Thanksgiving

What kind of a blogger would I be if I didn't blog about Thanksgiving!  I love all the cooking and smells and family and friends that go along with Thanksgiving.  When I was growing up it was just my brother, the Grinch, and I.  Nothing special, no real traditions.  Sometimes we would go to Pootsies moms.  Then I got married and the traditions began.  It was about family, a huge family.   A family who loved one another and were nice to one another.  A family who cooked and laughed and cleaned up together.  Kids and babies and cousins and a mom and dad who made it all happen and gathered everyone in. That is where I learned to make and love stuffing.  I watched and stirred and tasted as Fayetta got it all together.  I wrote it down and have been making it ever since..that is my favorite part of Thanksgiving. 

This is the stuffing...my favorite.  Here is the recipe, and like so many of my recipes there are no real measurements. 
Fry onion and celery in 2 cubes butter. 
2 packages of stuffing
1 can milk
3 eggs
sage, garlic, salt and pepper
Boil giblets in water til done, chop and add to to dressing with enough of the cooking liquid to make moist.
I put it all in my big silver bowl and start mixing with a wooden spoon and end up using my hands. Put it in a cake pan and bake.  350 til done.  I really have no idea how long..I would guess a half an hour or so. 

Another tradition we do is the ice drink.  This is our Thanksgiving and Christmas drink.  Every year for 29 years so far. 
In a big silver bowl combine 1 can apple juice and 1 can grape juice made according to the directions.  Freeze.
When it is time to serve pour 7-Up in and use a knife to chop up and make slushy. 
Thats it, very easy and pretty good!

Something that will be tradition is a Sweet Potato Casserole.  My mother (not to be confused with the grinch) brought it to dinner last year and the girls and I loved it! 

 This is truely most delicious!
Sweet Potato Casserole
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1cup sugar
1/2 stick butter
2 egg
dash of salt
1/3 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
Mix together and put in 9x13 pan
Topping
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
Mix til crumbly and sprinkle on top
Bake 350 for 40-45 minutes

I'd love to know what you do with your leftover turkey, besides sandwiches! 
I usually make a soup, or pot pie. 
Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Cooking with Granny

I have fond memories of my Granny.  She was a pie maker and I loved her cherry pie and her chocolate pie. 
Today I got to have Peyton for the afternoon and he was my helper while I made chicken noodle soup.  The apron Peyton has on is one I made for his dad when he was a litle boy. 

He dug in with both hands! 

I gave him a bowl with flour in it...I wasn't up to adding any liquid to his bowl!

I rolled out my noodle dough and he rolled out his flour...

I rolled out my dough very thin, then rolled it up jelly roll style and sliced it very thin.  Gramma Johnson said that was the key..rolled thin and sliced thin.  Peyton unrolled the slices and put them in the pan with some flour.

He carefully helped put the noodles into the bubbling broth and was a great stirrer. 
I had a great time making soup with my sweet grandson this afternoon.  I can't wait til Oliver and Alivia are old enough to cook with Granny! 
This post isn't about a recipe really, it is about making memories. 
I want my grandkids to have the same fond memories with me that I have of my Granny.  I loved  to be at her house...I remember the green carpet in the living room, the smell of stinky sourkraut fermenting in the bedroom off the kitchen, the pink phone on the kitchen wall.  I remember sleeping with her and putting my legs next to hers to get warm.  I remember counting waterfalls along the highways with her.  She had a collapsable cup in her purse that I thought was so cool.  My Granny liked to  hum.  She was a kind loving person.  She had a great laugh.    I remember the way she made the bed, she would get it all made and then turn down each side.  She was a good cook.  In the kitchen were these big drawers, one for sugar, one for flour and one for bread.  She would have me get the old dry bread out of the drawer and break it up into the bowl.  She would add milk, eggs, vanilla and sugar and let me stir.  Soon after we would have bread pudding.  I remember her baking pies.  I remember sitting with her while she snapped beans.  I remember her laugheing at the things me, Kelly and Dawn would do.  She called me 'Doll'.  I remember when she got sick, how frail she became.  I remember the day she died, I think part of me died that day too.  I remember her funeral, the cemetery and the emptiness in my heart. 
How I love my Granny.   I want to be like my Granny.