I hope that you are all having a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your loved ones… Ours has been of the deliciously quiet, cozy, gray and rainy sort.
Abundantly blessed; I am… and ever thankful.
It’s been getting cold outside, but staying warm inside; we welcoming memories in the making…
Mommy, Mommy! Take a picture of me when I’m being bootiful, like this!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
~ Psalm 107:1
Children chattering busily as I plan, chop, mix and bake. Working, decorating, and playing together as we’re anticipating peaceful togetherness amidst love’s nostalgic traditions;
Holding these days close, relishing seasonal favorites that bring joys of remembrance with them, even as we’re all missing and remembering our loved ones who are so very far away this year…
…the customary turkey-sausage-cheese-biscuit balls, always baked early; for munching as the feast is finishing:
- 1# turkey sausage
- 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 cups flour (I use 1 c. ww and 1 c. a-p)
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- milk: Guesstimate, just pouring enough in to make mixture moist enough to form balls
Mix, and roll into balls; Bake @375*-400* (depending upon your oven) 10-15 mins., or until golden brown.
Mugs of egg-nog that T11 waits all year for (meanwhile trying her hand at making it from scratch herself), or coffee steeped with seasonal creamers and whipped topping…
…which my silly girl likes to sip with “a baby-spoon, because it’s better that way.”?
I tried out a new recipe for my pecan pies this year (withOUT corn syrup, yay!), which worked great and is now my new official recipe. You can see it here: Pecan Pie V.
I’ve also been using a wonderful new recipe for all of my pie crusts lately (which everyone’s LOVED; just sayin’). It’s the Flaky Pie Crust recipe from my Nourishing Traditions cookbook (favorite: LOVE!). Yumminess achieved… and there’s nothing quite like a slice of good pecan pie with a hot cuppa coffee on a cold-outside-cozy-inside, gray, raining morning; now, is there? …especially if it’s quiet because everyone else is still sleeping.
Besides pecan pies, pumpkin pies and delights for drinking, our menu consisted of some AMAZING, melt-in-your-mouth yeast rolls that T11 made, all by herself, which turned out perfect! She used Pioneer Woman’s simple Dinner Rolls -No Kneading Required! recipe (though we found that an extra cup or two of flour was required at the end, because the dough was so gooey), and these were are awesome. Yep, a new recipe has officially been added to our traditional Thanksgiving line-up.
You can see why, huh?
We’re not strangers to Pioneer Woman’s recipes for good, simple cookin’ though. I’ve used her Thanksgiving Stuffing recipe for the last few years, with only minimal modifications; I like to add fresh sage and oregano as well as the herbs she uses, and I saute my onions and celery in a mixture of half butter/half EVOO, and I use my own cornbread recipe).
Cornbread stuffing… *sighs* my favorite. And of course, we always make Chris’s favorite: Green-Bean Casserole.
I didn’t make my usual fancy-schmancy cranberry salad this year, since it’s just so much work (and I already had enough going for just us, ya think?), and makes such a huge batch that I figured organic cranberries from the can would just have to suffice. Per request, I also had to make roasted garlic mashed taters. The spread was nice. Since we all prefer white meat, and it’s just us this year, I just bought a big ‘ol 8# turkey breast to bake, an idea which everyone liked.
I pray that you are all blessed as you enjoy these precious days with your friends and family.
I hope to catch up on answering emails, among other things, this next week… My apologies for not getting back to some of you sooner. Life is busy, and my days are seeming so short lately… but I have not forgotten you (though you may have forgotten me by the time I get around to returning some of your correspondence! *sheesh* I’m a slackin’ blogger, I tell ya! lol
P.S. Please excuse any wonkiness that may occur here over the next few days, as I just might actually get around to tweaking my blog template a bit, messing with widgets and assorted whatnot like that. Thanks for reading, and Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!
