It is that time of year! The malls are bustling, the post office has super long lines, and the to-do list is extra long! Yes, we know… However, it is also THAT time of year when the Christmas music makes you sing a little bit louder (even when other people are around! ;) ), the cookies taste better than ever, and being surrounded by family and friends fills your heart with more joy than you could have ever imagined.
You see, the holidays can bring on stress, or they can be a stress reliever! It is all in how you look at it! The long lines may be frustrating… but they could also be a time where you share a smile with a stranger or start a conversation with the one next to you. You have the ability to live the life the way you want to live it- with the attitude that you choose to take! It is so easy to go go go and just do things to get them done. (Believe me- this was me yesterday!) I was writing out the addresses for our Christmas Cards at the table and I kind of felt like my pen had a motor on it- I was not stopping for anything! I was going going going and honestly I just wanted to get it done. And THEN… I realized that I could make the process a whole lot more enjoyable by sharing the process with Ryan. We set up shop on our couch… made ourselves a tasty coffee drink and popped in our favorite Christmas movie! All of a sudden my attitude changed from “I just want to get this done” to “Who else can I send a sweet note to?!?” It is amazing how taking a minute to stop and think about what would make the experience better…. and then actually doing it… can make a memory out of a to-do!
We are so excited because we have a super special treat for all of you over the next 25 days! We have decided to celebrate the little things that we can do to make our holidays more AMAZING by sharing them with you in our very first Liz and Ryan AMAZING Holiday Advent Calendar! Each day, tomorrow through Christmas Day, we will share a little something that you can do to make your holiday season that much more AMAZING! Be sure to check in daily for the reveal!
And don’t forget! It’s all about the attitude that you take! We hope you choose to smile!… it is contagious!
Every Friday after Thanksgiving for the past four years we have made it a tradition to get up at 5am and head straight to the mall. For the most part we go to people watch but every once in a while we find a deal we can’t pass up. One year we ended up with a LoveSac. :) Fitting it in our Honda Civic with four other people was quite the sight to see.
What has become one of our other post Thanksgiving traditions is creating our Holiday Wish List. While we sit feeling stuffed like a Turkey on the couch, we scour the holiday sales ad, and more recently Pinterest, and piece together a Holiday Wish List. This year we have decided to share a portion of our list in a special Holiday Wish List edition of our Friday Favorites. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Happy Holidays!
It’s Thanksgiving eve!!! Ok, we know it’s not an official holiday but it totally should be! To everyone that is traveling near or far today or tomorrow we wish you save travels! We are hurriedly trying to cross off our remaining items on our to do list so we can enjoy time with family and friends once they arrive.
So how many of you are cooking Thanksgiving this year? This will now be our fourth year in a row that Liz and I will be hosting dinner with our family. Tony the turkey is resting calmly in the refrigerator awaiting his brine bath later tonight. Tony is a 22 pound bird and should do nicely for lots of tasty leftovers this year. Leftovers usually consist Turkey sandwiches accompanied by macaroni and cheese that Liz’s Dad brings from ironically enough Tony’s Delicatessen, no relation to Tony the Turkey I’m sure. :)
This year we wanted to think of something a little different to do with all the leftovers. We always have so much turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie that it usually last for weeks and getting creative is a must. We also wanted to provide a little inspiration for your own leftovers and a way to share the fun with friends. If you haven’t seen our Thankful for Leftovers and Game Night Party post yet, be sure to check it out. For the party we came up with a unique twist on the Leftover Turkey Sandwich, made an AMAZING Pumpkin Pie Milkshake, and stuffed the stuffing inside some red bell peppers. Enjoy the recipes below!
RECIPE: Leftover Turkey Sandwiches with Blue Cheese Crumbles
Normally our leftover turkey sandwiches consist of Turkey, Mayo, Salt and Pepper and a maybe slice of tomato. If you are tired of the standard turkey sandwich spice things up a little bit with a hearty loaf of bread, a few blue cheese crumbles, and leftover cranberry relish. The tangy sweetness of the relish and savory taste of the blue cheese combines for the perfect flavor in this leftover turkey sandwich.
INGREDIENTS:
Leftover Turkey
A hearty loaf of bread sliced approximately ½” thick
Spread mayonnaise on one side of bread and add 3-4 leaves of Arugula.
Add turkey, and cranberry relish. Sprinkle blue cheese crumbles on top and close sandwich with second slice of bread.
In a toaster oven or conventional oven, toast sandwiches for 5-8 minutes, or until cheese melts and bread just begins to brown.
RECIPE: Stuffing Stuffed Peppers
Ahh stuffing. We love stuffing!! Just add a little butter, celery, and onions to cubed bread and cook in the oven. Fortunately for our waistline, we usually only indulge in this carbohydrate heaven around Thanksgiving. But when we do, we always have a ton of leftovers and stuffing by itself, although amazing, can get a little boring after the first few days of leftovers. So the perfect solution is to stuff it in something else besides the turkey. It’s called stuffing for a reason right!? For a perfect side dish to your Blue Cheese Turkey Sandwiches, stuff some stuffing in a few bell peppers, sprinkle with cheese and roast in the oven. Hmm, what else could we stuff with stuffing??
INGREDIENTS:
4 Red Bell Peppers, stem and seeds removed
2-3 Cups Leftover Stuffing
Chicken stock or vegetable broth
Olive Oil
Grated Parmesan Cheese
PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
In a bowl, add vegetable broth to stuffing until moist, about 1 cup depending on how moist your stuffing is already.
Place peppers open side up in a square baking pan and stuff peppers with stuffing. Drizzle with olive oil and place in oven and roast for 20-30 minutes until peppers begin to slightly darken. If stuffing begins to burn, cover with foil until peppers finish roasting.
Remove from oven and sprinkle on Parmesan Cheese
RECIPE: Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes
My favorite thing about thanksgiving has to be enjoying a tasty slice of pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving would not be complete with out this tasty treat. Especially a pumpkin pie made by Liz’s MeMe. In fact, nearly 200 pies made by MeMe will be enjoyed this year at Thanksgiving! Crazy! So if you are lucky enough to enjoy one of MeMe’s pies this year and have a few slices leftover after the big day, then you definitely need to try this recipe. Trust us, you’ll thanks us later.
INGREDIENTS (makes one milkshake):
1 slice of leftover pumpkin pie, preferably MeMe’s but if you don’t live in Montoursville, PA any type of pumpkin pie will do the trick
2-3 Cups of vanilla ice cream (add more as necessary for desired thickness)
1 Cup whole milk
Cinnamon stick for garnish
PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. Add more milk and ice cream as necessary to reach desired thickness.
Pour into glass and garnish with a cinnamon stick
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And we just wanted to share one quick picture of MeMe in action! She is a pie machine! :) Apple, Pumpkin, Blueberry, Minced Meat, you name it, she can make it!
How many times have you been at a party, sat down your drink and then forgot which glass was yours? This happens to us all to often so we decided to create some fun DIY glass charms to fit our Game Night theme. We used pieces from an old scrabble game to create these custom glass charms. Each guest got a wine charm that corresponded to the first letter of their name so no one would forget which glass was theirs. Follow along below to learn how to create your own DIY Scrabble Glass Charms.
Step One: Drill a hole into the corner of each scrabble piece.
Step Two: Cut twine to length, approximately 12 inches.
Step Three: Fold twine in half forming a loop and push through hole in scrabble piece with a needle. Thread the two loose ends of the twine through the loop and pull tight. Tie on glasses in a bow and cut off excess twine.
We hope you enjoyed all of our DIY projects today. If you missed any, be sure to check them all out by clicking the links below:
If you are serving fun cocktails in fun DIY Martini Glasses then it is only natural to make your own DIY Gold Glitter Strip Serving Tray right? We’ll we thought it was so we picked up a cheap tray at Michael’s and had some more fun with glitter. Learn how to create your own below!
Step One: Using painter’s tape, mask off area of tray that you do not want covered in glitter. We created a simple diagonal strip pattern.
Step Two: Pour glue into a small cup and paint onto tray to cover non-masked area.
Step Three: Sprinkle glitter over tray covering all glued areas.
Step Four: Pour off excess glitter and let tray dry.
Step Five: Carefully remove tape.Be even more creative and alternate strips with various colors of metallic glitter for a serving tray that would make Kate Spade proud! :)
