Thanksgiving in Scotland

We had a low key, relaxed day spent with family and some of our new friends here in Aberdeen. It started out with some cooking...

Madison Smashing sweet potatoes for the best ever Sweet Potato Casserole

Rose got in on the action

"The Turkey!" 21 Pounder - my biggest yet. I was nervous, but Martha  Stewart's recipe helped a ton!

Sweet Potato Casserole and Coffee cake- Thanks mom for the best recipes!

We lazied around and had appetizers during the afternoon while the turkey cooked. We also watched "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" - which is surprisingly historic. I forgot about that. I liked it! Oh and we watched "Garfield a Thanksgiving Special" -so fun!

Sparkling grape juice - fun that the girls could even get in on :)

The finished turkey! People said it was flavorful and tender. I was so grateful. It was a butter  herb recipe  where you rub the butter under and on top of the skin. I had never done that before. In fact, after I finished the butter part, I told Tim I would never do it again. But after we tasted it, we decided that I should :)

Aberdeen Student fellowship Thanksgiving Dinner Celebration

Kid's table

Maddy and her friend Luke

Rose and her friend Ian

Baby Lizzie and her Grandma

The guys always seem to find one another to talk theology with

The spread!

The turkey Maddy and I made together. She came up with all of the names to thank God for on each feather.  I was so proud of her. 

We decorated for Christmas! We just did a little tree up on a bookshelf this year to keep Rose out of it and save money. I actually love the simplicity of it!

Menu Plan Monday

    

Monday 

 Baked Chicken

From : Barefoot Contessa’s Cookbook

My friend Joy here in Scotland so kindly brought us this amazing chicken when we first moved and had no food in our pantry :) We loved it so much I got the recipe! It's so easy - even I can do it!

 1 whole chicken

 1 bunch fresh thyme

 1 lemon

 1 whole head clove of garlic

 Salt/Pepper

 3 T. melted butter

1. Place chicken in sink, rise with water and clean out insides of chicken (giblets) if any J

2. Stuff cavity of chicken

   a. with ½ bunch of thyme

   b. lemon sliced in half-add both halves,

   c. take garlic head and slice off of top 1/3 -add to chicken cavity

   d. sprinkle liberally inside with salt and pepper

3. Place stuffed chicken in 8x8 or small glass pan-legs up (if you have kitchen string, tie legs together, to keep moist)

4. Brush melted butter over entire chicken-yes, fat is good.

5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper

6. Place in preheated oven (425 degrees)

7. Cook for 1 ½ hours

8. ENJOY with bar b que sauce! (use leftover chicken for chimichangas, chicken salad, taco salad, bar b que sandwiches, curry chicken-which we like a lot, on pizza, use chicken bones to make homemade stock…)

Tuesday 

 Spaghetti Aglio e Olio 

Wednesday 

 Meatball Sandwiches

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon dried leaf oregano

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1 cup spaghetti sauce or marinara, plus 2 tablespoons for meatballs

3 tablespoons chopped parsley1 loaf Italian bread or 4 large sub rolls

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine beef, bread crumbs, onion, garlic, Parmesan, oregano, pepper, paprika and 2 tablespoons sauce in bowl. Shape meat mixture into 12 equal meatballs. Place on a jelly-roll pan.

Bake in preheated 350° oven 20 to 25 minutes, or until cooked through.

Heat the 1 cup sauce in a saucepan; stir in parsley. Divide bread crosswise into four portions; split each. Spoon meatballs and sauce into bread.
Serves 4.

Thursday

bld carbonara pizza 

Friday 

 Thanksgiving Celebration with Divinity students and their families.

 I'm making one of the turkeys, using one of Martha Stewart's Recipes (roast turkey with herb butter) and  Mom Baylor's sweet potato casserole (per Tim's request :)

I'm linked up to Organzingjunkie

Menu Plan Monday

Last week's planning went well, but again, I have a few recipes left over due to busy schedules and changes in plans. I think I've decided to do what orgjunkie does and just meal plan Monday - Friday. That way I have two slush days to move around and do what I want with. That doesn't mean I'm going to eat those exact meals on those days, I usually look at the plan and make what we feel like that night anyways. This way I have some wiggle room for leftovers(a lot of the recipes make way more than we can eat in one night and i hate to waste it) or if we end up being out and about or someone invites us over ;)

So I guess you live and learn, right? We'll see how this works. I never said this was full-proof :)

Monday

Sour Cream Noodle Bake

Tuesday

Chicken and Waffles

Wednesday

Broccoli Quinoa Casserole

I have to admit, I kind of keep putting this off because I'm a tad skeptical of how good it will be. But I AM going to try it this week. I bet it's going to be great. 

Thursday

 Loaded Potato soup

Friday

Asian Orange Chicken

I'm linking up with Orgjunkie

Advent Calendar Giveaway!

A friend of mine clued me into this Advent Calendar giveaway at-
Amoretti.

Check it out - you just might win (but I kinda hope I do :) - Let me know if you get it though and I swear I'll rejoice with you ;)

Menu Plan Monday

ok - well, last week ended up being a little crazier than we though it would be, so I have a few repeat meals this week. I hate to let food go to waste! Hope you had a good week. Anyone else meal planning with me? Any good recipes or strategies you use in planning?

Monday

Orange Chicken, Broccoli, and rice

Tuesday

Stuffed green peppers 

Wednesday

Broccoli Quinoa Casserole

Thursday

Baked Mac and Cheese, Salad

Ok, so before you judge me for making this again so soon, a friend is having a baby (*Wink *Wink Emily!) so I always bring a new mom this wonderfully creamy comfort food! And Tim made me promise to make our family some as well :) Oh and I forgot to say that if I am trying to save money or don't have the second kind of cheese on hand, I will use all white sharp cheddar and that tastes fabulous!

Friday

Breakfast for dinner: french toast, bacon and eggs

Saturday

Greek Salad with Chicken

Sunday

Bobby Flay's Chicken and Waffles - 

Our dear friends the Barkers arrive in Scotland on this night for a visit! Woohoo!

Now, little disclaimer here - I don't use a whole chicken like he does,  I uses chicken tenders because it's so much easier to make and to eat! I also usually cut recipe and marinating time in half .  I can't make this meal alone though. Tim always helps me. You really need one person manning the waffle iron while the other does the chicken.  It's AMAZING though!

I'm linking up to Orgjunkie

Maddy Says

Madison is only 2 months away from turning THREE and her personality is really showing. She is a hoot and is always cracking us up. I want to remember some of those hilarious conversation that every mom has with her toddler. Here are a few of her recents.

* Since about summer time, Maddy has developed these imaginary friends (Ariel and Eric, Dora and Diego, and the "Thing"(from this book she read recently). Well, it didn't bother me at first because it was just cute imaginary play, but recently she has been having me do things for them and it's driving me crazy! She'll say things like, "Mom, Diego really wants you to wash his face, get him dressed or get him a cookie(I think she's hoping to get two for herself ;) Like I don't have enough work to do with 2 REAL kids!
It can get kind of embarrassing when we're in public too.
*One day we were out for a walk and a man with a dog walked by and Maddy got to pet the dog and then she yelled, "Mom, Dora wants to pet him too!" I tried to ignore here but she kept getting louder. So I kinda pretended Rose was Dora and then quickly got out of there - ha! How terrible am I?!

*After we had recently had a conversation about the fact that Jesus is everywhere and he is always with us...Maddy(on the tire swing) - "mom, mom, Jesus is sitting right across from me right there. Mom, Mom! You need to stop; Jesus' belly is getting sick because we going too fast!" Oh boy. We have a little more teaching to do on this topic :)

*After a man at the park said Madison could not pet his dog, "Mom, why can't I pet that dog?"
Me - because he might be mean and he could bite you.

Maddy- and he would bite my hand like this (putting whole hand in her mouth) and he would bit my hand off, and I would have to get a new one!  And I would be so sad because I can't  pic up candy any more!!!" (Yes, because picking up candy is the most important thing you do with your hands all day :)

*Maddy - "mom I have a boo boo on my eye, can I have a bandaid on it?"
Me - "no, we can't put bandaids on your eye because you can't see and it will get stuck to our eyelashes."
Maddy - "Then my lashes be gone and I say( yelling at the top of her lungs), "Momma Momma Momma, where my lashes go? (in sad voice) we can't get new lashes!"

*When she was coloring in her coloring book, "Mom I'm doing my work home." haha! We were recently with her cousins who had to do their Homework after school :)

Trick or Treat Fun!

Our first time making Rice Krispy treats together!

We made pumpkin treats!

I had fun making faces!

Rosie was a little dancer!

Maddy was a Fairy Princess! 

The whole AWF group! We all walked together.

Really nice night for it!

Maddy and her new friend Abigail holding hands! THAT does a mother's heart good :)

Menu Plan Monday

Menu for this week is...






Monday

Halloween Party with friends!

I am bringing these cute pumpkin pop treats!

Tuesday

Chicken with Asparagus and Red Roasted Peppers

 This is a family favorite. I found it a few years back and we all loved it! It's so tasty and good for you too -only 184 calories a serving (not counting any rice or pasta you may choose to have with it, which I always do!)

Wednesday

Stuffed Green Peppers with Cheese - they also include beef and rice inside, 

so I call THAT a balanced meal :0)

Thursday

Corn and Cheese Chowder

This is a new one from "The Pioneer Woman".

 I'm really looking forward to trying it!

Friday

Date night!

(We didn't actually get to go last week!) I'm looking forward to a night out!

Saturday

Asian Orange Chicken and broccoli

Sunday

Stuffed Shells and green salad

     I make mine by memory from an old recipes, but it basically includes: cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, an egg, oregano, browned ground beef, salt and pepper- all stuffed into cooked pasta shells. Then I just pour spaghetti sauce over top,

 sprinkle with a little mozzarella and bake til bubbly. YUM! I'm also making a double batch and freezing a pan for next month.

I'm linking up to Orgjunkie

Rating of Last Week's Meals + Coffee Cake recipe :)

I thought I would give a quick update on how meal planning went for us last week. I don't know that I'll always do this, but I made a few new recipes and Tim like to help me rate them so we can remember how we liked them and if I want to make them again!

Our rating system: First each of us give it a number out of 10 for TASTE, 

then I rate it for "Ease to Make"

Broiled Parmesan Tilapia (Taste: Julie - 4, Tim - 5, Ease to make-7) Now the low ratings are not really fair. I kind of botched this recipe. I plan on trying it again. #1 problem - I accidentally got smoked haddock when I shopped online. It was just too salty for us with the parmesan and smoking. #2 problem - I am still trying to figure out my stove. I could not for the life of me figure out how to broil with my oven. So the topping that was supposed to be golden and crispy was mushy - yuck. Of course as soon as we finished dinner, I accidentally pressed the right button and it went to broil - haha! Now I know! So don't discount this one - it does look like a really great recipe!

Pasta Pie - (Taste: Julie-7, Tim 7.5, Ease to make -8) I had made this one before and we had forgotten how much we liked it!

Chicken Fajitas - We didn't rat this one because it wasn't new. It's one that is easy and we love so it always gets thrown into the rotation! I set it up like a "burrito bar". Tim's exact words were, "It looks like a Chipotle up in here!"


Baked Mac and Cheese - (Taste: Julie -9.5, Tim-10, Ease to make -6) Thank you Martha Stewart for this recipe! YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS make and cheese! It was a little more involved and made a big mess (probably because the girls were helping me), but it's worth it! We ended up eating this two days in a row for lunch and dinner -yum!

Chicken Pot Pie (Taste: Julie -8.5, Tim-9, Ease to Make: 5) This was absolutely delicious! Tim loved it and thought I was from another world for making it(so of course I'll make it again). It was just a lot of little steps and I think next time I will make the filling during nap time or the night before and then just throw the crust on and bake it before dinner so that I don't loose my cool while kids are hanging on me and Tim is on his way home!
Here are the pics I took of it:

Harvest Salad - I'm a little bummed that I didn't get to this one this week. We ended up having so many leftovers, that we didn't need this meal. But I plan on making it for lunch this week :)


Nana Baylor's Coffee cake - I made this last week and a few people asked for the recipe. It's seriously amazing! I make this coffee cake for every holiday and probably once a month when there are no holidays(per Tim's request :) We all love it! Usually I make it in a bunt pan, but this last time I made part of it in a loaf pan (for our sweet neighbors who give us fresh eggs and homemade jam) and then the rest of it in muffin tins.

 Mom Baylor’s Coffee Cake

1 stick of Butter (soft) 2 Cups flour

1 Cup of sugar 1 tsp baking powder 

2 eggs 1 tsp baking soda 

1 tsp vanilla ½ tsp salt

½ pint sour cream (8 oz) ½ Cup chocolate chips

  ½ Cup of chopped pecans

Topping: 

¼ Cup sugar ½ cup pecans

1tsp  cinnamon

Directions: 

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream- butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream until blended

2. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. Add dry bowl of dry ingredients to wet ingredients slowly until fully mixed. 

4. Add ½ c chocolate chips and ½ c chopped pecans

5. Spoon half of the batter evenly into the bottom of a bunt pan. 

6. Sprinkle half of the pecan “topping” over the bottom layer of batter.

7. Spoon the last half of the batter evenly into the bunt pan. 

8. Sprinkle the last half of the pecan “topping” over the final layer of batter. 

**Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (check after about 35-40 minutes – every oven is different)

Take out of oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes. 

Use spatula or knife to release from edge of pan 

Flip onto a dessert plate to finish cooling.