Thanksgiving Recap

Thursday afternoon, David and I headed to Mom and Chet's for Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. Aside from setting aside time to really consider the many blessings we have in our lives, it's about the food. And I love the food! This year, the celebration involved David and I (of course), Mom and Chet, Allison and Larry (my sister and brother-in-law), and Paul and Marty (Mom and Chet's neighbors). We had quite the spread for the eight of us...by the end of the afternoon, we were stuffed. Here's a recap of the Thanksgiving deliciousness! Chet carved the bird. He brined it overnight, and it was moist and delicious! I focused on the dark meat this year...something new for me. And oh, it was good!
The stove was a busy, busy place! Gravy, broccoli, and noodles up top, and rolls in the oven.

Here's the platter piled high with turkey. This was maybe half of the bird. Again, most and delicious!

One of my favorites...cranberry sauce! This year, Chet made his own, and it was wonderful! It was full of fresh cranberries, apples, pecans, and orange zest. He has promised me the recipe. Oh, it was good!

And the dressing/stuffing...whatever you want to call it. Chet's stuffing is a mixture of cornbread and regular bread (I think). Anyway, it's good. It's not dry and crunchy like some dressing is. This stuff is moist and full of yum!

This is fall broccoli that just came out of Chet's garden last week. I didn't even know you could grow fall broccoli, but now I know. Oh, it was good. I love fresh broccoli.

And noodles! I know...you guys are probably thinking that we're some kind of freaks at Thanksgiving. No mashed potatoes in sight, but we do have broccoli and egg noodles! I never really thought of egg noodles as Thanksgiving food, but when Mom and Chet got married, Chet fixed them for Thanksgiving because his family alway had them with Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah, I thought it was weird at first, but now, they just seem like a part of Thanksgiving. It wouldn't be the same without them. I like to pour dressing over my noodles and dressing, then eat a little noodle and a little dressing at the same time. Carb overload! Yum!

This sweet potato casserole was one of my contributions. I love this stuff. There aren't words to describe how much I adore this stuff. It's really sweet, but I love to have it with holiday (Thankgiving and Christmas) meals. The sweet potatoes are mashed, and then there's the crunchy, sweet topping. Oh, mercy. It's the perfect foil to all the savory stuff. You'll find the recipe at the end of this post.

These yeast rolls are absolutely wonderful. They're Chet's mom's recipe. And they're made with lard. Don't even think about trying to make them without the lard. Chet's pretty much got the recipe down pat, and they are the hit of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I've got to learn to make these...it'll force me to get over my fear of yeast.

Here's the holiday table, ready for us to devour everything in sight. See the pretty fruit salad? Paul and Marty brought that, and it was wonderful!

For dessert, I brought this. It's a pumpkin caramel pound cake. I was less than impressed, but I'll post the recipe tomorrow. Paul also brought one of his famous cheesecakes...pumpkin! How in the world I got out of the house without a picture of it is beyond me. I was snapping pictures like a fool. Allison said I was the food paparazzi. Anyway, as you can tell, we were gluttons on Thanksgiving. We ate too much, but it was so nice to spend a lazy Thursday afternoon with family and friends.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Cathy Lawrence (my mom)

For the Casserole:

40 oz. sweet potatoes in syrup

1 1/2 cups white sugar (you could probably back off to 1 cup)

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

For the Topping:

1 stick butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup Rice Crispies

1/2 cup crushed nuts (optional, but I always use them)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain sweet potatoes well. Mash potatoes, and add sugar, eggs, milk, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated. Pour mixture into a greased casserole dish (9x13 is a good size, but I used a 12-inch round tart pan) and bake for 30 minutes. To make the topping, melt the butter and mix in brown sugar, Rice Crispies, and nuts. Spread over sweet potato mixture and return to oven to bake for another 15 minutes.