Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving. Family, friends, and food. Gathered together for feasting and expressions of thankfulness. What a wonderful holiday!

2 Pilgrims and an Indian

Caroline, Clayton, and Austin with Great Grandma (GG)

 Beautiful Thanksgiving table and fabulous food - roast turkey, mashed potatoes, Dad's famous stuffing, Begley scalloped oysters, squash, green beans, gravy, and cranberry sauce.

 

Our contribution was the dessert - Pumpkin Pie with Ginger Streusel and our "oreo turkeys"

 

Welcome home Daddy!

Kevin has been extremely busy at work...out of town for most of the month, working late nights, working on Sunday...

We've missed him!

Here was his greeting when he got home from the airport. What could be better than a greeting like this?

some oldies...

Leaves!

Pic of my little patient a few weeks back when he was in the ER.

Watching the Bears game with Daddy!

Caroline reading a book to her brothers

tis the season for...

new jammie pants!  A lot of the pajamas you buy are like compression-suits... skin tight, not so comfy, and made out of gross fire-retardant fabric. 
So, I followed this lady's instructions and made the kids some new jammie pants.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Sew-Your-Own-Pajama-Pants/?ALLSTEPS

They were really simple to make and they love them! Austin was thrilled to have "raffy pants" that match his giraffe lovey. :)

Empanadas!

My good friend Erica's mom is from Peru and makes the most amazing empanadas (south american pastries filled with savory fillings). Although her recipe is top secret, I thought I'd try my hand at it. I found a recipe on epicurious.com, modified it a bit, and tried it out for my family. They were a hit!

Beef Empañadas

3 hard-boiled large eggs
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound ground beef chuck
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped pimiento-stuffed olives ( or more, depending on your taste)
1 (14-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice, drained, reserving 2 tablespoons juice, and chopped
1 package frozen empanada pastry disks, thawed. Goya brand (I know they are sold at Garden Fresh). You could try making your own empanada dough, rolling it out, and cutting into equal sized circles, but that's too much effort for me!
vegetable oil
 
Hard boil and dice each egg. Set aside. 

Cook onion in olive oil in a heavy medium skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until softened. Add garlic, cumin, and oregano and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in beef and cook, breaking up lumps with a fork, until browned.

Add olives, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and tomatoes with reserved juice, then cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced but mixture is still moist, about 5 minutes. Spread on a plate to cool. Add egg.

Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle.
Lay a large sheet of plastic wrap on a dampened work surface (to help keep plastic in place), then roll out an empanada disk on plastic wrap to measure about 6 inches. Place 3 tablespoons meat mixture on disk . Moisten edges of disk with water and fold over to form a semicircle, then crimp with a fork or your fingers. Make more empanadas in same manner.
Brush empanadas with oil and bake on an oiled baking sheet in a 425°F oven until golden, about 10 minutes.

(Note - if you have young children/picky eaters, it's easy to just set aside a little of the beef and stuff their empanada shells with just the beef & spices.  Since my boys are not lovers of olives or chunks of tomatoes, I just set aside a little beef before I added the olives, tomatoes, and eggs and stuffed theirs with the plain beef and they liked it! It's a good way to introduce them to a new food without scaring them away before even trying it with ingredients you know they don't like.) 

Dinner with the Wood fam!

Last weekend, we got to have dinner at my parents house with the Mazur four and the newly-returned-from-their-African-safari-honeymoon Taylor and Jess.

the five Wood Grandchildren

The "babies" of the family

 

This is the aftermath of hurricane "letting-little-kids-help-you-open-wedding-gifts"

Hi-LAR-I-OUS!

I can't BELIEVE this took place in my mothers house!

"Reverse" trick-or-treating at Winchester House

The day after Halloween, we went reverse trick-or-treating (in other words, handed out candy) to the residents and nursing staff at Winchester House.

A butterfly, a wet-vac, and a cowboy

Trick-or-Treating in downtown Libertyville.  Austin LOVED every minute!

Halloween Parties and Parades...

I was the helper mom at Clayton and Caroline's Halloween parties. Lots of fun...lots of sugar...and lots of energy.