I'm Thankful for Turtle Pumpkin Pie!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  As with many holidays here in Kitimat, this year we got together with a group of friends and had a Thanksgiving Dinner Potluck.  I love these holiday meals; in addition to the great time we have spending time with our Kitimat friends, we get to try out recipes that, while new to us, are time-honoured traditions in our friends families.  I volunteered for dessert duty on both Thanksgivings we have spent in Kitimat, and although my dessert of choice may not be a traditional family recipe, it is quickly becoming a tradition in my new household, and at our Thanksgiving potlucks!

Last year my mother introduced me to Turtle Pumpkin Pie.  My sister was making it for our family's Thanksgiving Dinner, and as Mom was describing it I knew it would be the perfect dessert to take along to our Thanksgiving Dinner!  I personally love traditional Pumpkin Pie, however some people don't enjoy it, although interestingly enough they almost always like pumpkin flavoured foods (lattes, cookies, and the like).  My theory is that it is the heavy cooked pudding consistency of pumpkin pie that they don't like.  And fair enough; these are probably the same folks who take a pass when bread pudding or custard is on the menu.

Turtle Pumpkin Pie, a Kraft Foods concoction, takes the flavour of pumpkin pie and puts it into a sweeter, fluffier form.  It still uses canned pumpkin, but instant vanilla pudding mix, milk, and Cool Whip are added to make a delightful cream pie filling that is spooned into a graham cracker crust lined with caramel topping and pecans (just like a Turtles chocolate, see?)  The pumpkin filling is topped with lots of Cool Whip and then drizzled with more caramel and a sprinkle of pecan pieces as the final touch.  It's really rich and yummy, and will change the mind of many pumpkin pie opponents.  

Another great thing about Turtle Pumpkin Pie?  It's super easy to make; in fact, it's no-bake!  It only takes an hour to set up in the refrigerator, so you can even prepare it while the turkey's cooking. It doesn't get any better than that! (Oh alright, I suppose if it were calorie free...)

Here is a link to Kraft Canada's recipe for Turtle Pumpkin Pie.

I decided to roast a turkey for us on Monday so we could have "leftovers" during the week.  We especially love making Hot Turkey Sandwiches, and Turkey Leftover Sandwiches (with stuffing and cranberry sauce).  My project for tomorrow is to make Turkey Soup from my turkey frame (I always make sure to leave lots of turkey on the frame for the soup!) I decided to go traditional with this turkey and simply stuffed it with bread stuffing made form my Mom and Nana's recipe, and seasoned it with butter and poultry seasoning.  Sometimes, the heart just needs tradition!  Although, I will admit that I broke out my fancy turkey basting kit and injected some melted REAL butter into the meat before popping it into the oven.  It was unbelievable!

Of course, having a turkey with all the trimmings in the fridge leads to lots of late night snacking!  I will have to make sure I get in lots of walks this week!

I've enjoyed sharing some of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes and traditions with you over the last few posts.  The next big celebration?  Halloween, of course!  I've started decorating and planning already, and we picked up a batch of candy and treats for the trick or treaters when we were in town this week.  As well, I have lots of wonderful homemade treats planned! And of course, I'm looking forward to sharing it all with you!

In closing, I'd like to thank everyone who commented on Friday's post; what an outpouring!  You made me feel great!  I am still catching up with visiting everyone who visited my blog last week and on Monday, but rest assured I will be stopping by your blogs soon!  

Have a wonderful week (it's halfway over already!).  See you on Friday!!!

Blogland Creations - An Autumn Coffee Party

It's OCTOBER!

Time to grab your favorite sweater 

and start feelin' cozy!

Celebration season is upon us

and all those summer salads have us

out of practice for feasting.

So, come on!

Grab a caramel apple and start snacking...

Those pumpkin pies won't eat themselves!

Like the many bears that are wandering through our town right now, come Fall I feel the need to start eating.  Unlike the bears, I won't be melting off my fall fluff during a long winter's nap; come Spring, much like Winnie the Pooh, I will need to commit to some "stoutness exercises" to wear off my winter weight if I indulge myself in Fall yummies the way I'd like to.  With this in mind, I decided that I would share the wealth, so to speak, and host a coffee party so that I could make all the lovely Fall recipes I wanted without the danger of eating them all myself!

As you've probably noticed, there are some delectable looking Fall treats making the rounds of the blog hops and link parties!  Everything's coming up apples and pumpkin, maple and spice!  It was difficult to narrow my choices, but in the end I finalized my menu, featuring three absolutely scrumptious recipes from Blogland:

Pumpkin Ribbon Bread 

(by Colleen of And Baby Makes Five for Making the World Cuter)

Maple Leaf Cookies

and

Sweet Potato Cookies 

(both by Dawn of Beat Until Fluffy)

Tea Biscuits

Jam

Coffee

Assorted Teas

 There is always a bit of risk involved with planning a menu almost entirely out of new recipes.  However, these particular recipes looked so delicious that I just had to try them!  And, they were awesome.  

I knew as soon as I saw the picture of the Pumpkin Ribbon Bread that I would have to make it, and soon!  The ribbon of cream cheese running through the loaf was irresistible.   This recipe met with lots of compliments; the loaf was perfectly moist, the spices ideal, and the cream cheese was heavenly.  I have been following Tiffany Hewlett's blog Making the World Cuter for quite some time (don't you just love that title?!) and I particularly love her Monday hop Making the World Cuter Monday.  Tiffany has been on maternity leave, but while she's away she has arranged for a series of guest bloggers.  The guest blogger on September 22 was Colleen of And Baby Makes Five with her post Fresh Baked Fall Favorites, which included the recipe for Pumpkin Ribbon Bread.

One of my favorite blogs is Beat Until Fluffy. The blog's author, Dawn, is an incredible baker who blogs about her creations. I am always happy to see a new Beat Until Fluffy post pop up in my reader; they cheer me up and make me want to get baking!  I strongly suggest that you hop out of your reader and actually visit Dawn's blog; it's absolutely beautiful and features incredible photography of her creations.  You will feel your blood pressure drop (even as your tummy growls) while visiting this lovely blog! 

Dawn's recipes cooked up like a dream!  The Sweet Potato Cookies were the lightest, fluffiest little things, and they smelled and tasted wonderful!  And hey, they have veggies in them, so they're practically diet food, right?  I was disappointed that I couldn't find a leaf shaped cookie cutter for the Maple Leaf Cookies, but I was able to locate a pumpkin cutter so I improvised and make pumpkins instead.  These cookies were the hands down favorite with the kids who came to my coffee party...they were so bright and colourful and irresistibly sweet.  The red pumpkins disappeared quickly so there are none in my pictures, but they were cute.  I used Wilton gel food colouring, and, when mixed with the maple frosting, they created very cute country style shades, almost like milk paint.

My coffee party was a great success and everyone had a lovely time and lots to eat.  Of course, I made too much (I always do, I have a great fear of running out of food at a party!) but we had lots of tasty snacks to offer for the next few days.  

Thanks so much to Dawn, Tiffany, and Colleen for sharing their wonderful recipes and ideas on their respective blogs, and for making Blogland such a cool place to hang out! 

  

Today I'm linking to the following:

It (Finally) Feels Like Home...

Any of you who have relocated far away from all you knew well, held dear, and loved with all your heart, will understand my next statement:

Dorothy had it right; there's no place like home.


As most readers of this blog know by now, about a year and a half ago my husband and I relocated clear across Canada to our current place of residence - Kitimat, British Columbia. After many long hugs, tearful goodbyes, and "one last times," we packed up our Jeep with Molly and the cats and set off on a long drive across Canada.  Upon arrival in Kitimat, we resided temporarily in a local motel. Although the lodgings were comfortable and the staff friendly, nothing makes you feel more uprooted than living in a motel (and this was after 8 days of motels on the road).  After about a week, we found a nice house.   Two days later, our belongings arrived.  Once we were unpacked, (about a week later) I decided it was time for me to head out alone and check out my new town.


Kitimat is a very pedestrian friendly town, with a network of pathways and green-spaces.  However, on my Day of Bravery, I was still not familiar with any of these.  Nonplussed, I headed out with my shopping bag and basically followed, on foot, the same route my husband had taken us on wheels (No, I don't drive.).  I got myself to town all right, although I did head up a dirt road and got to see some very nice houses before I got myself turned around.  (To the locals who are reading this, do not even ask!  I've never been able to locate this dirt road again.  I personally believe that Kitimat has it's own version of the Bermuda Triangle.  And no, it wasn't Cran-, Blue-, or Strawberry Street.)  Once in the "City Center" I was OK; I went for a coffee, visited the post office, and picked up a few items at the grocery store.  Carrying the remainder of my Americano, I headed for home, feeling very much in control and enjoying the bright spring air.


This feeling did not last long.


I missed a turn.  As I walked by the soccer fields I felt my first stirrings of doubt.  Had I passed those before?  I kept going.  Hmmm. None of this looked familiar, and yet it did, as we had been taking a lot of drives around our new town.  I walked on.  Reasoning that I should just go strait (our town mainly consists of crescents and cul de sacs connected to main roadways), I plodded away, my Americano cold, my feet sore, and my spirits low, low, low.  Finally, I reached the end of the road, and saw a place that I definitely remembered from my husband's list of "Do Not Go" locations.  That was it.


I was lost.  I was lost, and I didn't know anybody, and I was never, ever, going to find my way home again.  In that moment, I hated my new town and wished desperately to be back in Sydney.  Whimpering, I turned around and headed back the way I came.  Desperate, I broke the first rule of being lost and left the "main trail" so to speak, and started roaming the crescents and cul de sacs.  At this point I didn't know if I'd even recognize my new house.  


Plum tuckered, I decided to sit down on a bench in a playground (we've got a lot of playgrounds, too.). As I crossed the grass, I looked up, and saw something I definitely recognized; the school that was across the street from our house!  There was hope!  Gathering what was left of my bearings, I headed back to the sidewalk, and, keeping one eye trained on the school, I slowly picked my way home.  Once in my house (yes, I recognized it!) I collapsed on the sofa with Molly and decided I would never, ever leave the house alone again.  At least not without a map.


Over the next few months, thanks to my husband and a few new friends, I learned the path system.  It turns out, the entire time I was wandering around lost, I was never more than 5 minutes from my front doorstep.  And the walk into town?  What took me half an hour is actually a 10 minute stroll.  With time and practice, I was soon zipping around town like I'd been here forever.  I fell in love with our new town.  The map got to stay home.  


By Fall I thought I was foolproof.  Last October I got my comeuppance when a some friends invited me to lunch at a local restaurant.  They offered to pick me up but I said that I would walk to get my exercise.  I headed out with plenty of time and enjoyed a brisk walk in the autumn air.  I kept my ears open and jingled my keys a lot, as there had been several bear sightings over the past week.  I reached the restaurant, sat down, and began to peruse the menu.  My friends had not yet arrived, but then, I was early.  Settling back in the booth, I glanced down at the table top. I noticed that the name of the restaurant was emblazoned on the tabletop...and it was not the name of the restaurant I was supposed to be sitting in.


Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no!!!!  Mumbling an incoherent explanation to the hostess, I stumbled out of the restaurant and took off running.  I checked my watch; I'd be late, but not too bad...if I took a certain path.  The path that the bears had been spotted on.


I approached the path and got out my keys.  Jingle jingle jingle.  In truth, bears are nocturnal and are rarely seen during the day, but rarely wasn't good enough for me.  I saw bears lurking behind cars and mailboxes, waving at me from windows, walking into stores.  Jingle jingle jingle, all the while jogging and leaping over honest to goodness bear scat.  Finally reaching the road the restaurant was on, my cell phone rang.  It was my friends.  I panted an explanation.  Listening to their reply, I realized that this lunch was quickly becoming a comedy of errors; the restaurant was closed.  They picked me up and we made our way back to the establishment I'd been at before my mad dash through the woods.  I gave the server my sanest smile (I think she thought I was drunk).


This all came back to me this evening.  I was out for a walk and I was zipping through the City Center.  My feet were on the path but my eyes were on the clouds swirling around the mountain tops.  I realized I'd reached a point where I didn't even need to think about the paths and roads.  I knew where I was.  It finally feels like home.


I've felt it other places, too.  A few weeks ago my husband and I went to the local coffee shop for a snack.  As we entered, he saw a group of people he knew, and I spotted a friend.  Chatting with her, I glanced across the room at my husband laughing with his friends, and I realized that this was something that happened back East all the time.  It was a familiarity of place that I had thought we might not experience again for a very long time.


There's other things, too.  When we arrived, we watched Maritime news, read the Cape Breton paper, and checked the regional headlines for Nova Scotia on CBC's website.  We knew little about BC politics and we really didn't care to.  But at some point, it changed.  Now, we wade into discussions about BC politics, events, and occurrences, and it's the "stuff" going on back East that we are less aware of (although we really do care to!).  

At first, when I realized that we were identifying BC as home, I felt guilty.  In time, I let the guilt go, realizing that to successfully relocate, you have to integrate.  So yes, while Dorothy may be right in that there's no place like home, home is indeed where you make it.  Confucius once said "Wherever you go, go with all your heart," and I think that's the trick.  Go with all your heart, and be there with all your heart.  

The Great Outdoors + A Blog Award!

Before I begin today's post, I just have to say how wonderful all your lovely comments were on Monday!  There is nothing more motivating to me than the knowledge that you enjoy my blog and my posts, and that you take the time to tell me so!  Among all the lovely comments was one from Kat of Kat's Confessions, telling me that there was an award waiting for me on her blog!  Awards are always a thrill, and this one especially so since I get to pass it along to ten lovely bloggers!  Before I can do that, however, I need to list 10 things I like in order to truly accept the award.  So here I go!

1. My beautiful dogs, Molly and Tinkywink.
2. Cape Breton Island (the "home of my heart" which I actually love)
3. "Super, Natural British Columbia" (my current home)
4. Knitting
5. Scrap-booking
6. Red wine
7. Lazy Sunday mornings in my jammies with lots and lots of coffee
8. Cooking up a storm!
9. The first snowfall
10. Blogging, and all the wonderful blogland friends I've met!

That was fun!  And now, here are the 10 blogs I'd like to share this award with:

1. Pattycake Manners
2. Housewife Bliss
3. Beat Until Fluffy
4. From the Kitchen of: Mrs. Bettie Rocker
5. Making the World C.U.T.E.R.
6. The Girl Creative
7. Bubblegum and Duct Tape
8. Tehlia.com
9. The Feminist Housewife
10. Live, Love, Green

These are all fabulous blogs and I am delighted to be able to acknowledge them with this award.  Blogging is rewarding, but it is a lot of work.  I know that many of the authors of these blogs have very busy lives in addition to their blogging, and I so appreciate the work they put into their blogs.  Reading their blogs brings me a lot of joy, and I know you will enjoy them too, so I encourage you to hop over and visit them!  To my 10 recipients, in order to accept your award, you must:

1. Post who it was that gave you the award.
2. List 10 things that you like.
3. Give this award to 10 other blogs and let them know with a comment!

Now then, back to our regularly scheduled program!

As some of you noticed, I was AWOL last Wednesday until the early afternoon.  At that time, I promised an explanation. We went for a campfire with some friends at one of the local "rec" camping sites.  Recreation Sites and Trails BC is a system of backcountry camping sites that are available for use free of charge (I believe they are all free of charge) for up to 14 consecutive days.  Great idea, eh?  It was a beautiful location by the river, and we had a lovely time visiting by the fire.  Before we knew it, it was after midnight and time to head back.  It was after 1:00 AM by the time we got home and clearly, if I started blogging at that point, half asleep and full of toasted marshmallows, well, the results might have been odd!  I reasoned that I promise new content "Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays" but I never specified what time (excuses, excuses, I know!) so I sensibly went to bed and waited until I was well-rested and caffeinated before composing Wednesday's post.

We've been blessed to have lived in two places that are full of breathtaking natural beauty.  Our home in Cape Breton ranges from wildly beautiful (rugged coasts, forests, and mountains) to heart achingly lovely (fields of wildflowers, sparkling lakes, and historical reproductions).  British Columbia, as the motto says, is "Super, Natural" and this week we experienced just how much so, as the "Nature" was practically on our front doorstep.

One night last week we decided to go for a late night drive. We bundled the dogs into the car and headed out.  Not far from our house, my husband slowed the car and pointed at a lamp post in  a church parking lot.  There it was, an owl.   I've always wanted to see an owl in the wild (as opposed to a wildlife park) so this was a thrill!  We parked, got out, and quietly made our way across the lot.  However, you can't be quiet enough for an owl, and soon an ear-piercing shriek filled the night air and the owl took off, showing it's dramatic wingspan.  Mentally crossing this item off my "bucket list" we headed back to the car and out of town to Hirsch Creek Park.  Hirsch Creek Park is a provincial picnic park, and it's a few miles outside of the town proper, on an extremely dark stretch of highway.  We pulled into the parking lot and my husband told me to get out, and I didn't waste any time finding his arm to hold onto!  What could he possibly have to show me in the middle of the night out here, I wondered, when he stopped and told me to look up.  A perfect, endless northern sky, absolutely glittering with stars, canopied the Northern woods.  We star-gazed for a few moments before my nervousness returned, and we headed back to the car and into town. 

Not long after we left the park, we passed another vehicle who flashed their lights at us.  Odd, we thought, we had turned our high-beams down as soon as we saw another car on the horizon.  We shortly discovered what it was they were alerting us to: a very large porcupine was slowly making his way across the dark highway, unconcerned with anything except making his way to his next snack.  I had always pictured porcupines as tiny little fellers, but this one was huge!  Once he was across the highway, we continued into town.  As we drove past the Golf Course, another giant porcupine was waddling along the side of the road!  Marveling at all the wonderful wildlife we had observed that evening, we headed for home, and on the main road, just before we turned off onto our street, we saw the piece de reisistance, a young grizzly bear frolicking in the night air.  At the sight of the car, he stumbled around in confusion for a few moments before running off down a walking path (this is how we knew he was young; an older bear wouldn't have been confused by the sight of a silly old Jeep).  Once we were sure he was off the road, we headed home and went to bed, millions of stars still sparkling in our heads when we closed our eyes.

It was a week for nature in our small town, as we had a very rare visitor, a Kermode Bear.  Kermode, or Spirit Bears, are a rare species of bear that live in Northern British Columbia.  Some, but not all of these bears are born completely white due to a recessive gene (there's a little trivia folks, not all Kermodes are white!).  For more information on the Kermode, please visit this link to Canadian Geographic.  However, it was a white Spirit Bear that made it's way to our town and for a few days he caused quite a bit of drama as sightings of the bear were reported.  It is important to remember that even though a white Kermode is rare and exciting, it is still a bear, and it was becoming frustrated with the amateur paparazzi that were following him around (NOT advisable!).  Conservation officers were able to lure the bear into a humane live trap, and the intrepid little (well, not so little!) traveler was relocated to a better location 100 kilometers away.  Now stay put, Mr. Bear!  We love you, so we want you to stay where you're safe!

To top things off in "Super, Natural British Columbia" this week, our next door neighbor, Alberta, got its first snow of the year!  And when Northern Alberta gets snow, Northern BC is just a hop, skip, and a jump behind!  According to Environment Canada, Canada will actually have a real winter this year (for my international followers, last winter was a joke by Canadian standards, with very little snow and balmy temperatures).  This year, however, things will be different, and you can read all about our upcoming "longer and more intense" winter here.

So there you have it!  Mother Nature in all her wonder, knocking on our door and breathing down our neck!  Time to make a list of winter supplies and get on it, even with our "milder" winter last year we still had lots of snow, and it started before Halloween!

Have a great day!  See you on Friday!