Turkey, Trot, Trot, Trot

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and once again I feel as if I have gained an extra 10 pounds. I had a super-fantastic Turkey Day and am already anxiously awaiting next year's. Here's a glimpse into my 2010 Thanksgiving...

The "Welcome Wagon"as I pull into the drive.

First order of business-check on animals.

New baby goats!

Darn cute!

A majority of my eggs come from these babies. I thank you all.

Cow on the left is a tidbit rude.

Boots.

Favorite place to bake.

I made this.

Believe me, their bark is far worse than their bite.

In our 20s and still fighting in the backseat. We may never grow out of this. And I'm perfectly fine with that.

Hey, baby.


Grandma Dot is rearing and ready to go for Christmas.

Just getting the ol' vitals checked.

Perhaps, med school is in my future....nah.

We had gorgeous weather all break.

Huggin' on "Tootsie-girl."

Fall, are you sure you can't stick around a little longer?

Best seat in the whole house. :)

Table full of pure bliss.

Now, I know why he volunteers to cut the meat off the turkey...

I am thankful for seconds (and thirds).

Goober cousin.

Most families play card games, watch movies, etc....well, we do that too, most of the time...

Zeroed in on Mr. Tom Turkey for next year. Just kidding!

Dear Professor...

Dear Professor,

Let me start this off by saying that I respect you. You seem like a cool person. You were super nice at the beginning of the semester. You cracked a few jokes here and there. But then, you totally lost me. You stood up on your soapbox, started lecturing and completely bamboozled me.

You actually bother me, quite a bit. Hey, I get it. You went to school a little longer, got a Ph.D. and now you're all "enlightened." Good for you. But these freakin' tangents that you go off on, not only confuse me, they royally piss me off. That blank look on my face? Yeah, that's code for, "What in the hell are you talking about?"

And this "final project?" I think it's kinda dumb, ok no, really dumb. Rather than standing up at the front of the class, reading a 14-page, crappy, research paper and arguing about some stupid point about some stupid piece of literature, I'd much rather make you this banana bread. And I'd much rather argue why this is the best banana bread in the entire world. My thesis is clear and my argument has strong points (and lots of literary devices.)

Please think about it and let me know. Hope you're having a fantastic Thanksgiving break.

Sincerely,
Allison


Have you had a fantabulous Thanksgiving?! I sure hope so. I hope you ate way too much food and watched way too much football. :) I rolled into my hometown Wednesday afternoon and the first thing I did was of course heat up the oven and bake something with Papa Blackwell.


I absolutely adore a fabulous banana nut bread and the recipe Papa B and I use is honestly the best. I'd be lying if I told you I haven't had a couple of slices of this for breakfast the last three days.


The recipe comes from one of those cookbooks that our little church puts out with little old ladies' recipes, so you know it's dang good.

Side story-poor Papa B went to check the "doneness" of the bread, burnt his finger and dropped the rack with the two loaves (which were baking up, oh so beautifully). The middle of each loaf, came oozing out and Papa B yelled a few choice words. It was semi-hilarious and I was trying not to laugh with Spilt Batter (no pun intended, ok maybe a wee bit) all over the floor. The bread still turned out delicious and Papa B's finger is healing nicely.

Banana Nut Bread
adapted from Margie (Sidlinger) Cook

1 c. butter or oil
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs, beaten
6-7 bananas, mashed
2 1/2 c. sifted flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 large loaf pans or 5 small ones. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the mashed bananas, stirring to blend. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients and nuts into the batter, mixing well. Pour the batter into the pans. Sprinkle tops of loaves with nuts. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. For muffins, fill 12 muffin cups, half full and bake for 35-45 minutes.

Trifle Crushes

Celebrity crushes. You've got 'em. I've got 'em. We've all got 'em. I can still remember my first celeb crush, I crushed on. Remember Randy from Home Improvement? (A.K.A. Jonathan Taylor Thomas) How could anyone forget those gorgeous eyes??? I was in love with J.T.T. at the age of 8. I even had a giant poster of him hanging on my bedroom wall. My brother found it, oh so hilarious, to take it down and hide it. I found nothing funny about this. Nothing, Nate.

Middle school brought my love for Josh Hartnett or as I affectionately called him Josh "Hotnett." You like that, don't lie. My middle school locker was covered, top to bottom, with his beautiful face and brooding eyes. This may be the most handsome man on earth.

My crush on Josh carried over into the beginning of high school, but then I moved into the sports realm. Meet Christian Moody, a walk-on for the KU Jayhawks basketball team from 2002-2006. I actually got to meet him after a game and when I did I was obsessed. I was crushing. I followed him relentlessly over the next few basketball seasons. I watched every KU game, praying he'd eventually get in, read every newspaper article and even made a sign for him when I attended a game. I was a "Moody Maniac."

Now I'm in college and most of my celebrity crushes center around musicians. Many musicians. Sooo many. There's Matt, Sufjan, Dan and Patrick, Mat, Joshua, Sondre, Dave, and so on and so forth. Lately I've totally been infatuated with Chris Chu from The Morning Benders. Actually, I think it's his beautiful voice more than anything, but dang, it totally makes me swoon.
Chris seems like a guy who likes sweets. I make sweets. He makes music. I love to listen to music. It's a win-win. I really think this would totally work. I'd make him this trifle and he would serenade me and life would be quite grand.

This trifle is one of the most requested desserts in my family. My mom came across this on the Internet and put her own spin on it. The result=freakin' delish. Chocolate pudding, hot fudge, Oreos....oh, dear Lord.


Ultimate Chocolate Trifle
adapted from allrecipes

1 pkg. brownie mix, prepared
1 pkg. instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 c. water
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (8 oz.) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (12 oz.) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 pkg. Oreos, crushed
1 jar hot fudge topping

Prepare brownie mix as directed on package. Set aside and cool completely.

In large bowl, mix pudding, 1/2 cup of water and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until smooth. Then fold in 8 oz. whipped topping.

Fold until no streaks appear.

Cut brownies into 1 inch squares and layer bottom of trifle dish or glass bowl.
Layer crushed Oreos and hot fudge.
Next, layer pudding mixture.
Consume a few cookies during the process, cause you'll get hungry.
Nom-nom.
Then layer with whipped topping.
Repeat layers.
Garnish with leftover Oreos and hot fudge.
Then dig the heck in.

Nutella Virgin

How is it that I have gone 22 years without ever experiencing the pure deliciousness of Nutella??? This chocolaty gift from the heavens is just...whoa. Just, mmm....

I've enjoyed my Nutella on a pretzel stick, toast, spoon, my finger. You get the idea. I think, nay, I know I could eat an entire jar in one setting (though I advise no one do, let alone attempt).

I spent an afternoon surfing the net, trying to find Nutella recipes and I stumbled on this. That's right, World Nutella Day. Keep February 5th clear, so you can devour and enjoy all things Nutella. We're talking breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The cookie recipe I found is a clear winner. They're like Nutella turnovers. So cute. So good.


And you can make them even more delicious.

Of course I would add peanut butter, because it makes up more than half of my weekly diet, but oh man, with pb their delicious factor is kicked up 10 notches.

Nutella Pocket Cookies
adapted from The Art of Two Tarts
makes about 4 dozen

1 cup unsalted butter, softened plus 2 more tablespoons, melted.

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1 cup granulated sugar plus 1\4 cup for sprinkling

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups Nutella

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the 1 cup of butter, cream cheese, and 1 cup sugar until smooth, light, and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Gradually add the flour to the creamed mixture and mix well. Divide the dough into two portions; cover and refrigerate until the dough is firm and easy to handle. An hour should be good enough.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove one portion of dough from the refrigerator. On a floured surface, roll out one portion of dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Using a circle cookie cutter that is approximately 3 inches in diameter, cut circles out of the dough and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat this with the rest of the dough.

Place approximately 1 1/2 teaspoons of Nutella on the center of each circle. Fold each circle in half so that the edges meet and lightly press the edges to seal. With a fork, seal the edges more securely. Lightly brush melted butter on the tops and sprinkle with sugar. Bake the cookies for 10 – 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Leave the cookies on the cookie sheet for 2 – 3 minutes before removing them to wire racks to cool.

Fact: Someone Made Me Cookies

That's right, someone made me cookies. This time I wasn't the one creaming the butter and sugar, preheating the oven, and washing the dishes.

It was pretty awesome. And the cookies?? They were pretty awesome, too. Not only was I given homemade cookies, I was also given two kinds of cookies. Oh, yes, variety.

The first cookie was this nice, coconut cookie.


Chewy, full of shredded coconut, these cookies were quite delectable.

The second cookie was this baby right here and my fave of the two.


A dense, chocolate cookie loaded with chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Why, hello winning combination. I even got one warm, fresh out of the oven. Mmm....

Shout out to Derek for making these cookies. Well done, sir! I'll get the recipes from him and put 'em up here ASAP, cause seriously you need to make them, give them to someone and make their day. :)