Heart and soul

As I was hot-gluing scraps of coffee sack burlap onto an old binder I use as my planner, my sister-in-law texted me this link to Passion Planner.

Oh. Em. Gee. How did this lady break into my brain, heart and soul?

Can you have a planner crush on someone?

Gimme gimme gimme, I need, I need, I need.

Anyway, full disclosure, I am sharing this on the blog in order to hopefully win a free PDF of the 2015 Planner, but it also just looks like an amazing project and I would be remiss to not share it.

So go check it out!

You can even download a free print-out of the weekly layout here.

Call us overachievers

I apologize for the hiatus. We've been really busy over here, having early Thanksgivings both in California and here at home in Seattle.

You could call us overachievers.

This year we experimented with having Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night. I once overheard a co-worker say that his family did it that way. It seemed brilliant to me - get all the hard work done on a day everyone is working anyway, and then enjoy all of Thursday off, when everyone is home from work and school.

So we tried it this year. Knowing that I would have an almost 11-month old on my hands (and under my feet), I started preparing almost a week in advance.

A new rug I couldn't resist getting to spruce up the place for the holiday. My father-in-law called it Theo's magic carpet.

So last week my friend Karen came over for dinner* and we hashed out menu plans and decorations. I told her that I'm not into the "newfangled stuff" - I love brussels sprouts (not being sarcastic), but in my opinion they do not belong on a Thanksgiving table.

We agreed on a classic menu of turkey, gravy (two boats, just being realistic here), mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, peas, and rolls.

Sketching out which serving dishes I plan to use helps ensure I'm not stressing about it at the last minute.

Karen offered to bring appetizers (spanakopita (!) and eggrolls) as well as Connie's Corn Casserole, which turned out to be the most amazing thing we had ever had. At the table, Kenny dubbed it "corn butter."

"Corn butter" on the bottom right. David generously offered for it to be placed next to him.

With everyone at work/school and a baby who doesn't nap very much anymore, I knew I needed to plan ahead as much as a could, down to the details.

David and I broke down the cleaning and set-up tasks and spread them out over the days before The Dinner. When we finished an item we got to move the post-it note to the back. (Ah!)

This was by no means the complete list.

And I didn't stop there. I also made an Excel spreadsheet. Yes, you heard that right.

I totally nerded out and it was awesome.

Planning ahead allowed me to develop shortcuts that made the day of so easy. Here are the things I would do again next year in a heartbeat, whether or not Thanksgiving was on Wednesday or Thursday or in the middle of November:

• prepare all the vegetables for the stuffing the day before. When I cooked the stuffing, it was like a cooking show as I dumped already chopped veggies into the pan. (BTW, Mom, everyone loved your stuffing recipe.)
• start the stock for gravy and stuffing in a crockpot the night before. David also set the turkey in the roasting pan and in the fridge the night before so all I had to do was pull it out.
• make the mashed potatoes a couple hours before dinner and keep them warm in a crockpot. (Karen lent me hers so I had two to work with.)

Also, next year I'm definitely asking my sister-in-law to bring dessert again. She made the most amazing pumpkin cheesecake ever!

Diana thought she made a mistake and put "too much" sugar in the crust, but we just proclaimed that PAULA DEEN MADE A MISTAKE when writing the recipe and didn't include the amount Diana used.

We had a lovely dinner with way too much laughter. I asked Kenny to serve the mashed potatoes. He kept trying to give people HUGE portions. By the end of the meal, we were calling Kenny a "potato pusher." Karen caught David "trying to go horizontal" after the meal. We ended the evening with drawing names for our gift exchange and sharing what we were thankful for. (Kenny was - you guessed it - thankful for potatoes.)

I called my parents this morning. They were on the road driving somewhere for breakfast, and because my mom and I had hosted our Thanksgiving there two weeks ago, my dad named us the two most relaxed moms on Thanksgiving day.

Karen said it best when she said that having our dinner last night was like "getting our homework done before it's even Saturday."

I'm looking forward to this day lounging with family and eating leftovers. On the menu so far is turkey pho for lunch (!!!) and turkey enchiladas for dinner (!!!!).

My mom got these cute animal placecard holders on a missions trip to Africa.

So I heartily commend to you having Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday nights. 

Happy Thanksgiving all!

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* We had a true Dave Ramsey dinner, beans and rice and torn-in-half napkins. Actually, truth be told, Karen tore off and used the "less used" portion (her words, not mine) of a paper towel David brought back from the hospital cafeteria. I tried not to feel too embarrassed, but in actuality I have to love the shared frugality Karen and I have. 

Safely say

We really did it: a whole week of Mexican food. Caldo de pollo, carne asada tacos, lots of beans and tortillas. 

I even did a copycat of my favorite dish from a local Mexican restaurant. I'm not sure I should call it my favorite dish, because technically, I've never actually ordered it before. As I reached over to pick off of my sister-in-law's plate (on my birthday, I should add), I told my friend Coleen, "This is a dish I feel too guilty ordering, but not too guilty stealing off of someone else's plate."

Pollo ala crema

But aside from all those yummies, I was most surprised and delighted by a simple recipe from Liana Krisoff's Vegetarian for a New Generation. Her chipotle potato tacos were easy to make, full of flavor, and very satisfying (to the belly and the wallet as well).

Purple potatoes from our CSA box

It's actually very economical to eat one type of cuisine for a whole week because you don't waste ingredients. In the past we have thrown away bags of tortillas, wilted (let's be honest, rotted) cilantro (it's the worst), and other such odds and ends. But this week, nothing was for naught. Our Mexican week ended (or has it? Kenny wonders) with homemade tostadas and refried beans.

I can safely say we consumed almost 100 corn tortillas this week.

Can I blame Theo? Actually, this picture was from the summer, when Kathy made flour tortillas from scratch. The recipe is a good one.

At some point I want to tell you about the BEST SHREDDED BEEF TACOS EVER but I think that will have to be a post of its own. So for now, you'll have to be content with potato tacos. (Carbs on carbs is always a good thing.)



Chipotle Potato Tacos
adapated from Liana Krissoff's Vegetarian

I kept calling these "chorizo potato tacos" because "chipotle" and "potato" was such a tongue twister for me. But of course David laughed when I started to tell him, "I really want to make this recipe from the Vegetarian cookbook, these chorizo potato tacos..."

2 large russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1 inch cubes
3 T oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 t ground cumin
1/2 t Mexican oregano
2-3 T minced canned chipotle peppers*
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
sour cream, for garnish
optional garnishes: cherry tomatoes, queso fresco, limes
corn tortillas

Par-boil potato chunks: cover potatoes with cold water (I added salt) and bring to a boil. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, until just tender.

Heat up 2 T oil in a pan, then add onions and a pinch of salt. Saute until onion is nicely browned. Then add cumin, oregano, garlic, potatoes and last tablespoon of oil. Cook until they are hot and as crispy as you would like them. Finally, stir in chipotle and taste for salt.

Garnish with lots of cilantro and serve with tortillas and sour cream


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* Liana's trick to pre-mince a whole can of those chipotle peppers at once and store them in a glass jar in your fridge is brilliant. Can you imagine how delicious they would be on eggs for breakfast?