Thankful

The holidays have been crazy busy so far at work. I have been having to work on time management more and it is starting to get easier to arrange time with family, friends, and jay recently. Sorry the blogging has slacked but I have found the way to have time for this again too! Life is going pretty well recently and I am very thankful for that and everyone in my life! Speaking of being thankful here is look back the Thanksgiving holiday this year then starting tomorrow I will be in full Christmas themed post!

Lots of Love,  Natalie

Thanksgiving 2013

I hope your thanksgiving was filled with love from family and friends! I enjoyed mine but it seems to pass by quicker every year. I cannot believe there is only 22 days until Christmas. Anyway here is a recap on my Thanksgiving including the recipe for the Salted Caramel Chocolate Pecan Pie that I made.

 

Ingredients:

 

Chocolate Filling:

1 1/2 cups sugar

                          3/4 cup butter, melted                               

                               1/3 cup all-purpose flour                               

                   1/3 cup 100% cacao unsweetened cocoa                

                           1 tablespoon light corn syrup                               

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 cup toasted chopped pecans

1 (9-inch) unbaked deep-dish piecrust shell

                              

Salted Caramel Topping:

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup heavy cream

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon table salt

2 cups toasted pecan halves

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

 

Directions:

1. Prepare Filling: Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, stirring until well blended. Fold in chopped pecans. Pour mixture into pie shell.

2. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. (Filling will be loose but will set as it cools.) Remove from oven to a wire rack.

3. Prepare Topping: Bring 3/4 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, and 1/4 cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. (Do not stir.) Boil, swirling occasionally after sugar begins to change color, 8 minutes or until dark amber. (Do not walk away from the pan, as the sugar could burn quickly once it begins to change color.) Remove from heat; add cream and 4 Tbsp. butter. Stir constantly until bubbling stops and butter is incorporated (about 1 minute). Stir in table salt.

4. Arrange pecan halves on pie. Top with warm caramel. Cool 15 minutes; sprinkle with sea salt.

 

 

 

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie

 

 

 

Weekly Favorites

- Enjoying the beauty of Fall before it is all gone -

- Going to eat at Char Wednesday night with Jay's family to celebrate Thanksgiving -

 

- Baking two different desserts for Thanksgiving with my family and one for Jay's family -

- Wrapping presents fireside while I watch Mississippi State win the 2013 Egg Bowl -

 

 

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie

 

Thanksgiving Prep/Recipes

Well, it is the eve of Thanksgiving which means a lot of cooking and baking is to be done. I will be baking a Salted Caramel-Chocolate Pecan Pie that was featured in the November 2013 Southern Living.

I will go ahead and say I have never made a Pecan Pie before but since it is a Thanksgiving day staple I decided I would try this year. I love baking so I have to admit I am thrilled but at the same time a little nervous for the challenge. I usually always bake desserts for Thanksgiving and Christmas. In case you missed it last Thanksgiving I put a spin on one of my favorite holiday pies with this Crumb Topped Apple Slab Pie.

 It was basically a combination of a tradition apple pie and a apple crisp. It was rather simple to make and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to give a modern twist to the traditional apple pie. The recipe for this can be found below:

 

Crumb Topped Apple Slab Pie

 

Ingredients:

 2 1/4  cups  all-purpose flour

3/4  teaspoon  salt

 2/3  cup  butter-flavored shortening

8 - 10  tablespoons  cold water

2/3  cup  sugar

1/3  cup  all-purpose flour

1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon

3 1/2  pounds  tart cooking apples (such as Rome Beauty or Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (10 cups)

 

Crumb Topping:

1  cup  quick-cooking rolled oats

1  cup  packed brown sugar

1/2  cup  all-purpose flour

1/2  cup  butter

1/2  cup  pecans

 

Directions:

     1. In a large bowl, stir together quick-cooking rolled oats, packed brown sugar, and all-purpose flour. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until topping mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in chopped pecans.

 

2. Line a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with 18-inch-wide foil, extending the foil up over the edges of the pan; set aside. For dough: In a large bowl, stir together the 2-1/4 cups flour and the salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the cold water over part of the flour mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to side of bowl. Repeat, using 1 tablespoon cold water at a time, until all of the flour mixture is moistened. Using your fingers, gently knead the dough just until a ball forms.

 

3. Preheat oven to 375F. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 19x13-inch rectangle. Wrap it around the rolling pin; unroll it into the prepared baking pan. Ease dough into the pan and up the sides, being careful not to stretch it. Trim dough to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pan. Fold dough edge over and flute as desired.

 

4. In an extra-large bowl, combine sugar, the 1/3 cup flour, and the cinnamon; add apples. Toss lightly until apples are coated. Spoon apple mixture into dough-lined pan; spread evenly. Sprinkle with Crumb Topping (pan will be full).

 

5. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until apples are tender. If necessary to prevent over browning, cover top with foil for the last 5 to 10 minutes of baking. Cool slightly in pan on a wire rack.

 

6. Serve warm or cool completely. Cut into rectangles. Makes 25 servings

 

 

I hope every one's Thanksgiving prep goes well! Check instagram to see how my pies turn out! See you tomorrow!

 

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie

 

Thanksgiving Dreams

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches it makes me realize that I need to go ahead and get all the ingredients for the dishes I plan to make. I love looking at Pinterest and Instagram and seeing all the different holiday images so I decided to share a few of my favorites with you!

 

 

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie

 

Target Does Thanksgiving

As you know I absolutely love Target! Well this year they have lots of great pieces for the upcoming holidays so I decided I would make it the focus of this post. So here it is the pieces I would buy to make my Thanksgiving holiday warm and cozy!

 

All of the pieces above are from there Threshold Collection. Simply head over to Target.com and search Threshold if you are interested in anything you see above! Happy Tuesday!

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie

Thanksgiving Recap

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, I know I did. I started it off with a good two mile run with my running partner (Mozart).

Once I was done running it was time to start baking a dessert for lunch. I decided I would make a Crumb Topped Apple Slab Pie.

I had never made this before and I was so happy that everyone loved it! The recipe for this will be on here on Monday. The rest of the day was filled with family and food (lots of it). I think my family went a little over board on the amount of food this year.

 

 

Needless to say this Thanksgiving was very good! It was nice to get to see all of my family. See you Monday!

 

 

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie

 

 



Happy Thanksgiving!



Happy Thanksgiving! Today, I am thankful that I have such a supportive and loving group of friends and family. I know that no matter what I do with my life they will always be there. I hope every ones day is filled with family, love, and of course good food! See you tomorrow!

Lots of Love,  Natalie

Apologies

I am very sorry for not posting for a while. I wish it was because I was busy but unfortunately it was because for some reason my laptop has not been letting me run this site so I have not been able to post. Well now that I am home for the Thanksgiving holiday I will be able to post everyday since there are other computers here that will let me run this site. Anyway, it is so nice being home for the holiday even though it will be pretty busy. Last night, I went to see Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 2 with my mom. It was nice just having a little relaxing movie night on a Monday night. Tonight, I will be going out to eat with a couple of my girl friends for a little girls night. I will keep you informed about the rest of my week a little later. But before I end this is post I should catch you up on this past weekend! Friday night was Jay's SAE Semi-formal. Well I waited till the last minute to find a dress and ordered one online and had it overnighted and luckily it worked out perfectly!

 

A simple little black dress (LBD) always works for any occasion. I just needed to dress it up with some Kendra Scott earrings, strappy Nina heels, and of course a long winter coat because it was pretty chilly that night.

 

The night was very fun! A lot of dancing with friends! Then, Saturday the Bulldogs played the Arkansas Razorbacks and won 45-14 so it was a good day. Jay and I also got to visit with his aunt and uncle in the junction for a little tailgating since I will not see them for Thanksgiving. To end the weekend, Sunday I finally got my Christmas tree down from my attic and put it up but did not get around to getting the ornaments on it because I decided I might want some new ones to go along with the ones I already have. Which means decoration shopping over the Thanksgiving break! Sunday ended with me cooking dinner for Jay and I and us catching up on three weeks of the show Revolution that we have gotten hooked on. So all and all the weekend was very good and I know this week will be the same! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too! See you again tomorrow I promise.

 

 

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie