Happy Thanksgiving!

It's almost here! I love Thanksgiving, and I love having it at my house. We're hosting for the 2nd year in a row and we get to have both of our families here.

The kitchen was busy this afternoon with baking a carrot cake, making deviled eggs, and prepping the turkey. My dad is deep frying it (the only way to go, people) so all I have to do is thaw and season it. Michael took care of the thawing, and the first coat of seasoning went on this afternoon!

If you're in the market for a good fries turkey seasoning blend, here's what we use (straight from the Babson kitchen):

1/2 box of salt

1 oz crushed red pepper

1 oz garlic powder

1 oz chili powder

1 oz black pepper

1/2 oz onion powder

1/8 cup sugar

Make sure the turkey is fully thawed, washed and dried before you put the mix on. It should sit with the seasoning for at least 24 hours if possible before cooking. It's always a good idea to save a little to put on right before you cook the turkey in case you find spots you missed or any fell off.

As my only proof of my hard work in the kitchen today, here's my carrot cake!

It's Paula Deen's recipe. She may not be politically correct, but she makes a heck of a carrot cake.

With Thanksgiving tomorrow and a business trip to Milan next week, there may be a bit of radio silence on my end, but I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Let's eat!

cuteness

just a little cuteness to brighten up your day...if it's as rainy and cold where you are as it is here then we all need some cheeriness! here's the latest picture of our newest baby. 3 months old and already bigger than loki! thanks to my hubby for the photo :)

look at that sweet face!

caution: extreme beauty ahead

hello everyone!

of course i missed a birchbox update or 2 while i was on my blogging hiatus, but i did find a couple of products that i am loving at the moment.

number one was a birchbox find and i can't get enough!

this bad boy is the "glycolic glommage" from serious skincare. it's pricey ($38.50 for a 4-oz size), but that's the beauty of the $10 birchbox! maybe one day i'll splurge and buy one.

this is a deep-cleaning combo between a mask and a cleanser. you put it on, leave it for about 10 minutes, then rub into your face while rinsing with warm water. glycolic acid is a great exfoliant, and i can really tell the difference after i use this. my skin gets all glowy!

i warned you already, and i'll warn you again. extreme beauty ahead:

heyyyyyyyy ohhhh! me with the mask.

another product i've surprisingly come to love recently is bodycology lotion in toasted vanilla sugar.

i picked up this lotion at walmart of all places, and i really really like it!

everyone knows i'm hopelessly devoted to vanilla bean noel lotion from bath & body works, but it only comes out at Christmas. i get about 10 bottles at Christmas from my family, so i'm usually stocked up through at least september. that means i typically have to find a stand-in for a couple of months.

hello to my new stand-in! this stuff is super cheap ($4, compared to b&bw $11) and it's almost as good. it's really thick (which i love) and smells like cookies (which i lovex1000). vanilla bean noel is still my all-time favorite and i will loyally use it until they don't make it anymore, but this is the perfect fill-in for those few months when i'm waiting on my new supply.

if you see either of these products out and about while Christmas shopping, i highly recommend them both!

crunchy parmesan chicken tenders

time for a new recipe!

we made these crunchy parmesan chicken tenders a week or ago, and they are SO good! they're also really easy and healthy, which is a win-win.

i got the recipe from the giada de laurentiis section of the food network website: yummy

• 3 tsbp plus 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders*
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• pepper
• 1 1/4 cups parmesan cheese
• 3/4 cup italian-seasoned bread crumbs

*we didn't have actual tenders on hand, so we just used regular boneless chicken breasts cut in 1/2s or 1/3s depending on the size. we also didn't make 1 1/2 pounds, just whatever we had on hand, which ended up being about 10 tenders or so.

1. preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

2. brush 1 tbsp of oil over a large baking sheet lined with foil. 

3. place buttermilk in a large bowl. add the chicken tenders and stir to coat. let stand at least 15 minutes. (we didn't actually let them stand that long, and they turned out fine. they might be better if you let them sit, but who has the time??)

4. mash the garlic with the salt in a medium bowl. whisk in the balsamic vinegar and the 1/2 cup of oil. season to taste with pepper. transfer vinaigrette to a small serving bowl.

5. stir the parmesan cheese and bread crumbs in a shallow dish. remove the chicken from the milk and dredge them in the crumb/cheese mixture to coat completely. arrange the chicken on the prepared baking sheets.

6. drizzle 2 tbsp of oil over the chicken and bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes.

7. serve the vinagrette on the side for dipping, or drizzle over the top with about 5 minutes left to cook. that's what we did, and it made the crust so tasty!

enjoy!

welcome back, welcome back, welcome back

hello all 3 devoted readers of my blog!

i'm back in action after a bit of a vacation. it was nice to take a break from blogging for awhile, but i missed it! i realized it's harder to come up with things to blog about when michael is cooking 99% of our meals these days, but we'll see what i can do. :)

here's a few fun pictures of life since september:

our sweet niece amy turned 2! 

saw the eagles in concert for the 2nd time

celebrated halloween at home with awesome jack-o-lanterns, if i do say so myself

we got a new puppy! meet kona. he's a 10-week-old goldendoodle and he is precious :)

my dad turned into a pro racecar driver for 8 laps & we got to watch

the panthers beat the patriots in monday night football!

we went indoor skydiving...so awesome

if the indoor skydiving picture is blurry, that's because michael took a picture of a computer screen with his phone so we didn't have to pay an arm and a leg to buy a picture. woops :) seriously though, it's one of the most fun things we've ever done together, and i highly recommend this place: paraclete xp

the past few weeks have mostly been spent getting used to the colder weather/darker days and getting used to life with a 2nd puppy. we decided to get a goldendoodle puppy after many months of arguing discussing calmly the pros and cons of big dogs. :) it is a handful having a puppy at home again, but we love it! he and loki play together all the time, so they're fun to watch. he's going to be a big boy, so we're waiting to see how he grows into his monster paws!

right now we're looking forward to thanksgiving (of course), which we're having at our house. after that i'll be going to italy for a week for work, then i turn the big 2-7 on december 8th. yikes! the week after that i'm heading up to nyc for a day, then i'm planning on celebrating Christmas all day every day. our first family Christmas get-together is on the 14th and i can't wait! let's be honest, i'm already listening to Christmas music, have about 1/2 of my shopping done, and bought all of my wrapping paper, so i'm well on my way. :)

i hope everyone has a happy and safe end of the year. i'm excited and thankful about wrapping up 2013 with lots of fun and family and looking forward to 2014!