Thanksgiving

We went up to Spokane to spend Thanksgiving with my Grandpa and step-Grandma Vonnie. It was so much fun and I am glad we were able to go, as Elanor had not been to Spokane before and it had been at least six years since I was up there. I do not get to see all of my extended family very often, so it is means a lot to be able to see some of them!

There was some snow in Spokane!

Uncle Ian spent some time teaching Elanor how to "snowboard".

We helped Grandpa and Vonnie decorate their Christmas tree and tried to take some family pictures.

Ian is such a good uncle.

I love this one of Elanor and her Great Grandpa Roger.

Happiness.

 I love this picture so much, but why am I blurry?!?!

 Four generations.

 Grandpa and Vonnie with the girls.

(it is hard to get pictures where everyone is looking as there were multiple cameras going off)

On Saturday, we took Elanor on a mini Spokane tour.  First stop was the carousel in Riverfront Park (the very best one--it is beautiful and unique, moves quite fast, and you have to try and grab these rings as you go around--it makes sense, just go to Spokane sometime.)

How cute is this?!

My Uncle Scott, with the girls and his soon-to-be step daughter Marley.

I have a pretty mom!

Elanor and Marley got along so well and were fast friends in a matter of minutes.

We also stopped at the giant tree at the mall, walked around the very fancy and very cool Davenport Hotel and met my cousins, Marlana and Andrew there for desserts. If you ever happen to be in Spokane, go to the Davenport and explore. The ballrooms are beautiful, the main lobby area stunning, and the bathrooms are quite fancy.

 I am so glad we were able to travel up to Spokane. It is wonderful to see everyone and there are so many more family members we need to visit now that we live a little closer. I love spending time with family and hearing stories. It really is so important and our time here is short.

And to close, here is little Alice asleep on the car ride back home. 

And I stayed up way too late writing this.

The Weekly Photo

I have just been the worst at this lately!

Here is last Monday's (Nov 30th):

Elanor and Great Grandpa Roger

In the Kitchen: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

{I actually took these pictures last year and meant to write a blog post, but I never got around to it.}

I am not huge fan of cream pies or really anything besides a fruit pie. I mean this generally, just because whenever someone has made some sort of cream/chocolate/custard pie it is often made with a Jello mix, which I am not a fan of. I do believe cream type pies can be really delicious, and I have made some--but I still usually prefer apple, blackberry, pumpkin or any other fruit one to a cream one. However, this pie is the exception. 

My mom makes this pie often and she adapted it from a family recipe. 

This pie starts off with an Oreo crust. The actual recipe calls for chocolate graham crackers, but I modified it and found it better. I did not actually use Oreos, but used Trader Joe's Jo-Jo's, which I think taste better anyways.

This pie is made up of two peanut butter layers separated by a thinner chocolate layer. Do not be cheap with ingredients! Buy quality chocolate! At the very least, use Ghirardelli's  60% cacao chocolate chips.

This recipe is simple and well, not something I would really look at and think, "Oh, I should make that!"---But---it really is a delicious pie. I am really picky when it comes to pies and crust and what people put on their blogs as recipes. If the blogger does not make their own crust (i.e. store bought), do not trust them, if they use a mix of any kind, do not trust them, if they make pies using exorbitant amounts of candy, do not trust them. Basically, it really bothers me that when I go to find a recipe somewhere on the internet, I find a lot of supposedly "food" blogs that basically just are telling you how to combine store-bought items. Not cooking. Not baking. It is just a lot of preservatives, etc. and it always tastes better to make it from scratch. Granted, I did not make my own chocolate wafers to grind up for the crust--but I did try to find a better, slightly healthier substitute over Oreos. Sorry about the rant. It could have been much longer.

The recipe is as follows:

Crust:

2 cups crushed Jo-Jo's/Oreos (including the cream filling)

2 tbsp melted butter

Mix together and then press into a pie dish, going all the way up the sides. Bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes, should be fragrant. Let cool.

Pie Filling:

1 cup creamy peanut butter (use an all natural one, without the added sugar and palm oil--you really don't need more sugar!) 

8 oz, cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

8 oz already whipped cream (about 1/2 cup un-whipped cream)

Mix all of the above ingredients with a mixer, except the whipped cream. Once everything is well mixed and smooth, fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. Set filling aside.

Chocolate layer:

6-8 oz dark chocolate

Melt over a double boiler over low heat.

To assemble:

Spread half of the peanut butter filling into the pie dish. Pour all of the chocolate over the peanut butter filling and spread out evenly. Spread the rest of the peanut butter filling evenly on top. Chill in the refrigerator until set. 

Thanksgiving!

I took a rather long break from posting mostly to get ready for and enjoy Thanksgiving. We drove up to Driggs, Idaho (near the Tetons) where my family had rented a cabin. I have not had Thanksgiving with my family since my freshman year of college! So, it was wonderful for all of us to have Thanksgiving together, especially since Jess and Ricky will not be there for Christmas.

We drove up to Driggs on Thanksgiving Day because my sister and her husband flew into SLC and drove up with us. We made it in plenty of time and were even able to help with some of the dinner preparations. I also brought up two pies and forgot quite a bit of stuff as well... I was supposed to bring sweet potatoes and they were made and ready to go but I spaced it and did not get them out of the fridge! What is wrong with me?

It was a delicious and wonderful meal. I did not take a single picture because I was enjoying my turkey far too much. Sorry about that, but I am sure you can imagine what it looked like with nine of us crowded around a wood table covered in a leafy tablecloth in a cozy cabin, with the table groaning under the weight of the roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, rolls, gravy, stuffing, sparkling cider (yes...I forgot to bring the sweet potatoes....grrrr). A pleasant picture, yes?

However, here are some pictures from every other time, but Thanksgiving dinner:

The Cabin

The view of Teton peak from the cabin.

From the outside

Elanor with her Uncle Erik

We went skiing on the Friday after Thanksgiving at Grand Targhee. It was a beautiful day!

Elanor came up  at lunch and we took her skiing! My parents got her a pair of toddler skis for her birthday and she absolutely loved skiing. She really enjoyed going fast and did not want to stop.

Here is the video of Elanor skiing down the bunny hill with her Uncle Ian:

Going up on the little kids moving ramp thing with Grandpa.

Elanor with her Nan.

Hot tubbing after skiing!

We celebrated Elanor's birthday on Saturday with my family, since they will not be able to be there for her birthday on the 10th.

She loved blowing out the candles!

Elanor also opened up some presents (she had already opened up the skis) including two "pretty dresses", a Pride and Prejudice board book, an apron and her favorite: a Merida doll from Disney Pixar's new movie Brave.  She carries this doll around with her everywhere. Merida has already been very useful in many ways such as, "You can't play with Merida until you go potty" or "Merida wants you to sit in your carseat" or "Merida is so sleepy right now, so let's get ready for bed".

Elanor was so excited about her Merida doll!

We tried to take some family pictures and these are my favorites:

Elanor face is hilarious in this one!

It was a lovely trip. We played many games, laughed a lot, talked about everything, ate good food and overall enjoyed being a family. I sure love them.