Thanksgiving Aftermath

istock photos

Thanksgiving dinner is over, my parents and aunt have gone home, all is well. We actually ended up eating with very little turkey as my turkey breast was quite on the pink side even though the meat thermometer said it was done. With all of the side dishes the lack of turkey wasn't missed.

Which means that I have a huge amount of leftover turkey. This isn't a problem that I'm used to dealing with and I'll be trolling the recipe sites for leftover turkey suggestions that go beyone sandwiches, tetrazini, and hash. Anyone out there have any great recipes?

The dessert was met with much enthusiasm. Yesterday was my mom's birthday and I decided that I would make her a strawberry bavarian cream cake. I saw one on $40 a Day with Rachael Ray and thought "I could make that" and the rest is culinary history. My son ate about half of it and everyone else raved. I'll share the recipe with you soon!

istock photo

I also served blueberry cobbler, which my dad took home, kentucky derby pie (super recipes for this are available all over the web; I left out the bourbon), and pumpkin pie (which didn't get eaten at all). It was nice to sit at the table with my parents and aunt chatting for hours, watching everyone enjoy my cooking. I really do enjoy hosting Thanksgiving, even though it is a lot of cooking.

I hope you all had wonderful holidays and to all of you braving Black Friday, Good Luck and Godspeed!

I'm Grateful: American Indians

Yesterday while I was making my corn pudding and warming the sweet potatoes I started thinking about that famous story all Americans learn in school about the first Thanksgiving. How Squanto helped the fledgling colonists against his better judgement get through those first years as Americans and today we celebrate this with a great dinner with all of the trimmings.

The American Indians are a beautiful people. The first images of them are some of the most beautiful photographs in existance. We can't go back and change what our forefathers did to them, but we can honor and celebrate their culture and support initiatives to restore to them the diginity and respect that they deserve. We can honor our earth, respect the land, and work toward bringing back so many animals from near extintion. Most importantly, we can practice the principals that they tried to teach us so long ago. This might be the greatest tribute of all.

Garfield Jackson


Little Wolf, Cheyenne








Pawnee Warrior



For more absolutely beautiful photographs of early Native Americans (and all of the history, stories, and culture of this great people) visit First People. I'm just going to warn you: this site might actually blow you away.

I'm Grateful: Silence

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The older kids have ditched us for Thanksgiving. I'm not really all shook up about it; they are starting to use their wings and fly further from the nest. They are all with various family members that they rarely get to see and I'm sure will be having a great Thanksgiving with them. Hubs, Will, and I will be having Thanksgiving with my parents and my aunt Carol.


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It is usually pretty loud and chaotic around here when the whole brood is home. But now that it's just the hubs, the Will, and me, it's so Silent. And Calm. And Quiet. And it will be until next Monday. The cats aren't hiding. As I am writing this, Foxy, who is usually hiding in some weird spot like the lazy Susan or our bathroom waste basket, is trying to figure out how to get onto my lap. Seems I'm not the only creature in the house who was ready for some silence.

Ah, blessed Silence.

***

I received an email with a link to Tyler's Thankful story. Tyler is a 15-year-old with a brain tumor; in my years as a pediatrician I was always impressed and amazed with the way chidren and teens handle serious disease. Please read his words, and if you'd like others to know about him, please link to Tyler's story on your blog.

I'm Grateful: A few things

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Today I am grateful for: microwave popcorn, Will spinning in circles singing songs, having money to buy Christmas gifts, and soft, silly kittens.

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I'm grateful for a time of year that lets us reflect upon why we are grateful.

I'm Grateful: Moments of Frivolity

Frivolity - self-indulgence, irresponsibility, triviality, abandon, levity, foolishness.

I love to watch William play. He plays with complete abandon, few limits, and for the simple pleasure of it. And his whole day is looking for the next fun thing to do. He relishes in going down slides, vroom-vrooming cars over any surface he can find, spinning in circles until he gets so dizzy he falls down, and singing at the top of his lungs.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could indulge ourselves like three-year-olds. Often, it seems, responsibilities like finances, cooking, cleaning, working, and raising kids gets in the way of our former frivolity.

But occasionally, those moments shine through. I urge you to tango with your five-year-old, to spin in circles with the toddler, to swing until your stomach flips, just let your hair down as they say. Let the frivolity take over; you will be grateful you did.

Gratitude

This month, I'm joining Curious Girl in blogging about those things that I am grateful for. I spend a lot of time doing the "if only we had more money" thing, so when Lisa brought up this topic I thought it would be a great exercise for me.

Today I am grateful for our home. I've written about how close we came to losing it and how we danced on the edge of homelessness. But my in-laws would have nothing of that and are helping us with our payments until we are more financially stable.

I watch HGTV manically and I'm always struck by how the people on House Hunters "need" so much room in their houses. Our house is small by most people's standards, but if you compare what we have to other parts of the world, we live like kings. And we have So Much Stuff. A few years ago a photographer had a family who lived in a mud hut in Africa and an American family put everything that they owned on their front lawns and took a picture of both. It was almost embarrassing how much more the American family had.

I struggle to teach our children that life is not about more, more, more; I'm not sure how much is getting through. It took me this long to realize that we could live a really nice life on very little money, it just meant that the couch was going to stay old and stained, some of my clothes would have little holes in them, and we weren't going to buy everything in the world for our children. We have so much already, we really don't need anymore.

Our needs have been supplied and we have a beautiful home to return to every day. For that, I am grateful.

The Thanksgiving Menu, a.k.a., A Cornucopia of Recipes

I'll have 9 people to feed (and maybe more) this Thanksgiving. I serve a pretty traditional menu; we have no ethnic or regional specialties that go on the Thanksgiving buffet. I thought I'd share the menu with you.


michellepaints, photobucket

* Turkey - of course! The thing with turkey is figuring out how big of a turkey to buy. I read in a long forgotten magazine that you want 1-1/2 pounds of turkey per person. Seems like a lot, until you figure that they turkey has a carcass and you won't get all of the meat off of that carcass. So we have been gifted with a 15 pound turkey from the in-laws. The only way to bake a turkey is in a roaster bag at 325 F, and you can refer to this handy USDA chart for cooking times:

Unstuffed
4 to 8 pounds (breast) 1½ to 3¼ hours
8 to 12 pounds 2¾ to 3 hours
12 to 14 pounds 3 to 3¾ hours
14 to 18 pounds 3¾ to 4¼ hours
18 to 20 pounds 4¼ to 4½ hours
20 to 24 pounds 4½ to 5 hours

Stuffed
4 to 6 pounds (breast) Not usually applicable
6 to 8 pounds (breast) 2½ to 3½ hours
8 to 12 pounds 3 to 3½ hours
12 to 14 pounds 3½ to 4 hours
14 to 18 pounds 4 to 4¼ hours
18 to 20 pounds 4¼ to 4¾ hours
20 to 24 pounds 4¾ to 5¼ hours



* Stuffing

I've always made stuffing the same way. Here's how I do it.

You'll need:
1 bag of cornbread stuffing mix.
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
enough chicken broth (we'll address this later)
2 eggs

Sautee the carrots, celery, and onion until the carrots start to get soft. Take off of the heat, add the stuffing mix. In a seperate bowl, add some chicken broth and the eggs, whisk. Add to the stuffing mix. Add more chicken broth until the stuffing is moist. Put in a greased baking dish and cook at 325 (see how that works - you can cook it with the turkey!) for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the stuffing is done in the middle.


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* Green Bean Casserole

I use Campbell's Classic Green Bean Casserole recipe. I think that's all I have to say about that.


HannahBear105, photobucket

* Sweet Potato Casserole

I have bought frozen sweet potato casserole from Honey Baked Ham and it's really, really good. But it's also not too difficult to make it on your own.
Kim's Sweet Potato Casserole recipe on Recipezaar.com is exactly like the recipe I've been using for years (except I don't use marshmellows. You can make up your own mind about this addition). It's the one thing that my mom requests.



* Glazed Carrots

Glazed Carrots are so easy to make. They are so yummy. Once you figure out how easy they are to make, you'll find yourself making them for everyday meals.

You need:
1 pound carrots
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar

Peel and cut the carrots into bite-sized coins. Boil for 10 minutes or until just tender. Drain.

Melt butter in pan. Once melted, add brown sugar and stir until dissolved.

Add carrots and stir around to coat with glaze. Cook for an additional 10 minutes.


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* Potato Rolls

Save yourself some time, and buy them from the grocery store. Heat them in the microwave right before dinner for 10 seconds. Your guests will never know (as long as you hide the bag!).


pixiebones, photobucket

* Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

I'm not going to insult your intellegence here. I've been peeling and boiling and mashing potatoes for as long as I can remember. I think I'll do it this way, but I'm not sure. Of course, now there are many varieties of pre-made mashed potatoes that are just as great as home made. PLEASE don't used potato flakes! Oh, and I'm going to buy the gravy too.


lileuripop, photobucket

* PIE!!!

I'm thinking of baking my own this year, but I could just buy them, too. The menu calls for Pecan, Pumpkin, and Apple pie, lots of Redi-Whip, and Vanilla ice cream.

So are you loosening your belt just reading this? I hope you are.