Welcome to the weekend, friends! I hope that your Thanksgiving was everything you wanted it to be this year. (And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, I’m wishing you a wonderful weekend too!) We had a great visit with family and I’m happily enjoying some couch time and games with my boys this weekend.
ON THE BLOG this week: Tangy cranberry pancakes topped with maple syrup make getting out of bed on the weekend a little bit easier. I’ll be making these a couple more times for certain before cranberry season comes to an end.
Speaking of syrup, brown sugar and butter can be simmered together to create a caramel toffee-flavored homemade syrup like nothing you’ve ever tasted. This sauce is no substitute for maple syrup, Brown Butter Homemade Syrup is awesome all by itself.
Crisp baby spinach, spring mix lettuces, tart apples, sweet raisins, crunchy almonds, and the ultimate honey cider salad dressing are combined to create this fantastic Spinach Apple Salad.
Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls are for those of us who love traditional cabbage rolls almost as much as we hate the time it takes to roll and bake them. Bites of juicy ground beef with fluffy rice and tangy tomato sauce are made even better in this simple one-skillet meal.
Just in case you haven’t yet tried it, many of you went absolutely CRAZY over this Cranberry Jalapeno Dip for Thanksgiving. “The sweet heat that you can not stop eating” is the best way to describe this creamy cranberry jalapeno dip. I am snacking on some this afternoon as I write this and I’m willing to bet I’ll be making more this weekend.
Oven-roasted cabbage with balsamic and roasted onions is nothing short of a crazy obsession for me at this point. Try it once and you will understand.
Do you have leftover turkey? Try adding it to this potato and vegetable soup for a hearty meal that you’re certain to savor. With some rolls and jalapeno honey butter on the side, this is a dinner I’m already looking forward to eating tomorrow.
What I’m CRAVING: Truthfully? Not a whole lot. Funny how a day of feasting does that to us, doesn’t it? Though I’m likely to be polishing off the rest of the Strawberry Pretzel Salad with every meal until it’s done.
My FAVORITE THING this week is Bananagrams. I played this game all week with both the adults and the kids and we all had a lot of fun. (I play with my boys often and we love it.) It’s such fun to watch the little kids figure it out and it’s always a blast with the linguists and wordsmiths in the family too. (I linked to the two-pack of this game because it’s a screaming deal on sale right now!)
What I’m READING: 22 Seconds by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (link HERE) This is the most recent book in the Women’s Murder Club series and I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, as tends to happen with larger series of books, after 20 books things admittedly get a little bit monotonous at times, however, I still enjoy this series.
The first 10-15 books in this series are really great reads though if you’re looking for something new. The series is centered around a homicide detective, medical examiner, crime reporter, and district attorney who are good friends as well as main players through these stories. While I still enjoy the new books, I don’t tend to jump on them as soon as they’re released these days.
What I’m WATCHING: Father of the Bride. This is Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, and Kimberly Williams at their best. I grinned when I saw it pop up as a free watch on Amazon Prime the other day. I still love this movie as much as I did the first time I watched it.
This is feel-good family-friendly humor that I hope never goes out of style. (I did a double-take when I noticed that it was released over 30 years ago!) It’s definitely a movie worth watching again if it’s been a while.
“Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalms 106:1
Wishing you a beautiful week full of little things that make you smile!
Mary
