Tag: thanksgiving

🍓 The Easiest Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert for Thanksgiving (or Anytime You Want to Look Impressive)

Leave a comment

Look, Thanksgiving is chaotic enough. The turkey is dry, someone forgot the rolls in the oven, and Cousin Janet has Opinions about everything. Dessert should be the easy part—and lucky for you, I’ve got the perfect no-stress, no-bake treat that tastes like you spent way more time on it than you actually did.

Introducing: No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Cups.
They’re adorable, delicious, and require about as much effort as deciding what to watch after dinner.

🍓 Why This Dessert Is a Holiday Hero

  • No oven needed. Bless.
  • Fast. You can make these while your family argues about which parade balloon was best this year.
  • Pretty enough for Instagram. You don’t even need a filter.
  • Individual servings = zero slicing drama. You’re welcome.

🍓 What You’ll Need

  • 1 block cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup heavy cream (or Cool Whip if that’s more your speed)
  • ½ cup sugar (more or less depending on how sweet your berries are)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped
  • 1–2 tablespoons strawberry jam (optional, but soooo good)
  • Crushed graham crackers or vanilla wafers
  • Optional toppings: whipped cream, extra berries, a drizzle of jam, crushed cookies, mint leaf if you wanna be fancy

🍰 How to Make It (In No Time at All)

  1. Whip the cream until soft peaks form. (Or open the Cool Whip. Again: no shame.)
  2. In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until it’s smooth and irresistible.
  3. Fold in the whipped cream until fluffy and cheesecake-y.
  4. Toss your chopped strawberries with a spoonful of strawberry jam for extra sweetness and gloss. (This step makes you look like a professional, trust me.)
  5. Now assemble:
    crushed cookies → cheesecake mixture → strawberries
    Repeat layers if you’re feeling extra.
  6. Top with whipped cream and more strawberries because life is short.

Chill for 30 minutes if you can wait—but honestly, they’re fantastic right away.

💡 Make It Your Own

  • Use crushed shortbread for a buttery base.
  • Add a splash of lemon juice for brightness.
  • Swirl in a little Nutella if you want to cause a family-wide obsession.
  • Mix berries: strawberry + blueberry = summer vibes in November.

⭐ Final Thoughts

These No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Cups are fast, fruity, and guaranteed to steal the Thanksgiving dessert spotlight—even next to a fancy pecan pie. They’re simple enough for a weeknight but stunning enough for the holiday table.

Prepare to be praised. Prepare to be asked for the recipe. Prepare to act humble even though you know this took you, like, 10 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving—and happy dessert hacking. 🍓🥂

DID YOU ENJOY WHAT YOU JUST READ? IF YES, THEN SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG, GIVE THE POST A LIKE, OR LEAVE A COMMENT! NEW POSTS ARE UP EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY!

5 Fun (and Surprisingly Easy) Ways to Be Grateful This Thanksgiving Season

Leave a comment

Thanksgiving is basically the Super Bowl of gratitude—but sometimes life is chaotic, and remembering to be thankful can feel like another item on the to-do list. No worries! Here are a few fun, low-effort ways to get into the spirit without forcing it.

1. Start a “Thankful-For-Right-Now” List
Not a journal, not a commitment—just a quick list on your phone of whatever you’re grateful for in this exact moment. Coffee counts. So does stretchy pants.

2. Turn Gratitude Into a Game
At dinner, go around the table and see who can name the weirdest thing they’re thankful for. (“I’m grateful for my car heater because my soul is fragile in the mornings.”)

3. Do a Mini Kindness Bomb
Leave a sticky note compliment in a random place—on a coworker’s desk, a mirror, a pumpkin… whatever. Making someone else smile instantly boosts your own gratitude.

4. Rewatch a Comfort Show
Nothing reminds you how good life can be like revisiting the series you’ve streamed 47 times. Gratitude via cozy vibes = valid.

5. Go Outside for Exactly 60 Seconds
You don’t have to hike a mountain. Just step outside, breathe in the cold air, and notice one small thing you appreciate—a crunchy leaf, a sunset, the fact that you’re not a turkey.

Gratitude doesn’t have to be deep or dramatic. Keep it simple, keep it playful, and let the season do the rest. Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃✨

DID YOU ENJOY WHAT YOU JUST READ? IF YES, THEN SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG, GIVE THE POST A LIKE, OR LEAVE A COMMENT! NEW POSTS ARE UP EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY!

3 Thanksgiving Horror Movies to Watch on Thanksgiving!

Leave a comment

If spending time with your family begins to feel like a drag, then suggest a movie to watch and have everyone settle down to a terrifying horror movie that takes place during Thanksgiving cause sometimes the holidays are just downright scary!

KRISTY (2014)

Violent thugs terrorize a young woman (Haley Bennett) who’s alone on a college campus for Thanksgiving weekend. Ashley Greene plays a chilling pierced villain. Think “Home Alone” but with a lot more violence and gore.

PILGRIM (2019)

A woman invites Pilgrim reenactors to her family’s Thanksgiving celebration in an effort to remind them of their privilege and help them bond with one another.

THANKSGIVING (2023)

For many years this was only a fake trailer shown in Quentin Tarantino’s and Robert Rodriguez’s 2007 double feature, Grindhouse. Finally, sixteen years later we get an actual movie by Eli Roth inspired by that trailer. An axe-wielding maniac terrorizes residents of Plymouth, Mass., after a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy. Picking off victims one by one, the seemingly random revenge killings soon become part of a larger, sinister plan.

DID YOU ENJOY WHAT YOU JUST READ? IF YES, THEN SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG, GIVE THE POST A LIKE, OR LEAVE A COMMENT! NEW POSTS ARE UP EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY!

DIY Thankful Jar

Leave a comment

Happy Thanksgiving, my fellow readers!

I think it’s easy for any of us to lose track of the blessings in our own lives when life gets hectic and a little stressful (and who doesn’t especially this time of year?). This is why I think it’s a fun idea to write what we’re thankful for several weeks prior to Thanksgiving and place these little notes in a jar that can then be shared with the rest of the family on Thanksgiving day (which will surely beat having relatives fighting over politics, ugh).

WHAT YOU NEED
A mason jar or any type of glass jar.

Markers/colored pencils

Stickers

Paper

The idea is pretty simple, you just get a glass jar and decorate it in any shape or form you desire (be creative! And kudos if you can personalize it!). Once the jar is decorated, then over the course of several weeks whenever you feel thankful or wish to express gratitude towards something in your life that’s positive, then write it down on a piece of paper and fold it and place it in the jar. To make it even more aesthetically pleasing, use various colored pieces of paper to write on.

What do you think of Thankful Jars? Is it a tradition you would like to incorporate in your household? Let me know!

DID YOU ENJOY WHAT YOU JUST READ? IF YES, THEN SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG, GIVE THE POST A LIKE, OR LEAVE A COMMENT! NEW POSTS ARE UP EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY!

6 Things I’m Thankful For

Leave a comment

First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope that you’re all having a wonderful Thanksgiving if you’re celebrating, but while we stuff our faces with all the ham, sweet potatoes, and pies, I just wanted to take the time to give things to the things I have in my life.

HEALTH

This is something that we all take a little bit for granted when we’ve got good health. It’s only when you have bad health is when you’re thinking about what you took for granted. I’m lucky to be healthy with functioning limbs. So I want to give thanks for having good health.

FAMILY & FRIENDS

Family can sometimes drive you crazy, but I do love my family very much. I also love my friends very much too. Many of them I’ve been friends with since my teens. But I’ve been lucky also with the new friends I’ve encountered in my adult life. One thing I know for certain is that I can always rely on my family and friends for support and that makes getting through life a little easier.

IMG_0785

Halloween 2015, we had only been dating for 3 months.

LOVE

I’m kind of private when it comes to my personal life (or at least sharing it online). But I feel blessed that a few years ago I finally met my soulmate (we’re currently engaged!). I spent my early twenties dealing with terrible relationships that I kind of associated love with pain. But it doesn’t have to be that way! True love will uplift you and not hurt you. True love allows the best part of you to shine, and I feel that I’m truly my best now with my fiance.

PASSION

Life would be quite dull for me without my passion for writing. I am thankful for my passion because it gives me a purpose and it also fills me with happiness.

013

One of my pups, Nico

PETS

Even on a bad day, I love my pups who are always excited to see me. They instantly lift my spirits and are always so silly that they make me laugh even on the worst of days. I am thankful that they came into my life (I didn’t go to a rescue to find them, I literally found them on the streets).

tablenox.jpg

My book Bleed Like Me at The Ripped Bodice bookstore in Culver City, California

READERS

If you’re reading my books or you read my blog, THANK YOU. I appreciate my readers and am thankful that out of all the authors and bloggers out there you chose to read my work. An artist can’t exist in a vacuum without an audience and I am very appreciative of mine.

What are a few things that you are thankful for?

White and Pink Strikeout Cosmetics Beauty Logo

 

DID YOU ENJOY WHAT YOU JUST READ? IF YES, THEN SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG, GIVE THE POST A LIKE, OR LEAVE A COMMENT! NEW POSTS ARE UP EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY

Recipe: Maple Glazed Brussel Sprouts

Leave a comment

maple

Photo courtesy of hotdinnerhappyhome.blogspot.com

Happy Thanksgiving, Peeps!

Are you one of those people who never know what to bring to a Thanksgiving gathering? This year, bring something that is both a crowd pleaser and doesn’t pack on the calories. I actually made this dish for a Friendsgiving gathering and it wasn’t long before it was all gone! This recipe is super easy as it doesn’t have that many ingredients and once it’s put together, the oven does the rest of the work!

Ingredients:

1 – pound Brussels Sprouts, trimmed and cut in half

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

3 Tablespoons Pure Maple Syrup

4 Slices bacon, cut into ½ inch pieces

½ Teaspoon Salt

¼ Teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper

Prep Time: 10-minutes

Cook Time: 35-minutes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (200 degrees C)

Place the Brussels Sprouts in a single layer into a baking dish (preferably glass).

Drizzle with olive oil and maple syrup, toss the sprouts to coat.

Sprinkle with bacon and season with salt and black pepper.

Roast in the preheated oven for about 35-minutes, or until the bacon is crispy and the sprouts are caramelized. Every so often, stir so they don’t get stuck or burned.

Calories:175 per 1-cup serving

White and Pink Strikeout Cosmetics Beauty Logo

DID YOU ENJOY WHAT YOU JUST READ? IF YES, THEN SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG, GIVE THE POST A LIKE, OR LEAVE A COMMENT! NEW POSTS ARE UP EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY