Rice or Potatoes?

Rice, of course! Isn't it funny how Thanksgiving isn't "right" if you don't have the correct foods on your table? I don't think I could be Quite As Grateful if someone tried to serve me mashed potatoes with my turkey. We did venture out of our Holiday Cuisine Box a little this year - and serve a different kind of green bean dish (more later.)

As if writing in a blog wasn't exhilarating enough for me - I now have pictures on My New Blog! (note to self: Blogging may turn out to be an expensive hobby. I can already tell I need a new camera- and those curtains in the background are looking a little shabby, too....)


I love traditions, don't you? Especially ones that are as easy as just putting two paper mache Pilgrims in the middle of your dining room table. These were given to me by a friend about 15 yrs ago - and they have graced our Fall table ever since. These are the kind of thing I would not think to buy, it would seem like a frivolous purchase - but every year when I take them out of their boxes, I am so excited to see them. It was my 15yo son's idea to put the candles in the vegetables. He's very clever....and he likes to use his knife. On this occasion, the combo worked in my favor :)

My husband looks a little like Sean Connery with his new beard....or maybe like Miles Standish. That sounds more Thanksgiving-ish, doesn't it? This year he cooked the turkey on our Weber charcoal grill., which freed up some oven space for the two sweet potato casseroles, the stuffing, and the two pans of rolls. Even with our married girls gone, and no guests, we still had 11 for dinner. It was a very low-key, relaxing, easy day - and I loved it! (I am saving my adrenaline for Christmas when the girls and their families will be here- along with a few other relatives.)

My sweet Molly Grace, 9, was in charge of the green beans this year. She loves to cook, and I know that this will come in handy for me in the future! It's been hard, but I've finally broken away from my mother's Green Bean Casserole (the one with the cream of mushroom soup and the pseudo-onion rings from a can). Sorry, Mom - I'm sure you understand (now that you're in Heaven and won't take it personally), but I never really liked them =8-/. My mom loved "cream of " recipes - and she was an incredible Southern cook. I bet if she was using my new Thanksgiving green bean recipe she would've snuck in some bacon drippings.

These were super easy, and had a touch of nutmeg sauteed in with them. I skipped the step where you were supposed to blanch them, which meant they were slightly crunchy - but oh so much healthier than "previous years".

Here's the whole hungry clan. Those who know me will now believe me when I say the day was "relaxed", since no one was even required to wear matching shirts!

I'd like to say that the highlight of the day was the spiritual emphasis (which we did have...), or the scrumptious dinner.... or even the fun reminiscing about previous holidays. But the truth is - my college son brought his roommate's Wii with him. And it is fun. And my arm is still sore from "bowling"! Guess what my kids now want for Christmas?

Another tradition is picking up the piece of (candy) corn from your plate and telling everyone one thing that you're grateful for from the past year. This year, in order to prolong this part of the celebration (and give everyone a longer break from the Wii)- we each picked a "category" within which to express our gratefulness. For example...Friend you are most grateful for; Event this past year you are most grateful for; Possession you got this year that you are most grateful for; Cat you are most grateful for (it was kind of slim pickin's for categories as we progressed around the table....)

This is the book that contained the non-Mom Green Bean recipe - and some others that I plan to try at Christmas. I have several of her other books and they are all great. However, the biggest hit this year was the Sweet Potato Casserole recipe from allrecipes.com (and if my sons still lived here they could show me how to link to it!!!) It had orange zest in it, in addition to vanilla extract - and it was very delicious. I cut the sugar about 1/3, but next time I will cut it even more.

The above picture is Andrew working on a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle (while waiting for his turn on the Wii.) The top part went together fairly quickly- but the bottom part is a basket for those puppies- and every piece is brown and yellow. My guess is that we will still be working on this at Christmas - unless we end up getting our own Wii.

I am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my family -including my two incredibly adorable Grandchildren who I sorely missed this year- my country, and my new blog :)