Making a List and Checking it Twice

Who can believe that Thanksgiving is next week already!!!  Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday -- family, football, and food.  It's my own little bit of heaven.  Since all the kids and their families meet here for our big meal at lunch time, I've been planning my menu and making grocery lists.  There's definitely a turkey, possibly my favorite meat.  Rod loves Thanksgiving -- and here he is "snitching" a piece of turkey while waiting on the meal to be ready.

Mashed potatoes and gravy (lots left over for hot turkey sandwiches) are always a must have.  Veggies are always a problem -- twins don't eat corn and Mary's family doesn't eat green bean casserole. After searching the internet for a recipe that everyone would eat, I decided to try this Cauliflower Supreme.  Everyone loves it, and I make one change to the recipe.  Instead of breadcrumbs, I use Ritz cracker crumbs.  Most years I have noodles -- guess it's the German in me coming out, but I love noodles on mashed potatoes.  It's a carb overload, to be sure, but I just can't help it.

Here's a photo of me cheesin' with some homemade bread.  Wow, these are old photos, my kitchen is now red with striped curtains.  Oh, the date says 2004.  I love experimenting with bread recipes, but the country white seems to be everyone's favorite.  I usually make a honey wheat bread also.  This year I'm trying a new roll.   I found this on the King Arthur flour website.  They are called Golden Pull-Apart Butter Buns, and the picture alone makes my mouth water.

And here's a picture of the table before dinner.  The twins make the green peppers every year.  My mother-in-law used to make them and they are always a big hit.  She mixed cream cheese, Cracker Barrel cheddar cheese, and a little mayo and stuffed the green peppers.  Pam and Pat are the only ones in our family that still know how to do them.

Kristin usually makes devilled eggs -- hers taste most like Rod's mom's.  Mary is bringing two pies this year - a cherry macaroon, and a chocolate pecan.  And there has to be pumpkin pies.  I'll save the sweet potato casserole for the Christmas dinner since it tastes so good with ham as well.

My family had eggnog at their holiday meals, and I have carried on that tradition as well.  And now that the kids are all over 21 we usually open a bottle of wine before dinner, either a pink catawba, a spiced apple or a cranberry.  That's the story of Thanksgiving at my house, and now, I need to go get breakfast.  It's only oatmeal, but I can pretend can't I??