Thanksgiving

Today was Thanksgiving.....one of my favorite holidays...along with Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Valentine's Day.....OK ...so maybe I like ALL holidays...but today was Thanksgiving.....a day to enjoy your family, be thankful for all you have, and for all those that make those things possible. We had a great day with the kids. This year they were amazing assistant chefs. They cooked, they cleaned it was wonderful to share the day with them in the kitchen. We had nowhere to drive, no extended family nearby to visit and that was OK. We relished in the holiday, cooked, drank mimosas (sparkling cider for the teens) listened to music, played with Bandit Love Puppy Extraordinaire and were thankful
to have the time together. Our opposite schedules make days like this few and far between. We were thankful for many things, to have Tim home with us, it wasn't too many years ago we were having Thanksgiving Dinner while he was in Iraq. Thankful for those brave soldiers that are still away from family and loved ones during the holidays, thankful for our health, everyday it seems we hear about someone else who is ill or who has family members that are ill, thankful to have each other....and thankful for our loving extended family who although are not nearby are always close at heart....I was also thankful for sillier things...thankful the kids will still watch Elf with me (and still find it as funny as I do)...thankful for my new Ikea lamp that I absolutely had to have but have absolutely nowhere to put.....it makes me happy....looks like the moon....I keep moving it around the house so I can look at it..... thankful for toasted turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce and for my cuddly puppy.....today was the most splendid of days to give thanks for all things big AND small...Happy Thanksgiving my friends....

Comfort Food and The Beach

As the weather turns cooler everyone turns to their crockpots, soups and smells of home cooking. As I sit posting this ABC's World News is broadcasting the downward spiral the country is taking towards obesity.....hmmm I wonder how many calories my favorite homemade macaroni and cheese that I made last night has...it was SO good and definitely seemed worth it....no matter how many bazillion calories are now in the rear view mirror...Just to keep my self in check I checked out Jantzen's new 2010 Swimwear Collection (their Vamp Maillot is my all time favorite swimsuit EVER!!) http://www.jantzen.com/ or on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jantzen/95275605828?ref=ts ...so retro cool...my daughter even loves them!! ...So I will use a picture of my favorite suit (albeit on a 5'10" blond super model..LOL) and give you the recipe....no need to feel conflicted all on my own!!

Best Baked Macaroni and Cheese

1 box elbow macaroni

8 ounce Monterey Jack Shredded Cheese

16 ounce Shredded Cheddar Cheese

2 tablespoons of butter (divided)

1 3/4 to 2 cups Milk (to taste)

1/2 Cup Italian Breadcrumbs

Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare macaroni as directed on box. Meanwhile spray 9X12 baking dish with Pam. Strain macaroni, layer 1/2 of macaroni in greased dish. Dot with 1 tablespoon of butter (cut in small pieces). Add 1/2 of shredded cheddar and 1/2 of Monterey Jack, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Layer rest of macaroni, dot with remaining butter and cheese, pour milk evenly over the top. Sprinkle with Italian Beadcrumbs. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until breadcrumbs are nicely browned. Enjoy.... (but not too much...LOL)

Leftover Halloween Candy Bars....Make Snicker Bar Dessert

So are we ready to confiscate the kids candy....for their own good...???? If so, try this great dessert. My sister says this is also gluten free (but please verify to be sure) good for our celiac friends (you all know who you are!!)
On another note...it has been suggested that I add some photos. I have looked at some amazing blogs check out http://milk-moon.blogspot.com/ (my current favorite). So beautiful, it draws you in..... bear with me as I learn as I go....In the meantime...try this... SO easy kids can make it but enjoyed by kids and adults alike!!

1 3oz instant vanilla pudding mix
1 Cup Milk
1 8 oz lite Cool Whip
3 Large snicker bars cut up in small pieces (or apprx 12 Halloween Size)
3-4 Medium Green Granny Smith apples, cored and cut up into bite sized pieces (no need to peel)

Mix pudding with milk, add Cool Whip and Mix, add remaining ingredients, refrigerate.
Recipe can be doubled!

You Get What You Need

Today did not start off well. Had an early morning meeting on the other side of the world (or over the border in South Carolina which if you have my sense of direction may as well have been). Left a little later than I should ...(no surprise there)...Suburban started making a horrific noise (mental note...was supposed to drop it off at the shop after I was hit last week....who has time to do all this crap....)since I was driving out of state I thought I should probably turn around and take the bug. Which I did....making me even later. Finally, found this beautiful neighborhood we are selling in South Carolina....then located the amenity center where obviously the meeting started about 10 minutes prior....so I walk in...thanks to the hardwood floors...not stealthily...all eyes turn as if these people have never been late before...OI VEY....
I sell new homes..not been a banner year for the new home sales industry to say the least. I have been very lucky am with a large builder, have been in an awesome community and have been consistantly a top producer. However, the past couple of months have been a struggle for me. I have been opening a new community. It is a beautiful mature community, going to be very successful, but still moved out of my comfort zone, a lot of my customers were referrals in my last community so that is going to have to start from scratch, just new challenges. I knew I would have to work a little harder to get started and felt I had been working my butt off ...doing all the things I knew how to to make the community successful, staying late working days off etc. with little pay off... yet. I was starting to think maybe I lost my juju...maybe I didn't know how to do it anymore...maybe I would become a professional blogger, or buy lots and lots of lottery tickets, go back to insurance..ahhh no not that...back to lottery tickets.....ANYWAY...I was thinking that I was doing all this work, with little payoff, nobody was noticing. So there I was sitting at the back of my quarterly meeting today kinda zoning in and out...when out of nowhere my VP of Sales and Marketing announce my name for the Sales Associate of the Year Award....all of a sudden I was energized...no need to start buying lottery tickets...I sell new homes....and I'm GOOD at it....nothing could have been better timed....I will go back to the sales center tomorrow with a new attitute....ready to take on whatever comes my way........like Mick Jagger says...."you don't always get what you want....but if you try sometimes...you just might find...you get what you need!!!".....

Delicious Chops With Fruit Stuffing

Nothing better than coming home to the aroma of this delicious dish!! Cooked for 3 hours in the slow cooker, I usually put this on during my days off, run out do my errands and by the time I come back the house is filled with the smell of home cookin'. I love the cranberries but you can also substite dried cherries if you prefer.

PS Just roped into attending the midnight premiere of 'New Moon' .... I'll be sure to let you know how that one goes!!

Pork Loin Chops with Fruit Stuffing

6 Boneless Pork Loin Chops (1/2 inch thick)

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1 Package (6 ounces) herb stuffing mix

2 celery ribs, chopped

1 medium tart apple, peeled and chopped

1 cup dried cranberries or cherries

1/2 cup chopped onion

2/3 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup butter, melted

In a large skillet, brown pork chops in oil on both sides. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Place half of the stuffing mixture in a 3 qt slow cooker. Top with pork and remaining stuffing mixture. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees. 6 Servings

I will have to check with my Canadian sources to see if you can get stuffing mix there. Here I use the blue bagged Pepperidge Farm brand. Please post a comment and let me know how you like this!!

Bradford Farm

Today was a picture perfect day in Charlotte....the kind of day that makes you fall in love with this area, 70 degrees, sun shining, vibrant fall colors making the roadside scenery so beautiful it looks like a picture book. To make it even better, it was my day off...and the kids day off...(Fall Break...don't think we had that one growing up in Canada). I spent most of the day enjoying my daughter. My 13 year old son decided that it was his last day of this (new to me) Fall Break and he was going to blissfully do absolutely nothing...Syd and I spent the morning dancing around the house to 80's music. I am blessed in that she thinks that The Cure, Billy Idol, Queen and Aerosmith are all 'retro cool'...I guess I can also thank the cast of 'Glee' for the revival!!! After an unsuccessful attempt to sign Syd up for dance class (we missed the studio, ended up at a goat farm, had to call the 'relaxing' RJ to look up online directions......knew that cancelling Onstar would come back to haunt me..finally found it only to discover it didn't open till later in the day.....) we ended up at Bradford Farms. Bradford Farms is a wonderful roadside farm and market that has the best fresh local produce, meats, eggs, breads and products produced locally. It is a little old fashioned farm with a rocking chair front porch and a raggedy lovable mutt dog that flops over on his back for belly rubbing when ever anyone comes near....They sell soda in glass bottles that require a bottle opener and invite you to sit a spell on the porch to enjoy it....I just love the experience of shopping there ....let alone the taste difference in a farm fresh egg or their homemade apple butter. On the way out Syd pointed out a sign that read No Farms = No Food....mentally, I decided to stop there more often...

Tomorrow I will be back at the office...but my hope is to keep in my mind the feeling of spending some time with my teenager at Bradford Farms today...that step back in time, enjoy the moment, sit on the front porch and stay a while kind of feeling...oh and if you can support your local farm....they need you and you'll be glad you did!!