Wanna know what I’ve had for lunch today?
Batter. Dough. Bread.
My sister took off work and came into town last night for the Friendsgiving party we’re having at our house tomorrow. Our Friendsgiving party is basically a pre-Thanksgiving party with all the traditional Thanksgiving food!
Leslie and I have spent the day meal planning, grocery shopping, baking, cooking, chopping and peeling.
Tearing bread for tomorrow’s stuffing…
(I swear I ate four pieces of this stuff while tearing it into bits.)
Beating butter, sugar and eggs for tunnel of fudge chocolate cake…
(Lots of beater and bowl licking on that one!)
We also tackled the intimidating pumpkin roll.
Apparently you’re supposed to roll up the pumpkin cake in a powdered sugar-covered towel to cool before icing it and rolling it back up.
Let’s hope it eventually looks like this…
(Source)
If the cake crumbles when we try to unroll it, I have plans to turn it into pumpkin cake truffles. Plan B!
I also ate a million pecans and a cup of Greek yogurt for some protein. My attempt to be healthy amid all the sugary sampling. 
Off to tackle peeling eight pounds of potatoes!
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Mmm sometimes the sugary samples makes the best meals. 😉 One of my favorite parts of baking is taste testing!! Have fun!
My stepmom makes a pumpkin log every year and that’s exactly how she rolls it up so I hope yours turns out great!
I am craving stuffing now! Thanksgiving has some of the best food!
that gives me hope!
Yummm pumpkin roll is so so good. I want to do a friends thanksgiving dinner its such a fun idea!
this sounds like such fun! a little “warm up” for your stomach for the big day, right? (like joey tribbiani & his eating potato chips before thanksgiving… ha!)
WOW –that sounds like so much fun!
YUMM. Have a delicious time 🙂
I cannot wait to begin baking holiday treats! And that pumpkin roll looks interesting ive never seen that!! I hope it all turns out 🙂
We had a Friendsgiving last weekend! Any excuse for multiple Thanksgiving dinners! 🙂
And that is definitely the way to do the pumpkin roll. I make one every year. They are well worth the hard work!
This sounds like so much fun, I wanna come over! I’ll die my hair blonde and pretend I’m a sister too.
we have PLENTY of food!!!
Sounds so much fun! Hope the pumpkin roll unwraps in one piece. Btw did you realize that November is National Peanut Butter Lover’s Month? Strange all the stuff you find on Pinterest.
The pumpkin roll is such a sense of accomplishment when it holds together! Sending good baking vibes your way! 🙂
Oh, I looove pumpkiny cakes! I’m sure your roll will come out gorgeous by the way it sounds. Have a beautiful, blessed day Julie~
Friendsgiving is such a good idea! My favorite food is my moms stuffing:)
Friendsgiving is a great idea. As a new homeowner, I’ve been on the lookout for unique party themes! I am really glad I found this blog!
nothing wrong with meals like this once in a while! i ate a cupcake + peppermint mocha for breakfast… and it was delicious!!!
Friendsgiving! That is so cute I’ve never heard of that!!
Good luck with the pumpkin roll!!! Either way it will TASTE good! haha
What a DELICIOUS day! I can’t wait to see how the pumpkin roll turns out. I’ve been too big of a weenie to try one ever.
This is going to sound extremely nerdy but I just got out of my genetics class and we were talking about how the Russet Burbank potato is the only potato McDonald’s will use for their french fries since they give the perfect-cut length for a french fry LOL.
we are going to a friendsgiving party next weekend, cant wait! its a great tradition! happy baking 🙂
we are doing the same thing tomorrow! I’m hosting a pot luck and we are calling it ‘Sweatsgiving’ because no sweats = no service! I can’t wait to have this fun, fancy-ish dinner and we are all dressed in sweats 🙂
I will be beyond impressed if it looks like that. It’s food art 🙂 Or fart as I call it. Nevermind.
perfect! i hope it is a beautiful piece of fart.
The pumpkin roll should definitely turn out! I’ve made plenty and always roll mine in a towel 🙂 make sure you refrigerate it!
My mom makes pumpkin rolls just like that every holiday season! She always uses a towel and although they don’t always turn out perfect, I think they look great 🙂 good luck!!
That sounds like so much fun! I love cooking and baking with my sister! 🙂 You are definitely making the pumpkin roll right! I watched Giada DeLaurentiis make one on tv and she did the exact same thing! I had no clue how to make it before. I definitely want to try making it. It looks so fancy! 🙂 Best of luck to you with the rest of cooking!
Oh,my mother made that pumpkin roll last year..soooo good! Enjoy your party!
Pumpkin rolls are DELICIOUS!!! I’ve never had one turn out right, but other rolls I have tasted were perfect 🙂
Happy Friendsgiving 🙂
The best part about cooking is getting to taste along the way. Enjoy it!
I love the idea of a Friendsgiving- good luck with it and the Pumpkin roll!
What a fun idea! We do something like this right before Christmas- we call it Festivus based on the Seinfeld episode. We invite all our friends over, cook up lots of holiday food, and “share our grievances” which only people who’ve seen that episode would understand!
Have fun- the preparations look great.
OMG Friendsgiving is such a fun idea!!! I will def need to do that next year!! And mmm I’ve never done a pumpkin roll but it sounds delicious– as does everything else you are making! Can’t wait to hear all about it!
How fun does a Friendsgiving sound?! I’m making the pumpkin roll for Thanksgiving this year! Even with the powdered sugar on the towel, its hard to roll! At least it tastes wonderful no matter how it looks 🙂
I love the idea of a Friendsgiving party! Very cool 🙂 Good luck with the pumpkin roll.
I love Friendsgiving! Only we call it Franksgiving… haha same difference. Hope it’s a blast!
Friendsgiving sounds like fun!
beautiful bundt cake pan. do you recall where it’s from? thx
I make pumpkin rolls a lot. It looks like you powdered it enough. Just unroll it really slowly an pull it off gently. I hope it turns out!
What a good idea! 🙂 My roommates and I are planning on having a Thanksgiving feast before we all leave to go home!
That’s an amazing idea – everyone loves holiday foods and this way you can have this meal with many people and still get to go to your family one! Genius!
I LOOVE this Friendsgiving idea! We are going to my brother’s house for Thanksgiving, and bc he’s not having dinner til 3, it means that we can’t reallly have people over at our house later that night…BUT why not do a totally different day? YAY!! Thanks, Julie!
i love making pumpkin rolls! And no worries, that’s the perfect amount of powdered sugar! It’ll be fine! Have fun!!
Friendsgiving party sounds so fun! That pumpkin roll is a great idea.. I may make that for Thanksgiving for my fam!
That sounds like my day! We’re having mini family thanksgiving tomorrow and I’ve been cooking away! No real lunch at all and here it is dinner time – oops 🙂
We have our Friendsgiving next wee! Its such a fun tradition!!!!
How fun! I can’t wait for Thanksgiving.
I’ve been dying to attempt a pumpkin log but have always been so intimidated by it. Definitely let us know how it turns out!
If the roll cracks just put frosting on the outside too and add nuts to the frosting – that is what I have done!
Why peel potatoes when you can leave the skin on – less work and more nutrition 🙂
Wonderful post Julie! Thank you for such a happy and inspiring blog. You seem like an incredible lady!
Have a good weekend:o)
Happy Friendsgiving! Glad you’re getting to spend some QT with your sister.
*Ummmm…..the Pumpkin Roll. Let me just say I tried to conquer it a few weeks ago and my biggest mistake was trying to roll it the first time without the towel. It crackled and although it didn’t look pretty it tasted realllly good.
To my pleasant surprise, my surprisingly taleneted in the kitchen husband made a Pumpkin Roll and it was beautiful and delicious the second time around! 🙂
Check out the story, where I share the recipe and make fun of myself: http://heather-hesington.blogspot.com/2011/11/pumpkin-roll.html
Have a great weekend! 🙂
Friendsgiving sounds SO fun! Good way to train your appetite for the actual day 😀
Good luck with the pumpkin roll! 😀
That sounds like a lot of fun! Good luck with the pumpkin roll.
roll the pumpkin when HOT before you unroll and fill-much easier.