Day Of Thanks

This was probably the best Thanksgiving I have had in a very long time. Don't get me wrong, I love my brothers and parents and just having dinner with them, but this year was extra special. My nanny surprised all of us by having my aunt and cousins come up for a visit! An awesome surprise. We haven't seen them in 7 or so years. Aka the Best Thanksgiving ever!

All my prep work really paid off the day of. Except I really should have made the crisp on Wednesday, because the oven ended up being full at my house anyway (we roasted the turkey at my grandmas but we roasted a turkey breast at our house, I guess we really did need it though). So I tried to bake the crisp in our toaster oven, but I did burn it slightly. Opps.

So my version of the crisp went like this:

Grape and Cranberry Crisp

Filling:
4 cups black and red grapes (about 2 1/2 cups black and 1 1/2 cups of red)
2 cups fresh cranberries
4 tablespoons coconut palm sugar
3 tablespoons arrowroot
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping:
1 cup oats
1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon flax seeds
3 tablespoons coconut palm sugar 4 tablespoons smart balance (other butter sub)
1 cup walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix the filling,

place in a pie plate and start to bake the filling for 15 minutes, while you make the topping.

Mix together the dry ingredients.

Add (cut in) the smart balance until the topping starts to clump up,

add in the walnuts.

Take the filling out of the oven and

top it with the topping. Bake for another 30 minutes or until nice and golden on top.

Serve with some TrueWhip and coffee or tea!

Oh my gosh AMAZING!

Way to go Amy at Fragrant Vanilla Cake.

So my turkey day plate looked like this:

(ok so I had begun eating before I took the picture, but hey I was hungry and we were waiting for my aunt and uncle to come [who I love with all my heart, but they tend to run rather late for functions, love them dearly though! and Hey I am also the queen of being late!] but my belly was calling the food).

Guinnuess Pumpkin Beer Bread, roasted carrots, parsnips, and butternut squash, and steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

The bread was good, had a nice spice to it, but I felt like it was lacking something, not sure what though. (I keep feeling like this with all of my food lately, hum? I really wonder why. Maybe something is wrong with my taste buds?) Everybody absolutely loved the roasted veggies, even people who dislike parsnips. Anything roasted taste good so I blame it on that and the fact that I burned it slightly =].

And dessert the perfect end to one of the greatest Thanksgivings ever.

I just want to thank the Lord for my amazing family and friends and every opportunity he has giving me. I love walking with him everyday and I cherish those that he has put in my life. 

Proof that I did burn the crisp slightly:

I picked off the burntness. It's in a line across the top because I was baking it in the toaster oven and that was where the heat source was.

Not all burnt things are that tasty.