Happy Monday guys! We are officially ten days away from Thanksgiving and I am pretty darn excited about it! Everyone has a favorite dish that makes or breaks a good Thanksgiving meal, and for me that dish is stuffing...or dressing...or whatever you call it. My homemade sausage stuffing is honestly my favorite part of the entire Thanksgiving meal. It's the texture, it's the flavor combinations, it's that combined with a bite of turkey it is just the perfect Thanksgiving bite wrapped into one! To me, if there is one dish to make to go alongside your turkey this year, it's gotta be my homemade sausage stuffing!
November has been a whirlwind and I literally cannot believe that this week is Thanksgiving! I usually already have Christmas decorations up and this year I have nothing done! I am starting to get a little anxiety about it like all the trees will sell out and I will be Christmas tree-less this year, which I know is a little dramatic... I am hoping that our trip to NYC this week will be just what I need to get myself into the holiday spirit. That, and a festive cocktail. And since Thanksgiving is on Thursday I decided you might need this week's cocktail a smidge early so that you can run out to the store and get the ingredients in time to serve it to your guests this week! This pumpkin and apple spice cocktail is super easy and delicious!
This cocktail is literally three ingredients and can be served hot or cold depending on what you are in the mood for. It kind of taste like apple cider's cocktail cousin and is a whole lot easier to make at home.
I woke up this morning after sleeping until 9:30, laying in bed enjoying the quiet house and a few moments where I was alone with my thoughts. Canean had gone hunting with his dad and the dogs were sound asleep in their beds. It was the best kind of morning after being out of town for the past week and a half.
I took this picture of my arm where the saying "no place I'd rather be" now has a home to remind me of appreciating this life and this moment that I am in...probably because I am still getting used to it living there.
Slowly, I made myself get out of bed right as Canean was coming home with coffee and a scone in hand for me which made waking up a little easier.
Hi, it's me...Leigh Ann, the girl who disappeared on ya for a couple of weeks. I know I am horrible and you have probably been starving because I have not been posting my recipes regularly...or maybe you actually can survive with me, but I don't like to think about that. So let's pretend your life hasn't been the same without my usual posts to keep you company. K? I am here to feed you today, and the recipe is really good, so maybe you can forgive me, just this once. I have the perfect brunch for your Thanksgiving weekend to make you a rock star in the eyes of all of your houseguests. My sausage, sweet potato, and sage frittata is super easy, you will have most of the ingredients already, and it will knock everyone's socks off in the taste department.
We all know that when Thanksgiving rolls around you buy too much of everything just in case something goes wrong. If we are lucky, nothing goes wrong but then we have a bunch of leftover herbs and other ingredients and then what?
Tomorrow I leave for California and I have a list of to-dos a mile long today to get ready for the trip. One of which is cooking a couple of easy meals for Canean to eat so he doesn't end up at Jimmy John's every night for the next eight days. I like to make things that he can eat two or three times and that are easy for me while I run around like a crazed person...it's all in the multitasking! This roasted chipotle, Satsuma, and rosemary chicken is amazing guys and really easy too, and today I need easy.
I know while your other favorite food bloggers are posting turkey recipes already I am posting this chicken recipe, but honestly you could do this exact same marinade and rub on your Thanksgiving turkey and it would be a A-MA-ZING! I might be a little behind schedule this year with my holiday preparations, partly because we are heading to NYC for Thanksgiving and I am not in what I am going to cook mode, but I promise I won't let you down.
But back to this chicken though....I'm being so serious when I tell you that this chicken is out of this world. Smoky chipotle mixed with sweet Satsuma juice and fragrant rosemary makes for a killer combo that you are going to love.
You know what my favorite thing about a recipe is? I love that it can be carried down from generation to generation keeping family traditions and loved ones alive. For me, I think that's why I love cooking so much. I have very early memories of helping my mom in the kitchen absorbing every bit of information that she would give me. There was always so much love in her food, which is probably why my friends loved coming to our house so much. Still to this day she loves feeding people, like literally nothing makes her happier than having a house full of guests that she can serve a delicious meal to! I definitely inherited this same love from her, and she inherited it from her mom. My mom-mom's sweet potato casserole is one of those recipes that we make every Thanksgiving without fail because it's tradition but also because it's just absolutely delicious!
