I make a big dinner, but since I’m the only chef in the house, I only include the basics:

Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, gravy, and apple pie.

The big dishes will be homemade from scratch, but there are a few things that I take some pre-made help from. My husband prefers Stovetop stuffing to all other kinds, so we’ll go with that 5 minute boxed stuff. Cranberry sauce from a can, and gravy from a few packets because even though I can make homemade gravy this is easier and never gets lumpy or over-thickens on me.

I have never made a turkey before. The last two years Jason did the dirty work of touching the raw bird and slicing it after cooking. Before that, my Nana always did it for the family potluck holiday dinner. I know I can do it myself, but I’m a little a lot squeemish about touching raw poultry. It’s so gross. What’s worse is that I not only have to touch it to get it into the pan, I have to stick my arm inside to pull out the neck and giblets (OMG!) and wash out it’s insides. Save me!

To make tomorrow easier, I’m making the mashed potatoes and apple pie today. The mashed potatoes will be heated back up tomorrow in a casserole dish and I think homemade apple pie always tastes better the next day anyway after it’s had time to set and gel up a little after being baked. I’ll reheat the pie while we’re eating everything else tomorrow afternoon. It’ll be ready for us just as soon as we’ve made room for it.

On Pinterest I found a simple looking roll recipe that promises to be perfect in 30 minutes. I can whip those up tomorrow and bake them off while Jason is carving the bird. After that all I need to do is the Stovetop quickie stuffing, boil the corn, make fast gravy, and dish up the cranberry sauce.

Is there anything terribly important that I’m missing? The grocery store will be open tomorrow and it’s only a mile away if I need something. And don’t even suggest sweet potatoes or green bean casserole. Eew.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope your holiday is spent with people you love and lots of food. I love Thanksgiving very much, but I’m also looking forward to putting up our Christmas tree and stockings this weekend! We don’t have much for decorations around the house and haven’t amassed a ton of children’s homemade tree ornaments yet since our kiddos are still little, but we’ll put up what little we have and love it.

4-6 pork chops (depending on their size and thickness)

1 cup tomato sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons Worchestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1) Warm a little oil in a large skillet. Brown the pork chops on both sides but do not cook through yet.

2) Combine the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour over the pork chops in the skillet. Bring to a boil, lower the heat a simmer for 8-10 minutes. Do not cover the meat and sauce while it simmers, you want to allow it to evaporate so that the sauce thickens a bit. So good!

3) Serve these alongside or on top of some fluffy white rice and your favorite veggie.

We ate these up so fast last night that I didn’t even have a second to snap a quick photo. I took a bite to try it, and the next thing I knew all of our plates were clean. Next time I’ll have a little more self control, I promise. My husband mentioned that this sauce would taste great on chicken as well and I cannot wait to try this same sauce over some chicken in a crock pot. After it cooks I’ll shred it and make an amazing pulled chicken sandwich.

Monday, September 5:

Lunch — Jesse and I met up with Jason at the galley for lunch since they’d planned a special barbeque meal.

Dinner — An all-time favorite of mine, Cheesy Potato Soup. It had been a long time since I’d made a pot and we enjoyed it immensely!

Tuesday, September 6:

Lunch — I have no idea, maybe something simple like tuna sandwiches or grilled cheese.

Dinner — Chicken Pot Pie with Yeast Rolls. (Both are new recipes.)

Wednesday, September 7:

Lunch — Baked Beef Ravioli (new).

Dinner — Cobb Salad sandwiches (new).

Thursday, September 8:

Breakfast — Overnight Coffee Cake (new).

Lunch — Easy cheese quesadillas after getting home from a long fun morning at MOPS!

Dinner — Pulled Pork sandwiches, funeral potatoes, and carrots.

Friday, September 9:

Fantastic leftovers for every meal.

Saturday, September 10:

Lunch — Creamy Corn Chowder with Cheddar Biscuits (both new).

Dinner — Beef Ragoût with gravy (new).

Sunday, September 11:

Breakfast — Best Ever Cinnamon Rolls (new recipe from the magazine, I dunno, it’ll be tough if not impossible to beat Amy’s Mom’s Cinnamon Rolls)

Lunch — Luncheon for the volunteers after church. Since both Jason and I volunteer regularly in the nursery and I help to run the MOPS group.

Dinner — Chicken & Noodles (new recipe as well, let’s see if this is as good as my Nana’s).

Dessert — Apple Pie. Half the work is already done since I processed 5 pounds of granny smith apples a few days ago. They were close to becoming soft and there was no way we’d eat them all before they went bad. So they are peeled, cored, sliced, and hanging out in the freezer with some lemon juice to keep them from turning brown. All I need to do on Saturday night is make the pie crust, season the apples, and bake up the pie.

I’ve been needing to revitalize my menu for a while now and there’s nothing like a magazine full of comfort food recipes to usher in the start of fall.

3 large carrots, peeled and sliced (or diced if you prefer smaller pieces)
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg (yes, it’s a tiny bit, but it packs a yummy punch!)
1/8 tsp. salt (to balance out the sugary sweetness)
1/2 cup water

1) Stir the seasonings into the water. Add the carrots and stir. No, it’s not a lot of water. It’ll be just enough to wet the carrots and then cook out while they simmer, leaving them glazed with a light sauce instead of floating in water.

2) Bring to a low boil. Lower the heat and let simmer until carrots are at your preferred doneness. We like ours soft with a little bit of crunch left in the middle, but some prefer them barely blanched and super crunchy.

My friend Ericka posted the original recipe on her blog, but I have since made a few slight changes to the coating mixture and I bake mine up in a muffin tin to make individual portions instead of in the 9″ round pan. Either way, these biscuits are delicious!

1 roll refrigerated biscuit dough
1/4 c. butter, melted
4 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tsp. fresh minced garlic
1 tsp. dried parsley flakes
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried dill weed

1) Separate biscuit dough and cut each round into quarters. (* FYI: I tried this once with homemade biscuit dough. It totally didn’t work as planned. After I chopped up the dough into pieces and started tossing them in the coating, they all smooshed back into one big dough ball. Instead of scrapping it, I just pulled off chunks and put it in the muffin tin. The end result still tasted great, but it wasn’t the same as when I used the pre-made refrigerated biscuit dough.)

2) Combine remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Add dough chunks and stir lightly to coat. I needed to add a tiny tiny drizzle of olive oil to make things coat a little better, but you might not need to. (* Another FYI: Do not substitute garlic powder for fresh minced garlic. I know I take this shortcut pretty often in other recipes and they turn out just as good, but it really does not work out the same in this one. Use fresh minced this time, it’s only a few cloves.)

3) Separate into the pockets of a well-greased muffin tin. Depending on how many biscuits came in the can you purchased, you may or may not have enough to put the same number of dough chunks in each muffin tin spot. That’s okay. I was still able to make 12 and no one noticed that a few were a smidge smaller than the rest. But if you’re a stickler for equality in your dinner bread, make them even and you just won’t have a full dozen.

4) Bake at 450° for about 10 min. or until golden brown. These are best served warm but reheated in the microwave for 10 seconds or less makes a leftover biscuit taste almost as good as fresh. (* Last FYI: In the first picture up top I got them a little browner than necessary, but they were awesome. Not burnt, but extra brown. They were crisp on the outside and soft in the middle, and the parmesan on the outside adopted a bit of a nutty flavor the more it browned.)

I hope you enjoy these as much as we do. Thanks for this recipe Ericka!

I looked through several recipes and found that applesauce was very simple to make. So, as usual for me, I decided to wing it.  I had precisely 7 apples, and the ratios I was going off of for seasoning and cooking time were using 4 apples. In order to double those ratios I needed more fruit… Rather than running to the store for a single apple (silly!), I grabbed a can of cherries from my pantry.

This turned out so so good, I was astonished! Never do I hit such a home run on the first try, especially when I wing it!

7 granny smith apples

1 can of tart cherries (not pie filling, just cherries)

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1) Peel, core, and cut up your apples into large pieces. They are going to be cooking for several hours, cutting them too small will make the applesauce too soupy. We like ours with a little body left to it.

2) Stir the apples, cherries, water, and seasonings together in your slow cooker.

* I know some folks like to add a bit of sugar, we usually get our jarred applesauce unsweetened. The cherries do add a bit of tart and sweetness, but I think the cinnamon and nutmeg temper than just enough. If you think it needs it, feel free to add a touch of brown sugar.

3) Set it on Low and let it go for 6-8 hours. (If you don’t want to wait all night, turn it on high for 3-4 hours, just stir it once or twice to make sure nothing gets stuck to the bottom and sides.) (You could also stir all of this into a stock pot and cook it on the stove until the apples are very soft.)

4) When it’s done, you may want to take a potato masher to it if there are any remaining big chunks. If you prefer really smooth applesauce, you can put it through a ricer.

Enjoy! This was truly amazing warm out of the crock pot, but it was also really great cold out of the fridge when I went back for leftovers.

6 chicken breast halves

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. garlic powder (or four cloves of fresh minced garlic)

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. salt

1) Combine the above ingredients together in a small bowl. Reserve to the side.

2) Warm up a little olive oil in a skillet, just enough to coat the bottom.

3) Arrange your chicken in the skillet, sprinkle about 1/2 tsp. of the seasoning mixture onto each side of each piece (1 tsp. total per piece of chicken). If you’d rather, you can put the seasoning into a ziploc bag, add the chicken and toss to coat. Your choice.

4) Saute on medium-high heat until both sides are browned and chicken is cooked through.

One thing we are never ever ever out of is ketchup, so I started there and added various seasonings to taste. We prefer thick smokey sauce to the thin hot sauce. BBQ sauces run the gamut of flavors; if you tend to like it the way we do, give my recipe a try!

Here's one of my favorite applications for homemade bbq sauce... meatballs!

1 1/2 cups prepared ketchup

1 tbsp. minced fresh garlic (or 1 tsp. garlic powder)

1 tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. ground mustard

2 tsp. liquid smoke

1/4 cup brown sugar (or less if you don’t want it quite so sweet)

1 tsp. olive or vegetable oil (or more if you like your sauce thinner)

* (If you like a little more heat that the chili powder provides, try adding 1/4 – 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper.)

There are two ways to do this, if you intend to use this as a dipping sauce for a hot dish, you could warm it up in a sauce pan. Or if you intend to put it in a mason jar to store in the fridge for later or as a component in a dish to be cooked, just whisk it all together.

Enjoy!

Here is my recipe for the best sauce as well as some simple step-by-step photos, just in case you’ve never made enchiladas yourself before.

1 (15 oz.) can of tomato sauce

1 (6 oz.) can of tomato paste

1 1/2 tbsp. chili powder

3 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. salt

1) Heat the above ingredients in a sauce pot over medium heat until it is warmed through.

2) Turn your oven on 375° and coat a 9×13″ baking dish with non-stick spray.

10 tortillas (I use the 6″ fajita size)

4 cups of shredded cheese **

3) Dollop a little bit of warm (not scalding hot) sauce into a tortilla and spread it around.

4) Add about 1/3 cup of shredded cheese to the center, fold over one side of the tortilla and roll the other side around. Don’t worry about rolling it super tight or beautifully, it’ll loosen once you lay it into the pan and bake it.

5) Lay the enchilada into the pan with the seam side down to keep it rolled up. Using the 6″ tortillas in my 9×13″ pan, I snuggle 8 enchiladas lengthwise and then tuck another 2 along the side to fill up the pan. If you use a different size pan or tortillas, you’ll have to figure out the placement on your own, this works for us because it fills the pan and is the perfect protion size for our family (grown-ups get 2 each and the kids each get 1, no leftovers though).

6) Cover the enchiladas with the remaining sauce and top with the leftover 2/3 cup of cheese. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes.

Sorry, I forgot to get a picture before digging in. Ignore that big bite out of the corner. Yummy!

** I also like to use less cheese (about 2 cups) when I have some leftover beef roast or shredded chicken to use up. However, I don’t like to hide veggies or other toppings inside since not everyone in my family loves peppers, chopped onions, olives, or whatever else. Those kinds of things are reserved for optional toppings once plates are served.

The sauce will come together in a few minutes and sit simmering on the stove til we’re ready for it. The spaghetti noodles and biscuits take just 10 minutes. I’ve got 90 minutes til I need dinner on the table but if I get everything prepped now while the baby is taking a late nap, the just-before-dinner time will be spent casually and calmly getting the table set and plates dished instead of frantically throwing a haphazard meal together.

The reason I love having dinner early is because it means that our bellies are full, my kitchen is clean, and the family is relaxing together well before 6 pm. Love it! Also, it means we’re done with kids’ bath time around 7ish with time to spare for dessert. Yum!

I used to laugh when my Nana would have us kids come in from our busy afternoon playtime at 4 to get ready for dinner that she’d have on the table no later than 5, but now I see why. Having time to spend together as a family after dinner is so much more precious than an extra hour to run around in the late afternoon sun.

When it was just Jason and I, there would be days that we wouldn’t eat dinner until 8 pm. Then we’d be up until after midnight because we were so full. That just doesn’t work with kids. Even considering the snacks they have several times between meals all day (in fact, Jeremy just came up to tell me he’s hungry), they are still starving by 6 pm and I’d rather not throw them directly into the bathtub immediately after putting the last bite of dinner into their mouths. I’d rather eat early and have 30 minutes or so to play a round or two of Go Fish or a fun board game.

What time is dinner at your house?