Another Creative Use

Today was a full and busy day. We slept in, of course, because last night was our big pizza night and we were tired and full. So, our full and busy day didn't really start 'til about 11:00. But, then we were really busy. We ate a yummy breakfast, ordered some Christmas presents online, and then we began our fun...we got all our Christmas boxes out of the store room. Yup, that's right, we set up the Christmas tree! Very exciting! We put up the tree and put on all the ornament and got other various decorations out. We didn't put up the Christmas lights on the balcony because it was raining...but we'll do that tomorrow.

Next, we made dinner. I was creative yet again and we used more leftover ham. This time, I made scalloped potatoes and ham. I love ham (did I mention that yesterday?) and I really love potatoes so this was pretty much a perfect meal. It really was delicious and we will be eating it for a couple days. We even had some peas on the side for color and to be healthy.


After dinner, we rushed out to catch the bus so we could go bowling. A friend of ours was having a birthday bowling party so we couldn't miss it. It was a lot of fun - even if we aren't very good. Now our day is ending and we need to get some sleep because tomorrow is going to be an equally full and busy day!

Good night!

Pizza

The day after Thanksgiving - most people are eating turkey and green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. Not us (well, I did finish off the pumpkin pie), oh no, we are having an even better "leftover" meal. Because I didn't make the turkey yesterday, I didn't have any leftover for turkey sandwiches or turkey pot pie or any other creative uses. Instead, I had ham. I love ham, so its easy for me to think of unique and different ways to eat it. Today, I impressed even myself! This was not your typical Thanksgiving leftover meal. Nope, we went all out! Using my leftover ham and my new bread machine and my sister's recipe, we made pizza. Oh my goodness, it was so delicious! My sister makes pizza every Friday night with her bread machine and since my goal in life is to be just like her, I've started my own pizza tradition. I used her recipe and made the dough in my bread machine. It was amazing - so easy and so yummy (the smell is great!). Then, we made a ham and cheese pizza (my personal favorite) - a Pizza Americana, as they call it in Peru. We even made bread sticks, just like big sis. It was the most amazing meal ever. I ate so much pizza, I'm uncomfortably full again. Almost as good as Thanksgiving itself! I will definitely be making pizza again. And next time we're going to experiment and make different flavors. It promises to be a fun tradition (though, we might change it to Saturday night). I will have to invite each one of you for pizza some day. It really is THAT good!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. I hope you all had a wonderful and delicious thanksgiving. Since most of my family is celebrating thanksgiving on a different day (yes, they have good reasons), I have to share my pictures of our feast today! We had 30 people for our big event and we had plenty of food...in fact, we had too much. But, that's expected on Thanksgiving! Of course, I ate way too much and I feel uncomfortably full, but it was totally worth it! I was only the co-host of this shindig, we had it at Bonnie's house, but I made a bunch of food. I was responsible for the ham, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, dressing, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and a pumpkin trifle. It was a lot of cooking - but it was fun and I enjoyed it. Here are some pictures of our delicious meal.

Our beautiful table

Ham

Sweet Potato Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Fresh Baked Rolls (they were SO delicious)

Pumpkin Trifle (I've never made this before, but people liked it)

Pumpkin Pie (I had two pieces, they were small)

I am very thankful for the wonderful food we had today. I am also thankful for my family and friends - I am blessed to have each and every one of you in my life. I hope everyone remembers how much they have to be thankful for this year. Happy Thanksgiving!

And now...since it is technically tomorrow (yes, I stayed up late cleaning the kitchen), I can start the excitement. That's right, it is officially permissible to start preparing for (and celebrating) Christmas. I am now going to listen to my Christmas music and, this weekend, we are putting up our tree!!! I can't wait...I LOVE Christmas!

Almost Thanksgiving...

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I can't wait. I'm already starting to cook. My friend and I are hosting a big Thanksgiving dinner for a some of our friends and neighbors. We should have about 30 people. I have a lot to make...pies, casseroles, potatoes, rolls, etc. I already have the rolls in the fridge (they're rising) and I've made a pumpkin & pecan pie. Tomorrow I've got lots to do, but first I'm going to sleep in. I love holidays. And I especially love holidays that involve eating.

Since I have been cooking all evening...I didn't focus a lot of time or energy on dinner tonight. (I'm already thinking about tomorrow!) I decided something lite would be good - in order to save room for turkey. We used our leftover rolls from earlier in the week and made mini-tuna sandwiches. We even had a pickle on the side. It was good.

I'm Full

I went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch today. Someone from work wanted to go there for their going-away lunch. Of course, I ate too much and tonight I was very full. That meant I did not feel like cooking. So, our dinner consisted of Taquitos and peas. Oh, and we also had some leftover rolls from last night with Apple Butter. Super yummy! I hope you had a yummy dinner too!

Cereal and Bread for Dinner

I wanted something sweet for dinner tonight - and I wanted something easy. I thought about having cereal for dinner - but since I don't have to actually make that, I had to think of something else. Obviously, I didn't look very far because I settled on Rice Cereal. A favorite childhood breakfast...yum! And, with a rice cooker, it was super easy. It was delicious and good...and sweet.

In addition to cereal for dinner tonight, I made bread. That's right - I used my new bread maker to make some dinner rolls. I'm supposed to make rolls for Thanksgiving and I wanted to practice. It was AMAZING! It was the first time I used my bread maker and I love it! I am going to make bread every day (well, maybe not every day - but often). The machine does all the work and I just rolled it and baked it. The smell of fresh baked bread is the smell of happiness! I can't wait to make more bread. I think our Thanksgiving bread will be great!

Leftovers Again

We have a lot of leftovers from last night's party so we have plenty of food in the house, but I didn't want to eat the same thing again...at least not tonight. I didn't want to have another repeat dinner. So, instead, I decided to reincarnate my leftovers. Since my fettuccine with chocolate sauce was not a hit yesterday, we had leftover noodles that needed another purpose in life. So, I made one of my favorite casseroles, Tuna Noodle Casserole. I don't usually use fettuccine, but hey, I'm spontaneous!! It was tasty and Bill and I each ate WAY too much!