Thanksgiving Day

I have many things to be thankful for this year. I am thankful that I have a wonderful and healthy new born. I am also really thankful to have a wonderful and supportive hubby, mom, dad and my sis and her partner. I can never imagine not having an understand and supportive family in my life.

This year we decided to have thanksgiving meal in our home. A very simple meal just the few of us. Our menu for this year thanksgiving:

I was going to brine my turkey but I didn't take it out of the freezer earlier to do so. This time all I did was season my turkey with Salt, Pepper and Lemon Pepper Seasoning then I put chunks of butter between the skin and the meat.

I forgot to buy cranberry and had to make Uncle R to get it front he store

Corn from the can 

  Also store bought

I'm really proud of my gravy, I usually use gravy from the bottle but this time I actually made it from scratch! I got the oil from the turkey dripping and warmed it up in a pot. Then I added about 1/4 cup of flour (I think is a table spoon of oil to a tablespoon of flour) stir it then add homemade chicken stock. stir until thicken. 

Aunt L makes really good stuffing but aunt L was not here for thanksgiving so Uncle R made the stuffing which was really good with breakfast sausage

Stuffing that I made with the liver and gizzards from the turkey which was actually pretty good.

Homemade pumpkin pie

This year I didn't make most of my food from scratch like I would like too. Never the less I was able to make a lot of food even with a 5.5 month old baby at home! 

Thank you hubs for cleaning and doing the dishes when we were done. Thank You Uncle R for celebrating a low key thanksgiving with us. 

The Apple Family

I never thought that I would actually buy Apple. Everything all started when hubs wanted the iPod. Hubs had been asking to get an iPod for the longest time and since we both own mp3 players I didn't think that we needed the iPod (if you asked me the iPod was a total waste of money). I finally decided to give in for I think his birthday.

Yau Mei Farn II aka chicken rice and Steam Egg plant.

I love yummy yet simple meals especially when the meal is made from scratch. I had a craving for rice and chicken today but I didn't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen so I decided on Yau Mei Farn/ aka clay pot rice (since I don't have a clay pot I just use my rice cooker)

My New Toy

Remember when I told you about my bread maker that died here. Well..initially after my bread maker died I told myself that I was not going to buy another one because it cost money and I wanted to save counter space. After using my Kitchen Aid mixer once and almost killing it I thought maybe I should knead my bread by hand instead of killing my Kitchen Aid Mixer. That never happened and I never made bread after that because I was too lazy to knead any bread by hand and worried that I could not do it. Then I thought I would find a use one to get since I'm only using the bread maker to knead my dough but I really could not bring myself to buying a use bread maker. Moreover I don't want to buy a used one and have it break on me a few times after I've used it. Hubby was also not too keen on me looking for a used bread maker although they do say they used it once or never used it who actually knows how many times they have used it and whether it'll break. At least if I get a new one I have manufacture warranty. 


So one day, while we were shopping I came across Hamilton Beach bread maker.  It is almost the same price as my old Sunbeam bread maker and the function was exactly the same! I think they are from the same manufacture but just different look.  I told hubby that I wanted to buy that bread maker because I've not made bread in a long time and I'm actually itching to make bread. Hubby reluctantly took the Hamilton Beach Bread Maker and went to pay for it since I'm pregnant and I cannot carry heavy things (although is really not that heavy but is really a good excuse).

Mac N Cheese with a twist.

I've been working a lot this month and since I'm at my third trimester I get really pooped easily. I've been trying to balance working and resting hence leaving me not much time to cook. Even when I'm home I get tired and don't feel like cooking. Most of the time hubs and I will try and whip up something quick so we can eat quick and rest. I also try and whip up extras so that I can take it to work for lunch. 

One evening I had no idea what to eat and was craving for pasta. We could either dine out of try and make it at home. Making pasta from stretch will take a longer time so when I went rummaging through my pantry I found a box of Mac and Cheese.

Gong Xi Fa Chai!!

Wishing my lovely family and friends a very Happy Chinese New Year. Gong Xi Fa Chai. Hope everyone has a great year ahead of you. May the new year bring you lots of health, wealth and prosperity this coming year. Love you all much..xoxo

Lasagna

• In my effort to cook more at home this year I decided to make some lasagna since I had craving for some plus it freezes well. I also had a some ground turkey in my freezer that I was going to use it up so I decided to make some turkey lasagna from scratch instead of using a can of spaghetti sauce.

Steak

Hubs is not your typical American person. He likes eating steak but just every once in a while. I've tried making steak at home a few times but hubs doesn't really care for it. Every once in a while we would have a steak when we go out and it. Until recently I found a way to make steak without needing to use the grill because it can be a pain in my you know what to start the grill just to make a piece of steak. 


One day when we ran to the store to get some milk hubs suddenly said that he wanted steak. I don't normally buy steak at home so I told him that we were going to have to get some. When you just run to the store to grab something buying steak when is not on sale can be quite expensive but since we don't normally get steak we just bought some. I don't even remember which cut we bought but I think it cost about $8/lbs or more. It might be cheap cut for those steak lover out there. 

Chocolate Cake

I was working like crazy for quite some time and have decided that it was wearing me down hence I decided that I didn't want to work so many hours anymore. Every since I've cut my hours I've had more time to spend in my kitchen to make real food for my family. I am not sure why even though I have more time to cook we still go out to eat the same amount. 

I had craving for some chocolate cake and decided I will make some since I don't fancy buying or eating cake from the store because is always too very sweet for me. 

Asian Style Spaghetti

Yesterday I was craving for some stir fry noodles but after work hubs and I decided to roam around Ikea after I got done working; so I didn't know what time we would be back and did not defrost any meat. We got back from Ikea about 4:30pm and I had no idea what to cook for dinner. 


Later in the evening I just decided to have a can of soup with some crackers. A can of soup and stir fry noodles are nothing alike! I decided that today after work I would come home and stir fry some noodles for dinner. 


I was not sure what kind of noodles I wanted to stir fry or how I was going to cook my noodles. After eating my Curry Noodles for a few meals straight I was highly heaty and my mom suggested that I stay away from fried and spicy food.  So I figured I would cook something simple. 

Caramel Rolls II

Ever since the weather turned cold I've been in the mood to bake breads again. I don't know why but I just love the process of baking bread and the outcome of the product (that's if is a success). I love the aroma when the bread is done baking and making it just helps me regroup my thoughts and myself. 


I was browsing through Florence's blog one day and I saw her wonderfully soft bread recipe and I decided that I needed to try it. I actually didn't start the kneading until about noon because I was actually contemplating on making a loaf of bread or buns. I finally decided that I will use this recipe to make some caramel rolls since it was hubby's favorite and I've not made them in a long time.

Curry Laksa/Curry Noodles

The weather has been really crazy lately..Not only there are snow storms everywhere but the temperature is dropping drastically even where even here in the South. Ever since the temperature dropped I've been craving for warm soupy stuff.  On Sunday I made hubby take me to the store so that we can get ingredients to make Chili. When we got home we cut everything up and dump it in the crock pot and had a warm bowl of chili the next day.


I was really craving for some Curry Laksa since is so cold but I had to work on Monday and didn't have time to go get the ingredients for it so I had to postpone the idea of cooking some to another day. That day I made the hubs take me to one of the Chinese Buffet that I like to patronize hoping that it will help my craving for Curry Laksa. It didn't help that much and I knew that the next day I would go to the store to buy the ingredients since is my day off.


I was really lazy to go out the next day as it was really cold out and I could hear the wind howling from my house. I knew that it would be a cold walk from my front door to my house but I decided to brave it and go get the ingredients I needed.

Lasting moments

I am really going to try harder to update my blog this year. To begin my first meal for the new year hubs brought me to have dim sum(no picture coz we were too hungry).

I don't have the perfect hubby and yes we do argue here and there but at times I think mu hub can be the sweetest person toe. Just now I forgot to take my water bottle so I texted him to take it up for me since he's not made his way up yet. Unfortunately he didt get my msg till he got up and I was actually ready to go back downstairs to take the bottle my wonderful hubby actually went downstairs to take my bottle for me. <_>

Another incident was two weeks ago when I got up in the middle of the night and could not sleep because hubs was snoring. I would wake him up but a few seconds later we would fall back asleep and continue snoring! Finally I was so frustrated I woke him up and told him I could not sleep plus I had to work the next day so inwas getting really irritated! He was so sweet to promise to sit up and not fall asleep until I sleep *_*!! I thougt that was super sweet of him! Well he did fall asleep shortly after I did but je was still sitting up when I got up for work the next morning.

I really think that some of these sweet moments deserve a recognition and I appreciate it! Thank u so much hubby! I am glad I have u in my life..love u lots..xoxo