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I am having a very good day today, even if it did not include exercise. My family has decided to have Thanksgiving the weekend before so that everyone could come this year. That meant I spent all morning before work cleaning, cooking, and baking for tomorrow. I was planning to walk my dog after lunch only to have a pumpkin cake I made take nearly and extra hour to bake. It came out beautiful but now I feel like a fat slob, with a messy kitchen and house, and no time to clean. I might go home to clean and exercise if today at work goes smoothly. Depends on how crazy the night goes and how tired I am at midnight.

I had another horrible kitchen moment baking the pumpkin bread. I have no allspice, ground ginger, or cloves. I substituted with extra cinnamon and finely chopped crystallized ginger with a splash of vanilla extract and hoped for the best (tasted wonderful!!!!)

Below is the real recipe link… http://www.grouprecipes.com/23516/pumpkin-cake.html

I also made a cranberry cream pie that looked great. I wish I had been able to puree the cranberries more, or made it with raspberries. It tasted great but large random uncut chunks of cranberries made for a tart surprise. I do not have a food processor so I ran my cranberries through the blender and tried to hand chop the random ones that escaped. I loved the pink color hit with speckles of red berry. I want to try this with other fruit, peaches I think would be devine, or even oranges. I used a pre-made gram cracker crust.

Cranberry Cream Pie

1 cup orange juice 1 cup sugar 5 ounces shortbread cookies 1/2 cup roasted almonds 4 tablespoons butter, melted 1 package frozen cranberries 1 1/4 ounce packet unflavored gelatin 2 cups heavy cream

Warm the orange juice and sugar in a small pot over low heat until the sugar dissolves. transfer to a large bowl and refrigerate until just cool, about 30 minutes.

Pulse the cookies and almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Add the butter and pulse to combine. Press the cookie mixture evenly into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.

Clean the food processor, add the cranberries and 1/4 cup juice and puree.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining juice and let sit for one minute. Stir in the gelatin until it dissolves. Add the cranberries and stir to combine.

Beat the cream in a medium bowl using a whisk or electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the cranberry mixture until well combined.

Pour into the crust. Placed on a baking sheet and refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours.