A Very Veggie Thanksgiving Food Blogger Style

Everyone looks forward to Thanksgiving for many reasons.  For most of us its the time spent with family and of course, a table over-flowing with all of our favorite turkey day favorites.  This year, I had another Thanksgiving feast to look forward to after the family festivities... A food blogger gathering at Cate's house last Saturday night.

Cate was nice enough to host me along with Joanne and Sarah.  What a wonderful group of food loving people to break bread with on such an occasion!  Since we all figured we would have our fill of turkey by the time Saturday arrived, it was decided that we'd focus on the best part of the big meal... the veggie sides and dessert!  

All About Roasting (Basic Roast Chicken)

When it comes to the cooler months, I look forward to a slower schedule and more time on the weekends to be with My Family.  This weekend was a nice long one since it was Thanksgiving and we had more time than usual to spend together. 

Today, we went for a hike and spent 2 hours wandering through the trails. It was a really nice way to enjoy such beautiful weather in November!  It also made me feel a little less guilty about having 2 Thanksgiving celebrations- one with family and one with some blogger friends, Cate, Joanne and Sarah.  I'll share a bit more about that later this week.

Extra time with family is something I look forward to because life seems to get so busy, even when you don't think you have that much going on.  When I received a copy of All About Roasting: A New Approach to a Classic Art, I was thrilled.  Putting dinner into the oven after a little time prepping it, means more time to snuggle with my boys!

Secret Recipe Club: S'Mores Cookie Bars

It's that time again!  Another reveal day for the Secret Recipe Club!  I'm enjoying participating each month because I'm discovering some new fabulous blogs AND actually committing to make a recipe from someone else's blog each month.  Go check it out if you haven't heard if it already.

This month, I was pleasantly surprised that I was assigned Joelyn's blog, What's Cookin, Chicago? because I've been reading her blog forever!  She has some seriously gorgeous food photos over there, and if I lived in Chicago I'd be begging to be invited to one of her amazing gatherings!  She's always planning a food or wine get-together and the menu and items shared always have me wishing I could have been there.

Once again, I went for a sweet treat when it came to choosing a recipe.... but, then when I saw the recipe for S'Mores Cookie Bars I didn't dare look any further.  I just knew they would be a hit with My Boys and their friends, too. 

Nutella Gelato: A recipe I couldn't resist making!

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am really enjoying my ice cream maker!  Something I really wanted to try making was gelato... but, I just wasn't sure where to begin. 

 

Then, during last month's Secret Recipe Club reveal, I stumbled upon a recipe for Nutella Gelato that was shared by Join Us Pull Up a Chair.  This recipe was initially posted by Baking & Biking who originally made it as a Nutella Gelato Shake.  Now, it sounds like one of those stories told by your best friend's sister's brother's ex-girlfriend's cousin... or something like that.

 

Anyway, it's worth it for this recipe!  Nutella and gelato... they had me at Nutella!  Rich, chocolatey, creamy goodness that I have a hard time resisting... I have found it's extremely delicious when a spoon is inserted into the jar and a nice big mound of Nutella can then be licked off of said spoon.  Just sayin'... if it's in the house, it better be  hidden 'cuz it's not gonna last long!