Thanksgiving Menu

I will be hosting an early Thanksgiving meal for my parents, siblings, and grandparents on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

I wanted to make sure that Grandma could sit down and enjoy dinner with all of us, and due to various other plans on the Actual Day, I decided it would be easier if I had a meal ready the day my family arrived. Hopefully we can all sit down to eat before their van engine has a chance to cool down.

Last year, we had a roast dinner the day before Thanksgiving, and after visiting and appetizers, Grandma abruptly decided they had to leave about 15 minutes before we were ready to sit down to our fancy meal! Poor Grandpa was disappointed. Dementia has it's unknowns, but to avoid a repeat of last year, I'm asking them to arrive when my family does to a fully prepared meal with no waiting interval. :)

So, here is my trimmed down simple meal menu:

Brined and Roasted Turkey (I've always wanted to brine, so this will be the year!)
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Souffle, courtesy of Tom's garden and recipe from the Nisbett's
Green Bean Casserole
Cornmeal Rolls

Due to traveling, Mom will be unable to bake so I asked her to contribute cranberry sauce and sparkling juices (we went through 8 bottles last year and they were hardly enough!)

Dessert will be the traditional pumpkin pie (from Tom's pumpkins) and pecan pie. Yes, I am talking basic here!

Here is my "plan"

Monday
Clean the house
Bake pies, 2 of each
Prepare green bean casserole
Prepare sweet potato casserole
Brine Turkey

Tuesday
Finishing touches on house, set up tables and chairs
Make mashed potatoes
Roast Turkey
Make & bake rolls
Bake green bean and sweet potato casserole

What do you think? Any recommendations? I will be away from home starting Thursday (tomorrow) until Sunday evening, so Monday and Tuesday of next week are my only days to work with.

Thanksgiving Cornmeal Rolls

My sweet friend Amber M. shared this recipe with me years ago, one of her family's favorite original Thanksgiving traditions! I have adopted it as one of my own holiday specialties, and I think you'll love it as well:


1/3 cup cornmeal (stone ground) Adds a nice yellow color to the rolls!
1/2 cup sugar (will not work or taste as well using honey)
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups milk
1 T. yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 eggs
Flour (about 4 cups or more)

Cook cornmeal, sugar, salt, shortening, and milk until thick. When cooled to a little warmer than room temperature, add yeast and water. Beat in eggs. Add flour to make a soft dough.
Knead 8-10 minutes. Let rise until doubled. Punch down. Shape rolls and place on greased cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter and dust with cornmeal. Let rise until doubled. Bake at 359 degrees for 20-25 minutes or bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, whichever is preferred. Makes approximately 4 dozen.

Freezes well.

Mara and Me

Grandpa is actually the one who snapped a rare picture of us-relaxed and enjoying a good visit (summer 2009). Not great photo quality, but the memory is priceless!

(Thank you, Laurel, for the improved edit!)

Frugal Christmas Gift Ideas

My dear friend Amy F. has been posting all sorts of goodies on her blog, and I was especially intrigued by her list of Christmas basket ideas. She links to this article titled,

"How to Make Thrifty Gift Baskets"

and then follows with her lists of suggestions which are great for filling baskets or as single gifts:

Christmas Basket Ideas, Part 1

and

Christmas Basket Ideas, Part 2


I think you'll find a lot of fabulous, thrifty gift ideas!

At the Top of the World

At least, we felt like we were on top of the world at Pike's Peak! The view was spectacular.

Have I ever mentioned how fine the mountains are in Colorado?

Drew: hot chocolate cup in one hand, ball of snow in the other!

At the restaurant on top of the mountain, we enjoyed specialty "high-elevation" donuts. That thin air makes you hungry!

After driving up to the top, we met a gentlemen who had just climbed up, along with a friend, in celebration of his 75th birthday! Now that's what I call enthusiasm for life.

Cookies

During the last couple weeks, I've been in a cookie baking mode. For starters, there was chocolate chip cookies, the dough of which is nearly unrivaled when eaten raw:

Oh, and I bake nearly all my cookies on stoneware. They make the perfect cookie! I'm sure there are other pans that do a good job, too, but I've been so content with my stoneware that I haven't tried anything else.

These are a new recipe- cappuccino crinkles (recipe to follow). Lovely!

And then another old favorite, snickerdoodles. Talk about cinnamon buttery bliss!

~Cappuccino Crinkles~

1/3 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 T. instant coffee crystals

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon (I used about 1/2 tsp)

2 egg whites

1/3 cup vanilla yogurt

1 1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1. In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar, cocoa, coffee crystals, baking soda, and cinnamon. Beat until combined, scraping bowl if needed.

2. Beat in egg whites and yogurt till combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Use a wooden spoon to stir in remaining flour if needed.

3. Place sugar in a small bowl. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons into the sugar and roll into balls. Roll in sugar again. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Raw Foods Diet Attempt

You may remember that in an earlier post I mentioned trying a raw foods diet. I had been feeling kind of "blah" lately and knew I needed more living foods in my diet, plus I was inspired by my amazing friend Rachel D. She has experience with raw foods diets and their wonderful benefits.

I wanted to last a whole week.

It was more like 4 days.

Before you laugh hysterically, let me whine a little. It was hard! Nothing cooked, nothing remotely processed. Fresh everything. And this by a girl who lives on Bacon and Butter. I ate a lot of spinach salads, including the one above.

But I'm very happy I tried it and my energy level increased by leaps and bounds, even in that short time! Since then, I've continued to eat more raw and be more balanced in my eating habits.

Maybe next time I'll make it to 5 days!

Meet Fred

My children introduced me to this special young man. Hi, Fred!

By a Mountain Stream in Colorado

During our trip to Colorado in late August, we loved driving the winding mountains roads and then stopping to explore rocks and water...

Of course Drew had to throw the rocks IN the water!

This is for you, Mara!

Found at a shop in Estes Park, Colorado.

Caleb's 7th Birthday Party

In September, we had a casual birthday party for Caleb at his favorite park, with friends and family.
He requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with chocolate ice-cream!

And the moment he has been waiting for for over a year....his very own BB gun from Daddy!

Just the Way it is

Grandma was in a calm mood today, and we had another nice visit. Her and I have always got along well-I'm thankful she hasn't had any friction or confusion in relation to me, especially since I see her so much! She loves the kids, and never complains about Hosanna and Caleb.

Drew-well, she alternately adores him and calls him the "genius child", or is aghast at his behavior and declares that she has never seen such a temper! "My boy"-as she calls Daddy-"never did that!"

I wonder.

Lately I have been trying to bring them something from my kitchen each time I stop by. Grandma doesn't bake anymore, and I think the routine of grocery store donuts gets a little old. They have an insane sweet tooth, but at their age I figure they deserve to eat anything they want. :) So the latest parade of desserts has been gooey butter cake, chocolate sheet cake, cinnamon rolls (those were made by Candace) and this morning, a coffee cake with coffee frosting. I have now been promoted to Supreme Angel in their eyes-it's amazing what a few desserts can do.

On Tuesdays, I've been in the habit of bringing lunch, usually sandwiches, and seeing if I can get Grandma to eat a whole sandwich verses her usual half. (She always has room for dessert, however!) Today I forgot the sandwich fixings and before Grandpa left he insisted on paying for MacDonald's burgers. Later, I watched in amusement as Grandma ate about 1/3 of hers, gave a few bites to the dog, and saved the rest for "later".

About every 3 minutes she asks if I'd like coffee. Well, I do love coffee but her version of it scares me. Sometimes I will say "yes", so she will stop asking when she sees me holding a cup in my hand. At some point I sneakily dump it down the drain.

Her and Grandpa love Pepsi and that's the only soda they always have on hand. It's another thing Grandma constantly asks me about-"Would you care for some Pepsi, dear?" I used to hate the stuff, but lately I'm giving in a little, again to keep her from asking, and acquiring a taste for it. Ugh! My grandparents seem to think I never eat and drink enough, and look at me with baleful eyes when I refuse their offerings.

Gotta love it all!