You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October, 2007.
I’m at a loss this year. My sister and I haven’t even started talking about it except the fact that my grandmother needs to order a turkey. (We get a Greenberg turkey every year, out of Tyler, TX)
We’ll be doing some of the baking the weekend before.
Any new ideas/recipes/suggestions? I’m tired of the same old crap every year.
Ethan is my little monkey boy, and has been since he was born and adopted a stuffed monkey as his lovey. So I have informed Seth that Ethan needs to get this for me.
The fam and I are traveling up to Michigan for the week of Thanksgiving for my younger cousins wedding reception and of course T-Day. Our luggage has seen better days, but because we are not constantly globe-trotting, neither one of us really wanted to spend a ton on a nice new piece. Well I happened to be at Sears yesterday and they had 28″ uprights on sale from $80 down to $29.99! SCORE! I got Seth an all black suitcase and I got a purple with black straps. I know they will not last forever, but if they last jsut a few years, we will be happy!
I will update with pictures as soon as I find the camera! 
First, we went to Chuy’s – “we” meaning me and a bunch of girlfriends and a couple of bebes.
Then we went to Sprinkles Cupcakes! I got a black & white cupcake and a coconut cupcake. I took the coconut one home because I knew that my husband wouldn’t eat it since he won’t eat anything coconut-related
THEN we went to Penzey’s Spices where I actually behaved myself and didn’t spend too much. I bought a few new things and stocked up on some old things I had run out of.
And finally, we went to Tuesday Morning since it was right across the parking lot from Penzey’s. It was a pretty crappy Tuesday Morning, I was less than impressed – but I DID buy a new cookbook by Holly Clegg and I do love it! I got it for $6.99, I was shocked. Now I think I need to buy all of her cookbooks – especially if they’re all as good as this one is! It’s making me want to cook more – of course, that might just be the cold weather we are finally getting
Then I came home, watched reruns of Sex & The City, ate my chili I left in the crockpot all day (I’ll post the recipe!) and went to bed It was a lovely day off!
I’m going to attempt to try to talk Jess into going to Penzey’s on Monday during our lunch and shopping extravaganza. I LOVE this place — it gets me motivated to cook/bake, but as soon as I get home that motivation is nowhere to be found. I’ve got to stock up on some spices for Christmas, and some regular things that I’m out of (shout out to Brady Street Cheese Sprinkle) and some new things I want to try (rojo taco seasoning!). This place is fun, and the ladies that work there are so nice and know so damn much about everything in there — who knew there were one million kinds of cinnamon and vanilla and salt and stuff? Sign up for the catalog – it’s excellent, and I spend way too much time reading it.
I never know what I want when people actually ask me, so this year I am just going ot post about it when I want something! Here are some of my latest wants/needs:
I’m going to cry. I’m going to cry all the way to Sur La Table and buy it for myself 
This is from my “work mom”. I make it several times between September – January
Pumpkin Cake
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 (16 oz.) can pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
½ tsp. ginger
¼ tsp. nutmeg
Combine eggs and sugar and beat at high speed until light and fluffy. Add oil and pumpkin; beat well. Mix flour and spices together, add to batter 1 cup at a time at low speed just until blended. Pour in ungreased 9-inch tube pan. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes. Cool in pan for several minutes. Remove to plate to cool, spread with Cream Cheese frosting (below), or dust with powdered sugar.
Cream Cheese Frosting
6 Tbsp. butter or oleo, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 (1-lb.) pkg. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Combine butter and cream cheese in mixer bowl, beat well. Add sugar and vanilla, beat until smooth.
Yum, one of the message boards I post on just reminded me of this recipe. I love these things. I guess that means I’ll have to make them soon
Chicken Enchiladas with Tomatillo Cream Sauce
Makes 24 enchiladas
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 (8 oz) container sour cream
1 (8 oz) pkg. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
24 (6-inch) corn tortillas
Tomatillo Cream Sauce (recipe follows)
1 (8 oz) pkg. Colby and Monterey Jack cheese blend, shredded (I actually used 2 pkgs. BAD BAD HEATHER.)
Sliced green onions (optional, which means I didn’t use them)
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease two 13×9x2-inch baking dishes.
In a large bowl, combine chicken and next 8 ingredients. Spoon 2 Tbsp. of chicken mixture down center of each tortilla. Fold sides over, enclosing filling. Place filled tortillas, in a single layer, seam side down, in prepared baking dishes.
Spoon Tomatillo Cream Sauce evenly over enchiladas.
Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Garnish with sliced green onions, if desired.
Tomatillo Cream Sauce
Makes 5 cups
1 (28 oz) can tomatillos, drained (I couldn’t find canned tomatillos, so I bought 8 fresh ones and peeled them instead. I’m sure it tastes better fresh anyway!)
1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup heavy whipping cream
In a large skillet, combine tomatillos, broth, chilies, cumin, chili powder, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat; reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
Pour mixture into container of an electric blender or food processor. Pulse mixture several times until smooth. Return mixture to skillet; stir in cream, and cook 2 minutes on low.
I have found a new shop/blog that I am in love with! She has tons of cute items, I think I would go broke if I let myself shop there all the time. This is my newest find. I have a babysitter pad ont he fridge, but paper is always falling off of it, or my child decides to use it as coloring paper. This would solve all my problems, plus it is super cute!
*UPDATE*
My wonderful and loving husband saw this blog and decided to surprise me with it! I got it the other day and I love it, looks perfect on my fridge. He also got this shirt for the little guy:
