I have a confession to make: I’ve been listening to Christmas music all day, every day lately. This is normally a huge no-go for me as I try to give each holiday its time to be celebrated, and reserve Black Friday as the official start of the Christmas season. (And we go all out for Christmas. Last year our apartment looked like Christmas threw up all over it. In the most tasteful way.)
But with last weekend’s performance of The Rockettes and a fun Friendsgiving at Joanna‘s house it’s safe to say I’m in full blown holiday mode. Look out world.
We thought Friendsgiving would be the perfect November edition of Three Cooks One Kitchen! In case you aren’t familiar, Three Cooks One Kitchen is a monthly cooking installment that Joanna, Hannah and I do. We pick one of our places to get together and a food theme we want to focus on.
This month wasn’t so much about a food but all the food. Everyone invited was bringing a dish, so Joanna, Hannah, and I decided to get together early to make a few additional dishes for the party.
For our individual contributions Joanna made her famous cupcakes, Hannah made delicious fruit salad, and I picked up a tray of Creme Brulee pool potatoes from Wheatfields. 😉
For our collective dishes we decided to make apple, shallot and herb stuffing, butterhorns, and butternut squash gravy. If you’re in need of a vegetarian gravy this holiday I highly recommend making this butternut squash one. It’s weird to imagine butternut squash in a gravy but it totally works and tastes so good.
Here are some pictures from our adventure:
Hannah and Joanna hard at work in the kitchen.
Three cooks in the kitchen!
Joanna working her cupcake magic.
Time for another confession: Joanna and Hannah did most of the work in the kitchen. I got distracted playing with this cutie.
And eating lots of pumpkin cheesecake dip on vanilla wafers. It was so good!
You know we’re in party planning mode when we forget to shut the cabinet doors before taking a picture. 😉
And before we knew it it was party time!
Joanna had pre-cooked a turkey breast for the night. It was delicious.
Joanna’s cupcake masterpiece.
Molly’s pecan pie muffins. I basically died and went to heaven.
Wheatfield’s cheesy potatoes and our stuffing creation.
Jordan’s amazing sweet potato crumble (that I need to remember to ask for the recipe for!) and our gigantor butterhorns.
Hannah’s fruit salad and our butternut squash gravy.
Our delicious feast.
Jeff and Joanna’s dog Ruby lined up for the food too. 😀
My absolutely delicious meal.
And my absolutely wonderful friends. (Minus Ben who accidentally got cut out of the picture! haha) It was such a fun night and the perfect way to usher in the holiday season.
To check out Hannah and Joanna’s recaps of the evening check out their posts here:
Questions of the Day: When do you start celebrating Christmas? Have you ever been to a Friendsgiving? Do you tend to cater or make your potluck contribution for parties?
Oh my, everything looks SO good! What a fun time. 🙂
-Ashley
Le Stylo Rouge
It was so fun! I love traditions like this!
That is so fun to have a freindsgiving but also cook with your friends prior to it! I love this idea. Sadly none of us have big enough kitchens in our tiny apartments to all be in the kitchen at once 🙂
Oh bummer! That is the nice thing about having friends with houses! They have big kitchens! haha
What a fun night!
It was a blast!
I’m glad you liked the gravy! Creme brulee potatoes — am I reading that right?! Sounds delicious!
Yes! They’re incredible! And thank you so much for the delicious gravy recipe!
After reading all your blogs, I’m so excited for my Friendsgiving tomorrow! Unfortunately, it’s probably going to make me want to start my Christmas season early too. Haha!
I hope you have so much fun at your Friendsgiving tonight!!
Hi Erin,
It looks like you had a such a wonderful time with your friends! And the food looks delicious! I noticed the two women you had Friendsgiving with also have blogs. Did you know them in real life prior to blogging, or did you meet them through your blogging experience? I’m just curious because I am fascinated by how blogging can bring people together!
Warmest Regards,
Cynthia at http://styleneverstops.com
When I moved to Omaha I posted about it on my blog and was really fortunate to have them reach out to me individually through my blog, then we all started hanging out together! I feel so lucky it all happened like it did!
Oh yes – I need to get Jordan’s recipe too! It was SO good! We loved all our leftovers 🙂
Thank you for taking the potatoes so I didn’t find myself eating them straight out of the tin in the middle of the night! I have no self control with those things!
It was SUCH a fun time!! I’m so glad you brought those Wheatfield’s potatoes! I love them 🙂
I’m already craving more!
I love Friendsgivings!! I went to my first one last year and it was a blast. The hostess also had us bring “White Elephant” gift exchange and that was so fun. =)
Fun traditions!
xo,
nancy
Oh I love the idea of adding a White Elephant to it! Maybe next year!
So so so good! It makes me so hungry looking at all of that delicious food again! 🙂
Do you have a recipe for your delicious sweet potatoes? I’ve been craving them!
It is actually a Pioneer Woman recipe! Here is the link: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/10/soul-sweet-taters-step-by-step-recipe/ 🙂 The only thing I changed was that I melted the butter before I mixed it into the crumble topping!
That is such a cute idea!
Emily
http://adorableandaffordable.weebly.com/
Thanks Emily! It was a lot of fun!
I love the idea of a friends thanksgiving! I don’t even think I’m doing thanksgiving this year–so sad.
Melanie @ meandmr.com
Oh no! Do you live far away from your family too?
Love these posts!! That food looks absolutely amazing!!
Thanks Tiffany! The food was delicious!
Yum! I’ve got a post actual Thanksgiving Friendsgiving to go to. I love baking desserts so I’m bringing a sweet potato pie!
Omg, eat some for me please!
Love this!!
x Kat
http://www.withlovefromkat.com
Thanks Kat! It was a fun time.
How wonderfully fun does that all look! Makes me want to go back home and have a tea party with my Grammie!!!!