Nothing says Fall more than leaves falling to the ground, spiced cider and pumpkin rides. And nothing says family and friends more than Thanksgiving gatherings around the table with fun centerpieces and décor with good food and lots of laughs with those most important to you.

 

This year, to be honest, I'm not really sure what we're doing for Thanksgiving. I've gone back and forth about décor and table settings and what I would like to include on the menu. I question whether we will do the day with our little family only (since most of our extended family is in the South and Michigan we won't see them until Christmas) or whether we will invite those who also have no family in the area and make it a party.

 

Whatever the case, I've been a pinning fool and collected a few ideas from settings to food to help make mine and your Thanksgiving a little less traditional and a little more outside the box.

 

FOOD | Simple and Tasty.

When making the menu for your Thanksgiving fare be sure to keep it simple, healthy and tasty. Try some non-traditional veggie dishes or add unexpected seasonings to your main dish. I've pinned a few things here to give you some ideas to start your menu off right. You can also click on any of the images below to get to the RHI Thanksgiving Pinterest Board.

 

 

DECOR | Light, Natural and Fun.

After food, this may be my favorite thing about Thanksgiving. I remember growing up helping set the table with the "good stuff" that we only pulled out a few times a year when we had holiday gathering or special guests. All the crystal glasses and silver trimmed plates accented the table and added just the right touch of warmth to the tabletop.

 

Since, you'll probably be hanging out at the table a lot, your tablescape and tabletop décor is important but you don't want it to take a away from the most important thing at the table-the people. {Get more ideas for fun tabletop décor and ways to add special details to your home by clicking the image below.}

 

 

 

 

ATMOSPHERE | Comforting Candles, Fire and Music.

This is a vital aspect of welcoming guests into your home or just creating an overall cheerful space for you and your family to enjoy. I know we've talked a lot it seems about the table but you can create a comfortable, warm atmosphere by expanding your vision beyond the dining table to wall, coffee tables, and even sofas.

 

Ideally, I know that we all live big, full lives. And if you're like me and have multiple kids the last thing you're thinking about is adding fall or Thanksgiving artwork to walls or pillows to the sofa. Do what you can to make your home what you want it. If it's adding a pillow or two to the sofa or a few fall leaves to the mantel, do that. No one wants to walk into a house that you've stressed over to make "perfect" and not feel cozy or get good vibes upon entry. We ARE talking about atmosphere here after all.

 

Candles are a great place to start. If you add scented candles sprinkled with warm scents like cinnamon, coriander, or basil you can bet your guests will feel right at home. If you have a fireplace, light it. What compares to the crackle of a toasty fire? Not much. These are, of course, just a few things you can do to add atmosphere when entertaining for the holiday.
 

 

So I hope this sends you well on your way to a Thanksgiving gathering you and your guests will remember for years to come not just because of how amazing everything looked but because you offered an opportunity for memory making through great conversation, good food and lots of laughs!

 

Be sure to head over to my Pinterest page and surf around for lots of other fun ideas as well!

I would love it if you'd follow along on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter as well!



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P.S. Thanks to some good ol' spammers, I am now moderating comments. Boo. But, as long as you're not a spammer and you're nice...your comment will show below so go ahead and leave some love!

One of our favourite market indulgences is the brioche. I will happily eat it plain, but it also makes the best French toast. We add a little cinnamon and nutmeg to our egg and milk mixture, but the brioche is really the star of the show. Are you a brioche fan? How do you eat it?

 

We hosted a small family party to celebrate Hannah's first birthday earlier this month, so of course I wanted to document it here. I should warn you that this post isn't filled with pin-worthy pictures of party decor. Despite my best intentions, our summer has been so busy that we ran out of time - and energy - for party planning (DIY-ing a patio days before the party probably didn't help). The good news is that you can still put on a pretty fun party without fabulous decorations and a perfectly styled food table ;)

 

In fact, the only decoration we had was this garland I made using streamers and gold ribbon (I bought balloons, but forgot to blow any up!).

 

 

I'd planned for it to be twice as long, but I left it to the last minute and ran out of time. It's still hanging - through wind and rain - so it's worth the time investment if you can use it for multiple events (I think). Plus, it doubles as a great photo backdrop.

 

We didn't manage to capture a shot of all three of us smiling, but I thought this one of Adam's brother and his wife (they got married over the weekend - congrats guys!) turned out pretty cute.



 

Since the party tooks place in the afternoon, we served up salads, sandwiches, chips and watermelon. Adam really outdid himself, baking two pies (blueberry-peach and banana cream) AND cupcakes.

 



 

The chickpea and edamame salad (I tweaked the ratios a bit, but you can find the recipe here) is so, so yummy. I also made a garden salad with red cabbage and walnuts, and spicy egg salad on argula (the spice comes from a healthy pinch of paprika). My mom made cucumber, dill and cream cheese sandwiches (not pictured) that are always a big hit at parties, and Adam made a really tasty BBQ sandwich with vegetarian chicken, a vinagrette coleslaw and blue cheese mayo. In addition to water and juice for the kids, we had beer, wine and made-to-order spritzers on offer (I use white wine, ruby red grapefruit juice and club soda).



 

The table and chairs are hand-me-downs from my mom until we figure out something more permanent (I'm thinking something like this), but they were perfect for the party. We scattered some planters filled with brightly-coloured impatiens around the patio to add some cheer. Now I'm really wishing I filled up those balloons, but oh well!

 

The party had several rain interruptions, and when it really started to come down we moved everything inside to open presents. Hannah was completely spoiled by her family - including those who couldn't make it to the party - and yes, the musical bubbles octopus has been a major hit during bathtime ;)

 

 

Luckily the weather cleared up again and we were able to get back outside for a bit.

 

 

We'd set up some of our patio furniture on the side lawn for games and Adam's nephews quickly organized some bocce ball.

Hannah had to take a nap toward the end of her party, so most of the guests had gone home by the time she woke up and could enjoy her first ever cupcake. I had a candle for her, but I thought it might be too much for someone who'd just woken up, so we presented her cupcake rather unceremoniously.

 

Not to worry - she still loved it! Adam captured a pretty funny video of her literally stuffing her face; I think he's looking forward to baking her future treats!

Icing first, obviously :)

 

I wish the weather had cooperated a bit more, but all in all it was a great afternoon. Happy 1st birthday Hannah - I can't believe it's already come and gone!

I promised you this post last week, but better late than never, right? Last weekend I tried making labneh for the first time. It was so easy to make and it's delicious!

{I opted for crushed coriander seeds, lemon zest and chives}

{straight out of the fridge}

{She loves it!}

Ready to try making it for yourself? Check out the how-to here (with pictures).



I thought I would share an awesome salad recipe with you this week! This salad is quick, fresh and perfect for spring/summer get-togethers, outings or just for a quick addition-or stand alone-to any meal at home.

  



 

Simple Quinoa Spinach Salad

 

Ingredients:

1 Bag of spinach

2c cooked, tri-colored quinoa

Small heirloom tomatoes, halved or quartered

1/3c Toasted pine nuts

1/4 c Feta cheese

4 tbsp. Balsamic vinegar

4 tbsp. Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

 

 

How to make it rock:

Cook quinoa according to package, place in fridge to chill if you have time. (Separates in the salad a lot better and makes for a better presentation overall.)

 

In a large bowl or on a large platter, spread out spinach in no specific pattern or order. (Fun to just throw it on the plate, a little liberating for me.) After quinoa has cooled, spread it over the spinach. Next, spread the cut tomatoes over the quinoa. Essentially, what you are doing is creating loose layers. After you've laid out all the tomatoes, spread the pine nuts and feta cheese over them. Depending on what your personal taste is, you can go as heavy or as light with these two ingredients as you'd like.

 

I LOVE pine nuts and feta, so I went heavy!

 

Take your balsamic vinegar and olive oil, alternating the two, and work from one end of your platter to the other. You will want to sprinkle generously ensuring you cover your tomatoes with the balsamic vinegar. Trust me, you'll thank me for that little tid bit later.

 

This salad can be served chilled or at room temperature. Allow oils and vinegar to settle before serving.

 

 

 

Enjoy!

{perfect winter fare: lentil & brown rice soup, grilled cheese and coffee}

When friends of ours moved to Alberta recently, they turned the contents of their pantry over to us (can I just mention how much it SUCKS that so many of our friends have left Nova Scotia in search of greener pastures?!). We ended up with a pretty decent supply of lentils (they're fellow vegetarians), so I went in search of some new and tasty ways to use them. I found this recipe for lentil and brown rice soup and decided to give it a try.

Normally, I'm not a fan of brown rice. I know it's good for you, but I find it too dense to be enjoyable and as a grown-ass woman, I've decided I don't have to eat things I don't like any more. So there! We inherited some brown rice in the pantry-gifting, however, so I had to give it another go (apparently I will eat things I don't like if the alternative is wasting them). And you know what? It was actually good (in this soup, anyway). The soup itself was delicious. Perfect comfort food on a cold winter day.

Try it here.

P.S. One more thing - the recipe makes a TON of soup, so you may want to cut it in half. We ended up freezing some and it was just as yummy as a freezer meal. Maybe better.

We're trying to be better about emptying the freezer before running to the store. We're those people who end up at the grocery store every other day, which is both time consuming and expensive (turns out impulse buys really add up). We had some smoked salmon we'd been avoiding, so I did a little searching and found this recipe for smoked salmon pasta on Pinterest (you can follow me here). I made a few tweaks - whole wheat pasta instead of white, a large handful of fresh parsley instead of a couple tablespoons, and no pine nuts (only because we didn't have any in the house).

The verdict? Yummy and really quick to prepare (it's a great option for weeknights), but it probably won't make it into our regular meal rotation (we like smoked salmon, but we don't like like smoked salmon, you know?).We both found it quite lemony, and while I think the strong lemon flavour is a nice balance to the strong flavour of the salmon, you may want to hold off on that second tablespoon of lemon zest until you've had a chance to taste the dish.

For Lee's 1st Birthday I wanted to do something simple but tasty for the kids and adults.

I ended up combining a few recipes to create these colorful cupcakes...

I started with a store bought angel food mix.

(Tastes great by the way!)

Then chopped some strawberries.

This is the recipe I used for the Strawberry Cream filling.

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 cup sliced strawberries plus 15 slices for garnish

(I opted not to garnish with strawberries)

2 cups heavy cream, cold

5 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

(Recipe from Here)

I cut medium size circles out of the top and "dug" little holes to make sure I got plenty of filling in.

Last, but certainly not least, I whipped up some of this cream cheese icing which I could probably eat by itself.

Yum!

(I do believe I halved the recipe since I didn't need this much)

16oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup heavy cream, cold.

(Recipe from Here)

Next step.

Chill.

Eat as many as you can without getting sick.

No need to wait for something as special as a 1st Birthday to make these!

Although it did make it just a little bit sweeter:-)

Love you little busy boy!

As soon as spring was up and running, Adam and I discovered a rhubarb plant growing in our front bed. I was thrilled - I love rhubarb - but I had no idea what to do with it.

Then I discovered an easy recipe for rhubarb compote. When I got home from work on Friday, I harvested a large handful of rhubarb (after watching a video tutorial - I'm a total nerd, what can I say?), washed it, chopped it up, and tossed it in a pot.

I added about a 1/4 cup of tightly packed brown sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water, and let the whole thing cook (covered) on low heat until the rhubarb was nice and tender (about 15 minutes).

Then all I had to do was let it cool (it stays fresh in the fridge for up to 5 days). Adam and I tried some over vanilla frozen yogurt that night and it was delicious! In a mason jar tied with a pretty ribbon, it also makes a great gift.

I'm not doing a cooking blog, I promise. If I was then you shouldn't follow my recipe's.
I dislike cooking.
But.... occasionally I come across something that is quick, easy and very yummy and I feel the need to share.
Such was the case of The PW's recipe for Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich and since it has about 4000 calories per bite then I knew it was a must try.
Now this doesn't look that great.


Much better. (don't envy my good china too much)

I loved this recipe cause it was super easy, fast and everyone liked it. I served just the meat to the boys and the bread separate. I also used whole wheat bread to add some semblance of "healthy" to this recipe. One more thing I did different was that I poured the juice into bowls and we dipped the sandwiches. I hate soggy bread so this was the perfect solution.
Sooo, if you love cooking with lots of butter then be sure to try this!!

Don't forget that there is a few hours left to enter my giveaway!

I never make homemade salsa. Never. Until today that is, and I want to thank Flower Patch Farmgirl for sharing her version of The PW's salsa. Ahhhh, I will now be a salsa maker with the best of them. Even my youngest son enjoyed double triple dipping, as you can tell by the little hand dipping into the bowl here.



My posts will remain random and sporadic as I work on our pool house. Hang in there with me and we'll all see what happens over the next few weeks. I did pick up a great idea and tip from Mustard Seed Creations on a cheap and easy way to do a faux plank wall. It actually inspired me to try and repurpose the stuff that's already in the pool house.
Look at her great makeover!


And last but not least... I'm at 99 followers!!! Thank you all so much for taking the time to see my little corner of the world and taking the plunge to become a follower. You're all so very brave;-) I can't wait to continue to share the things I do and most of all to see all the great things you all come up with!