Second Thanksgiving Meal a Success

The second of my four Thanksgiving meals was, in a word, delicious!

Ryan and I headed over to my friend Laurel’s boyfriend’s house for a Thanksgiving potluck party. Everyone brought traditional Thanksgiving dishes and we had tons of food!

Potluck Platter

Friends and Food

Within 10 minutes of our arrival we were diggin’ in.

My Plate

I went back for seconds of the sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese and stuffing… apparently carbs and I are lovers today. 😉

The dessert options included brownies, cookies, pies, a pumpkin roll, whoopie pies and more. I brought my two pies and the turtle pumpkin pie was a hit! I really enjoyed it and it got good reviews from other taste-testers. If you’re looking for an easy, tasty Thanksgiving dessert, you may wanna give it a go.

Turtle Pumpkin Pie

Yummy Nuts and Caramel

Yummy Pie

It was a fun time with wonderful friends. I’d say Thanksgiving meal number two was even better than round one. Round three will kickoff tomorrow at my work Thanksgiving potluck lunch. I can already feel my food baby growing.

Dusting and Decorating

Though I managed to gather up the fall decorations into a pile yesterday, I didn’t get around to transforming our apartment into a winter wonderland.

When we got home from the potluck party I got to work cleaning (as in vacuuming, dusting, scrubbing) because moving picture frames around to make room for holiday decor revealed just how dusty and dirty our apartment truly was… ick. I was on my feet cleaning and decorating for more than two hours, but our place looks ah-maze-ing!

Sadie was happy because her little Santa bear (in the form of a free Victoria’s Secret PINK beanie baby) resurfaced. Fun for all!

I also totally forgot I packed up some Christmas CDs with my decorations and enjoyed listening to Mannheim Steamroller and Straight No Chaser.

I LOVE Straight No Chaser. I think acapella music is unbelievable and this group is so talented. I know this video was very popular on YouTube a couple years ago, but if you haven’t seen it, you HAVE to watch. They’re amazing!

I got my whole family hooked on their Christmas album. They just released a new CD for this Christmas and my mom already bought it for us to enjoy over Thanksgiving. Woop, woop!

Week Ahead

Another weekend bites the dust. I’m looking forward to this work week… only two days… and tomorrow will be fun since we’re having our Thanksgiving potluck lunch. I am bringing one turtle pumpkin pie and some cupcakes.

I would be bringing two pies, but look what happened when I was moving stuff around in the fridge:

Fallen Pie

Pie down, pie down! What a bummer. Not only did I lose a perfectly good pie, but it also fell on the kitchen floor which I just cleaned. Luckily Sadie’s super-fast tongue licked up a lot of the crumbs and made vacuuming round two a breeze.

I will only be working two days this week. Ryan and I are heading to St. Pete after work on Tuesday to begin the Thanksgiving fun. My family and I are flying to Gettysburg early Wednesday morning to spend the holiday with my grandmothers, aunts, uncles and cousins. I love family fun and can’t wait to see everyone.

Pie(s!) for Breakfast

I had every intention of making myself a tasty breakfast after our morning walk with Sadie. I was anxious to make several of the four pies I needed to make today (two for a party this afternoon and two for a work pot luck tomorrow), so I figured I’d get crackin’ and eat breakfast afterward.

Bad idea. Guess what I ended up eating for breakfast? Pie filling!

Pie Number One

First, I made a white chocolate and fudge mousse pie. It was super easy and I just prepared half a batch of Jello white chocolate pudding and half a batch of Jello chocolate fugde pudding before stirring in an entire container of cool whip.

Pre-Stirred Chocolate Mousse Pie

I poured the batter into a graham cracker crust. At the bottom of the crust, I smoothed out a layer of caramel topping and a half a cup of chopped pecans.

Bottom of Da Pie

White Chocolate Fudge Mousse Pie

So, for round one of my breakfast, I enjoyed what leftovers from ths white chocolate fudge mousse pie I thought were “too much” to fit into the crust. 😉

Pie Number Two

The second pie I made was a turtle pumpkin pie which used the same caramel and pecan surprise layer at the bottom of a graham cracker crust.

For the filling, I wisked together one cup of pumpkin, two packs of vanilla instant pudding, one cup of milk, one teaspoon of cinnamon and a half of a teaspoon of nutmeg until everything was thoroughly mixed.

I then added a cup and a half of cool whip. Ooooooh wow.

Pumpkin-Good!

After pouring the mix into the prepared pie crust (and eating a bunch as my breakfast number two) I stuck this pie (and the two others like it I also made) in the fridge.

Mmmm

Before serving this pie will be topped with cool whip, caramel topping and more chopped pecans. I’ll be sure to snap a pic to share! 🙂

Turtle Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. caramel ice cream topping, divided

1   Graham Cracker Pie Crust (6 oz.)

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. chopped pecans, divided

2 pkg.  (3.4 oz. each) Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

1 cup cold milk

1 cup  canned pumpkin

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp.  ground nutmeg

1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

Directions:

POUR 1/4 cup caramel topping into crust; sprinkle with 1/2 cup nuts.

BEAT dry pudding mixes, milk, pumpkin and spices with whisk until well blended. Stir in 1-1/2 cups COOL WHIP; spoon into crust.

REFRIGERATE 1 hour. Top with remaining COOL WHIP, caramel topping and nuts just before serving.

You may also find this recipe here.

Sunday Plans

While I was preparing a plethora of pies, Ryan headed out for a soccer game this morning. I’ll be hitting the gym soon before we head over to a Thanksgiving pot luck party this afternoon. I’m excited to enjoy my second Thanksgiving meal of the year already!