Thanksgiving Prep and Extras

Happy Thanksgiving

(Just some vegetables sprouting on the counter.)

Welcome to Thanksgiving Prep and Extras

This is where the stray recipe, or idea will end up.

This post isn’t about some grand dinner or how to make the perfect turkey, this is mostly about the small stuff although we do have a few full turkey dinner’s with the fixin’s here.

Nothing really big, just simple ideas and thoughts. I have mixed feelings as it is when it comes to Thanksgiving. The holiday is pretty much based on a slaughter. Yeah, I know, I’m terrible for bringing that up, but I am a realist, I am a truther, and although I know the history I still love the holiday because there are people out there that want to get along with everyone, and that is the message of Thanksgiving. Different people coming together to have dinner and share. It may be a fantasy, but I love fantasy, so here I am. I am always on the Native American side! And I always will be. This is their land, their home, and we inhabit it. I just want to acknowledge that it is theirs. With that said, I welcome you here.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Julie and Gordon

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Smoked Turkey Legs

These have been previously smoked and would be fine to eat just the way they are. I wanted to tenderize them more without making them tough and inedible, I roasted them in our oven over a low 300’F temperature for ~ 20 minutes.

Doing this also made the skin a little crispy where before it was quite rubbery.

Now they are just like you get them at the Amusement Park!

Sometimes Thanksgiving can be a Simple Thing

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Ya know, I have eaten plenty a Thanksgiving Dinner with this Stouffer’s Classic Roast Turkey T.V. Dinner when Gordon was deployed overseas. 🙂

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Gift Bags for the Thanksgiving Holidays

Sea Island Red Peas and Blue Grits

I love giving gifts for Thanksgiving, especially something edible that can be contributed to their own Thanksgiving feast.

Just a pretty book, some of my Thanksgiving decorations, and festive greeting cards.

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Although I don’t fully know my roots, Gordon is descended from Delaware Indians.

We always acknowledge that in our celebration.

Writing out our Thanksgiving Menu with Wooden Pencils

Paper Tree Bark, The Very First Children’s Coloring Menu 🙂

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HERE IS ONE OF OUR THANKSGIVING MENU’S:

Beer Can Turkey

Grandmaw Nell’s Dressing

Butternut Squash/Pumpkin Casserole

Egg Noddles in Chicken Broth

Yellow Squash/Zucchini Casserole

Broccoli/Cottage Cheese Stuffed Cornbread

Misaquatash (Indian Succotash)

Thrice Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Giblet Gravy

Corn Martini’s

Bloody Mary’s

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(See Recipes Below)

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The Menu above is what I originally based this Thanksgiving post on. Although more recipes are being added and perhaps more will also be added in the future.

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So, Happy Thanksgiving!

It is one of our favorite holidays!

So Happy you are Here!

Julie and Gordon

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The Original White House Cookbook, 1887 Edition

If you love history and love food then you will enjoy this cookbook. See the menu’s and occasion’s of what our First Lady’s throughout our history have hosted through holiday’s or various banquet’s. Some of the recipes are so outlandish but very interesting at the same time.

I’m using some of my Grandmother’s Silverware as my bookmarks.

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Let’s Start With Cornbread

CornBread

Cooked in a Cast Iron Skillet

Cornbread Cooling and Venting in order to go Stale.

So that I can make these excellent Cornbread Dressing Cups.

Nice small portions for everyone. Great for children.

Click Here For: Corn Bread, Cast Iron Skillet, Dressing, and Tradition

If you would like the recipe for my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother’s Dressing that went into these cupcake cups. 🙂 I am also writing the recipe below if you care to stay on this post.

L to R: My Great-Grandmother Emma, My Grandmother Nell, My Mother Mary Keith, and then ME, Julie

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I also popped open a jar of Gordon’s Florida Christmas Cranberries.

Click Here For: Florida Christmas Cranberries

Made with a Florida Twist

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We Also Feature:

Mexican Corn and Peppers Custard

Excellent Side Dishes Right Here!

(Recipes Down Below)

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We are also not bothered by opening up a can or two of this or that for Thanksgiving.

Beets, Egg Noodles, and Hominy

(Hominy was very big in Georgia when I was growing up and it was served at quite a few elementary school lunches. Especially when we lived in Dahlonega.)

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A great way to eat leftover Cornbread, especially if it is stale and hard as a rock.

With Black Eyed Peas of course. Although I don’t drench mine in the juices, I know plenty of people that do! Some even add milk to it and set it in a bowl beside their dinner plate and eat it all mushy. 🙂

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Julie’s Roasted Chicken with Gordon’s ONO

ONO is Gordon’s personal poultry spice that he created year’s ago.

(This particular Thanksgiving Gordon was working overseas and it was up to me to do all the cooking. I had a blast creating my own little feast.)

(See Recipe Down Below)

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Julie’s Sunflower and Nuts Pecan Pie’s

Southern Traditional Pecan Pie

(See Recipe Down Below)

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Thrice Stuffed Baked Sweet Potatoes

Could Dr. Seuss have created a prettier dish?

I wish, I wish, I wish…. 🙂

(See recipe down below.)

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Also,

Corn Liquor

This is an easy recipe which is great for the holidays!

(See recipe below.)

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Broccoli Cottage Cheese Corn Bread

Delicious!

A Great Southern Way of Sprucing up your Cornbread.

(See recipe below.)

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MISAQUATASH

(Sufferin’ Succotash!)

Misaquatash is the term where we get Succotash.

It is a Native American dish. Probably even served at the original, Thanksgiving.

(Recipe Below)

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Our Bloody Mary’s

This also makes a great Salsa!

Bloody Salsa

(See Recipe Below)

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Breakfast With Van Gogh

(Just my way of having breakfast outside on the lanai with a good book and a good cup of coffee in a beautiful mug. And enjoying the fact that it has cooled off a little bit here in Florida so that I can sit outside and enjoy breakfast.)

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I Now Want To Get To….

The Easiest Thanksgiving We’ve Ever HAD!

Beer Can Turkey on the Grill

(The raccoon is just us getting into the holiday spirit.)

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There’s the Big Boy!

Smoked to Perfection

According to all the men in our family, that includes relatives and friends, this turkey is the best they have ever eaten. It was (2016) when Gordon first smoked a beer can turkey on the grill and everyone loved it! But, it does require a lot of attention. You can’t just set it in the grill and then walk off inside the house and leave it to cook unattended. All sorts of things can happen to it, burning to a crisp is one of them. So, you either need to pay very close attention to it, or assign family members to sit outside and keep an eye on it.

Seeing as how Gordon is our main family cook, and he wanted to do the smoked beer can turkey again the following year (2017), I suggested that we then prepare most of the food ahead of time so that he would be able to devote the needed attention to the turkey out on the grill. And that is what we did.

If you would like the recipe for our Smoked Beer Can Turkey on the Grill, then visit our:

Click Here for Thanksgivin’ Grillin’

Happy Thanksgivin’ Grillin’

The Redness on the meat is what the smoke does.

Delicious!

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Gordon in our Thanksgiving Kitchen

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Delicious array of beautiful foods. Some traditional, some not.

I even got out my Amberware and a few special Thanksgiving items just for the day.

All of the above casserole’s we were able to make ahead of time.

Two of them we made a few months in advance and then froze. (Now that’s PREP!)

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Pumpkin and Butternut Squash Casserole recipe is listed on our: Autumn Baking post.

A great twist on our traditional American Marshmallow Topped Sweet Potatoes/ Yams classic.

Click Here for: Autumn Baking

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Also the Squash Casserole recipe (middle) is also listed on Autumn Baking if you would like to take a look. It was my grandmother’s, Julie’s Grandmother’s, recipe.

But, both casserole’s were made ahead of time and frozen. That made this day so much easier so that more time could be devoted to the delicious turkey out on the grill.

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Gordon is literally ripping into this turkey with his hands!

The Food is Ready……

Football is on t.v……..

Brian and Veronica are here…..

Brodie is ready to eat, and so is Monk……

And Justin is always ready to eat…….

And as for me? I’ve always got the camera in front of my face taking photos of everyone else. 🙂

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This was from our Beachy Thanksgiving….

I hear from so many men that Thanksgiving is their favorite holiday. And why wouldn’t it be? Think about it? Women do tend to do most of the cooking, (although not in our household). It is a day of lazying around watching football all day on t.v., drinking beer after beer, and eating a huge feast by the end of the day, while snacking throughout it. Now, why would it NOT be a man’s favorite holiday?? 🙂

If you would like the recipe for the Turkey above then check out our Beachy Thanksgiving.

Click Here for: Beachy Thanksgiving

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MISAQUATASH

(Sufferin’ Succotash!)

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The Frugal Gourmet (Jeff Smith)

I found the recipe above, in his book and I asked Gordon to make it for our Thanksgiving Dinner.

It is such a simple recipe. Anyone can make this dish. It’s plain and simple. As most of the food was at that time.

Ingredients:

1 16 oz. can of Kidney Beans, Drained

1 10 oz. package Frozen Corn (We used Fresh Corn off the Cob)

Butter

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Bear Grease (Yes, you read that right.) 🙂

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Cook the Kidney Beans and Corn together.

Originally, BEAR GREASE was added to this dish, but I suggest a little Butter and Salt and Pepper.

Here Gordon is using a knife to remove the corn from the cob into the pot. Then add your drained and rinsed Kidney Beans. Now add some butter to melt throughout and some salt and pepper to taste.

Something Native American to add to your Thanksgiving Table.

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Thrice Stuffed Baked Sweet Potatoes

I wish, I wish, I wish….

I want to eat this dish. 🙂

(Another Twist on a Marshmallow Topped Sweet Potato Casserole.)

(The Orange one is a Yam, the purple one is an Ube or Purple Yam (usually from the Philippines), and the yellow-green one is a Sweet Potato. All of them are naturally sweet and often put in deserts or with the Ube, made into ice cream! )

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This recipe was actually my, Julie’s, Idea.

Our family is a huge fan of Sweet Potatoes and Yams.

One reason that southerners used to live very long healthy lives was due to the amount of sweet potatoes that they ate. Sweet Potatoes are of a plain greenish color, Yams have the orange color.

However, we are also a fan of the Purple Yams from the Philippines.

We wanted to include them here with our love of the Sweet Potato, and the Yams. And that is what we did!

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This is a great holiday side dish that is sure to please. Just the colors alone will brighten your meal and the sweet tasting mix of yams and sweet potato is a great substitute for the normal marshmallow yams we American’s usually have this time of year.

The ingredients I used in this recipe, simply enhance the natural sweetness of the potatoes.

Ingredients:

5 Yams

5 Sweet Potatoes

3 Bags of grated Ube or Purple Sweet Potatoes (found at Asian or Ethnic Supermarkets)

1 ¼ sticks of room temperature Butter

¾ stick Melted butter

½ Cup Cream of Coconut

½ Cup of Coconut Milk

3 t. of Nutmeg

½ bag of Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows

¾ Cup Brown Sugar

3 t. of ground Cinnamon

1 Bag of grated sweetened coconut

½ cup of chopped Pecans

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All of the Sweet Potatoes and the Yams

(The Purple Yams can be purchased at any Asian Supermarket near you. These were frozen and we did thaw them.)

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I always have a special helper to help me in the kitchen… Monk is fast to clean up any spills.

Open the bags of Purple Sweet Potatoes or Ube, and turn your oven onto 400’F.

They are Beautiful, aren’t they?

Place them into a medium/large pot on the stove on medium heat and stir as needed so they don’t burn.

The Thrice Baked Sweet Potato Kitchen

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In the meantime, cut your Sweet potatoes lengthwise as shown.

Place your Sweet Potatoes on a baking sheet lined with foil, cut side up.

Melt ¾ of a stick of butter in the microwave and brush over the cut side of the potato as

shown.

Place them in your preheated oven.

Wash and slice your Yams in half as shown.

Place them also on a baking sheet cut side up.

Brush the Yams with the remaining melted butter.

And place them also in the oven.

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Stir your Ube well and mix in ¼ stick of butter.

Now add your cream of coconut, and coconut milk…

And mix well and set aside when heated all the way through.

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Remove your Sweet Potatoes when fork tender (~30 Min.) and can be easily remove from their skin.

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Here you can see me easily pealing away the skin from the potato.

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When cool enough to touch, remove the potato from the skin and place into a medium sized mixing bowl.

Add ½ stick of butter to the Sweet potatoes and mash slightly with a potato masher.

Add your nutmeg to the mixture and mash a little more to combine. If you mash them too much they will become like paste… so less is better!

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Due to their size, the Yams may take a little longer to cook than the Sweet Potatoes.

Again, you can see they are fork tender… Nice closeup Julie!

Using a spoon, remove the Yam from the skin, leaving a little of the Yam in place as shown to keep the skin upright and making a nice container for the other ingredients to come.

Place the removed Yam into a medium sized bowl.

These Skins will hold our Thrice Potatoes

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The Yams are Beautifully Orange!

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Add your Pumpkin Spiced Marshmallows, ½ stick of butter, and brown sugar to the Yams.

Now add your Cinnamon

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Mash these the same way you did the sweet potatoes… just until combined.

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The Coconut

Place one bag of grated sweetened coconut onto a sheet pan as shown and place in the oven at 400’F.

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Move your ingredients close to each other for assembly.

Spoon your potato mixtures into the Yam shell as shown… here it looks like ice cream scoops.

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Keep an eye on your coconut in the oven, as it gets brown and delicious.

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Continue to fill the rest of ingredients into the Yam shells as shown.

Top the Yams with more Marshmallows.

When all the Yams are filled, place them back into the 400’F oven for 15 min. to heat through again and begin to caramelize the tops.

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Into the Oven……

Remove from the oven and top all three with the browned sweetened coconut and pecan halves.

Enjoy this colorful substitute for your canned Yam recipe… I am sure they will be a hit!

They are also an excellent lunch/dinner just eaten alone the following day. 🙂

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Gordon Still Busy In Our Thanksgiving Kitchen

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Coffee Break

Reflecting on Thanksgiving

A nice quiet moment outside on the lanai with some pumpkin flavored coffee and Nigella Lawson’s Carrot Cake recipe from her latest book, At My Table. For the recipe click on the link below:

Autumn Baking Edible Gifts

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Corn Liquor, and Cocktail

This is an easy recipe which is great for the holidays!

Make it in advance so the corn has time to soak up the tequila.

Ingredients:

2 ears of sweet white corn

2 ears of sweet yellow corn

2 bottles of Hornitos Tequila

Juice from 3 Key Limes (or regular lines)

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Using a large bowl, slice the corn off the cob using a sharp knife as shown.

Using a large funnel, place the corn in some clean bottles. Here we used bottles that we could seal. One, I Julie, saved from a Canadian Maple Syrup bottle. A crafter always knows when to keep something and when to get rid of it. And most things we keep! 🙂

Our Key Limes from our Backyard Tree

Slice the key limes in half.

Juice the limes into the bottles through a funnel.

Now, simply pour the Hornitos Tequila into the bottles until full.

Let sit for a few days in order for the corn to flavor the Tequila.

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Now to Make the Cocktail

3 Cups of the Marinated Corn, and Hornitos Tequila

½ Cup Reserved Marinated Corn for Garnish

1 Cup Mojito Mix

Juice of 2 limes

Pour some (about ½ Cup) of the marinated corn into a pestle as shown.

Using the mortar, crush some of the corn to be placed into the blended drink as a garnish inside the glass when done.

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Pour your Mojito mix into the blender.

Pour the Marinated Corn and Tequila mixture into the blender.

Blend the ingredients for a min. or so until the corn is broken up well.

Now, squeeze some fresh lime into the blender and mix again until well combined.

Like so….

The liquor and corn blended smoothly.

Place your corn garnish into the glasses as shown and then pour in your drink.

Pour the drink into a Martini glass and top with the marinated corn.

Enjoy!

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Justin and Brodie enjoying their Corn Liquor Cocktail on Thanksgiving.

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This was a very relaxed and casual Thanksgiving.

Those are the best ones!

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Happy Birthday Brodie!

Brodie, a Self Portrait

(I found this in his room when I was cleaning it. I had never seen it before. He made this when he was in high school and he said he started the project about 10:00 p.m. at night when it was due the following morning.

That’s my Brodie!) 🙂

I Brought it out for his Birthday

Brodie’s birthday is November 29th. We either have Thanksgiving Pilgrims and Indians, or Christmas decorations in the background of his birthday parties. And that is how it has been since he was born in 1992.

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THE Turkey Platter

Trying to decide which Turkey Platter to use on Thanksgiving……

Do we want the nice elegant one below? OR, the cheap tacky one above?

Cheap and Tacky it is!! 🙂

This platter was given to us by Gordon’s parents many years ago.

The one above that was purchased by my grandmother at an outlet store in Boaz, Alabama for $6.00 in the early 1980’s. I was with her when she bought it.

(I love the cheap one.)

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Our Bloody Mary’s

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Ingredients:

8 Cups – Heirloom, Yellow, and Cherry Tomatoes

1 Inch of Wasabi Paste

2-3 Tbsp – Franks Red Hot Sauce

2 Tbsp – Heinz Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp – Celery Seeds

1 tsp – Cumin

½ tsp – Fresh Ground Pepper

¼ tsp – Salt

1 Tbsp – Turmeric

The juice of 1 Key Lime

4 Shots Smirnoff Vodka

¼ Orange and Yellow Bell Pepper for Garnish

2 Celery Stalks for Garnish

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A good Bloody Mary starts with fresh ingredients… and these heirloom, yellow, and cherry tomatoes gives the more naturally sweet drink with that great tomato taste.

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Wasabi Paste Will Add the Heat!

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Wash your tomatoes well under cold running water.

Inspect them to ensure they are all clean.

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Fill your blender to almost full with your tomatoes and squeeze your wasabi paste onto the top.

Now add your Franks Red Hot Sauce. Or any hot sauce you desire.

Add your Worcestershire Sauce

Celery Seeds and Cumin

Then your fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

And now your Turmeric

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And your fresh Key Lime Juice… we have our own tree in the backyard so these are as fresh as you can get!

And lastly your Vodka

Gordon’s Bar (Someday) 🙂

Blend until mostly smooth or to at least the consistency you like.

Give the drink a taste and add ingredients to your liking….

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Here I added more Worcestershire Sauce, and Franks Hot Sauce.

Slice your Bell Peppers length wise in half and use a wedge as garnish as shown.

Use a tooth pick to attach some Cherry tomatoes and Bell Pepper Slices to the Celery Stalk as shown and place it into your tall glass.

Pour in your drink and enjoy!

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Delicious!

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A Man, A Drink, and his Dog

Let’s not Forget our Bloody Salsa

The Salsa is our Bloody Mary’s. It is delicious with chips dipped in them!

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Southern Broccoli and Cottage Cheese Cornbread

This is an excellent addition to add to any Thanksgiving Table.

This Cornbread is so Moist and Creamy

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The Ingredients:

Shown here are my ingredients for making the cornbread, and adding the lovely additions. Because I basically used regular cornbread mix I really don’t care to list all the ingredients for this particular recipe. In other words, most people who eat cornbread already have a particular recipe or ready made mixture that they use. What I want to recommend here are these additions of onions, broccoli, and cottage cheese.

The Broccoli, Onion, and Cottage Cheese are the Extra Additions.

So, make your cornbread as you would normally.

Then chop some Onion, however much you wish to add.

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Add those Onions to the Cornbread Mixture

Now add the Cottage Cheese

(I believe I used most of that container.)

Then add your thawed and drained Broccoli, as much as you like.

I pretty much picked through it for the florets and left the stems behind.

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The Oven is Set on 350F

I’ve added some Crisco to my Cast Iron Skillet and placed it into the oven to melt.

When Melted, Remove from Oven

Now Add Your Cornbread Mixture, it will Sizzle…..

Now it’s time to place into the oven going by the cooking directions on the cornbread recipe you are using.

This is also one of my, Julie’s, favorite ways to make cornbread. It really is a very simple recipe. Just make up a batch of cornbread using any recipe that you prefer, then add about a pint or more of cottage cheese, and as many broccoli as you like. I really didn’t use a recipe with measurements I just used my eyes, and tastes.

Broccoli Cottage Cheese Corn Bread

Delicious!

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Cornbread Dressing Cups

This is my Great-Grandmother, and my Grandmother’s Dressing Recipe.

For you see, we don’t stuff turkey’s or chickens, we dress them.

The Ingredients:

(I will write the recipe just as my mother dictated it to me.)

1/2 Cup Chopped Onion

1/2 Cup Butter or Margarine

8 Cups Very Dry Breadcrumbs and Cornbread

1/2 Cup Chopped Celery

1 t. Salt

1/4 t. Pepper

1/2 – 1 t. Sage

1 t. Herbs to suit taste: (Thyme, Marjariam and Rosemary)

Chicken Broth, and can use some Water

(Normally I double the recipe so that I can freeze some for other occasions.)

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The first thing that I did was to make the cornbread and then place it in a bowl to let it air out and stale a bit. I did this 2 days before I started making the dressing. So, use any cornbread recipe that you like. It will be the base.

I then chopped my onion and celery and got out all of my ingredients.

My Stale Cornbread

I also bought a package of seasoned herb bread crumbs and added to my cornbread.

My Diced Celery and Onions

Here I am melting half a cup of margarine.

I then add my celery and onions to soften.

After about 8 minutes I add a few of the cornbread and bread crumbs to the saucepan.

Not all of them!

I then place everything into a large mixing bowl and I add as much chicken broth as I desire. I want my dressing to be a bit moist but not wet. This really is an eye gage kind of thing.

Now it’s time to add all of my spices.

Mix Together……

And of course, taste to make sure the dressing is to your liking.

But, what I did here was to freeze some for later use.

This is Truly Heaven to ME!

The two containers going into the freezer.

The remaining being placed into cupcake cups that have been greased with a cooking oil spray and then placed into the oven.

350F Oven for 25 minutes or so…..

Perfectly Delicious!!!

And the exact portion size, especially for the children’s table.

Even great for breakfast the next morning.

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Mexican Corn and Peppers Custard

This was so beautiful, festive, and delicious!

Ingredients:

(I made two of them. One for us, and one to give away. I doubled the recipe.)

Red, Yellow, Orange, and Green Bell Peppers Chopped

(I used about half of each one.)

4 Cans of Corn, Drained

(I used some Shoepeg and Yellow Corn.)

3- Eggs

1 Cup Milk

2 T. Sugar

1/4 t. Nutmeg

1/2 t. Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper to Taste

1 Cup Half and Half

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Preheat Oven to 350F

Dice the Bell Peppers

Lightly grease the casserole dish/s you wish to use.

In a medium bowl place your diced bell peppers and your drained cans of corn.

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Mix Together

Crack Your Eggs Into a Bowl

Beat Them Together and Add Some Grated Nutmeg

Add Your Milk, Sugar, Salt, and Freshly Ground Black Pepper as Well

Then Add the Half and Half

Now Mix Everything Together

Then ladle your mixture into your casserole dish/s.

Now place onto baking sheets and insert into your hot oven.

Bake for approximately 40 minutes. To insure doneness insert a knife into the custard and if it comes out clean then it is ready.

Cool on Baking Racks

Delicious When Done

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Julie’s Roasted Chicken with Gordon’s ONO.

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A Chicken is a Perfectly Acceptable Substitute for a Turkey

Ingredients:

Large Roasting Chicken

Mayonnaise

Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Gordon’s ONO Spice Mixture

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I purchased a large roasting chicken. I washed the chicken and removed the packet of internal organ meat, located inside the chicken, and discarded them. I then placed the chicken on a roasting rack inside a pan. I added one cup of water to the pan. But before I place the chicken into the oven I covered the chicken with mayonnaise and added a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper.

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This is Gordon’s ONO. A poultry spice mixture that he created many years ago. This was the last of it. We will have to make up some more of this as this was such a hit with many people that we know.

I just sprinkled this on top of the mayonnaise.

Now place into a 350F oven for about 2 1/2 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 160F.

Let the chicken rest for about 15 minutes which will allow the super heated juices to further cook the chicken to 165F.

I bought these Leeks and Flowers to use as a garnish for my lovely bird.

Letting My Bird Rest

Decorating The Bird

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Julie’s Sunflower and Nuts and Dates Pecan Pie

Southern Traditional Pecan Pie

I wanted to make a few pies for Thanksgiving dessert but I really didn’t want to make my own pie crust so I decided to cheat and buy the ready made from the freezer section of the grocery store.

I made 3 pies. A traditional pecan pie and two pecan pies with sunflower seeds, dates, and nuts. They were so delicious and pretty easy to make.

I started out by buying a few ready made frozen pie crusts that I then thawed out when it was time to make the pies.

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Here I am transferring the dough from the aluminum pans to my metal pie pans.

Here I just smooshed the dough all around the pie pans.

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Two Pie Crusts Are Ready Here

Ingredients:

(I will do the write up for just the pecan pie ingredients for one pie. You can always substitute or add to this pie. I will list the substitution ingredients in the list below.)

3 Eggs

2/3 Cups Sugar

1/2 t. Salt

1/3 Cup Butter or Margarine

1 Cup Corn Syrup

1 Cup Pecans

OPTIONS:

You can substitute the Pecans for Roasted Sunflower Seeds. You can also add some chopped Dates and other nuts as well to this pie. You can also substitute the Corn Syrup for Honey.

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Preheat Oven to 375F

As I said, I am making 3 pies, here are some of the ingredients.

Large Eggs

You need an Electric Mixer for this.

Melting The Margarine in the Microwave

In a Mixing Bowl to an Electric Mixer add your Eggs, Sugar, Salt, (melted) Margarine, and Corn Syrup/Honey until blended.

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Now Stir In The Pecans

And/Or You can add or subtract here with some Roasted Sunflower Seeds and Chopped Dates.

How Beautiful and Delicious!

Here are my pies ready to bake in the oven. One plain pecan, and the other with the sunflower seeds, pecans, and dates.

Just Place Into the Oven and Start Baking for 40 – 50 Minutes

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The 3rd. pie is for me to freeze and it is a combination of all the leftovers put together.

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This one is ready for the freezer…..

….while these two are ready to remove from the oven.

PIES COOLING

Happy Thanksgiving!

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When Thanksgiving is Over With…

The Turkey/Bacon Club Sandwich

The best thing about Thanksgiving leftovers are the delicious things that you can do with them. One year we may make Turkey Salad with the leftover Turkey, or we can make Turkey/Bacon Club Sandwiches. A personal favorite! 🙂

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After Thanksgiving Eating Light

Key Lime and Roasted Garlic Mustard’s and Crackers on the Lanai.

I love Thanksgiving but it is a time when we all tend to overeat on many foods that are not always good for us. Oh, they definitely are perfect for our souls, and our memories and histories of the holiday, but they do tend to be a bit heavy and loaded with calories, which is why so many tend to gain weight over the holiday and not lose it.

Which is why after a few days of eating such delicious Thanksgiving perfection, that I then go toward a diet of nice cheese’s, crackers and mustard’s, with a nice bit of wine. Just to give my caloric intake a much needed break.