Thankful Cards - free printable

Are you a person or a family that has their act together enough to have thankful cards each November? It sounds like a good idea, but I usually remember it about halfway through the month, at which point it seems silly, or, more likely, I have 50,000 other things to worry about, what with Thanksgiving being right around the corner. I sound like a terribly ungrateful person in that very long sentence. But I'm not!

I do like the idea - to make Thanksgiving more than a day. To make it into a month-long thought on gratitude seems healthy. and grateful. 

So maybe this year we'll all try? Perhaps these cute tags will inspire you? Emily (their creator) has each member of her family fill one out each day (no duplicates!), and then they hang them on a "thankful tree" (i.e. branches in a vase). I think kid answers would be sometimes hilarious, and that adult answers would be sometimes caffeine related. 

What do you think? Have you tried to write down something to be grateful for each day in November? How does your family do it? Display on a tree? Put them all in a jar to read at once? Tell us!

ALSO!
Over on the Facebooks, I'm curious about slow cookers. Do you have one? Do you hate it? Do you use it every day? or does it take up valuable kitchen space and collect dust? I'm on the fence about getting one. Is it worth it if I don't cook meat?

p.s today I'm thankful for paid vacation time!

Give Thanks - free printable

 

Hello and happy Friday to all. I hope you've had a good week and have something or someone to look forward to this weekend. Mr Official Taster and I don't really have any plans, though we are hoping to get together with some friends. Aaaaaand I might make some more ice cream (which I should share with you soon), so there's that. 

Today I'm sending you over to On Sutton Place for this seasonally appropriate Give Thanks free printable. I'm thinking you could use this for DIY cards, magnets, lunchbox notes, or even some quick art. 

This week I am thankful for warm socks and washable rugs. How about you?

Pumpkin Pie - dairy free

Since it's Thanksgiving this week, I thought, for once, I'd get up an appropriate recipe ahead of time. Not the day of or the week after, which is less than helpful.

Yesterday I showed you how I cooked my pumpkin, and today I'll tell you how I made it into delicious, delicious pie. If you try to eat vegan or dairy free, you may have noticed that pumpkin pie is tough. Almost all "regular" recipes I've seen use condensed milk or evaporated milk, and there's not an intuitive substitute that I can think of. However, in Devil's Food Cake Murder, I found a substitution recipe. The book itself is not good, but the recipes are mouthwatering. Anyway, thanks to this book, I was able to make a dairy free pumpkin pie without using tofu. and it was DELICIOUS. Seriously.

go forth and make pie.

Substitute for Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 eggs
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Beat the eggs together until they are a uniform color. Add the brown sugar and mix in well. Add vanilla and beat in. Add the flour and beat for another minute and make sure it's well mixed. Add the baking powder and salt and mix in.

This makes enough to substitute or one 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk.

Pumpkin Pie - dairy free
1 1/3 C smooth pumpkin
1 batch substitute for sweet condensed milk
1 egg
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1 C hot water

one 9 inch pie crust- vegan, gluten free, homemade, store bought, etc.

Preheat oven to 375F. Beat all ingredients together until just smooth. Pour into a prepared 9 inch crust and bake for 50-60 minutes. It's normal if the center is still somewhat jiggly, as it will set as it cools.