If you are in the United States, I hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with family and friend. If you’re not in the US, I hope you’re having a wonderful Thursday!
I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen the last couple days and it doesn’t look to be ending until sometime tomorrow after I get done baking some cookies. I am in the mood for some giant molasses cookies. Or maybe some sugar cookies. Chocolate chip? See, I haven’t decided yet. And yes, even though I have 3 different pies in the house right now, I have a hankering to bake cookies. It’s kind of a transition between Thanksgiving and Christmas for me, I guess.
On the topic of Thanksgiving…
There are only 4 of us in the house so a whole turkey didn’t make sense in a lot of ways. For a few years now, I’ve done turkey breasts. Once, I roasted it in the oven, but last year and this year I cooked it overnight in the slow cooker. Oh. My. Goodness. Yum city! There are a variety of websites and blogs that have slow cooker turkey breast recipes, but the one I used this year is from Six Sisters Stuff…
I baked a Maple Pecan Pie for the second year in a row. It’s delicious. Not as sickly sweet as a corn syrup and brown sugar pecan pie, which is good because DH can’t have that kind anymore.
A Peanut Butter Pie because it’s not Thanksgiving without it.
An Apple Pie with a cinnamon roll crust (Recipe for the crust, HERE) and a Dutch crumb topping.
There will be whipped potatoes, homemade yeast rolls, roasted okra, and cornbread dressing.
It’s a full on feast in our house and there will be leftovers to take us into Saturday where it will be football finger food all day. Sausage and cheese balls, pigs in a blanket, cheese and veggies, deviled eggs, whatever pies are left over along with anything else we might have still.
The kitchen, as y’all know, is one of my favorite places in the house. I have Pinterest boards dedicated to kitchens and foods. It brings me joy to cook and bake for others, to create something from a whole host of ingredients. It’s about remembering times past and creating new memories for the future.
Thanksgiving was my grandfather’s favorite holiday and every year when I smell the dressing baking or the turkey cooking, I think of him even more than usual. He loved to eat and he loved having everyone gathered at the table. I miss those times so much. A lot of the things I make for Thanksgiving are dishes that bring back those days. The smell of Sage and butter triggers a smile and I am grateful that I had him, that I have memories of him that mean so much.
He and my grandmother are where I got my love of cooking and love of food from. I’ve been cooking since I was a kid and would have to get dinner started sometimes because my parents both worked. I spent many summers and holidays with my grandparents and my grandmother was always cooking dinner, making lunch, breakfast. Eating out wasn’t done back in those days the way it’s done now. Eating out was a special thing and fast food was a rare treat. It’s much too commonplace now.
There were things made in my grandmother’s kitchen that though I can buy the very same ingredients, brand and all, they never taste the same from my kitchen. I find that magical, even now.
Cooking is a tradition that I grew up with and one I’m proud to carry on.
Have a wonderful day!
~lissa
