Thanksgiving Wishes, Memories and Recipes

Here is wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow.
I hope you get the chance  to slow down and enjoy this day with friends and family.

Thanksgiving would not be the same without our favorite foods.

Click here to find a recipe for this cheese ball.

 
Click here to find a recipe for sweet potato casserole.

Click here for a recipe for pecan pie muffins. This is a good substitute for pecan pie. And if you can't afford the pecans, click here and try a recipe for poor man's pecan pie!

My mom passed away in 1996 and I still miss her dearly, but she still lives in my heart.

She made the best turkey dressing! I try to make it like she did, but mine will never be as good as hers. She never had a recipe she went by, she just added this and that and it came out delicious. My husband and kids loved it and my kids ate spoonfuls of it before it went into the oven. If I had my druthers, I'd eat it without baking it, too.

What did the dish consist of? Mainly bags of herb stuffing mix/croutons (she sometimes used toasted bread and sage, too), chicken boiled and stripped  from the bone and cut up and cooked celery (and maybe onions). And be sure to add the delicious broth the chicken was cooked in. Stir. She cooked it in the oven for approx. 30 minutes or so. Cover it with foil 'til the last 15 minutes or so to brown lightly on top.

As you can see, the above recipe is filled with words such as approximate, or so and maybe. My husband's best advice is to be sure and make it moist. He loves moist dressings! So I make sure I put in lots of the chicken broth.

How do you make your dressing? Do you use oysters, cornbread or something else that makes it special?

Click over to my writing blog and read my kid's column for the November issue of Two-Lane Livin'.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by Janet F. Smart on Writing in the Blackberry Patch.



 

Thanksgiving Recipes

I thought I'd re-post a few of my recipes for Thanksgiving.

Have you checked out the price of pecans lately?  If so, and you don't want to shell out the money for them, check out this recipe for Poor Man's Pecan Pie. Instructions can be found here on my site.

And what would Thanksgiving be without a sweet potato casserole. This is absolutely the best one I have ever tasted.


SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

4 LBS sweet potatoes

Cook sweet potatoes. Drain and mash with mixer and add the following ingredients:

1 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix together and put in baking dish.

Mix the following ingredients for topping:

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Spoon topping on and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Another good recipe is Pecan Pie Muffins. They are delicious!
You bake these in the mini muffin pans.

Pecan Pie Muffins

1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
2/3 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Pour into a greased mini-muffin pan, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake 12 to 15 minutes.

Go here to check out the step by step pictures. While you are there check out my recipe for Nuts and Bolts. They are good to enjoy while waiting on the turkey to get ready.

Cheese Balls are also good to munch on while waiting for the turkey.


FESTIVE CHEESE BALL

2 - 8oz packages cream cheese
8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 t. Worcestershire Sauce
1 t. lemon juice
finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Combine the cream cheese and the cheddar cheese. Add the Worcestershire Sauce and lemon juice. Mix well with fork.  Shape into a ball, then roll in finely chopped nuts of your choice. In the one below,  I shaped it like a pumpkin and added pretzel sticks and pepper slices for decoration.

Well, are you hungry yet?