Thanksgiving is around the corner and we are all gearing up for friendsgivings, holiday travels, friends, family, and giving thanks. I have prepared a list of Thanksgiving Food ideas to give you all some friendly inspiration!
Side dishes
Main dishes (things besides Turkey!)
October is in full-swing!!! Busy busy October. I never have time in October. In high school and college, it was midterms, school activities in full throttle. Now at work, professionals are mostly back from summer vacation and are gearing up for the last quarter before the new year. Then, my friends mentioned Halloween last night, and I stopped and was like AHH! haven’t thought about it AT ALL. No costume, no plans. Help!
Hope everyone is having a fantastic LDW soaking up the sun!!! Although its September, and basically tomorrow is the unofficial start to fall (due to Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced Latte being in stores nationwide), the weather is still warm but I can’t help but get excited about my favorite cooking season of the year!!! FALL!!! I love the pumpkin and the warm spices, and because summer continues on and on, later and later every year, there’s only a short time for pumpkin (before Santa Claus rolls in with peppermint and chocolate). The weather plays a huge factor in what my taste buds want, and when its hot out, there is little room for pumpkin cravings. But I figured that since tomorrow is the start of unofficial fall, and I am heading to Alaska, the cold cold rainy time for the state, I figured I would begin the celebrations in hopes that when I return from my vacation, that it’ll be full on fall in CA!
These pumpkin snickerdoodles are really bomb. They’re chewy and soft, with pumpkin and spices hinted in there. People say snickerdoodles are sugar cookies better cousin and I totally couldn’t agree more! Make these and enjoy them with your first of many pumpkin spice lattes! Or you can pair them with Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Ice Cream for sandwiches!
More pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin!!! I made these in an effort to conserve energy in the morning and grabbing and going with my breakfast as a leave the house to board a bus. I learned awhile back that you can freeze muffins and then when you want to eat them, place them in the fridge overnight and it should defrost. Pop them in the microwave and you have got a hot muffin! How fun and convenient!! It’s like when I learned you can do that with bagels – one of my obsessions. More on that obsession some day. These muffins are packed with nutrition – pumpkin, quinoa, spices. It is an easy way to pack quinoa into your routine if you don’t want to cook it all the time. Quinoa is very high in protein so you can eat it to fuel your day! It is basically a seed, and it is fascinatingly related to spinach, beetroots, and tumbleweeds (I actually once had a friend tell me that he thought tumbleweeds were fake things that crossed in Bugs Bunny’s path in the cartoon…I basically choked in laughter.) Anyway, these are perfect fall breakfast foods! Enjoy them today!
This seems like the recipe of the pumpkin season! I’ve seen multiple people make these on their own – I’ve made it twice already! These are uber moist, soft, chocolate chip cookies with a spice. It’s fancy but easy at the same time. I plan to make these several times again this season, so they may be coming to your door in SF! I recently moved to SF and cannot wait to start my new job in the FiDi. Can’t believe I’m using that word. Always went through the area when I was younger to get to Chinatown or other parts of the city and have always looked up towards the sky inside the district. Can’t believe I actually will be working there, and in the building that houses the Montgomery Bart station. Should be a super fun time, and I get to have a kitchen again! Super excited (also dreading it) that I will be cooking daily again!
It’s Pumpkin Time!!! Finally! My favorite food season is upon us! Happy October 1st ya’ll! Trader Joe’s has rolled out their plethora of pumpkin goodies – did you know they have Pumpkin Bagels and Pumpkin Mochis? This world has gone pumpkin crazy! I love how pumpkin has gone to super duper mainstream in the recent years – I mean look at Starbucks – they rolled out their Pumpkin Spice Latte a month or two ago! Everyone is getting creative with pumpkin nowadays, and you should too! There’s definitely more to pumpkin than pumpkin pie – trust me.
These are 4 of my Pumpkin recipes that I enjoyed making last year! I can’t count how many times I have made this pumpkin bread – you know it’s great when even I make it again and again – my go to recipe for pumpkin bread. This year, I hope to post up some Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Pumpkin Pie, and some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!!! Stay tuned for those in the coming weeks! I LOVE PUMPKIN!
Today has been a wonderful day. It’s finally a week before Thanksgiving and I am super duper excited to go home and get my holiday on! I even packed yesterday, which is so unlike me because I scramble at the last minute haha. I began today finally logging into my student loan account and found out that I owe a tad bit less than I thought – I mean it’s still an atrocious amount, but it’s not unmanageable either. I learned from my friend that I can peg it to my future income which is exciting!!! All in all, I am just super stoked about my adult life and really planning for the future. In addition, Venmo launched an awesome promotion where you win money by clicking on leaves that is falling off a money tree. And it spread like wildfire and everyone was totally spreading it that probably overwhelmed the servers. It truly is so exciting and fulfilling when you know you will be working for such an awesome, fun company that people love and get excited about. 🙂 I also had Thanksgiving lunch today at the school’s gourmet restaurant – La Gran Terraza. It is totally a hidden gem inside our school and only a walk across the street for me. I have come here several times now and I have loved every bit of it. Their unlimited buffet lunches are only $14 – it’s such a good deal given all the gourmet food and desserts you get – I had pumpkin creme brulee and pecan pie. YUMMY! So feeling festive, I came home having the itch to bake. I don’t like sweet things and I don’t have too many people who live near me I can drop them off to, but I just felt the urge. I came across this recipe a few days ago and became consumed with the thought of making them. I hope you will too 🙂
I used to make this all the time, almost twice a month because I would bring it to work! But since I am not working this semester really that much and I don’t have an office to go to, I have delayed making this. I finally was like I’m craving chocolate and my roomies will eat it, so Sunday night baking commenced! This pumpkin bread is super easy. I can’t stress how something so delicious can be so easy to make! You can add the chocolate chips if you want, or not. I was craving chocolate at the moment. Ever since my epic half marathon, I have basically eaten everything in sight. I need to go on a cleanse ASAP. I keep delaying it, but I think I will do one after the holidays. In the meantime, get fat! hehe
Soooo I am going to PORTLAND this weekend!!! SOO excited! Anyone have any good suggestions on places to go/eat?! I am totally guilty of procrastination and have a large 20 page paper looming over me that I haven’t started. Oops. It doesn’t help when Halloween is fast approaching and since this weekend I am celebrating it 2 weekends in a row, ain’t nobody got time for a paper! hahah It started raining today in SD and so I wanted something thick and warm and with pumpkin. Chili sounded like a good idea and so you have it! Delicious and healthy turkey white bean pumpkin chili. Such a mouthful. See my 2 sad lonely corn tortillas? Well they were supposed to be cheese quesadillas but I forgot the cheese…
It’s already Fall, and almost October ya’ll! And Fall is my favorite food season because of all the PUMPKIN around!!! Last year, I went on a shopping spree at Trader Joe’s, buying up everything from pumpkin ice cream to pumpkin chai lattes. I have so far held off my pumpkin obsession…but it isn’t October yet…soooo….it might spark up again soon. In a few days. Wee! Anyhoo, for those of you who have been keeping up with my blog, know I love mac&cheese. Remember that delicious Lobster Mac&Cheese? Well its Fall, so I thought I would put a Pumpkin twist on it! It turned out perfectly and I can’t wait for you to all try it!!! Happy Fall everyone! Look out for many many pumpkin recipes in the next few months! 😀
Put a Ring on Annie 