Thinking Thanksgiving

Good morning! How are you adjusting to this drastic change in the weather? It feels more like December outside, but the calendar tells us that Thanksgiving is a week away. Our daughter and her husband and their 3 little girls - ages 5, 3, and 5 months - are coming for Thanksgiving and I am getting so excited! I love Thanksgiving because it is all about family and reflecting on our blessings, two of my favorite things, and is without all the commercialism of Christmas. I thought that in today's post I would give you a little glimpse into our Thanksgiving, because next week I will probably be too busy to write!

I enjoy decorating my table and other areas for the special day, and here is a peek at my decorations:

My daughter-in-law gave me the "eat pie" sign because it is very significant in our house! I have been known to make as many pies as there are people. I try to make everyone's favorite and before you know it, I end up with half a dozen or more pies! Ask any of my kids! But then we enjoy pie and coffee every evening they are here!





I also am purchasing the ingredients for my little granddaughters to make these darling turkeys:

As far as the meal itself, I am pretty traditional when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner. To me, it is not the time to experiment with new foods or recipes. My family loves the traditional turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, etc. In thinking about what recipes I could share with you that are still considered traditional, I do have one side dish which is really delicious and traditional, yet a little different. It is extra-nice that you make it in the slow cooker so you can fix it and forget about it until dinner is ready. The recipe originally came from Allrecipes.com.

Slow-Cooker Cream Corn

16 oz. pkg. of frozen corn

1 stick of butter or margarine, cubed

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, cubed

1/2 cup milk

salt and pepper

Just throw all the ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours, or on high for 2-3 hours. Stir well. Everyone loves it!

And in case you are in the mood for pumpkin (who isn't?), I am sharing my recipe for pumpkin bread.  I got this recipe many years ago from my mother in law and it is still the best pumpkin bread I have ever had. It makes a lot, so you can freeze some or give some away.

Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup oil

2 cups pumpkin puree

3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. nutmeg

2/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend with mixer sugar, eggs, oil, and pumpkin. Whisk together dry ingredients and blend into the pumpkin mixture. Add water and mix. Pour into greased pans - makes 2 regular loaves or about 7 mini-loaves. Don't overfill the pans, or you will have trouble getting it done in the middle. Bake regular loaves for 50 -55 minutes, and mini loaves for 35-40. Cool slightly in pans before removing onto racks. Enjoy!

Whether or not you are doing any special decorating, baking or cooking isn't the most important thing. The most important is to cultivate a grateful heart - something I could write an entire post on. Learning to have a grateful heart is something that can't just be turned on and off for Thanksgiving Day. It is a daily choice. In thinking about gratitude, I love this quote from Nancy Leigh DeMoss: "Is the gratitude that flows out of your life as abundant as the grace that flows into your life?"

I will leave you with that. Happy Thanksgiving!

With a grateful heart,

Kathi