Thanksgiving is almost here my friends! I hope that you have a lot of yummy food plans in store for you this week. Here's what we're planning on eating:


What are you eating this week?

Are you entering into panic mode, trying to figure out what you're eating next week? If you are, here are some easy recipe ideas that may make your Thanksgiving a little easier.

Turkey Recipes:

Yummy Sides

Basic Deviled Eggs (my extended family always has this!)


Roasted Lemon Pepper Green Beans


Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole


Juiced Up Carrots

Delicious Desserts

Pecan Pumpkin Cookies


Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies


Samoa Brownies


Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Pina Colada Cake

Leftovers:

Leftover Turkey Soup

 I then swirled the paint around on the canvas. I wanted the paint to be mostly blended, but not completely blended. The combination of the gray undercoat and the browns and metallics was a wonderful coppery color!


Once the paint was dry, I carefully removed the contact paper to reveal the cream. And that's it! A craft fail turned to a craft success!

This year for Christmas, I wanted some fun and whimsy to add to the decoration mix. After all, all three girls are now old enough to understand what is going on at Christmas time. So we have a lot of fun things planned to do with our girls, and I wanted my mantel to reflect the fun of the season.


The first step of adding some fun to this year's Christmas mantel decoration is to create a wreath. I am still using some pallet wood as a backdrop for the mantel, so I wanted a fun wreath to contrast with the rough texture. I thought it would be fun to create a fun drinking straw wreath and add in some bamboo stir sticks for additional texture.

Here's what you need:

12 red and white striped straws
12 green and white striped straws
24 bamboo coffee stir sticks
silver spray paint
glue
cardstock and something to cut it with


First, spray paint all your stir sticks. This can be difficult because the air from the spray paint can will blow your stir sticks.


Cut the green straws in half. Lay out a trial run of your wreath. I discovered that I liked the look of the stir sticks on top of the shorter green straws.


So I glued all the green straws into pairs and then glued the stir sticks on top of them.

Then I laid out the straws again, alternating between the two types. I measured about a 6" interior circle, so I used that to make my cardstock circle to be the backer of the wreath. I used 2 layers of cardstock, and cut them both (separately) with my Silhouette Portrait. Depending on the thickness of the cardstock, you may only need one later.


Then, I just glued the straws down and used a ribbon to hang up the wreath! I love the impact of this wreath, and how I used items I already had on hand to make it!

It's time for another menu plan! This mama has been struggling with not feeling good, so I'm going with a menu that the hubby can handle, if necessary!

I love the convenience of freezer meals, but some of them make massive amounts of food. It takes forever for them to thaw, and then makes more than my family needs. My favorite type of freezer meal is the single serving freezer meal--where you can make a whole bunch of single serve items, and then you can take out one--or six!--depending on who needs a meal.


These pizza rolls are that perfect combination of self contained serving and freezer meal. Even better, I made this recipe to use my Faux Italian Sausage--so you could make ahead the meat and then make the rolls another day.

Here's what you need:

Faux Italian Sausage
2 cups shredded cheese (I used 4 cheese Italian blend)
1 pound pizza dough (I used homemade, but you can use store bought.)

Preheat oven to 400F.

Spread out the pizza dough in a rectangle that measures around 12x14 inches.


Mix the meat with the cheese. Spread evenly over the dough, leaving one long side without any filling.


Start with the other long side, roll up the meat covered dough like a jelly roll.


Slice the roll into 1/2" to 3/4" slices with a serrated knife.


Place on a non-stick, greased cookie sheet (or line your sheet with parchment paper or silicone. Bake for 20 minutes.


Serve immediately or freeze. To serve, microwave until warm. Serve with marinara sauce.