Thanksgiving Has Come and Gone...
I look forward to Thanksgiving every year for so many reasons. I have a small family and until recently we all were able to be together for every holiday. When you have two children in the military every moment that you spend together is a treasured one. My oldest son is stationed in Korea and the youngest in Iraq. Since my youngest son was able to come home for a two week R&R leave, I decided that Thanksgiving was going to be when we decided. I asked my son what he wanted and he said to keep it simple and I am all about simple! So that request was an easy one. Saturday morning I got up and started getting things ready. Knowing I would be cooking a 13 pound turkey, I had moved the turkey from the freezer to the refrigerator to thaw. It was still a bit icy in the middle when I cut the plastic off of it but nothing too serious. I rinsed the turkey off with some cold water and that took care of the ice. I had seen How to Boil Water right before I got up to take the turkey out and wanted to try something different. I had some fresh sage and rosemary in the front garden and that would be perfect for the turkey. I cut off a few sticks of rosemary and two handfuls of sage and rinsed them off. I took my fingers and ran them underneath the skin of the turkey. Then I took the sage leaves and put them in the space between the breasts and the skin. I had already cut up some carrots, onions, celery and the celery leaves and put them into the roasting pan. When it was finished roasting, there was a mild flavor of sage and rosemary. My son loves and I do mean LOVES sweet potatoes with toasted marshmallows on top. So I take fresh sweet potatoes and peeled them. Then cut them into good sized chunks and put them into a casserole dish. I cut up a whole stick of butter and sprinkled the pieces on the top along with one or two healthy hand fulls of brown sugar and sometimes a swing of orange juice. The dish is covered in foil and baked until the potatoes are soft. When the potatoes are cooked I take them out and right before we eat, I turn up the oven to 400. The marshmallows (mini or large) are spread on top and the dish is put into the oven. I turn on the oven light so I can make sure I don't burn the marshmallows. It doesn't take long. When they come out they a nice brown and the top is crunchy. It's a very sweet dish and we eat four times a year-New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving and Christmas. What can I say?? My kid still loves Green Bean Casserole with mushroom soup and Durkee Onions. I offer to do Garlic Green Beans, but got a thumb's down. Drats! I at least opted for making one thing from scratch. I made my husband's grandmother's pie crust. It is supposed to make five crusts but I only usually do four since I like my crust a little thicker. I made one pumpkin and one pecan pie. If the whole family was here there would be two of each and none would be left over. A friend of mine mentioned something about a whipped cream with some flavorings in it so I made "real" whipped cream with sugar and cinnamon. It was really good with the pumpkin, but added nothing to the pecan. Live an learn. So Thanksgiving has come and gone and I am now working on how to eat all the turkey left overs. Last night I made the Turkey Curry Salad for sandwiches and tonight is Turkey Enchiladas. I will write about them on Thursday.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and spends it with lots of friends and family, love, laughter and really good food.