Thanksgiving Feasts and Recipes

Thanksgiving is coming. Just a week away. How that’s possible, I don’t know. 2016 just flew by. And now here we are on the doorstep of holiday time. Christmas trees. Presents. Snow. But first we pause to count our blessings on Thanksgiving. One of those blessings might be a sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner with plenty of favorite foods.

What are some of the dishes that you have to have on Thanksgiving?

Of course, it goes without saying that a Thanksgiving meal means turkey and dressing. I don’t stuff the turkey. I just bake it and then make a separate dish of dressing from crumbled cornbread and biscuits. Add some sage, chopped onion and celery, an egg or two and lots of turkey broth. Shape into balls, put in a baking dish, pour more broth over them and bake in the oven. As the people used to say on HeeHaw “Yum! Yum!”

There’s something comforting about making dressing the same way as my mother made it. Well, almost the same. Actually, I took half her recipe and half my mother-in-law’s recipe and made it just right for us. I do like cranberry sauce with that dressing and I like just cooking the fresh cranberries with water and sugar the way it says on the package. Add some other side dishes like corn pudding and green beans, maybe a fruit salad and homemade rolls and I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Not so long ago, I mentioned the grape salad the guys in my family love. And some of my Facebook friends said, please share the recipe. It’s actually “Blueberry Salad.” I got the recipe from my sister-in-law a long time ago and usually make it at Christmas time. A guy at church used to love it when I took it to church dinners. Mike was the kind of man you just enjoyed being around. Always smiling. Always embracing life. And he loved that blueberry salad, so I’d make it just for him. But then Mike had a heart attack and died suddenly. For a while, it made me too sad to bring that salad to church dinners even though I know Mike’s having a great time up in heaven. I missed him down here. He was one of only two people who ever bragged on my piano playing at church. For sure those two were listening with their hearts and not their ears because I can barely plunk out a hymn on the piano. But he made me feel better than I was. He was an encourager.

So if you want Mike’s favorite salad, here’s the recipe.

Blueberry Salad
2 small pkg (3 oz) grape jello
2 C boiling water
1 can crushed pineapple, undrained (I use a regular size can)
1 can blueberry pie filling

Dissolve jello in boiling water, cool slightly. Add pineapple and blueberry pie filling. Let jell.
Topping: Cream 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese and 1/2 pint sour cream until smooth. Add 1/2 C confectioners’ sugar. Mix well and spread on top of jello mixture. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.

I also had a request for the recipe for what we jokingly call Mother-in-law pie around here. I should call it Son-in-law pie because he’s the one who loves it. It was introduced to the family by the same sister-in-law who brought us Blueberry Salad. I guess you can tell she’s a good cook. My pie never quite matches hers, but my sweet son-in-law claims to like mine best. My husband doesn’t, but it’s good that he’s loyal to his sister’s pie. Here’s her recipe.

Chocolate Chip Pie
Mix: 1 cup sugar
         1/2 cup self-rising flour
Add: 2 slightly beaten eggs
         1 stick softened margarine 
         1 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans but some use walnuts)
         1 cup chocolate chips
         1 tsp vanilla
Mix well and spread mixture in a 9 inch pie crust. Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees.  

We’re having our annual Thanksgiving dinner at church this coming Sunday. Maybe I’ll make that pie. I’m also taking the turkey and fixings so I’ll have to be hopping this weekend to get it all ready.

Hope you’re looking forward to a blessed holiday with lots of delicious food traditions passed down from your grandmother and mother.

What brings a smile to your face when you see the Thanksgiving feast on your table?

Thanks for reading. I recycled parts of this post from one I wrote five years ago, but that’s the thing about a Thanksgiving feast. We do like the same favorite dishes every time. Some of the things I loved on the Thanksgiving table when I was a kid were my aunt’s cornbread sticks and banana croquettes. (That’s bananas slathered with salad dressing and rolled in peanuts. I did a post on those once too. I think they must be a Kentucky original dish.)