Gobble Gobble!

To all my American readers, I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We sure did have a fun (but busy!) day!  Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays.  I know what you’re thinking… surprise, surprise… I love the food!  And it’s true.  I do love the food.  If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know this.  But I also just love the time together with family and friends.

I love doing “look-backs!”  If you want to read about last year’s Thanksgiving, just click here and here!

This year, we had our normal double-dose of Thanksgivings.  We usually have a lunch with Ryan’s family and then dinner with my family.  I love how everyone gets so excited to make his or her “specialty” item.  Thanksgiving is so neat because everyone brings dishes together with family history. 

What did I make?

Sadie and I made three pumpkin pies this year.  She was such a good little kitchen-helper and she was so proud of our pies.  We use the Libby’s Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe.  I’ve tried other recipes, but honestly, Libby’s recipe is so delicious and perfect that I always use it.  And it is so simple! 

 

 

Do you like pumpkin pie?  I love it.  Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be right without it!  Or at least, it wouldn’t seem right to me. 

My other contribution this year to both Thanksgiving feasts was my Memama’s Macaroni and Cheese.  It’s one of my Dixie-Style Dining recipes, and you can find it here.  I made a few adjustments.  This time, I did not use whole wheat pasta.  I like WW pasta, but I thought that since I was using white cheddar, the white pasta would look better.  I used Vermont Sharp White cheese (Cracker Barrel brand) and I loved the switch.  I also slightly changed the crust.  I used a mix of regular and panko seasoned breadcrumbs on the top.  I think that gave it a crunchier crust. 

It’s simple: layer noodles, then cheese, then noodles, then cheese, then noodles, then cheese.  Add milk until you can barely see it peeking through the noodles.  Then breadcrumbs on top with pats of butter.  (1/4 to 1/3 of a stick is plenty for one casserole dish.)  Bake at 350 or 375 for 30-45 minutes, or until the crust is golden and crispy and your kitchen smells like heaven.

We enjoyed our day with family and friends and of course we ended the day feeling completely STUFFED.

We have so much to be thankful for—health, a warm home to live in, family nearby… we truly have everything we need and then some.  This year, I have several friends who are facing some serious health issues and my heart goes out to them.   

We missed having my grandparents with us this year.  I think every holiday will be bittersweet for us… we miss them so much.  But we’re so glad they are together. 

So now… we’re enjoying coffee and rest… and I am sure we’ll have some more fun family time later.  We typically don’t get caught up in the Black Friday madness… but we may hit up a store or two once things have calmed down a bit. 

How about you?  Did you hit up the 3 a.m. deals?