The Positive Thread 2021

Status
Not open for further replies.

Elphaba09

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
2,178
Purraise
6,012
Location
NE Ohio
My son and his fiancee are having Thankstaking (our version of Thanksgiving) at their house for the first time this year! I am still making half of the food and they asked for my recipes for the rest, but they are both excited about hosting it this year. It is their first full year in their new home. I am excited for them and secretly happy that I still get to make stuff because I have this weird thing about feeding my family and friends.

In addition to helping them, I have to make pies and tarts for my neighbor, my friend who lives nearby, and for my mother-in-law. That puts me at for French silk pies, two raspberry tarts, one blueberry tart, four cinnamon sugar cream pies, four pumpkin pies, and two wet bottom shoo-fly pies.

I also am making bread for my neighbor and bread, spicy glazed carrots, and roasted cauliflower for my mother-in-law's house.

The good thing is that this year, I can take half of them to my son's house and have him bake them for me! It will cut my time in half!
 

susanm9006

Willow
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
13,151
Purraise
30,216
Location
Minnesota
A big decorating positive today. Ever since I painted my room a greyish white color a month ago I have been going crazy trying to find cellular shades that go with the room. I swear I have gotten samples from every online blind vendor and not only are they insanely expensive for my wide windows but with several dozen samples I couldn’t find one with a color other than stark white that went well with the walls. I finally decided that I was just obsessing way too much over a room no one other than me sees and that is dark most of the time anyway.

So the plan was to go cheap and purchase ready made Levelor cellular shades from Lowes, even though they weren’t quite wide enough. I’d hang them in the middle and curtains on each side would hide the gap. Of course my choice of colors was limited to just a few so I bought the lightest ones they sold, a color they called snow. Got the hardware up, the shade mounted and darned if they weren’t an EXACT match to the wall color. I just stood there dumbfounded. And hanging them with small gaps on both sides worked out fine. With curtains up I couldn’t even tell they didn’t go to the edge of the frame.
 

Elphaba09

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
2,178
Purraise
6,012
Location
NE Ohio
Recipe, please? I love anything spicy. 🔥🌶

My positive is I'm having fun trying all my new flavored coffee creamers. This week it's Pumpkin Spice. I have 3 different brands- Califia Farms, Coffee Mate, and International Delight.


A large bag of baby carrots
2-3 T butter, divided into 4 or 6 pieces
2 T (more or less, I do not actually measure it) brown sugar
A good drizzle of honey across the top
Sprinkle or two of salt depending on your taste
A few dashes of creole seasoning (I use Tony Chachere's and I add more when I make it for my family than I do when taking it to my mother-in-law's. You can add more after they are cooked if you want more spice)
A dash or two of cayenne pepper
A dash of black pepper

Preheat oven to 425F
Put the carrots in an oven-proof pan (I use an 8 x 8 pan or my small glass casserole dish.) Stick the butter into the carrots around the pan. Sprinkle on the dry ingredients. Drizzle with honey. Bake for 20 minutes, stir. Bake for 10-20 minutes more depending on how done you want them to be. You can garnish with chopped parsley.

If you like cauliflower, you can try this one, too.

1 head of fresh cauliflower, broken into florets of about 1" a piece
1-2 T Olive oil (It depends on how large the cauliflower is.)
salt
1t ras el hanout
1/4-1/2 t harissa powder (For those who do not like spicy things, leave out the harissa.)

Preheat oven to 425F

Place florets in a large bowl
In a small bowl, mix oil, ras el hanout, and harissa powder together. Pour over florets and toss or stir until all bits are coated well. Pour out onto baking sheet, making sure the extra oil is also added. Sprikle with salt. Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring halfway through. My family likes them on the crispy side, so I leave them in for 30-35 minutes.
 
Last edited:

maggiedemi

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Messages
17,104
Purraise
44,385
A few dashes of creole seasoning
Thanks so much! I have the Creole Seasoning, Ras El Hanout, and Cayenne. I've tried Harissa sauce before. I didn't know they made a powder.

My positive is I went back on Facebook today after a 5 month break and I had a lot of nice messages waiting for me. It's nice to be missed.
 

Elphaba09

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
2,178
Purraise
6,012
Location
NE Ohio
Sorry for the double post, but the question of the day reminded me of it.

My husband and I discovered a new(ish) ice cream place kind of near us that is worth the drive. He got blueberry mascarpone and I got kettle corn. We have both declared these to be the two best ice creams ever. I would never eat the blueberry kind, but my husband said that he cannot wait to get it again. He reluctantly tried the kettle corn one; however, the reluctance gave way to wanting another bite! The company, Chill an Artisan Ice Cream Company, has three locations and they change some of their flavors. I am waiting until the one closest to us gets the earl grey that I saw listed at one of the other stores! One of the flavors that they have all the time is called Lavender Queen Bee, which is a lavender honey vanilla flavor. It is also amazing.
 

maggiedemi

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Messages
17,104
Purraise
44,385
My positive is I just made a Walmart order for some fun stuff:
Caffe D'Vita French Vanilla Cappuccino, Caffe D'Vita Pumpkin Spice Cappuccino, Hills Bros Classic Cappuccino, Frozen Bean Vanilla Bean Latte, Maxwell House Vanilla Caramel Latte, Great Value Honey Mustard, Ken's Honey Mustard Dressing, Hormel Compleats Mac & Cheese, Almond Breeze Almond Coconut Milk, Olive Oil Miracle Whip, Talk O' Texas Hot Okra Pickles.
 

maggiedemi

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Messages
17,104
Purraise
44,385
My positive is I really like these Pistachios. They are really expensive by the pound, but I just bought a little 6oz bag, so they were kind of affordable by my reasoning. They are roasted, lightly salted, no shells. I also bought some raw, unsalted, no shells from Trader Joes. They will be here next week.
1637421962837.png
 
Last edited:

susanm9006

Willow
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
13,151
Purraise
30,216
Location
Minnesota
It was a beautiful, calm 40 degree day today so I could finally go outside and do a final mow of the big piles of leaves in my yard. Chilly when I first went out but by the time I quit I was feeling really warm. Of course, when we get strong winds a new crop of leaves will be blown in but for now the yard looks ready for winter.
 

neely

May the purr be with you
Veteran
Joined
Dec 22, 2005
Messages
19,635
Purraise
47,796
Our neighbor across the street went into the hospital for heart surgery this week. The doctors had to reschedule it several times since the aortic part they were waiting for was coming from Australia. My positive is that he came home today and is recuperating well. :goldstar:
 

Lari

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 18, 2017
Messages
10,993
Purraise
45,419
The Marie Callendar Southern Pecan Pie is officially dairy free! Yay for dessert I can have on Thanksgiving (and my husband loves pecan pie, so I won't be eating the whole thing).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top