Share your favorite Thanksgiving recipe

Maybe the title should say family and food, but let's face it, we all look forward to the holidays because we get to enjoy foods that we only have at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

What's your favorite holiday food?

Is it the gigantic turkey sitting in the middle of a beautifully decorated table, the funky green salad that your mother has made for years, or a pie that only your grandma can make?

For my mother, it was always that green salad with cottage cheese, green jell-o mix, pineapple, and Cool Whip. That was so NOT my favorite.

When I was a kid my favorite holiday dish was always the candied yams. I mean who doesn't like sweet potatoes drowned and baked in syrup, brown sugar and butter. Sweet and yummy!

Now, I look forward to making homemade baked macaroni and cheese. I rarely eat pasta so to make and eat this dish on Thanksgiving is a real treat.

Here's my recipe for Baked Mac & Cheese:

Ingredients:


1 1/2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon mustard powder
2 cups milk
8 ounces American cheese, cubed
8 ounces Velveeta processed cheese food, cubed
4 ounces of shredded Italian cheeses
1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs

Directions:


1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Butter a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook until not quite done, about 6 minutes. Drain.

2. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Blend in the flour and mustard powder. Slowly stir in the milk, beating out any lumps. Add the American and processed cheeses, and stir constantly until the sauce is thick and smooth.

3. Drain noodles, and stir them into the cheese sauce. Transfer the mixture to the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs  and Italian cheeses over the top.

4. Cover the dish, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until sauce is thick and bubbly.

Share your favorite Thanksgiving recipe!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's to another holiday giving us the opportunity to be thankful for family and friends. Here's to a wonderful meal filled with loud conversations and laughing, fabulous home-cooked food, and your favorite pie for dessert.

Whether the dinner is at your place or someone else's, cheers to you and yours and I hope you have much to be grateful for.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

When bare foot meets polished floor

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and as some of you know I sold my dining room table set. Yes, on Thanksgiving. Don't ask me what I was thinking. The person wanted to pick it up so they could have dessert with the family at their house. How could I refuse?

Later in the day when I sat down I stared at the empty dining room and the lone rug lying on the floor. I decided that the floor needed to be cleaned. First I vacuumed the rug then rolled it up and moved aside. Then I swept up the wood floor. No, that was not good enough. I got out the all natural floor cleaner and a microfiber cloth and yes, on hands and knees I cleaned my dining room floor.

That was still not good enough. With the room being empty I thought it the perfect opportunity to polish it. I pulled out my trusty all natural polish and another microfiber cloth and once again got on hands and knees. Using a lot of elbow grease I polished that floor to a wicked shine. It smell great because of the oil in it and when I walked across it in my sock feet the floor squeaked. Isn't that a great sound?

So here's the bad thing with me. Once I get started, I cannot stop. I did the exact same steps to the kitchen, pantry, half-bath, and the entry floors. I would have done the living room but by that time of night it was a little late.

As a reward to all that hard work I treated myself to another slice of my best ever pumpkin pie with Cool Whip on top.

This morning I get up and before I work out I always go down the stairs to feed the kitties. As bare foot hit freshly polished wood floor I realized my mistake. My foot skidded, pulled my legs into an amazing split, and then yes, I landed straight down and hard on my butt. OUCH!

I yelped, cats scurried away, and then all I could do was laugh. This is what I get for my obsessive nature and liking the fresh smell of my all natural polish. Or maybe it was all the sugar from the pie the previous night. Either way, my backside is a tad sore and no I did not even bother working out after that.

Food and family...two great things to be thankful for

I’m sitting here the morning before Thanksgiving and remembering the Thanksgivings from when I was a kid. Every year my parents, sisters (3 of them), and I would travel to my grandmother’s house in Iowa. We would drive for over three hours and the whole way someone would ask “how much further?” or “are we there yet?” When we would see the huge statue of Pocahontas we knew we were getting close.

When we arrived family members would come out of the woodwork. I’d see cousins that I would only see once or twice a year. Inside the house the place would be jammed with more relatives and the counters would be covered in fresh, homemade pies. I love homemade apple pie with cinnamon and sugar on top. My father is more of a banana cream pie guy. The one thing my family agrees on is we have to have pumpkin pie with Cool Whip on top, not whipped cream. Yes, there is a big difference.

Before we could eat pie though, we had to eat dinner. Dinner usually consisted of turkey and/or ham, baked beans, some disgusting 3-bean salad, this icky green salad that my family loves even to this day and I can’t stand. The icky salad is made with cottage cheese, lime Jell-o mix, and pineapple. I’m sorry, you will never convince me that is yummy. There would be rolls, mashed potatoes, and candied yams. My favorite part of the dinner is the candied yams. All that gooey marshmallow, butter, brown sugar melted on top of sweet potatoes. Delicious!

My favorite part of Thanksgiving when I was little was sitting around watching sports with my dad and uncles while waiting for dinner to be ready then getting through the meal just to get to the pies. It’s all about the pies!

Later, after much of the family departed we would all have that snack craving hit us. You got it, I went for the pie. So did dad.

Even now when I no longer live close enough to go to my grandmother’s house and watch sports with the men in the family, I still watch and yes, afterwards I eat pie. I make a deep dish pumpkin pie and absolutely top it off with Cool Whip.

What’s your favorite part of Thanksgiving?