This was Lily first Thanksgiving and it was so nice and low key. We don’t live near any family and most of our friends had family things to do so it was just Waldo, Lily, our friend Jack and myself. Because there were so few of us and it saved money we decided to make chicken parmesan instead of turkey. When we were planning our menu we had decided that my chicken parm is so rich and cheesy that it didn’t need sides, while I was making dinner though Waldo decided it needed something. He made a boxed noodle dish, I didn’t need the noodles the chicken parm was enough for me.

I made a coconut cream pie because it’s Waldo’s favorite. I use a tweaked recipe I got off of AllRecipes.com and Waldo loves it.  I’m not a huge fan of coconut flakes so I take his word for it. I made the same pie last year but it never set up so I let the custard boil a little longer this year and that made all the difference in the world.

I also made some Chocolate Cover Snow Peaks.  Mine didn’t get perfectly dried out but we all thought they were great and I liked that it was nice to have something different from our traditional desserts.  Oh and in an effort to keep things real my snow peaks didn’t turn out anywhere as nicely formed as Tyler Florence’s.  I’ve really got to work on my pipping skills.  While I was googling other meringue recipes I got some inspiration for Lily’s first birthday party.  I’m thinking meringue snowmen with chocolate piped eyes and meringue buttons with a chocolate 1 on them.

I was so busy cooking and having fun that I didn’t take any pictures.  I have plenty of leftovers but now I’m to tired take pictures of food.

We did take a few pictures of Lily before Jack got here and I started cooking.

I am so thankful for my loving husband and our beautiful healthy daughter. I’ve very thankful to Waldo for working so hard so that I’m able to stay home with Lil, money may be tight but it is so worth it. I’m thankful for so much more too but I’ve got a kitchen to clean.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.