A Whole Lot of Food and Even More Thankfulness

Mitchell and I were so blessed to spend Thanksgiving with one of my sweet friends, her husband, and family yesterday! They were so kind and invited us over, knowing that we couldn't share the holiday with our family back home. The food was amazing! The menu was complete with fresh cranberries, stuffing, turkey, smoked ham, green bean casserole, and much much more. Mitchell and I made the green bean casserole (which I will post about at another time) and the chocolate pecan pie. I got both recipes from Paula Deen's website and both were simply delicious! The best part was, they each only took about 5-10 minutes tops to prepare and then we just popped them into the oven. Here's the recipe for the chocolate pecan pie which I recommend to anyone...

Ingredients:

1   (9-inch) unbaked "deep dish" pie shell
2 cup pecan halves
3   large eggs, beaten
3 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoon good-quality bourbon
3 ounce semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 

Cover bottom of pie crust with pecans. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and melted butter. Add the corn syrup, sugar, bourbon and the chopped chocolate. Stir until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into the pie shell over the pecans and place on a heavy-duty cookie sheet. 

Bake for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for an additional 25 minutes or until pie is set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

And here are some photos that I took while making mine. I always like visuals when I'm cooking so I know what things are supposed to look like along the way ;)

Step 1: Place pecans in bottom of pie crust

Step 2: Mix all other ingredients

Step 3: Pour mixed ingredients into pie filling!
Pecans will rise to the top.

All done!!!

As you can see this recipe was super easy and it is SO yummy! It will certainly be a staple in the Etheridge household every Thanksgiving from now on! The only thing that I did differently from the recipe was that I used a "deep dish" pie crust. The first time I made it it overflowed with just the regular pie crust. This size was perfect! 

Here are also some photos we took yesterday while cooking and spending the morning at home with Winston...

Making Green Bean Casserole! 

Our first Thanksgiving as the Mr. & Mrs. :)

Mitchell and I are both so very thankful that we were able to spend our Thanksgiving together as a married couple even though we couldn't be with our families in Georgia! As far as things that I am thankful for this year, I don't even know where to begin. Although this past year was both the best and worst year of my life, God has truly shown me that I have so very much to be thankful for. I am thankful for such amazing and faithful friends and family that have surrounded both Mitchell and I with love and prayers after the death of my sweet mother and for their unrelenting support. I am also so thankful for such an amazing husband who has been through both the best of times and the worst of times with me over the past year and who has always been such a strong support system in my life. My mothers death has shown me to be thankful every single day, not just on holidays, for the people in my life and to make sure that I make the most of every day...you never know when it may be your last.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving! Sending love to all our friends and family we couldn't see this holiday season :)