I intended to write the whole story of my birthday scavenger hunt this morning but *miracles in progress* are happening related to it which are gonna blow your dang mind so I will write it once I have the complete wild outrageous knockyoursocksoff story to tell.
I got invited to a pre-Thanksgiving dinner today at my dear friend Aaron’s house. Let me just show you the menu he’s posted (burp!). He’s a gourmet cook, a master backyard gardener and the most knowledgeable person on wine that I know so you know it’s gonna be a hullaballoo.
(the following is from Aaron):
Some of the things I’m cooking
turkey breast
Spiral ham
Pork tenderloin
Mashed potatoes
Bacon mashed tatoes
Couscous (with the turkey, shrooms, cippoline cuz I love Andrew & Nicole)
Stuffing
Cranberry sauce
Sweet potatoes
Baked apples
Banana bread
Ginger bread
And whatever random festive shit I find on the food network
I will have sodas and waters and beers and of course wine
Gulp! And everything is homemade of course.
I decided to bust out my foolproof savory stuffed pumpkins so thought I’d share a little tutorial on them.
First off, here is the recipe which I first heard about on NPR then thought “ohyeah I will be trying that”.
It’s a dish that looks really dramatic and impressive but is totally simple to make. If you can make a Jack-o-lantern, you can make this. You can also adapt it in so many ways it’s not even funny–gluten free, grain free, dairy free, you can just put in that pumpkin anything you want to try.
I decided to stuff mine with this asiago/black pepper italian bread from Trader Joe’s, bacon, cheddar/gruyere cheese, lemon thyme, garlic, salt and pepper and half and half.
You basically prepare your small sweet sugar pumpkin like you would for a Jack-o-lantern.
Pull out all the strings and seeds.
Then you prepare your stuffing just kind of rustically. I like to taste the elements all separately so I keep the pieces big (bacon, cheese, bread).
You stuff all this dry stuff in your pumpkin, pour the half and half on top, close it up with the lid, put it in the oven at 350 for 2 hours and voila,it’s done. It’s that easy.
Mine are roasting right now.
When serving them I prefer to scoop the pumpkin from the sides and mix it up with everything else like kind of a bread pudding type of situation just because it tastes better to me. You can also slice it which is very pretty but by that time I’m all about the eating aspect. 😉
I’ll edit with another pic once they are out of the oven but for now I’m gonna take a little rest as I hit the ground running this morning.
Ready to come out of the oven!
Last night my Dad and I did a father/daughter banquet and went, of all things, to a hockey game! We had family friends in town who’s son plays for the University of Illinois hockey team so we met them there. It was super fun and COLD in there. Dad and I decided we will keep trying new things for our F/D banquets from here on out.
Ok gotta lay down and work on expanding my stomach for the foodfest later.
And I’ll fill ya in on the MIRACLE IN PROGRESS once I have the complete details and maybe some more pics. I’m super excited! 😀
two innocents 
I shared this with myself on fb. I hope you don’t mind:) I save all recipes that way. I love pumpkin.
Share away! These are so easy and fun to make !
Just wanted to stop by and say that I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving. I think of you often.
OMG what a blast from the past!!! Ihn! Do you still hate Nancy? Oh my I would love to catch up with you. 🙂
Of course I do! Drop me an email if you feel so inclined (the email address should be listed for you to see) – no pressure =) I’ll be out of town the rest of the week, so please forgive a slowish response.
So glad you enjoyed a fabulous birthday! Looking forward to the scavenger hunt details!
My mouth is literally watering! That is going to be a FEAST! Sounds like I would need to repurpose my elastic belly maternity pants!!! Streeeeetch!! 😉
LOVE the pumpkin recipe! Festive!! Carving the names into the pumpkins while the are small, expanding as they grow, is GENIUS! VERY MARTHA! In the BEST possible way! 🙂
Is it Eat, Pray, Live?? Pray, eat, live?? Whatever! EAT!! 😋😀
I love your lipstick..could you tell me the color and brand? Thanks!!!
it’s from Boots Botanica line called “Red”. 🙂
Thank you! It is a beautiful shade on you.
they were amazing little crack pumpkins 🙂
Katie – you look and sound fabulous, so glad to see you doing so well. I miss you from the old days following the Jodi Arias trial, and long before that, Scott Peterson.
Hi Chester! Nice to see you again! I”m still following Arias on twitter and making some strong victim advocacy points-we’ll see where they land. You can also find me on Websleuths. Are you following this retrial now? THanks for sayin hi!