Happy Thanksgiving... & 2 fun sites

Happy Thanksgiving friends! Here are two fun new recipe sites/blogs I stumbled across and thought I would share: thegirlwhoateeverything and ourbestbites.

I'm thankful for the joy of sharing food ideas with all of you! :)

Easy Meatball Stew

I made a version of my mom's meatball stew for supper and Trent told me to make it this way every-time (I decided I'd better write it down b/c I didn't use a recipe, I was just winging it).

My mom makes her own homemade meatballs, but I cheat to save time and buy the bag of italian meatballs that are pre-made and in the freezer section at Walmart. :}

Ingredients:

meatballs (buy or make your own)

1 box beef broth

1 can tomato paste (I used the Hunt's garlic/basil/oregano kind)

minced garlic

1 can whole green beans, drained

carrots, sliced

new potatoes, cut into chunks

half an onion, diced

ditalini pasta (or small macaroni noodle pasta)

Directions:

*Put meatballs on a pan & cook in the oven while preparing everything below--toss meatballs in at the very end.

*I did several things in separate steps b/c I was short on time...I cut up my carrots & steamed them; I washed & chunked the potatoes--seasoned them a little and microwaved them so they would get soft faster.

*I also cooked my pasta separately and added it at the end.

*In a dutch oven I added a little olive oil & minced garlic and sautéed my onion in that, then I added in the carrots & potatoes (which I had already steamed) and dumped in the green beans. I stirred them around in the saute for a minute before adding the beef broth.

I mixed my tomato paste with a little water and added this to the pan.

I brought it all to a boil, then turned it down and simmered it, covered, for a while until we were ready to eat (tossing the pasta & meatballs in at the end).

These instructions are rambling, and not in great order--sorry--the main reason I'm posting this is so I'll kind of remember how I did it for next time!

Pumpkin Bars with cream cheese icing

Made these today for Tara's Thanksgiving feast at school and they are yummo!

Recipe was on Foodnetwork and is from Paula Deen.

Ingredients:

Bars:

4 eggs

1 2/3 C granulated sugar

1 C veg oil

15 oz can of pumpkin

2 C sifted all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Icing:

8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1/2 C butter, softened

2 C sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine eggs, sugar, oil & pumpkin and mix until light & fluffy.

Stir together flour, baking pwd, cinnamon, salt & baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

Spread the batter into a greased 10x13" baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes*. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

*Side notes for the next time I make these (it took less than 30 min for these to cook; I checked them at about 18 minutes and layed foil around the edges of the pan b/c the edges were done but the center needed a few minutes more). It was also beneficial to let this cake cool for a couple of hours before attempting to cut it into bars and/or ice it.

This cake recipe is a great consistency to be used for bars. They actually turn out looking exactly like the picture! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!