Our "Happy Thanksgiving" & an oven fire...

Here we have "The Jamie Turkey" as I like to call it (thanks Jamie for doing it for your FHE so I could copy it for team activity for my students!). All 50 students wrote three things they were thankful for on their piece of paper & then we (my teacher partner & I) taped them on the feathers (my very favorites were the ones that wrote they were sooo thankful for me, their other teachers, & school...yeah, riiiggghhhtt. Well, I guess a little brown-nosing never hurt anyone :) Honestly though, out of the three years (& don't get me wrong, I've absolutely loved every student I've had, I feel very blessed) I've taught, this class is just such a sweet, kind & helpful class. I'm really grateful for them!

Don't let some of their serious mugs fool you, they are simply wonderful!!

Here is my new favorite dessert I mentioned in an earlier blog. A new recipe I tried for Thanksgiving that went over quite well, I must say (though no credit of my own, it won 1st place in a contest & was in a magazine, where I found it :). It was easy, just make sure you have enough time to cool it & refrigerate it, that's what makes it over the top, baby!!!!!!

Candied Apple Pie Cheescake

1 cup crushed ginger snaps
3 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar, divided
2 pkg (8oz each) cream cheese, softened
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 cup apple pie filling, divided
1/2 cup walnut pieces, divided
1/2 cup toffee bits, divided

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix ginger snap crumbs, butter & 2 tbsp. sugar; press onto bottom & up side of 9-inch pie plate. **I used about another 1/2 cup crumbs, w/ more butter & sugar because I like a little thicker crust & it worked great.**

Beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar & vanilla w/ mixer until blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each just until blended. Stir in half EACH of pie filling, nuts, & toffee. Pour into crust.

Bake 35 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 4 hours. Top with remaining pie filling, nuts, & toffee.

And now for the fire...I was cooking some butter dips for dinner, which requires melting the butter in the oven first. Well, it slipped out of my hands, spilling all the butter into our gas oven---whoosh, instant flames! I stood there dumbfounded & uttered one brilliant syllable, "Fire." Luckily my brainy sister was there & reminded me to throw baking soda on it, which I did (with the fire alarm blaring in the background), & it sizzled out instantly--whew! The best part is that I was stubborn enough about still wanting those butter dips for dinner so I sent my blessed husband to go ask a neighbor if we could use their oven. After trying 3 different neighbors who weren't home, he went to our landlord's house! The boys were with him & as soon as they opened the door they yelled, "We had a huge fire in our oven!!" But the good news is they too had a fire in their oven once so they could sympathize, ANNNNNDDD...I got my butter dips :) The End.