Tag Archives: cooking

Our First Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, the Alex and I are doing something we have never done. We are preparing our own Thanksgiving dinner for our little family of 5 to enjoy together.

Since my in-laws are off on a Trans-Atlantic cruise for the next 3 weeks, we celebrated Thanksgiving early with them and since they always get us on Thanksgiving and my parents get us the day after, we have found ourselves with the opportunity to do something on our own.

The plan is to make a fabulous meal while we watch the Green Bay Packers kick some Detroit Lion butt and just enjoy the family time together.

On the menu is a massive 22 pound turkey ( I know, 22lbs for 5 people—can we say major leftovers?!!! The Alex was in charge of purchasing the turkey and took advantage of the fact that we got it for $0.44 a pound thanks to our store savings card!) We are going to stuff the turkey with aromatics and roast it while basting and brushing it with butter because really, everything is better with butter!!!

We will also be making cornbread stuffing that involves bacon (YUM!), bacon-cheddar mashed potatoes, baked macaroni and cheese, a broccoli casserole, corn, sweet potatoes, fresh rolls, cranberries and of course homemade gravy!! Plus there will be both pumpkin and apple pie for dessert!

I cannot wait to start cooking!!!

We are super excited to have the opportunity to do this and cannot wait to start cooking! I will be posting pictures and recipes after the holiday so you can see how everything went!

This will be the first time either of us has ever cooked a turkey!!

Quick Lasagna Casserole

This recipe is a creation of the Alex’s and is definitely a family favorite in our home!

Ingredients
-1lb ground beef or turkey
-26-32oz of spaghetti sauce ( we like to use a mixture of our favorite Ragu sauces).
-1/2cup chopped yellow onion
-4oz canned or fresh mushrooms
-8oz shredded Italian cheese blend
-12oz mafalda pasta
-garlic salt

 

Directions
1.Brown hamburger with mushrooms and onions. Lightly season with garlic salt.
2.Drain grease, add sauce.
3.Add cooked mafalda pasta and stir.
4.Mix in 6oz of cheese and save the remainder to garnish!

ENJOY!

Auntie Anne’s At-Home Baking Kit

Last month, we received an Auntie Anne’s At-Home Baking Kit to review. We are lovers of Auntie Anne’s perfectly flavored pretzels and the kids are always asking for one every time we are in the mall.

Last night, we finally had time to break out the at-home kit and put it to use.
We didn’t use it to make pretzels though.
We thought we would try using it as a pizza crust as suggested on the side of the box.

First things first, the kit contained everything we needed to make the pizza crust except water. (It could have also been used to make 10 pretzels with salt or cinnamon sugar).
The pizza dough was super easy to make, but I did use my mixer and dough hooks instead of mixing and kneading the dough.
Once it was mixed, I let it sit and rise for about 30 minutes.
When it was ready, I rolled it out onto a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan that I had sprinkled some flour on.
From there, I spread sauce out, added a bit of cheese followed by pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives and finally more cheese!
After it was topped, I popped it in the over at 400* F for 23 minutes.
When it came out it looked AMAZING!



The pizza was unbelievably delicious.
The crust has a sweet flavor to it that just made it more enjoyable.
We were both hooked and I’m pretty sure my mom liked it too since she was sampling it while she was visiting!

Oh and I can’t forget that the kids and I had a lot of fun making it together!  Libby was very intrigued with the way the dough hooks mixed everything together!

The Auntie Anne’s At-Home Baking Kit is available for purchase in select stores and Auntie Anne’s locations in addition to their fundraising program.

Disclaimer: I was provided with an Auntie Anne’s At-Home Baking Kit and no cost to me in exchange for my honest review. Auntie Anne’s doesn’t represent or warrant the accuracy of any statements or product claims made here, nor does it endorse any opinions expressed within this blogsite. The opinions stated from me are 100% mine.