Friday Find: Thanksgiving help

(I didn't post a Friday Find last week because I was hunting for things for the Decor Guide, and had just posted the Gift Guide. I thought about taking a break this week, but there's no time for that! We have things to discuss!)

I'll get straight to the point: I love everything Cook's Illustrated does (not sponsored, I just really love them). I've never made a bad recipe from them, and they have such useful ideas. I love that they explain what they tried, what worked, what didn't, and why. Lucky for us, they recently released a helpful Thanksgiving guide, and I am gleefully browsing it, in disbelief that Thanksgiving is just two weeks away! 

Photo from cooksillustrated.com.

There are lots of helpful tips and tricks, including when to buy brussels sprouts, a clever way to chop celery, and how to fix a pie crust (Daisy, my pie challenged friend, I thought of you!).

I want to do a Thanksgiving recipe round-up, but I'm not sure I'll get to it in a more formal way. So, if I don't, here are a few I've had great luck with. Some of the original recipes are behind a paywall, which, frankly, is worth it. Likewise, I always recommend the Cook's Illustrated cookbook. It's my go-to, and it's currently about $23 on Amazon.

Pumpkin Praline Pie. I am a pumpkin pie purist. For me it doesn't get any better than the recipe on the back of the Libby's can, but this classic twist with its crunchy, chewy, nutty top was a delightful treat. (Pro tip: Not currently behind a paywall, though it usually is. Enjoy it while it lasts!)

Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Crumble. Apparently you can put a pecan crumble on anything and it will win me over. I have tried many sweet potato casseroles over the years, and I think this one is my favorite. It's well balanced, but still a little whimsical with the addition of a handful of marshmallows. (Check out that Cook's Illustrated Thanksgiving guide for the secret to perfect marshmallow topping!)

Classic Green Bean Casserole. Look, I don't like green bean casserole. I don't like canned green beans and I don't like soup out of a can. But if we're being honest, I found some fancy fried onions at the store last year, and wanted an excuse to buy them. So I decided to try a fresh version of the mushy old classic, just for kicks. As usual, I turned to my friend Cook's Illustrated, and used their classic recipe (online behind a paywall, and also in the cookbook. I'd never tell you to google it so you can see if someone has posted the whole recipe on their blog, but if you think of that all on your own then there's really nothing I can do about it.) The differences are huge: it uses fresh, blanched green beans, and a mushroom cream sauce from scratch. For a few brief but precious moments on Thanksgiving morning, I stood at the stove stirring that sauce, and contemplated asking everyone to leave so I could have some private time alone with it and a spoon. This year I plan on skipping the onion and breadcrumb topping altogether, and just tossing some bright green, freshly blanched, nutritious green beans in that delicious, heartwarming, unhealthy, cozy white mushroom sauce. It was truly perfect.

I love menu planning, especially for Thanksgiving, and I'd love to hear what you're planning! Do you have any favorite recipes to share? What's on your menu this year? I know a lot of you have good stuff. Especially you, Sarah.

Things I'm enjoying lately

1. I love a breakfast smoothie, but also I love toasted things. These cranberry orange morning rounds, toasted with delicious Kerrygold butter, are delightful. The muesli ones are also delicious. I don't really like apple cinnamon flavored things, unless it's actual apples and cinnamon, or pie, or applesauce, so I can't speak to those.

Image from trndreport.com

2. Kids & babies in Halloween costumes. I can't get enough. Parents, please keep the photos coming.

3. Thanksgiving planning. At least thinking about Thanksgiving and talking about recipes and exchanging tips. I could do it year-round, honestly. This will be the first year since 2009 that we haven't hosted or been in our own home. Back in DC we hosted every year, except for one, since we bought our house. In 2012, I was a week off sinus surgery and it was one of the busiest times of Zach's career and we just couldn't do it. We stayed home, alone, and ordered dinner from a restaurant and man, it was just awful. It was so sad. I vividly remember lying in bed that Wednesday night and thinking how it was the first night before Thanksgiving that we'd ever not had a bunch of people sleeping under our roof, with a kitchen full of food waiting to be prepped and consumed. I probably cried. Anyway! Last year we made up for it by hosting 15 or 20 people with All The Food. I made five pies! It was glorious. You know what? I'm going to do a whole 'nother post with a bunch of recipes.

4. So: Halloween (check), Thanksgiving (check), CHRISTMAS.

Photo from hlntv.com.

I unabashedly love seeing Christmas stuff in stores already. I know, it's OCTOBER! JUDGE ME! It makes me happy. Autumn into the holidays is my favorite time of year. It's cozy and happy and encompasses basically all of my favorite things: food, family, nostalgia, coming up with the Perfect Gift, specifically scented candles, traditions, hauling out beloved ornaments and old things (nostalgia, again), etc. I love it. Zach is just happy that I haven't subjected him to Christmas music yet. (If my father is reading this right now, he probably wants to punch his computer. Hi Dad! Jingle bells!)

5. Searching for an Aztec print cardigan/sweatercoat type thing. I know they're a bit trendy right now but I prefer to think I'm just really letting my inner hippie flourish, what with living by the beach in San Diego and all.  

I like this, but the collar is weird and it didn't feel nice in the store. 

Image from Nordstrom.com. I really want to take a brush to this model's hair. 

I reeeallly like this and it felt well-made in person, but it's not very Aztec-y.

Image from Nordstrom.com.

This one is pretty and very Caitlin. Though not totally Aztec-y, I still want it. Santa, are you listening?

Image from ModCloth.com.

6. Sharing my all-time favorite fall recipe: Pumpkin Lasagna. I wrote about it over at FoodLush a few years ago, and my feelings on it have not changed. It's not healthy, and it's never going to photograph well, but it's by far the recipe people ask me for the most. I used to make it every year for a fall potluck, and it was always the first to go. The last time I made it I tripled the batch and it was still gone in about 15 minutes. My friend Kate made it recently, and added arugula. Smart move.

It would be lovely served with a salad on a Friday night, at a potluck, or on your Thanksgiving table, for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. It's so perfect. Oh darling pumpkin lasagna, is there anything you can't do?

Photo from realsimple.com.

I like new finds. Tell me what you're liking lately? 

Accidental PB&J smoothie

Part of life returning to normal (the chaos of leaving a job, moving cross country, trying to get settled while Zach was in an intense work training program for six weeks and the whole house needed unpacking, adjusting to new jobs and new careers, no big deal) means reincorporating smoothies. I didn't realize how much I missed them until I started making them again. It's a good shot of nutrition and fruits/veg to start my day (or sometimes I have them for a snack), and if I do nothing else nutritionally right the rest of the day, at least I know I have done that. I always feel better, overall, when they're a regular part of my diet. I usually make green smoothies, which is a whole other post, but for today, here's how I accidentally made a PB&J smoothie. Nothing earth shattering, but for me a fun change. 

I was rushing around the house trying to get out the door to run some errands, when I realized my blood sugar was crashing. Which made sense since it was noon and I hadn't eaten anything. And thank god for it, because otherwise I would've found myself at the grocery store with a (not so) surprise empty stomach. Always a winning situation. (No honey, I don't know where the ice cream, Doritos, and Velveeta came from, or why they're all half gone.)

Not super attractive, but pretty tasty.

I was throwing things in the blender without thinking about it too much, because I was suddenly starving and shaking with blood sugar crash. I can't think clearly in that situation, and I knew a smoothie was the quickest way to get something healthy in me. Thus I ended up with:

A banana (creaminess)

A honeycrisp apple (tartness and body)

2 handfuls of raspberries (flavor)

2 TBS of PB2 (protein & flavor, without as much fat as regular peanut butter. I don't think fat is the devil. I think it's good and helps hold me over and is a necessary part of a meal, but I like having PB2 as an option. Regular PB would be fine too. If you do use regular PB, leave out the next ingredient which is...)

1 TBS coconut butter (nutrition & fat)

As much water as you need to get it moving in the blender, and a ton of ice. 

I also added a tablespoon and a half of hemp seeds (nutrition, creaminess), and a teaspoon and a half of diatomaceous earth (a whole other conversation), but those are optional.

*****

Like I said, nothing ground-breaking but a happy accident nonetheless. I know I'm always looking for new smoothie combinations, so maybe you are, too. I'm drinking it while I write this out - yum!