote me a beautiful letter about life, love and marriage. I hope to pass the book down to Savannah with a letter for her when she gets married. 

As a young woman it was so helpful to have this menu. At the time, I wasn't the cook I am today. As an Army Wife, not living near family, I needed this book as a guide. It taught me how to pull off a very successful Thanksgiving dinner with no help. I actually get excited about Thanksgiving. It's like the Super Bowl for women who like to cook, it's a big deal. I find that part of my success comes with keeping it simple and traditional. 

So. If you're someone that doesn't live close to family but you still want to have a bomb Thanksgiving... OR you're someone that just needs a plan for how to do Thanksgiving dinner without getting all stressed, this series is for you.

Here is what we're making for Thanksgiving this year. It's very simple but it's PACKED with comforting flavors. You will love this easy to do meal. 

Coming Up in this series:

A Chic Thanksgiving: The Shopping List & The Grocery Store

A Chic Thanksgiving: Getting It All Done

A Chic Thanksgiving: Decorating and Hostess Tips

A Chic Thanksgiving: The Recap

Well. Well. Well. It is Monday night and I honestly don't think I have fully recovered from Thanksgiving. Talk about tired. Girl, I am tie-yurd. I had a great time cooking dinner and hosting Thanksgiving this year. We even had our guests over again to eat leftovers. Here are pics of some of my dishes. 

sweet potato pie with streusel topping

squash casserole 

turkey stuffed with lemon, garlic and onion. marinated over night. it was delicious.

cornbread stuffing

mac n cheese

sweet potatoes. ran out of time to do the casserole.

fried corn

chewy cake

green beans

Sav after dinner…

Sorry I didn't get pics of the banana pudding or potato salad. It was all so yummy and we had a great dinner. How was your Thanksgiving?

A Chic Thanksgiving: The Recipes

I had a few people request recipes for the Thanksgiving menu. I created a PDF for the recipes that I've never blogged about or do not have a pin for. Please let me know if I missed anything. If so, I'll share it via Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Enjoy and I hope this helps!

Here is the menu in case you missed it…

Click here to get the recipes included in this menu…

And for the recipes that have been previously shared on this blog...

Potato Salad

Banana Pudding

Chewy Cake

I realized that I didn't have the squash casserole in the PDF. I knew something was missing! I'll be sharing decoration ideas for your Thanksgiving dinner this weekend! Let me know if you have any questions about the recipes. Happy Planning!

A Chic Thanksgiving: Getting It All Done

Now that we've made a menu and gone to the grocery store let's talk about our plan of attack. How are we going to get all this done? With little kids and no one to help it can be difficult to cook such a large meal. To keep frustration and rushing to a minimum I start prepping days in advance. Doing a little bit each day helps me stay organized and in the holiday spirit. 

To start off the week of Thanksgiving I normally check (and double check) my grocery list and recipes to make sure that I have everything. I do any last minute store runs and get all of my fresh produce. If I plan to buy flowers or anything like that I go ahead and make those arrangements too. Or I take note of what my grocery store is offering for decorations. Normally when it's the week of Thanksgiving you can get a pretty good deal on anything Fall/Thanksgiving related.

On Tuesday, I do my mise en place. (Can you tell I'm a Top Chef fan?) I chop up all my celery and onions. I clean and shuck my corn and cut it off the cobb. I cut and clean all my veggies. Once everything is clean and chopped up I place everything in a zip-loc bag or a tupperware container. Everything goes back in to the fridge.

Wednesday afternoon, maybe around lunch I'll start cooking. I make the cornbread for my cornbread stuffing. While that's in the oven I start on my pie fillings and appetizers. When my pies are ready for the oven I get all my veggies going. After my collards, corn and green beans are on the stove I make my potato salad. So by the time Wednesday is over I've cooked all my desserts, the potato salad and all the veggies. If you're like me and you only have one oven then you know it only makes since to make some this stuff a day ahead. 

I normally wake up at about five on Thursday morning because I like to have my dinner ready around one or two. I make my rice and dinner rolls the day of too. Thursday morning is all about the Turkey and casseroles. I make the Turkey last. While the stove is working hard I mix up the lemonade and make sweet tea. I begin heating all the veggies about half way through the Turkey's cook time. Once the Turkey is done I let it rest for a while and then it's time to eat!

This is how I tackle getting all that cooking done. I plan to have Savannah help me as much as she wants. I know it may seem like a lot but splitting it up really helps. I have been asked about sharing the recipes for the Thanksgiving menu I created. I am working on that and hope to share it early next week. How do you prep and plan for big dinners?

A Chic Thanksgiving: Grocery Survival Plan

We have all been there. It's Thanksgiving Day and you're knee deep in pots and pans when you realize you forgot to buy something, you're about to run out of something or you don't have enough of something. It sucks. The last thing you want to do is try to find a store that's open. And God forbid you have to ask your husband or some other unwilling family member to run to the store.

We all know how that turns out. They either can't find what you need or they get the wrong thing. Even though episodes like this are the stuff that holidays are made of I try my hardest to avoid them. I like being prepared so that I can enjoy my time in the kitchen and my husband can enjoy his football.

You remember that episode of The Cosby Show when Claire kept having Cliff run to the store...

Love that episode. I don't want him to end up like Cliff so I start shopping in advance using two separate grocery lists. A list for non perishable items and a list for my fresh produce and items. I carry the non perishable list around with me and whenever I go to the store I grab a few things off the list. By the time Thanksgiving week comes I only have to buy what's fresh.

Tailor your list to what you're making. Here is an example of my non perishable list. 

We have limited freezer space so I'm not able to freeze much in advance. So, I buy my turkey fresh. I do freeze my butter though. 

Now. These are just examples. By looking at this I can already see where I need to add sour cream. Make your lists based on what you choose to make. I make my own Turkey broth so you'll notice there isn't any broth on my list. Do what works for you and your menu. If you plan to use coupons start getting the paper on Sundays if you don't already. I have already purchased my cooking soups, extracts and some spices because the coupons were in the paper last week. Last year there were several ways to save on a turkey and that's another reason I wait to buy my bird. Those coupons normally come out a bit closer to Thanksgiving. 

I like doing my shopping this way because it allows me to buy little by little. I don't have to worry about being in the grocery store all day or running around at the last minute to find special ingredients. Cuts down on stress. What do you think of this shopping plan? How do you get your Thanksgiving dinner shopping done? 

A Chic Thanksgiving: The Menu

I have been anxiously waiting for this week to come so that I could start my series on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. I do love what Christmas is about but because that is often lost with the "fuss" of Christmas, Thanksgiving has hands down become my favorite holiday.

I love the time of togetherness with my family. I love the way Thanksgiving smells and the way the air feels outside. Y'all already know I'm an Autumn girl and Thanksgiving is one of the main reasons why.  It's a great time for reflection and recognition of all of our blessings. It's also a time to enjoy some amazing food guilt free.

During this series I will be sharing four different posts. The first is about a traditional southern Thanksgiving menu. Right after I got married my Mother made me a Thanksgiving cookbook full of all of our family's recipes. It has everything from appetizers to desserts. She even wrote me a beautiful letter about life, love and marriage. I hope to pass the book down to Savannah with a letter for her when she gets married. 

As a young woman it was so helpful to have this menu. At the time, I wasn't the cook I am today. As an Army Wife, not living near family, I needed this book as a guide. It taught me how to pull off a very successful Thanksgiving dinner with no help. I actually get excited about Thanksgiving. It's like the Super Bowl for women who like to cook, it's a big deal. I find that part of my success comes with keeping it simple and traditional. 

So. If you're someone that doesn't live close to family but you still want to have a bomb Thanksgiving... OR you're someone that just needs a plan for how to do Thanksgiving dinner without getting all stressed, this series is for you.

Here is what we're making for Thanksgiving this year. It's very simple but it's PACKED with comforting flavors. You will love this easy to do meal. 

Coming Up in this series:

A Chic Thanksgiving: The Shopping List & The Grocery Store

A Chic Thanksgiving: Getting It All Done

A Chic Thanksgiving: Decorating and Hostess Tips

Thanksgiving: A Testimony of Prayer

I hope everyone is having an awesome Thanksgiving week so far. I've got my turkey defrosting in the fridge as we speak. I'm very excited about Thanksgiving. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. This year we'll be keeping our meal pretty small since it's only the three of us. We're also staying on budget so that cut down on a lot of the "extras" I would normally make. I was able to get all of the groceries we needed for this week and everything we needed for Thanksgiving for about fifty dollars. I won a twenty-five dollar gift card to Wal-Mart so I actually didn't even spend much of my own money. Isn't that the coolest blessing ever? 

This is a time of year where everyone reminds themselves of all the good that's in their life. We all have something to be thankful for. Even if our lives or situation isn't exactly as we want it to be there is still some good to give thanks for. I think about a message I heard during bible study one night about five or six years ago, "Be content with where God has you, but know that He isn't finished blessing you yet." 

I have taken that lesson and applied it to my life ever since. I am so thankful for all the good and not so great aspects of my life because when I think about it someone else would probably kill for my problems. As my soldier always says, "Things could always be worse." I am thankful for the power of prayer and the peace, positivity and security it brings into my life. I am thankful that the older I get the more I realize that there is very little I can do to alter God's plan for my life. Which is a good thing because praying and waiting is far better than fretting and worrying. Slows down aging too I'm sure.

So I just wanted to share a little something that's been on my heart lately. I don't know what higher power all of you believe in but I do know that this Thanksgiving I am truly thankful for God's continued favor and mercy over my life. When I think about it there is very little that I pray for that He doesn't provide. In those cases where something doesn't come through I know it really wasn't meant to be because He gives me so much good. I mean down to the tee. You don't understand. My prayers are specific.

 When I wanted to get pregnant with Savannah I prayed that God would allow me to get pregnant by the time I was twenty six.  Four days before my twenty sixth birthday I found out I was pregnant. That's what I'm thankful for. Knowing that I don't have to worry because if it's His will it will either happen or it won't. Be thankful for what you have and what you don't. Because like a young minister told our bible study class one night, "Being content isn't being complacent. It's being thankful."

What are you thankful for this year?