your theme is: sugar...

Lately. Things have been sweet. Seriously, ridiculously, insanely SWEET.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. My family wasn't able to come to town. We were all very sad.

Brandon and I had our traditional Thanksgiving morning bagels and lox along with Irish coffee. Bliss.

Then, we went over to my parent's house for feast #1. My grandfather was able to join us. Later that afternoon we went over to my in-law's for yet ANOTHER feast. It was a very full day.

Check out the spread at my parent's house:

Green Bean Casserole

Corn Pudding

Devilled Eggs

Dressing

Cranberry Relish

Gravy

TURKEY!

Mac-N-Cheese

Sweet Potatoes

Yeast Rolls

In non-Turkey day news:

I have had a major hankering for sweets these days. I made this recipe for vegan fudge last week.

Then, over the weekend I started missing the pecan pie from Thursday. So, I made this recipe for vegan pecan pie. It turned out really well. Like I usually do when making pecan pie, I substituted bourbon for the vanilla.

Last night, while Brandon was out for a guy's night, I made homemade cinnamon buns. I had a really bad cinnamon bun experience when I was a teenager. I haven't really liked them since. But, I started wanting some more than anything! So, I did some research and found that Lauren Ulm from Vegan Yum Yum had a recipe. She even has a video demonstrating the steps.

This was my first SUCCESSFUL yeast dough attempt. I couldn't be prouder of how they turned out.

AND I was able to use two of the fabulous gifts from my sweet goddaughter Cailyn. For our shared name-day, she gave me a jar of Chinese cinnamon (it's out of this world!) and also some Mexican vanilla. These are extremely worldly cinnamon buns! (C also gave me some glorious Dutch cocoa, and I have already enjoyed several cups of hot cocoa!)

They are sweet. Super sweet. I could only eat a half of one for breakfast. It was a perfect breakfast on this dreary morning at home with my sweet husband.

Yep, Brandon had the morning off, so we enjoyed a leisurely morning together.

After our breakfast we watched "Seraphine" on instant Netflix. It's about Seraphine Louis the French painter. It was a great movie. I highly recommend.

Overall one very sweet day. Part of one very very sweet life.

Again!?

This post will be brief- I just can't wait to talk about this food! I can't believe it's Thanksgiving again! One year ago (on my Name-Day, which also falls on Thanksgiving) Brandon proposed to me. It has been one insanely wonderful year!

Thanksgiving is in just a few days- and my cooking frenzy has begun!

My cousin Liz is coming to town from Chicago and staying here at our place. I'm so excited. She gets to participate in mine and Brandon's tradition of eating bagels and lox on Thanksgiving morning!

Here's what I'm making: (The items in bold are linked to a recipe)

Sweet cranberry and pecan conserve topping for brie (An appetizer. I made this one up using orange juice, honey, dried cranberries, and pecans.)

Corn pudding

Mac-n-cheese

Cranberry relish

Pecan pie (For the celebration with my husband's family. My aunt Susan provides our pecan pies when she's in town.) (See recipe below.)

Sugar-free pumpkin cheesecake (Mostly for my mom, who has diabetes. But, it looks INCREDIBLE!)

So far- I'm done with 4 of these. Just two items more to go!

PS- I'm sure I've given you this recipe many many times before. But, here's the recipe for the pecan pie again:

(This is the one we served at our wedding as the groom's cake.)

Bourbon Pecan Pie (From my Aunt Susan)

1 stick butter, melted

3 eggs

1 teaspoon flour

1 cup pecans

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons bourbon

1 cup light Karo syrup

dash of salt

deep dish pie crust

Mix butter and sugar together, then all other ingredients, adding pecans last. Pour into pie shell and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Bring on the turkey. Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!