How to Host a Friendsgiving Dinner

Thank you to Oriental Trading Company for sponsoring this post. Product and/or compensation was provided to me to share my ideas and tips, however, all opinions are fully my own. 

Thanksgiving is literally a few short days away and you may find yourself looking for last minute ideas for hosting a small gathering of friends....also known as a Friendsgiving. 

A Friendsgiving is a great way to host your friends for the Thanksgiving holiday, but you don't have to break the bank or do a lot of work to get ready - especially with my easy and affordable tips for setting a beautiful tablescape and preparing a delicious meal.  Below are some ideas and tips that I have on how to pull together a quick tablescape and meal for your closest pals.

With the right combination of decorative pieces, you can create a beautiful tablescape  that looks like you put in a ton of work....(but you really didn't)....I used a gold shimmer burlap table runner, a faux boxwood garland, mirror glass votives and metallic string placemats as the foundation of tablescape.  Using the votives creates a very intimate space and provides an extra element of lighting.  Spacing out votive candles with autumnal elements, like decorative pumpkins, down the center of your table, you can create perfectly natural looking centerpiece that will certainly wow your guests. 

Little details like burlap bows hot glued to the ends of the runner add another level of dimension to a simple decorative piece.  I just love, love, love mixing elegant pieces with more casual pieces and the combination of metallics and burlap completes this look perfectly.

Make it easy for guests to find their place at the table.  I painted wood cut gourds gold and white and wrote down the names of my special friends.   This is a simple DIY and if you add a magnet to the back of the place cards, your guests can take them home to attach to their fridge or magnet board as an instant thank you gift!

Instead of florals, I used a faux boxwood garland to fill in the middle of the table along with decorative pumpkins from my fall decor stash.  There is so much you can do with a few decorative pieces.  Keeping special occasional dinnerware on hand will always come in handy.  

These 'Thank You' gift tags make perfect napkin rings.  I plucked a few pieces from the garland to bring in some of the greens to my linen napkins I already had on hand.  

Place a wall sign or framed quote out to remind your closest friends how much they truly mean to you and how thankful you are for their friendship!

If you need an affordable idea for feeding your guests, my quick and easy tip for preparing a Friendsgiving meal is to keep it super simple. 

I went to my local Aldi and Trader Joe's and found a full meal to feed 4-6 people for less than $35.  Trader Joe's had a Turkey En Croute with cranberry sauce and gravy for $12.99!  That's a major score.  I also found frozen green beans and pearl onions, and frozen sweet potatoes...I doctored the side dishes up with spices and herbs and turned out a delicious meal!  I was even able to find mini pies from Aldi that were a perfect treat for dessert.

What makes this idea THE BEST is that there is very little clean up and the time to prep and cook everything was less than two hours!

Pulling together a last minute Friendsgiving is totally doable.  Just remember my tips when  setting it up:

• Simple decor can go a long way, a few elegant pieces mixed in with casual everyday tableware and linens will give you a stunning tablescape.  

• Dress up your place settings with cloth napkins, thank you tags and a few botanical sprigs (faux or real).  

• Make gifts serve a dual purpose by personalizing take home name cards....they'll mean a lot to your besties because you made them (and they take no time at all to make). 

• Make meal prep effortless with heat and go dishes that you can easily flavor with flair!

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PIN AND SHARE FOR LATER

Thanks again to Oriental Trading for always providing festive elements for my holiday entertaining ideas! 

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Chicken Lasagna Zucchini Boats

How often have you found yourself struggling for ideas on what to make for dinner?  I know my husband and I aren't the only ones.  We're constantly trying to think of different meals that we can make for our family.....especially healthier meals.

Late 2015 I started changing how I eat by following a keto-adapted diet.  I won't get into all of that in this post, but choosing to lead a low-carb high-fat lifestyle has helped me make better meals for my family (and I've lost over 100 lbs.....I'll share how I did it in another post - promise).  While I'm all in and committed to this new way of eating, not everyone in my house is and that's okay.  I'd love if they could all be on board and hopefully they'll get there, but for now....baby steps.

In trying to merge our traditional weeknight meals that we love with meals that fit into my diet, I've had to adjust meal planning just a bit.  We make meals based around what I can eat....and the kids (and sometimes my hubby) get to have a side dish that I most likely won't eat....like rice, potatoes, bread, etc.  That's the easy part, because I can eat a lot of different foods....which is awesome and I'm not deprived....the trick is being able to mix it up.  Like, well, what if we want Chinese?  We can have Stir Fried Beef with veggies.....no rice for me.  What about Spaghetti....I can make regular pasta for the rest of the family and I'll roast a spaghetti squash and top it with meat sauce.  Everyone wins.  Traditional meals that we love, but I have the option of choosing food that is healthier.

One of my go to meals now when we're trying to figure out what to make for dinner is zucchini boats.  I love making them because you can pretty much add different fillings to them and they're perfect for a keto lifestyle.  Plus, my kids really like them....which is another huge win.

I first heard of zucchini boats after watching one of those fun quick minute meal videos you see on Facebook.  The video showed in several steps how to make pepperoni 'pizza' zucchini boats.  This girl loves pizza - but it's obviously not low-carb....but here was an option to get the flavors of pizza and it is keto-friendly.  I was instantly hooked.  Once I realized how versatile zucchini boats were, it became one of my go to meals for dinner.  We can make cheese steak zucchini boats, crab-filled zucchini boats, taco style zucchini boats.....the list goes on.  They're also great for adding to your meal planning menu.

You can prep these ahead of time by having your meat seasoned and pre-cooked, veggies cut up  and sauce on hand in your pantry.  I used the new Homestyle Ragu sauce for the recipe I'm sharing today.  I love that it tastes homemade, doesn't have high fructose corn syrup (a keto no-no), no artificial ingredients.....and the sauce itself is nice and thick!  I am telling you....I'm a sauce snob....I either make it myself or buy a basic sauce and add extra seasoning to it, but this sauce doesn't need anything extra at all!  It's definitely going to be a staple in our pantry.  Head over to their site and check out some of their delicious recipes!

Making the actual boats is fairly easy.  You just slice them lengthwise, hollow out the center with a scoop (save the scooped out flesh because you will add it to your mixture), then you fill the boats with a cheese mixture just like you would for lasagna!

I always like to try something new each time I make them.  I thought of adding bacon, but since this is an Italian style meal, I added pancetta!  YUUUUMMM!!!  After rendering down the pork, I added a bit of olive oil and seasoned a few pieces of chicken with a bit of salt and pepper....it doesn't need much because cooking the chicken in the same pan the pancetta is cooked in will pick up those flavors.....double YUUUUUMMMM!  Once the chicken is cooked, I add in the scooped out bits from the zucchini, added the Homestyle Ragu sauce and let it cook until warmed through.

The next steps are easy, you just top the filled boats with the meat and sauce mixture, top with mozzarella cheese and bake in a covered dish for about 25 minutes.

I like  to always add a little extra cheese when I'm baking dishes like this.  So, I tend to go back in and add a bit more cheese and let it cook uncovered for about 5 more minutes.

When the zucchini is ready, you can serve it with a simple side salad.  If your family prefers pasta, a small serving of penne or cavatappi would work great with this as a meal, as well.

I'll definitely be creating more dishes like this and making more family traditions with RAGÚ® Here's my recipe for delicious chicken lasagna zucchini boats!  

PRINT THIS RECIPE

PRINT THIS RECIPE

Learn more about RAGÚ® Homestyle Sauces and discover more recipes for the family here 

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Homemade Sweet Potato Pie

There is nothing I cherished more as a child, than the times I spent with grandmother in the kitchen helping her prep meals and dishes for big holiday gatherings.

One of those fond moments included helping her get the sweet potatoes ready for her delicious pies and casseroles!  I remember that she used to boil the potatoes whole, then let them cool a bit and peel the skin back from the warm potatoes, I'd sit all wide-eyed watching  a bit of steam pipe out of each potato, just amazed at how cool, calm and collected she would be while handling each one....She's such a G.  Once the potatoes were peeled, we'd divide them up, and cube and slice them....most were used for making the candied yams and the remaining were used for the pie filling.  Well, after the peeling and cutting was done we'd.....well.....actually, all the rest is a blur to me....(record scratch) I remember something about  mashing the potatoes....and brown sugar... nutmeg....but that's about it!

I mean, don't get me wrong here....I know I can make a sweet potato pie E-Z!....I can even call up my dear grandmother (we call her Miss Kitty) and ask her how we used to make it.  It's just that....ain't nobody got time for all of that - ESPECIALLY when you're husband is a born and bred southerner who can cook and bake his tail off.  So, when I had this hairbrain idea to share how to make a homemade sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving, I knew that I wanted to share his recipe most of all.....(sorry Miss Kitty).

I promise you....I didn't marry my husband because he was a great southern cook....well, maybe a lil' bit, because....a girl can eat, but he's pretty fantastic....the great cooking skizillz is just a bonus.  ;)

When I asked him if he'd share his sweet potato pie recipe with my readers, I was a bit shocked when he said yes.  He's a private fella and quiet as kept, there also seems to be an underground secret society of recipe hiders on his side of the family (I'll never get his late grandmother's Caramel cake recipe from his aunt) so,  I just knew he'd say no; but, to my surprise, he was all for it....he even baked said pie for me - two to be exact.

What I love best about his pies is they are chock full of spices....and SO rich and buttery....and he makes a perfect pie crust.  Everyone knows a perfect crust is the crown jewel of any decent pie.  I found out his secret....he BUYS it!  LOL

For years, I turned my nose up at refrigerated pie crust, vowing every holiday to make the perfect apple pie with a crust from scratch...but, to no avail.  Meanwhile, hubby has cranked out perfect pies  with refrigerated dough, like gangbusters.  So, I gave up the ghost and let him be the Pie Making King of the house (kinda.....I've promised Thing  1 that she and I would make an apple pie for Thanksgiving...crossing fingers)  It's still a personal mission to make the perfect full from scratch pie....but I now admit, that there ain't nothing wrong with refrigerated dough - we like Pilsbury :)

Also....the texture of his pies are not dense as some other sweet potato pies I've had.  His tends to be more fluffy and light in texture....almost borderline souffle!  Also, he tops his pie with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon which I just love because it gives the pie even more flavor!  A small slice of hubby's sweet potato pie and a dollup of whipped cream for me is always a win!

I think I've made it pretty clear that I eat a Ketogenic diet most days...but I'm giving myself a pass for Thanksgiving, because I REALLY want to eat pie and a few other carb heavy dishes.....I can indulge a bit, right? (damn right I can 100+ lbs down since this time last year!)


If you're making pies this holiday and haven't made sweet potato before or want to try it a different way, test out my hubby's recipe....you'll love it! (and let me know if you do....he's sort of anxious to hear some feedback.....plus he thinks it's going to make him instafamous LOL)

Here's the recipe for you to download and print!

Are you planning on making any delicious family pie recipes?  Make sure you share them  and tag me on social media at @cwbdparties - and if you make THIS recipe, I'd love to hear what you think about it - or even any fond family Thanksgiving memories you have with your grandparents - so make sure to leave a comment below - Enjoy!

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