Some of my favorite Thanksgiving Recipes!

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow! There will be lots of cooking in my house tonight and tomorrow. Here are a few recipes that I love around Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I hope you will too! I'm trying out a few new recipes this year, and will report back if they are worth sharing! Happy Thanksgiving!

Broccoli Casserole 

Ingredients:
1 pound velvetta cheese
1/2 cup of milk
1 stick butter
2 packages frozen chopped broccoli
1 package ritz crackers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Thaw broccoli and drain
Melt cheese with the milk (microwave works great for this!)
In a separate pan melt the butter and mix it with the crushed ritz crackers
In casserole dish put the broccoli, pour the cheese sauce over it, and mix
then sprinkle the cracker crumbs on top. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Cookie Ingredients:
1 cup butter (salted is best)!
1 cup sugar
1 cup cooked, pureed pumpkin (fresh or canned)
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (last week I substituted maple extract and it was phenomenal!)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup raisins (I usually leave these out as I'm not a huge fan of raisins)

Icing Ingredients:
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla (I used maple extract in this too and it was yummy!)
3 tablespoons whipping cream, fresh orange juice or rum (go for the rum!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla and mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir into butter mixture until well blended. Add nuts and raisins. Drop by teaspoonful onto parchment covered baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake about 15 minutes, or until golden. Cool.

Icing: Cream confectioners' sugar and butter. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. (If icing is too thin, add more confectioners' sugar; if too thick, add more cream, orange juice or rum.) Drizzle over cookies.

Enjoy!

The Hunger Games

You have to read the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins- I couldn't put this book down! I read it in two and a half days! The sequels Catching Fire and Mockingjay are just as great!

The synopsis from Barnes and Noble reads: In the ruins of a place once known as North America, lies the nation of Panem. a shining capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before- and survival.