Fall Favorites: White Chocolate Dipped Brown Butter Ginger Cookies with Pistachios

Realizing I'm falling a little behind on my promised "Fall Favorites" posts, I figured I'd better punch out a few before Winter descends.  These cookies popped up on my blog roll the other day and I was instantly captivated.  How could you not?  White chocolate dipped brown butter ginger cookies with pistachios.  They're long in the name and I'll bet in flavor as well.  Wouldn't this be the perfect cookie to bring to a fall gathering?  Feel free to bring a batch by my house anytime!

image/ambitiouskitchen

Happy Thanksgiving

"Be present in all things and thankful for all things."

~ Maya Angelou

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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Side Dish Only Thanksgiving

Could you do a without a turkey on Thanksgiving?  I read a family's story of their side-dish-only Thanksgiving and I was intrigued.  Honestly, while I do enjoy a good turkey on T-Day, it is definitely not my favorite thing on the menu.  I don't know if I could ever convince my family to jump on this bandwagon, but I thought it was an interesting concept.  Cheers to more mashed potatoes, cranberries, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and beyond!  Oh, and don't forget a few heaping helpings of apple pie…

Would you do a side-dish only Thanksgiving?  Do tell...

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Dinner Last Night: Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

I've tried a few slow cooker chicken tikka masala recipes through the years - and this is the one to beat! Flavored with a handful of fragrant Indian spices, the dish really shines.  If making this for a crowd, your guests would never know their sumptuous meal was made via crockpot!  I served mine over my favorite coconut rice and a heaping handful of cilantro for a bit of color and freshness.  All in all - an easy but delicious weeknight meal.  Indulge yourself!

image and recipe/thekitchn

The Pie Project - #1 Apple Cranberry Crumble Pie

And I'm off to a good start - made my first pie!  Apple Cranberry Crumble Pie a la Joy the Baker.  I followed her directions to a T, and the pie turned out flavorful and delicious.  This was my practice pie - we had a group of friends over Sunday afternoon to watch the Seahawks game, so I used the opportunity to test the recipe on my girlfriends before making it for my family at Thanksgiving.   

A few changes I'll make before baking again; cut the apple slices a tad thinner, as there were a few slices that were a little too crunchy for my taste, and add more cornstarch, as the base of my pie was a little soupy.  But otherwise - another win for Joy the Baker.  

image/recipe via joythebaker

Cinderella

I'm not typically one for remakes, but Disney's new version of Cinderella looks pretty good!

The Pie Project

In an effort to up my game as a baker and make a mark on this year's Thanksgiving, I've decided to learn how to make perfect pie crust.  Challenge accepted.  "Have you ever made a pie before?" one might ask...  The answer is, "well yes," I've made pie crust here and there through the years, but not without painstakingly flipping back and forth from a cookbook to my floury surface, fingers sticky with dough, to ensure I don't miss a crucial step.  This is my goal - to become such an "expert" at pie crust, the recipe is no longer necessary - it'll be all from memory.  So, here goes,"The Pie Project."  Make 30 pies.  Not giving myself a deadline, as I'm trying to be realistic as I currently have a full time job and an active 14-month old, among the rest of my life.  But I'm inspired.  And excited.

So...what should my first pie be?  I was thinking about this...

images/food52

Emoi Emoi

A while ago, I was contacted by Emoi Emoi, a chic online French boutique specializing in comfortable and cozy maternity and nursing wear.  While I'm neither nursing nor pregnant at present,  I still can still vouch for and attest from experience that convenience, comfort are essential when it comes to maternity and nursing wear, and a hint of style never hurt anyone, right?  Especially during those early days when you're feeling far from glamorous...

  The "Maman Poule" shirt, (which is unfortunately, they no longer carry).  Though here are some of their new sweatshirts, and if they're anything like the tees,  the softest fabric ever!  Here are some sweatshirts that are similar.  1 point for comfort!  Also, I liked this shirt for its French translation of "Mother Hen" quite fitting as we often refer to her as "Grumpy Goose" when she's fussy.  Plus it's a glamorous step up from the ratty t-shirts I often wore when nursing.  1 point for convenience and style!

My special delivery was wrapped in the cutest "packaging," a charming reusable tote. 

 Isn't this the cutest? Love the message too...

Check out Emoi Emoi for cozy, comfy maternity and nursing attire.  Here are a few of my favorites from the sight that I'm bookmarking for future reference. 

+ maternity jacket

+ slim maternity jeans

+ ingrid and isabel 3/4 sleeve top

shirt c/o emoi emoi

Recovering from Sickness

After almost two weeks of sickness (yes, two weeks)…first the non-flu virus (that felt and looked exactly like the flu), following by walking pneumonia…I am ready to be healthy again.  I haven't been this sick in a long, long time, and frankly, I'm utterly exhausting.  Here are some things that helped me slowly putter through these long, ill-feeling days.

+ Property Brothers, No Reservations, and Gilmore Girls among others streaming on Netflix, LOVE!

+ My new BFF, lemon-lime Gatorade.  We had a love/hate relationship during middle school track, but I'm now a believer again.

+ Holiday catalogs.  Hours entertainment perusing the latest holiday decor of Pottery Barn Kids, Restoration Hardware, Crate and Barrel, among others.

+ Urgent care.  Gotta hand to to clinics you can walk in and be serviced right away, no appointment necessary.

+ My amazing husband who has gone above and beyond as Super Dad, assuming every responsibility and more, as I was quarantined to my dungeon (...I mean basement).

+ Yankee Candle "Pantry Spice."  While my strong antibiotics have made me nauseous at every consumption, this is one of the few smells that didn't send me reeling.  

+ Homemade soup and bread from friends - thank you Liv!

+ My mom, who let me spend the night at her house for a night and took care of me like I was back in elementary school.  

Moral of the story: stay healthy out there, pneumonia is no fun!

Serial

Are you a podcast listener?  If so, you need to add this one to your queue.  Serial is This American Life's first spinoff.  Instead of a different episode every week, each week holds a new chapter in the true story of the disappearance and murder of Hae Min Lee in 1999.  It listens like an episode of Law and Order. Narrator, Sara Koenig, is impassioned about this cause, and as the listener, you encounter details of the case piece by piece, bit by bit, encouraging you to form your own opinions and ideas about who is truly at fault.  Check it out!

Soup Sundays

Want to know what I've been up to this past week?  Having the flu!  Bleh!  Technically my flu test was negative, but all of my symptoms: fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, full body aches and pains are also flu symptoms, in addition to the fact that I started showing symptoms the same day as my flu shot.  So...I'm calling this kettle black.  

Anyway…before I came down with this bout of illness, I had made a big pot of the Pioneer Woman's Perfect Potato Soup.  This really is the perfect fall soup, ideal for making on a Sunday night for dinner, to be easily reheated for lunch throughout the week.  While the chopping is a bit cumbersome, the finished product is worth all of your dicing efforts.

 

And fortunately, I did get to eat at least one bowl of this before resorting to a saltine cracker and Gatorade diet by necessity.

Stay healthy out there.  And flu (non-flu virus) free.

image/bloom

image2/pioneerwoman