What? You want more pumpkin? Here are some ideas for your leftover pumpkin from the creative and always amusing BreezyK. From Pumpkin Pie Smoothies to pumpkin facials, Breezy has you covered to get the most out of your great pumpkin!
Thanks Briana for a fun read as i stuff down one more slice of pie.
~Enjoy!
Is anyone hungry?
Can you believe the holidays are upon us already?
Everyone raise your hands if you are entertaining for one or more of the holidays?
I enjoy entertaining and putting on a good show and smiles on my guests. Every year we entertain my family for Thanksgiving and Christmas ( can I still say the word Christmas or has the government outlawed it on blogs too?). And, as I was thinking about this weekend coming up, it led me to our grand family traditions over Christmas.
One of our family Christmas traditions is a great egg nog french toast Christmas morning. The left over egg nog from Christmas eve makes thee perfect thick french toast batter. Think about it. Its one of my signature dishes, if I may be so bold, here at hour home Christmas week.
And so I thought, “I wonder if there was a French Toast synonymous with Thanksgiving?”
You know what? There are!
And so as I researched and Googled Thanksgiving French toast. I found they all had something in common.
Guess what it is?
No, its not pumpkin, although that is the norm. It is that all the recipes have you prep the french toast the night before , a la casserole style, then pop the casserole dish in the oven the next morning and let the smell slowly wake everyone up.
It really sounds easy!
Yes you blend all the ingredients the night before. Chop up some hearty bread if you wish or leave it in slices. Then place all the bread in a casserole dish and soak with the french toast batter. Cover and refrigerate!
Sound easy?
The marinating over night allows the french toast goodness to soak through out the bread. Then the next morning turn on the oven, pop in the dish and take your time waking up. Tell everyone else how early you had to get up that morning to make such a sumptuous breakfast!
And for those of you who are slow to wake up (I usually eat a bowl of cereal while I make big breakfasts cause it takes so long) this idea is a lifesaver!
This is one such recipe I saved come from the Minimalist Baker blog for this weekend’s Thanksgiving french toast.
Whaddya think?
I might add a nice bottle of ‘breakfast wine’ to the list of ingredients. It is a holiday, or the weekend after all.
Now when some of you hear the word ‘casserole’ I know a light kinda goes off. Those with a creative cooking flare might experiment with about anything in a ‘casserole’.
We are not real ‘pumpkin people’ at our house. The truth is only a small percentage of us like pumpkin pie. So we enjoy a pumpkin and an apple pie at our Thanksgiving table.
Hmmm, apple?
So with the above Thanksgiving French toast recipe, I scratched the pumpkin flavoring and decided I would add some diced apples instead. Yes! Think of something like a IHOP Stuffed French Toast. I will let the apples bake on top and in with the french toast cubes. ~ and besides…. where does one find pumpkin butter?
or maybe add Caramel Apples?
But wait! There’s more…
If you order now..
Oh. Sorry…
One of my friends growing up had an old-world Italian mother and she made us breakfast one Saturday. Not only did she warm up the maple syrup on the stove, she added a good chunk of butter to melt in with it too. Result? The best tasting, most memorable syrup, EVER! Have you ever had this? Caramelized maple syrup! OMG!
So every time I entertain with my french toast I make a nice helping of warm buttery syrup with it. Yum! Sometimes I’ll add some blueberries.
But not this time!
We have a yummy bag of fresh pecans at our house right now, since its fall. Why not, chop up some pecans and let them marinate in the warm buttery syrup and serve a top the french toast? Apple stuffed french toast with butter pecan syrup and whipped creme on top! Welcome to my B&B!
Does that sound as good to you as it does to me?
Leave the turkey leftovers… save room for breakfast!
And its so simple to make. Plus you can make most of it the night before.
Are you hungry yet?
I hope everyone reading this has a great weekend and Happy Thanksgiving to all my American family and friends!
I am Thankful for YOU reading this blog right now.
If you end up trying this please let me, or the Minimalist Baker know how you liked it.
And to all my friends who really know / knew me over the years, HELP!
Its come to this…
writing recipes in blogs…lol
Save me!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
Hey everyone! Want to be let in on the latest fad?
Want to see what is sweeping our area; that all of my friends and family are looking at?
It is a crazy, fun, generous fad that all the cool, hip people are doing. Wanna see?
But first, here is a commercial that Dylan did for YOU to tell you about it….
(you don’t want to miss this)
Yes, I am pimping this blog once again to encourage one of our kids. But hey, the kids get little rewards for the more pledges they bring in! After her very first night of receiving a few $1 and $2 pledges she received a Fun Run lunch bag, cool water bottle, and a trendy bracelet for her rewards.
Now, after a few more pledges, she only needs one more pledge to win a pair of Fun Run sneakers. Three more pledges allows her (and her class) to participate in “No Shoes Day” where they can take off their shoes at school and just wear their socks in her classroom for the day. How cool is that?
Dylan actually has more dollars per lap donated than all the rest of her class combined. She is a Leader!
And if she gets another pledge like she did from my buddy Jay she may just have her name broadcast across the morning announcements. Gosh I would hate for that to happen 🙂
The goal of the Fun Run, besides raising money for their school is for the individuals to develop some interest in Fitness, Leadership, and build some Character. Not bad ideas for our young people these days.
If you would like to participate in this fast growing fad, here is a link to Dylan’s homepage at school for the event where you can look around and find out more. If you care to make a pledge to support Dylan in her Fun there is a pledge tab to jump on.
To my friends in Canada, or Switzerland, or Mexico or else where and abroad if you want to participate in this X-tremely fun (and rewarding) trend email me or let me know in a comment. Hopefully we can work something out. 🙂
Thanks for considering Dylan’s Fun Run drive!
Its for a good cause and brings smiles to lots of kids faces.
(like mine)
Isn’t that infectious smile in the video worth a dollar a lap in itself?
Yes, they grow up so fast!
Have a great weekend everyone!
We will now return you to your regularly scheduled blogs
This week in Sunday School our kid’s teacher drew a frowny face on the palm of each child’s hand. She explained that the frowny face represented sin.
The kids took a good hard look at it.
She would later go on and wipe off the frowny face on each child’s hand and told the analogy of this is what Jesus did for us by dieing on the cross; He ‘wiped away’ all our sins.
Only Skylar’s frowny face wouldn’t wipe off!
The teacher tried and tried to wipe off the frowny face from Skylar’s hand but it wouldn’t come off. The teacher, feeling sorry for Skylar, apologized to her for making her hand dirty.
Skylar shrugged her shoulders and conceded,
“Its OK. I’ve been a little mean sometimes.“
Wow!
We and Jesus still love ya Skylar!
If it makes you feel any better Skylar, my frowny face doesn’t always wipe off either.
Have a great week everyone!
Turn that frown upside down!
Happy Movember everyone!
Can you believe the Holidays are just a stone’s throw away?
I hope everyone had a good Halloween and great Tricks and Treats!
I have been sorting through all the Halloween candy Halloween photos looking for some that were blog worthy. I was more the ‘protecting Dad’ this year than the kid’s paparazzi, so I didn’t get as many pics. So to all my family and friends reading this, “Sorry!”
I did come across some that were too cute not to share. So if want to grab a Reese’s or a Milky Way (do you have any around the house?), I have another photo album to subject you too.
Well, the most pressing question was, ‘What did your kids go as?”
They were Frozen’s Princess Ana and Princess Elsa ‘Kitty Kat’ (don’t ask me ~ she wanted to be different)
OK, that was the pic for my parent’s picture frame for Christmas. Here are a few more shots of my Princesses offering some personality:
They are learning to ham it up a bit for the camera, aren’t they?
My girls ended up Trick or Treating with our swashbuckling neighbor…
I think they are ready to go!
So I had to keep up with them!
My girls are still relatively new to this whole Trick or Treating thing. I had to continually prompt them to go to the door and yell “Trick or Treat”. Likewise making sure they say a “thank you” loud enough for the hosts to hear. Sometimes they don’t know when to say “Thank you” and they just keep on enjoying their plunder!
Skylar ended up going home early as one of the hosts told her the Pixie Stick she gave her was a Magic Pixie Stick! The parent really sold her on this of it being ‘magical’ and so Skylar believed and wanted to go home and see for herself.
So Dylan and Ms. Jack Sparrow and I kept scouring the neighborhood in search of more candied treasure.
Dylan actually had a ghost following her at one point: 
But everyone had a great time storming the castles. We made it home safely and everyone counted their loot. We They all sampled some of their prizes, in search of favorites and new tastes from some curious new treats.
And oh, how those Reese’s Cups were really calling me…
eat me, eat me, eat me
Eventually it was bedtime and our little Princesses had to put their candy stash away, clean up their empty sugar wrappers, and head up to bed. Skylar took it well…
Gone are the days when our little girls so politely shared their Halloween treats and tried to save them for a special event . Do you remember this from when Dylan was 3?
Did you see those baby curls on her?
Dylan has always been a good responsible soul. She received straight A’s again on her first report card this year in First Grade. She was actually in an Awards Assembly at school today….
..where she earned awards for Reading and Responsibility. Atta girl Dylan! She will be smarter than me in a few years! She already beats me in memory board games…
from the school Principle no less…
Do you guys ever get tired of me doting on these girls?
Well we continue to remain proud of both of them!
Here girls, have another piece of candy.
Have a great weekend knuckleheads!
I will try to do a better job next week…
OUR LIFE IN 3D 