Lasagna Part Two

Remember when I tried a Pumpkin Lasagna recipe for my family a few months ago? And remember that it was a complete disaster? Huge disaster, on par with Katrina and Haiti. It's still talked about with my family; the line, "Well, it can't be worse than pumpkin lasagna," is a common phrase tossed about at dinner quite frequently.

Last night I made regular ol' lasagna, with meat and cheese, for my family to celebrate my mom's birthday. This was the result:


















I unfortunately deleted the corresponding pictures of the pumpkin lasagna, but they were the exact opposite--full plates and barely touched main dish. I'm glad it was a success, so my slowly-growing cooking confidence wasn't completely shattered.

Getting Ready

Tomorrow is Turkey Day. This is my first Thanksgiving home in two years, and I've decided to sort of become co-host of the day. To take the burden off my mom I am in charge of dessert, the sweet potatoes, and rolls. This might sound simple, but I'm making all of them from scratch. Well, I'm not growing the yams or making the cream cheese, obviously, but nothing is coming from a can or store bought.

I found a recipe online for Bourbon Pecan Smashed Sweet Potatoes. I'm going to give it a try tomorrow. I really hope it goes well, because I really love sweet potatoes and would really feel like something was missing if there weren't any. The past two years I had Thanksgiving with Maria and Marky Mark and both times this is the type of sweet potatoes they made. Seeing as how anything straying from the accepted norm doesn't always go over so well with my family, this could end up being disastrous. (Going to the liquor store for the bourbon was quite fun; I definitely felt out of place and that everyone around me could tell I had no idea what I was doing.)

As for the rolls, I'm making them from a recipe from a friend's Aunt who made them while I was in Salmon. They were the best rolls I've ever had. I've never made them before, and I love rolls more than I love sweet potatoes and would feel like a complete failure if they didn't turn out being somewhat edible. I would have to declare Thanksgiving officially ruined.

Thankfully, though, my desserts are to die for and tried and true. My signature dessert is White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake, which is cooling as I type, and always gets great reviews. I've also made a Decadent Peanut Butter Pie that is setting in the fridge. So if nothing else goes right, at least we'll have something sweet to drown our empty stomachs in.

A Post for Phaedra

I was slightly chastised by my cousin for not blogging enough lately; normally my blog is on the top of her reading list but lately it has been falling in recentness. To slightly help explain, let me just say that after moving into my recent housing settlement I immediately felt like it wasn't right and tried my hardest to do things after work to avoid having to go home until absolutely possible. But that doesn't mean I didn't have things I wanted to blog about; I started a couple posts but abandoned them when I felt like my writing skills were slightly on the fritz.

Some of the things I was going to write about: time management, the first Jazz pre-season game, attending the blessing of my cousin's new baby girl, family dynamics (check out my new blog dedicated to The Perkes Girls), the irony of me getting a job at Myriad Genetics when in high school I wanted to be a geneticist before taking a film class my first semester at Snow College, the dating coach that spoke at my Singles Ward FHE and my own quest to be proactive in dating (check out my other blog project, The Cat and Julie Project), getting to 3 Nephi 22 again in my reading and remembering how comforting it was three years ago when I read it in the Conference Center waiting for conference to start, identifying with the lyrics of Yellowcard's Back Home while riding TRAX, and my newest obsession (and waste of time), Farmville.

Since I don't like blogging about things that are long past, let me start my blogging re-energization(that might not be a word; Firefox doesn't recognize it, so hopefully Phaedra won't be upset if it's spelled wrong) by telling you, oh faithful readers, about my attempt later today to make Pumpkin Lasagna for my family. I saw the recipe on MSN and thought it would be a great way to celebrate the fall season. I bought all the ingredients yesterday, including my first-ever purchase of chard, and will be starting to make it shortly. Updates, and pictures, to follow...

Turkey Day Photo Montage

A Turkey on the Subway

I picked up our Thanksgiving turkey this afternoon at Whole Foods. It was a little crazy, but after some help from a very polite and competent worker, I had my turkey and roasting pan in a bag and I was on my way. And how many times do you get to ride the subway with a turkey? It seemed like a strange but very cool thing to do.

And now I just got done making my first ever pumpkin cheesecake. It's currently in the oven, and I hope it turns out okay. I followed a recipe given to me by my friend Paula; her cheesecake is amazing and I figured I couldn't go wrong with her recipe. My signature dessert is white chocolate raspberry cheesecake that gets very good reviews from my family, but I decided to go with something more Thanksgiving-y. But I get very nervous about making something for the first time for a big event with other people. I sure hope it goes okay! I accidentally put in one Tablespoon of cinnamon instead of one teaspoon. Whooops! I guess we'll see how it tastes tomorrow...

So I'm very excited for tomorrow and the food I'll get to eat. Marky mark is a fabulous cook and has some great ideas for our turkey and meal. He is very gourmet; he is a self-proclaimed "foodie" and is kind of a food snob. He even has a special way he wants to fold our napkins! I will definitely take pictures tomorrow and post them. Happy Thanksgiving Eve!