Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I am beginning my day with the smell of pumpkin pie baking in the oven and can't wait to eat some more delicious food tonight! I am so thankful for all that God has provided for us today and everyday: my children, my husband, my family, job, talents, opportunities, I could go on an on...

But for now, here are a few turkey themed crochet items & projects that I've stumbled across today:

1. Thanksgiving Doilies

2. Alvin the Turkey

3. Chester the Turkey Boy

4. Timothy the Turkey

5. Cute Turkey Hat

6. Turkey Dinner Hat

Enjoy your turkey!

☼

Pumpkin & Ginger Soup

King Damascus (otherwise known as Chong, my husband) helps out in our school & community garden which is where we got our jack-o-lantern pumpkins. We had one little one left and I've been saving it to make some pumpkin soup. Since our lives have been busy most evenings with work and other obligations, we rarely have a home cooked dinner together. However, things have changed this week and this pumpkin soup was dinner number 2 of 3 that we've had cooked in our kitchen, at home, together. That was the first leaf I put on our thankful tree.

I used a wonderful recipe from Riverford Organic Farms which is where we get our fruit and vegetable deliveries every week. I followed the recipe with just a few changes to meet our needs. First, I left out the milk. Second, I added a lot more honey than the recipe called for because we all have a sweet tooth. I also thought that might help my little girl eat it. She currently doesn't like soup.

Here's the recipe which you can also find here with the original honey amount.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 kg (2.2 lb) pumpkin, peeled, deseeded & diced

5 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled & finely chopped

2 tbsp (10ml or 2 tsp) honey

1 ltr (34 fl oz) vegetable or chicken stock

sea salt & ground black pepper

sprinkling of nutmeg

Directions:

Heat oil and butter in a large pan. Add the onions and cook on medium heat for about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not let the onions brown. Add pumpkin, ginger, honey and stir. Add stock, bring to a boil, and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until pumpkin is tender. Puree in a blender. Reheat, season, and serve with a sprinkling of nutmeg.

King Damascus loved it. Little guy liked it until he realized his sister didn't. Little girl hated it.

I also loved it and will be making it again with the other two pumpkins that are waiting in our kitchen. Maybe my little girl will like it next time!

☼

I'm linking up to these fabulous parties!

thankful tree made for free

I've seen thankful trees all on more than a few blogs that I follow, all over pinterest, and even have a friend or two with some sort of thankful tree in their home. At first, I must admit that I found the idea a little silly. Do we really need to have a tree for every holiday?? But after thinking about the real purpose of the tree and how it can be used to remind ourselves and our children to be thankful on a daily basis, and not just one day, I decided to get my kids involved and make our own thankful tree. 

I thought about different ones I've seen online, but really didn't want to spend any money on decorative crafting supplies, so I took a quick look around the kitchen and spotted an empty protein powder can. I've been making smoothies for breakfast since summer and have gone through quite a few cans. Some have been transformed into marraccas, some into drums, one stores my little boy's dinosaurs, and I was delighted to use another for the thankful tree. The whole method of making the thankful tree was so easy, kid friendly, and didn't cost a penny. If you'd like to make your own (it's not too late!) take a look around your own living space and see what you can upcycle. Here's how we did ours...

Supplies:

paint

empty can/container

sticks from the back garden

small rocks from our gravel driveway

packing paper or any other paper ready to be upcycled

paper clips from or other bendy wire for hanging leaves

(my other idea was to modpodge with packing paper, but decided on paint in the end because it's more fun for my kids)

Easy Peasy Steps:

(1) Find a can/container.  (2) Arrange sticks & fill with small stones/rocks.  (3) Paint the can.

(4) Cut leaves out of paper.  (5) Write things you are thankful for on the paper.  (6) Poke a paperclip through the top of the leaves and hang them from the tree.

We are cutting out leaves and hanging them each night with something new for which we are thankful. It's nice to watch our little thankful tree grow leaves while the leaves outside continue to fall. 

☼

I'm linking up to these fabulous parties!