I love Thanksgiving. I love that it's about family and gratitude, that there are special foods that we always have, that it's not commercialized.
Did you know that Thanksgiving was instituted as a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, during the civil war? Here's a link to his proclamation:
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm
Growing up, Thanksgiving was my dad's holiday. He usually made the food, with a little help from us kids, and my mom got the morning off. My brothers made mashed potatoes, jello, and rolls. I always wanted to make the pies--using Libby's pumpkin pie mix and frozen pie crusts. (Once we gave a pie to our neighbors across the street, and he complemented the pie crust, saying that it was better than many grown woman's that he'd had. I had to tell him that it was store bought. Someday I would like to master pie crusts and be a real woman.) We'd cook all morning, eat in the early afternoon, and then watch movies and play games, going back for more food as we felt like it. There is also a important family story about my sister having to do with Thanksgiving. My mother points to this incident as the beginning of my sister's vegetarianism, at age 4. She took one look at the turkey and announced "I don't eat dragon."
During college, I spent many Thanksgivings at my aunt & uncle's, driving up to their house with some of their friends who lived near me. We'd often have the main meal at their house, then pack up the leftovers and spend the remainder of the weekend camping in the mountains, in a cabin with some electricity and a wood stove. We'd go hiking and play in the snow.
This year I went to spend Thanksgiving with many members of my extended family & one of my brothers. My aunt and my grandmother divided up the cooking. My aunt and her family made the pies and rolls, and my grandmother made most of the rest. I decided to make a cranberry chutney from my good friend/adopted cousin's family, where I spent Thanksgiving a couple years ago. I also asked my dad for his stuffing recipe, he makes his own every year that is unlike any that I've had elsewhere, and I missed it. It turns out that it's based on what his grandmother used to make, so it's a family tradition that I can now carry on.
We had a plethora of pies--my aunt, uncle, and cousins made peach, apple, cherry, lemon meringue, banana creme, pumpkin, and a fruit tart! Here's photos of them working. Each child got to roll out at least one crust. (So they are real children!):
Zesting a lemon
preparing fruit for the fruit tart
the key to a good photo is to hold something right in front of your face.
my helper with the cranberry chutney. I love blenders!
Peach pie, prior to baking.
cherry! sweet, not sour.
mini gluten-free pies & pumpkin.
2 different apple--crust and crumb topping
can you tell which dressing I made?
Here's the recipe for the cranberry chutney, thanks to Kim!
-1 LB. Cranberries
-1 unpeeled apple
-1 whole orange (skin and all)
-2 C. Sugar
-1 small can crushed pineapple
-handful of pecans
grind cranb. apples and orange and pecans
add pineapple and sugar
stir alottt
make well in advance
refrigerate
I didn't add all of the sugar, though.
I'd give you the stuffing recipe, but I'd probably have
to kill you. ;) Just kidding, but I think I'll keep it a
family secret for now.
