That's right, this year I'm in charge of dinner on Thanksgiving day. There will only be 4 people to prepare a meal for, my extended family should be coming over on Saturday for a big (enough to feed a small country) meal. Here are my plans so far:
Cornish Hens (this recipe should be multipled 1 per each guest)
*taken from www.pillsbury.com
1 fresh or frozen Rock Cornish Hen thawed
2 T apple jelly
1 T butter
1/2 t of salt
1/4 t dried marjoram leaves
Directions
Heat oven to 350*F. Remove giblets; split hen in half. Rinse and pat dry. Place skin sides up in ungreased 2 quart baking dish. In a 1 quart saucepan cook jelly, butter, salt, and marjoram over low heat 2-3 minutes stirring constantly until warm. Brush half of the sauce over hen and cover with foil. Bake 40 minutes and uncover, brush with remaining sauce. Bake 20 minutes longer brushing with pan juices 1-2x until hen is fork tender and juices run clear.
Jewel Roasted Veggies (these can be prepared in the same dish as the chicken)
*taken from The Food You Crave by Elle Kreiger
4 medium beets
3T oilive oil
1.5 # carrots
1.5 # brussel sprouts
8 large cloves of garlic
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 T thyme
Directions
Preheat oven to 375*F. Put beets in a small baking dish and rub them with 1 T olive oil. Cover dish with foil and roast for 30 minutes. Meanwhile cut carrots and trim brussel sprouts and cut in half. Put carrot, sprouts, and garlic cloves in a large baking dish and toss with remaining oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. *It making cornish hens or other roasted meat these can go directly into their baking dish. Cook beets alone for 30 minutes before adding the large pan of mixed veggies and meat on 2 different racks. Start timer so that everything cooks for 1 hour. Stir the vegetables 1-2x. Take beets out after 1 hour and place on cutting board to cool. Mix thyme in with carrots and brussels mixture. When beets are cool, peel and cut into chunks and add to other vegetable mixture.
Festive Salad
In a large serving bowl combine mixed dark salad greens, toasted chopped walnuts, and dried cranberries. Serve with vinaigretten of your choice.
Topsy Turvy Apple Pie (taken from
www.pillsbury.com)
Glaze and Crust
1/4 cup backed brown sugar
1 t butter melted
1 t corn syrup
1/2 cup pecan halves
1 box refigerated pie crust
Filling
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 T AP flour
1/2 t ground cinnamon
4 cups thinly sliced peeled apples (4 medium)
Topping
Whipped cream or Vanilla Ice Cream
Directions
1. Heat oven to 425 *F. In 9 in pie plate mix brown sugar, butter and corn syrup. Spread evenly over the bottom and arrange pecans over mixture. Make Pie crust as directed on box, enough for 2 crust pie placing bottom crust over mixture in pan.
2. In a small bowl mix sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Arrange half of apple slices in crust lined pie plate. Sprinkle with half of sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining apple slices and sugar mixture. Top with second crust; seal edge and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust.
Place pie on sheet of foil on middle oven rack in oven. Bake 8 minutes and reduce temperature 3. to 350*F, continue baking 35-45 minutes until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. Run knife around edge of pie to loosen and flip pie upside down in a plate. Serve with desired topping.
Long Peacoat - Mine is winter white and a pain to keep clean but it looks so chic I could never regret buying it. 
Thin Cashmere Sweaters - I can wear these with jeans, slacks, skirts, etc. They work layered or by themselves depending on how cold it gets. The ply to buy depends on your climate, the higher the ply the warmer the sweater. 
Boots - I think this one speaks for itself. I own several pairs but I plan on getting these now that they're on sale. 
Tights - My favorite brand is HUE (work appropriate) and can be found at discount retailers like TJ Maxx or in any department store. I like the Betsey Johnson ones (I found them at Steinmart) for going out.
I received two compliments, 1 from a cousin that does nails in a salon! She couldn't tell until I mentioned it that they were glued on. The color did not chip off the ends and the glue didn't pool around my cuticles (she mentioned that is sometimes common with store bought kits). I wouldn't hesitate to buy these again for a special occasion. I can't wear artificial nails in the hospital because they harbor germs and I wouldn't want to waste money at a salon to only get a few days out of it.
I paid $5.97 at Walmart for the kit and $1.69 at Target for the Maximum Strength Acetone Polish Remover. The kit includes 24 nails of all different sizes, a file, glue, and a cuticle pusher. Directions and removal instructions are located on the back. It took nearly an hour with my fingers soaked in acetone to remove the nails but I'm left with no damage - just make sure you have a good show or movie on!
Linzer Bars made with rasberry preserves and toasted almonds.
Lilly showing off her new candy cane toy. She kept rubbing her head against it so it was hard to get a good photo.
Lilly loves to lay under the tree and one night she had selected an ornament as a toy. She knows she isn't allowed to play with the ornaments so when I caught her in the act she gave me a wide eyed look. I used to to make online photo cards at Walgreens, for $12.99 I got 20 cards and envelopes and they were ready in 24 hours. I may do photocards again next year, I had no idea how easy it was. Here are a couple of other photos I took while watching her play.
I don't have a fireplace so I'm hanging my stockings from the bar area. I love these cute dark metal deer stocking holders from Walmart and the fur trimmed bronze stockings from Belk. I love to decorate with reindeer, there are a few of them scattered throughout the apartment.
Perfume, Eyeliner, Mascara, and Nail Polish
