Next!

Well, I don't know about you, but we had a lovely Thanksgiving. My mom and I were major "chatty-chattersons," as we always are when we get together; then there was Wii, lots of laughing and so much more. Hubby-bubs' brine made for a fantastic, juicy turkey--although the process took a little a longer than expected. We have to give him credit--he worked from 8 until 2 on Thanksgiving (the downside of managing a wine shop).

Outside of the fabo turkey, my faves were the pear/cranberry chutney I made for the first time, the stuffing (always my sweet spot), and the green bean casserole recipe borrowed from my sister.

So...what to do with those leftovers? I froze much of the turkey, some of the mashed taters and stuffing. Last night I borrowed something I saw on TV with Emeril Lagasse and made stuffing cakes. I plopped one of those babies down on slices of turkey and a smidge of gravy...mmm...mmm.mmm.

Tonight we are doing pasta that I think we can add the remaining green been casserole too--throw in some olives if you want to (we have some remaining from "party tray.") And I am baking up fresh bread as well.

But now we move on. Christmas and Daughter #1's 12th birthday on Dec 24. She's chosen a theme for the cake--flowers. As I know I cannot make frosting flowers, I bought some at www.fancyflours.com. I wanted the sugered pansies, but they were cost-prohibitive. Daughter #1 picked out some she liked--we'll go with that.

Coming up...peppermint marshmallows, peppermint bark, a family favorite and much more.