Thanksgiving 2007

Today is Thanksgiving. I have much for which I am grateful, especially my children and their families. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I pray that Heavenly Father will continue to bless you in all that you do.

Because we were invited to a friend's home for Thanksgiving dinner, we did not prepare our typical meal. No turkey, no mashed potatoes and gravy, no marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes, and no three bean salad. Instead, we took some dishes with us to dinner to share with others.

Last year people seemed to like my frog-eye salad, so I prepared this again. I used a different recipe and wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was delicious. I followed the directions for one batch that was supposed to feed 8-10 people. I did not know if that would be enough, so doubled the recipe. By the time I was finished I had enough frog eye salad to feed at least 30 people. Needless to say, we will be having this as a leftover for several days! Note: I can't find the Ancini de Pepe for this salad in the grocery stores here. I will need to pick up some more when I go to Utah for Christmas.

I also made deviled eggs. I could not find Lindsey's famous recipe, so faked it as best as I could. The most frustrating part about making deviled eggs is trying to get the shells off the hard-boiled eggs. Some shells slip right off while others seem glued on. Once I managed to remove the shells, I mixed the yolks with a little bit of this and a little bit of that until they tasted right. Then I wrapped them in several layers of plastic wrap to keep Mom out of them until the meal.

Finally, I prepared a glazed spiral sliced ham. This is so easy that even I can do it well. I poured the glaze on the ham and cooked it for three hours. Done!

We miss having our children here, but have very fond memories of the times we would all work together to prepare our Thanksgiving meals. Each child would have one part of the meal to prepare. Somehow the chaos trying to share kitchen space, pots and pans, stove burners, and the oven would all work out in the end and we would enjoy a wonderful meal. I miss those days. Today Brian joined the meal with us; we were very glad to have him present.

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday ... and are very grateful for all our blessings.