Thanksgiving | OUR LIFE IN 3D

Archive for the tag “Thanksgiving”

29 Nov 2017

7 Comments

Turkey Leftovers

Hello, its me again, Tom Turkey in 3D,

I had to sit down after the big feast and holiday weekend we just had.

Phew!

Did you have a good Thanksgiving?

Me, I’m bloated.

And I seemed to have eaten so much that I can’t get my darned fave green vest closed anymore.

All us turkeys in 3D made it through last week with ease. Our B&B was only partially filled with family and friends this past holiday so it was not quite as hectic. And while we did miss seeing the normal faces around here it was nice to sit my big turkey butt down and have complete access to the…

remote control.

This turkey got smoked and then I was accompanied by some mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, some .50 stuffing and dessert.

Ahhh, dessert! That was my favorite class in school.

We made two pies all set for me to gobble for Thanksgiving.

Then,

our friendly neighbor from across the street, the one that my girls have not alienated yet by their basketball running through her flower bed, brought over her delicious, mouth-watering, too-good-to-be-true-that-I-must-have-died-cause-this-must-be-in-Heaven pumpkin pie.

Mmmmmm!

With a capital Mmmmmm.

Well how can you decide on a holiday made for Thanking and Feasting which pie you should have after the big gobble-wobble?

So I made a healthy decision and didn’t have any pie after the feast!

Oh really Daddy?

I had a piece of all three!

Its true (insert frowny-face emoji)

But then…

As plump and ripe and tired and satiated as this Turkey’s family was after the feast there was still some squawking in the coop about the Christmas decorations needed to go up this (past) weekend.

What the @%&(!?

And as my friend from last week, Donald Trump would say, or tweet,

“I beg your pardon?”

Apparently, it is a Tom Turkey family tradition to put up the Christmas decorations the weekend of putting the bird away.

The relaxing 4 day holiday weekend.

The college football rivalry week weekend!

Well I told Mrs. Turkey I never ever @$%^@! of such a #%&*@ thing!….

…under my breath.

So now my living room looks like this:

Now listen….

I am Not that bad of a photographer.

Despite what you are thinking. It wasn’t my phone, er, camera either.

It was just…

ahhh…

I had just had a glass of Drambuie

(after yet another shameful piece of pumpkin cheesecake)

and my sight may have been a little bit, ahhh…

blurry.

Just saying….

But the decorating is done and I like it and I don’t have to stress about decking the halls for anymore weekends this year.

Its done.

Cross it off the list.

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here…

..But the prettiest sight to see

is the kitchen clean as can be

As my dog cleans the floor..

Yes it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.

Everywhere you go

We took a train to the Grand Hotel.

One in the park as well,

The ancient kind that doesn’t mind there’s no other place to go-o-oh..

Sorry that last Christmas Carol was just a little forced into this blog, wasn’t it?

I’m sorry.

You see, I do a lot of driving for my job and I have been listening to too many Christmas Carols all day I have been told.

Everyone I meet just seems get ambushed by the last Christmas Carol I heard that gets stuck in my head.

Does that happen to you?

You can’t get the last carol out of your head?

Like this morning …

I texted my wife, who was about ready to leave for work. The traffic was in a snarl again and so I wanted to advise her to leave extra time to get to work.

But when I spoke into my text’er machine it came out:

“Oh the traffic outside is frightful

and your bed is so delightful.

And since it moving so slow…

stay at home, stay at home, stay at home…”

Much to the amusement of my two young turkeys in the car on their way to school at my surprise Christmas rap to their mom.

Geez, I need some more material.

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL, PEACEFUL, THANKFUL Thanksgiving!

Thanks for dropping by for some of these Thanksgiving leftovers.

I’ll try to do better next time knuckleheads.

Do you have a favorite Twisted Christmas Carol like the butchered one above?

I would love to hear your version of your fave.

If you do leave it in the hardly used, almost brand new Comment section below.

I know we have a good handful of great poets that have (in the past) subscribed to this blog.

Lettuce, er, let us hear Your original twisted carol.

Love ya!

Next its time for some Christmas leftovers from Christmas reposts of Christmas past.

(cause I have finally hit my 100% memory in my media file on this post and I may have to do a fundraiser to get enough money to Upgrade with WP for some extra picture space until then~ le sigh)

Have a great weekend!

Posted in Archives and tagged 12 days of Christmas, almost christmas, five golden riings!, four calling birds, leftovers, Oh baby is cold outside, Oh baby its up to your knees out there, oh bay you'd freeze out there, poets call, Thanksgiving, that was really a sorry thanksgiving post, three french hens, Tom turkey, try to do better, turkey, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pair tree....are somewhere in the pictures in this post

23 Nov 2016

14 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving Charlie Brown

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We are discovering the real meaning of Thanksgiving today…

watching movies!

No wait! That is to say we pulled out our old Charlie Brown Thanksgiving disc and after the TV version of Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving with toast and popcorn they show the real meaning of Thanksgiving in a hidden Charlie Brown skit.

For instance, do you remember there were close to 100 Indians at the first thanksgiving celebration? And a lot of them already spoke English? And people from England, hunters and fisherman, had already been making trips over to the new land before the Mayflower?

Its true! The Great Pumpkin says it is!

So if you are a little curious? Or the kids are getting restless and you want to cool them down? Or just want to relive a childhood classic,

HERE is the real story of Thanksgiving…. as told by Charles Schultz.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year.

I trust you do too.

Not the least of which is YOU right now.

Yes YOU!

I am Groot

You are all such fun and interesting people!

Thanks for making the time to stop by 3D,even if you were only lost.

I really do appreciate it.

It’s great to see you and even better to hear from you below!(hint, hint)

So please…

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I’ll try to do a better job next time….Turkeys

garfield

Posted in Archives and tagged i dont have to work today!, no school!, Thank you!, Thanksgiving

04 Dec 2014

10 Comments

Signs of the times…

Happy December Everyone!

I hope all my American friends and family had a nice Thanksgiving. On with the Holidays, right?

So I hoped to capture a glimpse of our home and kids over the extended weekend for family and friends; signs and illustrations of the shenanigans that took place here.

An overwhelming reader response was the question:

(OK it was just one person)

Well the Baked French Toast turned out well, although not what I expected.

Here is what the prep for the apple stuffed french toast looked like going in the oven…

Different, huh?

And, of course, a perk of being the chef is cleaning up the bowls…

Caramel tossed apples, YUM!

I did the Butter Pecan Maple syrup too, but that did caramelize a bit more than I expected.

But in the end we had a special, new and unique breakfast for the whole family to sample…

As the picture alludes to the, baked french toast came out piping hott. The unexpected thing was the consistency of the french toast was more of a bread pudding than french toast. It caught me by surprise but not a bad thing in the end. The baked apples were great atop the french toast! And we enjoyed a variety of condiments, or a combination of them as we saw fit to garnish. Yum!

A bit of a sad note this Thanksgiving was the fact that the woods and the land behind our house were sold for development. Every year the leaves are actually changing their colors here over Thanksgiving, totally adding to the nature of the holiday.

We found out last week that 102 houses were now going to be built behind and around our house. So I had to stop and pause to realize this may be the last Thanksgiving we have here with the bold fall colors.

It was sad.

But we can’t stay in the past too long. On Cyber Monday we all went out to a favorite restaurant offering one of those Gift Card deals, buy so many, get some free. So we decided to scoop up some Christmas presents that way via dinner Monday night.

Unbeknownst to us was it was kids night at this restaurant, complete with the best balloon sculptor in the world!

~ OK, sometimes I DO exaggerate. But she was good.

Young Skyler got herself a Princess Ariel balloon

She liked it a little bit…

Then Dylan got a little crazy and ordered herself a Santa Clause hat…

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth

Kinda crazy, huh?

The girls loved it. We all got stuffed, again and so the evolution of the Holiday season continued!

On with the building of the Tree and the train village below…Ladies and gentleman, this is no easy feat!

The decking of the tree is only part of the battle. There is a lot of time and precision that goes into setting up and antique train, the train village buildings and figures, snow and so forth. It took most of my Monday (shhh I hooked off from work)

Monday night ended up with a hectic Holiday scene with busy shoppers and town’s folk around the Dickens village.

Busy night in front of VS's complete with a man and is five golden rings

Busy night in front of VS’s complete with a man and his Five Golden Rings (click and see)

Then I had to keep watching the crazy lady carrying her baby that kept on venturing out from the Christmas Carolers but got dangerously close to the train and its locomotive. What a Christmas disaster that might have been!

And try getting the Christmas Carolers out on a cold night by the train with a lady holding her baby ..

All that time was time well spent however.. and our home is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And besides, you have to take your time or else you could end up with one of these natural disasters for the Holidays….

I’m calling TIMBER! Its falling down….

This Christmas Tree evidently fell victim to the Winter Warlock for trying to cross his mountain at a friend’s house. Can you imagine what kind of precious, irreplaceable ornaments may have been lost?

In the end, Thanksgiving weekend was a great time for great food, great abundance, introduction to the Christmas season, family, friends, bonding and closeness.

And shouldn’t that be what the weekend is all about?

the girls with their Great Aunt Sue

Enjoy your Holidays everyone!

Thanks for being part of mine!

Posted in Archives and tagged baked Stuffed French toast, dickens Village, french toast, I got stuffed!, Thanksgiving, TIMBER!

27 Nov 2014

14 Comments

Anyone hungry?

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?

Ingredients

5 1/2 – 7 1/2 cups 1-inch bread cubes (depending on type of bread)*
7 large eggs
2 cups milk (any kind)*
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup pumpkin BUTTER (or 1/2 cup pumpkin puree)*
3-4 tablespoons brown sugar for topping
nuts, like pecan or walnuts (optional ~ hmmm hold that thought!)

Instructions

Cut any kind of bread into 1-inch cubes – I recommend a crusty, whole grain variety, but sandwich bread will work, too. Just use enough slice to fill a lightly greased 9×13 baking dish quite full.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, pumpkin butter and pie spice until well combined. Pour over bread and push down with a spoon or your hands until it’s all soaked and mostly covered. Cover with saran wrap or lid and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees, uncover and top with brown sugar, additional pumpkin pie spice and nuts (optional). Bake for 35-45 minutes or golden brown and no longer wet.
Serve immediately with maple syrup, honey or agave nectar.

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!

Posted in Archives and tagged eating my weight in french toast, I'm sooo lucky, Thanks to everyone!, thanks to YOU!, Thanksgiving, try it you'll like it

28 Nov 2013

23 Comments

Its a Dog Day…..

First off…Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

I hope you had a great day with family and friends!

We had a memorable meal here, although it was a bit different as my parents couldn’t make it this year. Aunt Sue drove through the stormy rain to make it here though, to the delight of my girls! It was also a bit different as we were starting new traditions for our Thanksgiving, being the first one in our new house.

And so, let the Holidays begin!

It is officially the Holidays in our home when someone from my family comes down to visit. Do you know how you can tell?

Domino’s Sugar starts sending us post cards and thank you notes!

Yes, my family can’t travel unless they bring the treats. And so, now stocked up this morning we had this piled in the corner…..

That is a collection of an Apple Pie, a Pumpkin Pie, a pan of Brownies, a tub of Macadamia Nut Cookies, and my wife’s ever so decadent Cranberry bars.… for three adults and two little girls. That pile would have been higher if my parents made the trip.

So I did fit in a run this morning, knowing what kind of ~~day~~ weekend it would be. I did a few laps around the block and then another as a fav Buffett song came on the Ipod, Pascagooula Run...With the warm and inviting thought of the Gulf Coast of Alabama on my mind I decided to run until the end of the song.

I smoked the bird and my wife did the usual amazing things with dinner. I really enjoyed it this year. I mean I really did! You can tell as I didn’t stop to take any pictures. Right?

We went around the table to say what we were thankful for, starting with Dylan. She said ‘Family’, which touched my heart. It went to Skylar next who said, ‘Pumpkin Pie’. Then Dylan said another and then Skylar. And back and forth it went.

It was nice to see the girls recognizing things they were grateful for, not just taking them for granted. The going back and forth with thanks finally ended when Skylar said she was thankful for God. Dylan couldn’t top that.

Dylan learned a lot about Pumpkins for two weeks prior to Thanksgiving in her Kindergarten. So she was really looking forward to her pumpkin pie. So much so that using the fork just would not do. Before long she just picked the pie up and ate it like a cookie. ….crumbs all over the place!

I ended the meal looking for volunteers to help Daddy clean up all this mess. The room fell silent.

After all it was nap time. So you can’t blame our girls.

So I blamed Aunt Sue.

You see Dylan wanted Aunt Sue to sleep with her. Then Skylar wanted Aunt Sue to sleep with her. Then Dylan. Then Skylar. Then tears.

So after a lengthy debate it was decided Sue sleeps with Skylar while Mom went to sleep with Dylan.

Hello? Volunteers? All these plates? All these cooking pots and pans? Leftovers? Hello?

Stop and think what your kitchen looks like while you eat Thanksgiving dinner. Is it a pile of dirty dishes and empty counters kinda natural disaster like ours? (sigh)

This was what was left after I hid all the dirty dishes and silverware in the dishwasher…the Leftovers!

Putting my thinking cap on, it was that time I decided I was thankful for a few things.

First, after carting all the dirty plates to the kitchen, the dining room floor was a disaster! Remember when you had two small kids eating big meals?

So with little time to lose I became ever so thankful for technology and our Roomba Robot Rosie, who agreed to sweep and buff the dining room floor for Daddy.

Thanks Rosie!

Before I started rinsing all the dirty things and trying to find a place for them I noticed it was after 2:00pm. And so the Thanksgiving football games had started. THAT would be a good way to distract me while I labored over this disaster in the kitchen!

Thanks Fox Football!

So I got all the dirty things stowed. I only had the leftovers to put away yet. But where? What to do? Tupperware? Dirty containers? What to save and what to throw away? Mom usually does this chore for me! What to do! …the game was on!

How am I going to clean up all these leftovers I thought?

Enter my best buddy Chumley…..

Thanks Chumley!