2 Clever Blog

Happy Thanksgiving

Dear Think::

Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope you had a yummy day.

Here is a photo of my first Sour Cherry Pie I have ever made. 

Cherry Picking June 2008

We picked our own Cherries this summer and saved them just for today.  AK helped me with the woven top and I think it is our new Thanksgiving Tradition.  It was yummy

Here is what I am thankful for today that made my Thanksgiving great.
I am thankful for...

•  kids who keep me from ever having to buy an alarm clock
• Thankful for wonderful Brooks running shoes who make my wide feel so happy
• Thankful that my amazing running jogger did not kill anyone on the free way when it flew out of our truck - it was a causality today, boo hoo!
• Fun Turkey trot in an amazing part of town for our family to run in
• A zoo that is free so when we only go for an hour we don't feel like we wasted any money
• a husband who will finish the Thanksgiving cooking while I sneak a nap, so my sick self can get to Thanksgiving dinner
• a family who would invite our family over for dinner
• that my cheery pie was not a disaster
• joy of talking to women
• Mr. Pink not having to work
• having kids too tired to take a bath because they had such a wonderful, fun filled day
• a friend like you who will listen to my list!

I hope you too had a great day.  Do you realize this means as of tomorrow our creative holiday heads are ready to roll!!! Get a thinkin!

Thanks!
Pink::

Hair on Fire

How do you do it Pink ::

Do you not sleep?   Is that the secret?

 I'm running around with my hair on fire and here you are posting away. Even decorating for Christmas while my backlog of Thanksgiving ideas to post haunts my dreams. Sigh...

I'm off to buy a turkey right now. (Yes I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Please pray that it will thaw so we don't burn down the house trying to fry a frozen turkey. Or get sick from eating "Please-thaw-please-thaw-please-thaw" bad poultry)

Oh no! E just showed me her "beautiful hands" that she just painted with fingernail polish ALL BY HERSELF. Ack! 

Have any tips for getting nail polish off surfaces? 

Gotta Run :: Think

"The" Stuffing

 

Dear Think::
I liked your idea of sharing Thanksgiving recipes.
So I am going to give you  "The" Stuffing recipe that we use every year.  Before this recipe  Mr. Pink never liked stuffing, now he loves it.  It is that good and so simple!

1 Cube of butter
1 stalk of celery (that means all of them in a package)
Saute  celery in the butter for 3-5 minutes

1 Cube of butter
2 large onions
Saute onion in the butter for 3-5 minutes.
This is my all time favorite smell on Thanksgivng

Pour the onions and celery over a loaf of
Wonder White Bread that has been cubed in large pieces.


Add about a teaspoon of Poultry Seasoning (I love Bells - shown above)
Salt and Pepper to taste 
Toss

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, uncovered, until the top pieces are browning. 

happy cooking
Pink::

"The" Thanksgiving Pie

Pink::

Here it is. 

The pie recipe that makes my Thanksgiving complete.

Not sure where my mom got the recipe or when she started making it.

But I love it. And I'm not even a huge pie enthusiast.

What is 2 clever about it you may ask? 

I don't know who thought to combine 

pumpkin...

meringue...

AND whipped cream 

all together inside one pie?

But I think they are pretty darn clever in my book. 

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

1 Tbs. gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
Soften together and set aside 

Beat:
3 egg yolks until thick and lemon colored

Add:
1/2 cup sugar and mix.

Add:
1 1/3 cups pumpkin (half of large can)
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. mace or 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (to taste)

Cook until thick, stirring constantly. (about 10 minutes)

Take from heat and add gelatin. 
Stir until dissolved and cool.

Beat:
3 egg whites until stiff
Add 1/2 cup sugar gradually

Fold egg white mixture into pumpkin mixture.

Fold in 1 cup whipped cream. (can use Cool Whip if desperate)

Spoon into baked pie shell and chill.

Pile on more whipped cream. Gobble it up.

**You can double the recipe to use the entire can of pumpkin. It will fill 2 pie shells and then some.

It uses a few bowls and pans to make but I think it is soooooo worth the mess.

Enjoy! :: Think

Like But-tah! Or Like Martha Stewart

Dear Pink ::

So you know I grew up in Ohio. 

Go Bucks! Beat Michigan!!  (sorry...had to do that) 

One of my favorite childhood memories is going to the Ohio State Fair every summer. Big doings for a snobby suburban gal like myself. I can remember seeing the baby pigs acting like, well, pigs. Watching the lumberjack show. Eating swiss cheese sandwiches. Talking with Smokey the Bear. Looking at literally a zillion different types of bunnies. Riding down the big yellow slide on burlap mats and getting carpet burns. Good times, good times...

Anyway, one of my favorite things was finding out what they had sculpted out of butter that year. Yes, you heard me. Sculpted. Out. Of. Butter. 

Every year they had a butter cow. But there was also something different like a politician or astronaut. I recall that there was even an Elvis one year maybe?  Hours and hours were spent sculpting life size animals and people out of large blocks of butter. A site to see.

Well fast forward to me last week at my favorite grocery store Central Market. 

Lo and behold...

A BUTTER TURKEY!!

If I do nothing else to "set" my Thanksgiving table I will look like Martha Stewart with my molded butter turkey sitting there. I'm so excited. I tried to see if they were stocked anywhere around where you live but the website was not much help. www.kellerscreamery.com Claims they were not stocked anywhere. Just keep your eyes open in the butter aisle next time you go grocery shopping. (They also do a Butter Christmas Tree and Butter Lamb for future reference)

Thanks for listening to me ramble  :: Think

Make Anything a "Work of Art"

Pink ::

Next time you are at the store 

pick up some clear plastic shower curtain rings like this:

Then whenever you have something with a round bottom like this:

You can make it a "work of art"  

like this "art installation" sitting on a shelf 

in my living room for Thanksgiving:

I call it "Gourd Stonehenge"

Got any works of art around your house?

 The Museum Curator :: Think

You vs. Me

Morning Pink::

While you were off running yet another marathon and creating your own 2 Clever Blog dinnerware last week, I was battling kindergarten stomach flu and enjoying a visit from my sister and brother-in-law. It was wonderful (the visit, not the flu) but I'm always amazed at what you can accomplish in any given week. You say you run slow but I think you run circles around me everyday.  In my defense I was taking on a serious sewing project as well. At least serious for me, a non-sewer. 

E is dressing up as Grandma in her kindergarten's rendition of "Over the River and Thru the Woods" at their Thanksgiving Program next week. I got her a dress, shawl, wig, cane and glasses but could not find a "grandma" hat to save my life. So I had to make one. Yikes! 

After many, many hours, several false starts and a sprinkling of curse words...

...Voila! 

One Mop Hat. 

I'm so proud of it I could cry.  I might just start wearing it around town and see if I can start a trend.

Now that I have my sewing machine out I'm really going to start my leaf quilt. Mine is going to be highly simplified as my nerves can not take much more without bashing my machine with a bat. (I realize my lack of skill is not my machine's fault for all those anti-machine violence people out there but I reserve the right to take out my frustrations on it for the safety of my loved ones. ha!) I bought pre-quilted background fabric in beige (shocker, I know) so it will hopefully look good no matter what I do to it. Wish me luck. I might have to ice my marathon sewing fingers just like you ice your marathon running feet. 

Your So-So Sewer :: Think

Did you know...

Pink ::

That Krispy Kreme makes mini doughnuts? 

(just what everyone needs the morning after Halloween, I know,

but they sure tasted great! )

Box of 20 for $6.99

Gobble, Gobble! :: Think