Can you say hectic?...but lots of fun!!!

Yesterday for the girl's Thanksgiving luncheon I made a new recipe. I have never really liked sweet potatoes or squash but I keep trying them. I try all sorts of different recipes but nothing has really done it for me...that is until now. I made a Sweet Potato & Apple bake that was really, really good! I really have no idea where I got the original recipe from but it has been in my recipe box for years and years. I went hunting for a Thanksgiving recipe and there it was. I did change it around quite a bit so I am not sure that the old recipe even applies but it did give me the inspiration to come up with apples and sweet potatoes together!

The dish went very quickly so the teachers didn't even get to take anything home with them! Anyway here is the recipe Sweet Potato & Apple Bake (will feed 8-10 people). I would have loved to take some pictures to show you but we wee in such a rush trying to get out the door with a Turkey (very hot turkey at that!), stuffing, sweet potato and apple bake, and gravy (we had so many requests for the gravy secret I will try and post that later today!) that I forgot my camera or to take pictures before we left!!!

Today is a day of preparation. We have 16 people coming for dinner tomorrow and what a meal is in store for them.

fried turkey
corn casserole
mashed potatoes
oyster dressing
sweet potatoes
green beans
pumpkin pie
and my now famous pumpkin muffins

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

We hate Comcast!!!!...but love Thanksgiving

Well after 2 days of no Internet service we are finally back again. This week (Tuesday we hope) we will be ridding ourselves forever of the evil Comcast. Here's a bit of history...about 9 months ago we were forced to change our Internet service from Time-Warner to Comcast. We had been with Time-Warner since about 1988 so changing was pretty traumatic. Anything that we had ever signed up for had our old email addresses. Now Comcast did tell us that we would have a short grace period where our old email addresses would still be forwarded to us. Well that never f**** happened. So changing this meant changing our email addresses and everything. No small feat to be honest with you! Up til now I have still been having trouble with passwords that were with my old email address! Now due to horrible service (they will actually hang up on you) and more outages than working days we are being forced once again to make a change. I think human nature dictates that none of us like change all that much anyway but when a huge task is looming in front of you it is even worse! Wow...am I ever looking forward to next week???!!!

Fortunately though there is a light at the end of that long tunnel and we have Thanksgiving next week as well. As usual I have invited a ton of people so it should be a great day! We will end up having close to 20 people for dinner. But am I afraid? No Way!!! We live for this stuff. We already have the meal all planned out. This one is a big one for us so T. usually does most of the cooking. or at least most of the prep work. I like to make it pretty! So I spend a huge amount of time just making it all look good. I always get so excited knowing that my house will be full of screaming happy children and relaxed laid back adults and then along comes the food and that is when we really shine. We will be frying a turkey once again this year. I will fill you in on the whole menu later this week.

This will prove to be a very busy week though. The children also have a Thanksgiving Luncheon in each of their classes. This year we are in charge of the turkey and stuffing for my oldest daughter's class so we already have a 20 pound turkey in our very small refrigerator thawing out! For my younger daughter's class I think I will be trying out a new recipe with baked Sweet Potatoes and Apples (I'll post this recipe once I find out how it is and what I am going to change to make it better). I would like to serve this on our Thanksgiving as we have a vegetarian and I am always looking for new recipes fro her to try!

Hope your weekend is full of friends and family!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Oh Nooo!!!

Yesterday I tried to make the Apple Cranberry Muffins. They taste really good but the pictures don't do them any justice...actually the pictures look better than they really look. My own fault though. I hate for the kids to have all purpose flour and white sugar. We believe that the closer o nature you stay the healthier it is. So I substituted all purpose flour for Wheat flour and white sugar for organic brown sugar. I know that there is something that I need to take into consideration when I do this (less whole wheat flour? more sugar? more liquid?) but I am always into a recipe when I realize that once again I forgot to look this up. If anyone has any ideas let me know!

Doesn't it just figure? I spent most of last night making food for my party tonight and then my oldest daughter woke up this morning sick!!! I think we will be able to quarantine her okay and there won't be any children here so on with the party we go!!!

Menu:

Wild Mushroom Dip
Spinach Veggie Sandwiches - Done

Make Ahead Marinated Shrimp - Done

Cream Cheese Lollipops
Brownies - Done

So I am well under control. I just have to clean a bit and then I am all set.

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy

http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Another crazy weekend!

I woke up yesterday just like every other morning, a little stiff, a little achy (we were in a serious car accident about 3 years ago and are still being treated so this is normal). Little did I know that within an hour I would hardly be able to move my head!!! I somehow ended up with a huge knot in my neck as have pain halfway down my back, through my chest and head!!! Not nearly as much fun as it sounds. Oh well...life still goes on and I still have things to do!

I am in the midst of preparing for my Partylite Candle party which is gong to be on Thursday night. I am pretty excited. I have a bunch of new recipes that I can't wait to try out. I can't wait to give you the recipes and have pictures to show you as well!

Partylite Party Menu

Wild Mushroom Dip
Spinach Veggie Sandwiches
Make Ahead Marinated Shrimp
Cream Cheese Lollipops
Brownies

I am kinda stumped on a drink to make. If anyone has any ideas that would help me greatly! I would like something that I can make a big batch of and have in pitchers to serve during the party. I should have about 15 or so people. Any ideas????

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Can you see the fear in my eyes???

So we have about 4 days until our party on Sunday. Am I afraid? Can you see fear in my eyes? Not a chance! We have decided on a menu. Started shopping and gathering all of the supplies we will need. It is nice to have this head start. Sometimes we decide to do this just a couple of days before and we don't get all of this extra time!

We will be serving Smoked Pork Butt, Baked BBQ Lima Beans, Dirty Rice, Italian Salad and Golden Margaritas (and Beer) as the beverage. For the children we will have PB & J roll ups and juice. Sounds pretty good huh? Almost all of these items can be made ahead so we aren't having to cook while everyone is here. We have over 30 people (children are included) coming. I ordered some extra chairs from our local party rental company. You can get these for about $1.50 a piece and I figured seeing as we are in SW Florida and the temperature is about 100 degrees come late afternoon I needed to give people a spot to plop their bottoms. We have a water slide and a bounce house as well as the pool to keep the kids going. It should be a good time for everyone! I will be featuring these recipes in my October Newsletter. Sign up now at www.nofearentertaining.com.

Check back for new posts to see how we are doing as we get closer and closer to party day!

Happy Entertaining!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Deciding on a Menu

We have pretty much decided what we are going to serve for our Labor Day party. Now we have to figure out where to get the items from. I have found some really good online sources for some of our menu. I have put some of those links on my website at http://www.nofearentertaining.com/ on Our Favorite Links page. Check them out!