Artistic31Mama: Nov 23, 2011

Painting A Turkey

Painting a Turkey

I actually painted this over a month ago for a door prize at a Ladies Game Night I was hosting...yes it was hard to part with my Turkey.

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, I figured this would be a good time to post this tutorial.

Here is the Turkey.

I started by painting his belly a base color.

Then I added shadowing to the edges.

Next I painted the base coat on the turkey's body.

I then added shadowing to the outer edges of the turkey's body, painted the beak. I also shaded in a little chubby cheek. Next I painted the dark stripes on the tail feathers.

Next I began the process of painted the tail feathers.

I added a second coat on the tail feathers and added a splatter effect to the belly.

Then I started the shading on the tail feathers. I added a stroke of wet paint along the edge of the feathers.....

....then using a dry brush pulled the wet paint in toward the center of the feather creating the shading technique.

I added a base coat to the feet and painted them as well.

And there you have it. A perfect Thanksgiving decoration! :-)

At our house this year I am making three different types of stuffing. I am making the stuffing for the turkey with no onions or celery since a few guests don't find these ingredients appetizing. haha Then I'm making a reduced calorie stuffing muffin for me to help me not go completely overboard with my calories. Finally I'm making regular stuffing muffins for everyone else.

Stuffing Muffins

Ingredients:

2 loaves of Bread (40 slices) - cubed

1 1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Parsley

1/2 tsp Garlic

1/2 C Celery, minced

1/2 C Onion, minced

1 tsp Black Pepper

3 Eggs

Makes 16-18 Muffins

Calories per Muffin: 153

Fat per Muffin: 3g

Reduced Calorie Stuffing Muffins

Ingredients:

1 Loaf of Nickels 35 Light Bread (22 slices)

1/2 C Celery

1/3 C Onion

3/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Garlic

3/4 tsp Black Pepper

1 tsp Parsley

3/4 C Egg Whites

Makes 12 Muffins

Calories per Muffin: 70

Fat per Muffin: 1g

Turkey Stuffing

Ingredients:

2 Loaves Bread (40 slices)

2 tsp Onion Salt

1 tsp Black Pepper

2 tsp Parsley

1/2 tsp Garlic

3 Eggs

Start off by cutting up the loaves of bread into squares.

Mix all the seasonings together in a small bowl...

Sprinkle the seasoning mixture over the bread and toss together...

For the stuffing muffins add in the onion and celery...(skip this step for the Turkey stuffing)

Toss together until all the bread is coated...

Then add in the egg and continue mixing (I forgot to get a picture of this step)

(Turkey Stuffing) This is the last step for the turkey stuffing, then you just stuff it in your turkey!

(Stuffing Muffins) Put the stuffing in a muffin pan and pack tightly...

(Stuffing Muffins) Bake at 400 degrees for about 13-15 mins or until muffins are crisp and golden brown.

Pumpkin Spice Mini Muffins

My mom showed me this recipe a few years ago. I love them! They're SUPER simple and REALLY tasty. They make a great snack for anyone. If you have a chocolate craving you can use Devil's Food cake mix instead of the Spice Cake mix.

Pumpkin Spice Mini Muffins

Ingredients:

1 - 15oz Can of Canned Pumpkin

1 - Box of Spice Cake Mix

Makes 36 Mini Muffins

Calories per Muffin: 46

Start by putting the whole can of pumpkin in a large bowl...

Then add in the cake mix...

Then mix the two ingredients. Make sure everything is blended well.

The mixture will be thick, but that's okay...it's supposed to be; trust me. :-)

Would I steer you wrong?

Hmmm....don't answer that. :-P

Back to the muffins...

You don't need to use mini muffin liners, but I found these super cute little orange liners on clearance and I couldn't resist using them!

Fill the liners to the top with the cake mixture.

I baked mine at 400 degrees for 15 mins.

And if you just happened to find SUPER cute little pumpkin cupcake picks on clearance you can go ahead and pop one in a muffin to take a picture. :-)

So cute!! I snuck a few of these while I was bagging them up for tomorrow. (I made sure to count the calories of course!!) Yum!

Pumpkin Pie (Reduced Fat - Reduced Calorie - No Bake)

I was experimenting. Sometimes my experiments turn out; sometimes they don't. This particular experiment was a HUGE success. I'm so excited to share it with you! :-) I think this is a yummy alternative to regular pumpkin pie. If you want to go even further and cut out even more calories you can go without a crust. It should be firm enough to hold without a crust. This is REALLY good. You're going to love it!

Pumpkin Pie

(Reduced Fat - Reduced Calorie - No Bake)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C Skim Milk

1 - 3.4oz Instant French Vanilla Pudding Mix

1 - prepared Graham Cracker crust

2 tsp McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 envelope (1oz) Knox unflavored Gelatin

1 - 15oz can of Libby's Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix

1/2 C Water

Servings: 8

Calories per serving: 226

Fat per serving: 7.3g

(Regular Pumpkin Pie is about 300 calories and 14g Fat)

Start by mixing the Skim Milk and Pudding together in a large bowl.

Add in the Pumpkin Pie Spice...

Next you want to take 1/2 cup of water and heat it in the microwave until it boils. Mix in the gelatin until completely dissolved. Add this to the mixture. Mix well.

Add in 15oz of the Pumpkin Pie Mix (this is important; the mix is different than plain canned pumpkin). I have a 30oz can pictured here but only used half of the can.