much to be thankful for...

Where to start??? Thanksgiving was very special this year for our family. We were able to celebrate with Steve's family the weekend before Thanksgiving in Cincinnati. My SIL Mary came up with a great idea of expressing thanks for one another. She made the cutest votive candles covered with fall paper. Each person chose the name of an adult family member and wrote why they were thankful for that person and set it at their place at dinner. It was touching and so thoughtful. Thanks Mary!! As if the weekend were not full enough, we girls also went to the play White Christmas on Sunday while our hubbies stayed at home with the kids. Thanks again Mom Noe. It was a wonderful show!! I still have the tunes in my head!



Monday, my parents and some family friends came all the way from MN to stay the week!! We really enjoyed having them visit us. My dad took down a couple of trees dead/pesky) in our back yard while he was here, we did some antique shopping, toured Woodford Reserve which is a bourbon distillery here in KY, prepared a feast for Thanksgiving and even got a little Christmas shopping in. Of course we sewed a couple of things too!

Mom and Dad raised a turkey especially for Thanksgiving and brought it with them. We had ham, turkey, cranberries, sweet and mashed potatoes, green beans and tomatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie. All homemade...all delicious. The stuffing was a new recipe and we cooked it along side the turkey so I could have some too:) Here is the recipe. Sorry! No pictures of the food....what was I thinking?? But I did get some pictures of Dad helping with the dishes:)



Fit & Flavorful Whole Grain Stuffing
recipe by Executive Chef Mark Beland

8 c. stale whole grain bread, cut in cubes
2 c. yellow onion, diced
1 c. carrot, diced
2 c. zucchini, diced
2 c. vegetable or chicken broth
1 T. fresh sage, minced
1 t. fresh thyme, minced
1 c. celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. olive oil
1 T. black pepper
2 egg whites

Saute vegetables in olive oil for 10 minutes, until translucent. Add broth, pepper and herbs. Pour over bread and toss evenly to distribute. Place in glass or ceramic baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

**We substituted diced fresh mushrooms for the carrots (I was out), dried thyme for the fresh and dried bread cubes for the fresh cut. We used a little more zucchini and about 1/2 c more broth and whole eggs for the whites. We all thought that this was very good and moist.

We made the pies the night before and the boys had so much fun helping Grandma with the pie crust and making cinnamon sugar crisps with the extra dough.



A funny note about the pies. Mom was going to bring me pumpkin from the garden but ran out of room in the car so she left it at home. While I was shopping on Monday afternoon, she called and told me that we needed pumpkin. I looked at Kroger and they were OUT saying there was a national pumpkin shortage!!!! Luckily, I had a big can at home and called a friend who was more than willing to share her canned pumpkin with me if I needed it(thanks Andrea!!). We all got a good laugh out of that one:) That would only happen to us!

We are so happy to have been able to spend Thanksgiving with both families this year. I hope we can make this a new tradition!