One of the Littles made this fancy menu card for our Thanksgiving table. The fold-over card opens to reveal our Thanksgiving Day menu. Our day will start with all the Littles snuggled up close to watch The Macy's Day Parade. We'll head over to Mia and Popa's for the actual feast and later in the afternoon Husband & I will sneak out (hoping someone notices we've left all the children) and end our Thanksgiving Day cheering on the ...
Archives for November 2008
Texas Cornbread Dressing…a legend of sorts
Ever since I was little, my favorite Thanksgiving side has been cornbread dressing. I have fond memories of my grandfather, Poppy, cooking up the annual feast in their tiny, yellow kitchen. Poppy loved to cook at the holidays and is the source of many of my cherished family recipes. Growing up I loved Poppy's dressing, but I never gave it much thought until we had to figure out how to make it without him. Our biggest challenge was ...
Cranberry Oat Crumble Bars
I can't believe I'm going to do this. I'm going to share my coveted Cranberry Oat Crumble Bar recipe. Which is a double whammy because not only is it not my recipe (there I said it), but it comes from a source I'm a tad embarrassed to admit The Cake Mix Doctor. Stop snubbing your noses. I know you are all foodies but let's just hold off judgement until you've made these bars. Then we'll see who's laughing at cake mix. I admit I ...
Pecan Pie
Husband grew up with an enormous pecan tree in his front yard. It yields massive amounts of pecans each year and we are the grateful recipients of any amount my mother-in-law choses to give us. Some years we come home from visiting with buckets of unshelled pecans. Other years we get baggies full of perfect pecan halves. This year we left with a huge plastic bag filled with ready to use pecans. Oh the joy! Husband loves pecan pie. ...
Hominy! Santa Fe Chicken Stew
I must say you all had creative guesses for the what's in my blue colander quiz. Truth be told, if my photography had been better I think you all would have guessed hominy as my secret ingredient. I'm working on the photography around here. Patience, friends. I'm self taught. Hominy is really just dried, hulled corn kernels. To remove the germ and hard hull of the corn a soaking process must occur. The soaking solution varies by ...
Peanuts and Beer
Is there anything better than peanuts and beer while you are watching college football on a perfect, cold fall day? I think not. Our beloved Longhorns are away in Lawrence, KS taking on the Jayhawks and we've had a constant stream of friends and neighbors pop in for the game. These spicy little nuggets are just the right fix for an afternoon of football watching. The recipe calls for peanuts, but I used a mix of cashews and peanuts. ...
Can you guess???!!!
Who can tell me what's in my little, blue colander?!?!?! I'll give you the recipe using my secret ingredient tomorrow! ...
Kids Cook Night: The Best Red Sauce Ever
Here's a sauce that is so simple it seems incomplete. Wait until you taste it. The kids love to help make this sauce. And by help I mean dumping the can of tomatoes in the pot and dropping in the onions. Try this sauce on any kind of noodles, spooned over meatballs and even roasted chicken. I've served it with parmesan chicken and as a dipping sauce for cheese sticks. It's divine served family style with polenta. And did I mention ...
White Bean Soup
Mia and I began to plan Thanksgiving this week. I say began because we got a bit distracted, as we tend to do, and ended up re-seasoning her cast iron skillet and riffling through old recipes. At least we've started the process. This year there is a hitch in our get-along as the UT vs. A&M game has moved to Thanksgiving Day. Talk about calling an audible on our turkey day traditions! So, Mia and I have a little more planning ...
Banana Bread
The boys are going camping today. It's finally a perfect fall day in central Texas and the weather begs for a camp out. In the midst of packing their gear, I realized I hadn't thought of snacks for the overnight into the wilderness. I found some buffalo jerky and granola bars and thought I'd bake a loaf of banana bread with our nearing icky bananas. The Littles love banana bread. But alas none of them crave similar variations. One ...