Menu and Things

Hi all!  Sorry for the unintended hiatus.  I gave myself a nice little break for Thanksgiving week, but I brought home a killer cough/cold/sore throat thing and have been curled up on the couch with a bag of Halls since Sunday.

How was your Thanksgiving?  Ours was fabulous, so nice and relaxing.  If you follow me on Instagram {@belleonheels}, you've already seen these, but here are some pictures from our week:

M, my sister, and I were all up bright and early on Thanksgiving morning to participate in the Drumstick Dash. 

My husband, champion turkey fryer.

The Thanksgiving table centerpieces I made were so easy and so beautiful! Each vase was filled with fresh cranberries and water and held one hydrangea stem.  I think the total cost was maybe $16 and that was for 3 tables. Can't beat that!

My mom treated my sister and I to mani/pedis.  I picked O.P.I.'s Danke-Shiny red and it may be my new go-to.  You can't really tell from the picture, but it has an oh-so-subtle hint of shimmer that I just love.

Green bean casserole leftovers.  People either love it or hate it.  I fall into the "love it" category.  What about you?

Our pups were exhausted after almost a week with my parents' dog, Lewis.  I love that they hold paws in the car!

And because we weren't feeling fat enough after Thanksgiving gluttony, we grabbed breakfast at Mrs. Rowe's Restaurant on the way home.  So bad, but so good.

We collapsed on the couch Sunday night to have an epic Twitter-fest {follow me @SarahGKs} during the trainwreck that was Liz & Dick.  I had every intention of playing along with my girl BHB's drinking game, but the sickness had arrived by that time, so the only thing I was pounding was cough syrup.

I didn't cook too many meals last week, but I did have some yummies I wanted to share with you.

In preparation for our week o' gluttony, I made roasted salmon with broccoli and baked sweet potatoes for dinner last Monday night.  I used my favorite DALS salmon + sauce recipe.

My contribution to the Thanksgiving dessert table: pecan pie! Recipe is as follows:

INGREDIENTS 

1 cup maple syrup

1 cup packed light brown sugar {do NOT use dark brown sugar}

1/2 cup heavy cream

1tablespoon molasses

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon Salt

6 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups toasted and chopped pecans

1(9-inch) unbaked pie shell {I use Deb's recipe}, chilled in pie plate for 30 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Make Filling: Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Heat sugar, syrup, cream, and molasses in saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes. Whisk butter and salt into syrup mixture until combined. Whisk in egg yolks until incorporated.

2. Bake Pie: Scatter pecans in pie shell. Carefully pour filling over. Place pie in hot oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until filling is set and center jiggles slightly when pie is gently shaken, 45 to 60 minutes. Cool pie on rack for 1 hour, then refrigerate until set, about 3 hours and up to 1 day. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Mom sent me home with lots of leftover turkey and turkey stock, so I made Texas White Lightening Chili with turkey instead of chicken. SO delicious and a slightly more creative way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers.

And to use up a leftover loaf of cheap grocery-store Italian white bread, I made Ina's French Toast Bread Pudding for breakfast on Saturday.  So unbelievably delicious, especially with bacon.

Enjoy!