Preparing for Thanksgiving and Black Friday/Cyber Monday

Right now I am juggling making things for tomorrows dinner ( we are alone this year and will spend some time at a local soup kitchen to help with their Free Turkey dinner) so I must get everything ready ( including the Turkey- roasted) before then. Right now I have a loaf of bread in the oven so we will have bread for lots of Turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving and when I am busy this weekend getting ready for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. I was invited to a trunk show but hesitated because of my health, now I am glad I didn't fork out the 100 bucks, I would have had to forfeit.

Next to go into the oven will be this luscious Pumpkin Cheesecake that has the most wonderful Maple Pecan glaze ( aka praline topping made with almost a whole bottle of real maple syrup and heavy cream~). I already baked us a coffee cake for our b'fast tomorrow, and some Orange Cranberry bread to go with the meal, not to mention the Orange Cornbread which I will add some Neshama sausage and apples to it with some broth I get from the Turkey after I cook down the carcass to night. If you are wondering why all the baking and not even using canned broth, I have Celiac disease and can't have many products and I do just about all our baked goods, from cookies to breads, pies, and even donuts.

We will have Butternut Squash and pumpkin soup for lunch with some veggie chips and my famous Spinach Garlic dip!

As soon as hubby gets home ( early today, although he did work Sunday to have today off! Until they asked him to come in and sub for some inspectors and supervisors who were off. ) I will have him tackle the bird. I like to stuff him with citrus and sage and take fresh sage, chop it up and mash it into about a half stick of butter and carefully stuff this under the whole skin of the breast. It filters down into the meat and is just delicious! I can cook a 12 turkey in under 3 hours so it won't take long.


I just checked on the bread and it has risen so high! It must be 8" or more! Here it is, a contrary bread, no matter how much I spray the pan it always sticks! I have to remember next time to use parchment paper!

In between all this I am frantically taking pictures for Friday, I will be trying to post as many items I have done as possible. Then after next Monday I ( hopefully) can get back to creating again! I really want to work on some place card/favors for the holiday season.

While I was taking pictures I looked up in my studio at the ceiling fan and this stained glass Magen David I made over 7 years ago caught my eye. It is very overcast out but the light caught it just right and I snapped a pic or two. I thought they came out pretty good, until I loaded them into the laptop and saw the cobwebs, I guess I'll have to dust in there more often!

I sure wish that the camera would capture details like that when I want it to!! This shot was taken about 9 ft away and in dim light! I shoot in a light box, close up and sometimes can't get that clarity! Oy!