thankful

This year was filled with the best food, friends, and family. For some reason, Bradley and I actually took on the impossible job of hosting thanksgiving at our house. Oh my goodness, we bit off more than we could chew! We ended up eating a great meal, but we were behind by about an hour. Maybe next year I will downsize on the number of sides? Ahh, probably not. I love having a little bit of everything! And we had killer leftovers. #winning.

our thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2013 really tricked me! A few months back, my mom let me know that she and my stepdad would be spending thanksgiving in California with his kids. Um, but we always do thanksgiving here. I'm not so good with change, you see. This left Bradley and I stranded. Where do we go now? My dad's? His dad's? His grandparents? Our friends in SC? Stay here and eat with my brother? So many choices, but we couldn't decide. Then my stepdad had some health scares (no worries, he's all better now) about a week or so before thanksgiving, and they decided not to go to California. And one by one our family made it work to be here for thanksgiving. We had the whole crew! I just think it's so funny because none of us were going to be together and then it all worked out in the end :)

via

This past year my mom has also had some health issues that have led her to go gluten free and dairy free. We were so proud to say that our entire thanksgiving feast was gluten free AND dairy free! I mean, who does that?! And the best part... everything was SO GOOD! And I bet if you had been a guest at our table and I didn't tell you, you wouldn't have even known. 

I really wish I had photos of every dish to show you, but I guess we were all too excited! Here's what we had:

Turkey

Honey Glazed Ham 

Brown Rice with Pecans + Cranberries (this year's dressing)

Roasted Sweet Potatoes + Butternut Squash

Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan Cheese

Grilled Basil Corn

Sweet Potato Casserole with marshmallows

Maple Brussel Sprouts (Aaren's specialty! So freaking good)

Collards

Cranberry Salad (This weird jello that my Nana always made)

Deviled Eggs

And for dessert:

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Mini Chocolate Chess Pies

Chocolate Chewies

And more sweet potato casserole!

When planning this meal, we also decided to change some of the traditional dishes for healthier options, like instead of a greenbean casserole, we had the roasted asparagus. But we still had to have a sweet potato casserole! That is a thanksgiving staple! Roasting a lot of the veggies was so easy and fast! Just drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. And when it came to dessert recipes we just made a few substitutions. We used Bradley's Meme's Chocolate Chess Pie Recipe but just traded out the evaporated milk for evaporated coconut milk so it was dairy free. And my mom had already been trying some gluten free pie crust recipes, so she was all set. Instead of butter she uses ghee, which is clarified butter. This option still gives you that great flavor.

We had such a wonderful holiday and I am so thankful to have my family in my life. I hope you all had a great thanksgiving, as well!

pine cone garland tutorial

Hi everyone! To cheer up your Monday, I've got a tutorial on how I made my pine cone garland! This is such an easy little holiday project to set your mantle off right. And it's so fast! You can definitely finish it in an afternoon. 

 A few years ago, I collected pine cones from the yard and spray painted them silver. I used them as a centerpiece for our thanksgiving table. This year I had new plans for these sweet little guys. If you haven't spray painted pine cones, it's very easy. I just laid out some cardboard outside and got to spraying! Simply rotate and keep spraying until it's all covered. Allow to dry completely before next step.

Now you need to screw in the screw eyes so you can hang them. These are from Home Depot. Pick a finish that matches what color you are spraypainting so you don't have to paint these, too. This part isn't too hard, but your fingers might hurt by the end. You can always use pliers, or just give them to your big muscle boyfriend/husband and I'm sure he'll take care of it. In the beginning it may seem like they are not screwing in, but you just have to apply a lot of pressure and twist at the same time.

Now you're ready to string them into a garland. You can use anything from ribbon to yarn to fishing line. I went with yarn. I laid the pine cones out on the floor to roughly get an idea of the spacing. You can get really picky about the spacing or just eyeball it. I eyeballed a few inches in between each one. Start with the center pine cone. String it on and tie a knot in the center. Now, work away from the center on each side. And you're done! Hang your garland and enjoy the immediate holiday cheer effect :)

thankful

Clearly, after reading this menu, you know we had one amazing Thanksgiving! There was absolutely too much food. My mom, Bailey and I made all of our traditions, with a few newbies. It was amazing to be with family and friends while we completely stuffed our faces. But that's what Thanksgiving is all about right?