The Hand-Turkey Tablecloth

It is time, once again, for the annual hand-turkey. Every year, since 2003, Blaze has made a new hand-turkey on this tablecloth, so that this little parade of turkeys represents him growing up.

 

Every year, he complains that the fabric paint tickles.

 This year's hand-turkey:
 

 His hand seems considerably bigger this year than last.

Autumn Colors Centerpiece

Using some tissue paper, some Mod Podge, and a cleaned out jar that had once held spaghetti sauce,  Blaze made a candle holder for our Thanksgiving table.



The Mod Podge was painted all over the glass and colored tissue paper was stuck to it. Then another layer of Mod Podge was painted over the top of the tissue paper.



After drying overnight, I added some jute twine (left over from gardening) around the top, because I like the natural/rustic way it looks. We set the jar in the middle of a wooden plate and took a walk to find autumnal looking things in nature that we could place around the jar.



A small pillar candle fit nicely into the jar.

Pre-Thanksgiving Traditions

Today was the day of the annual hand-turkey.

We've been using fabric paint on Blaze's left hand to make a hand print turkey on our Thanksgiving table cloth every year since 2003. His hand has grown a bit since that first year.



Blaze chose the colors himself.






It was also the day that we dug out all the Thanksgiving food magazines we've accumulated over the years and laid around on the bed looking at them and deciding what we want to eat this year. This is a tradition that pre-dates the hand-turkey.

Thanksgiving Day

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at DH's professor's house! There was good conversations, good food, and Dr. D always has the best toys!





He has an amazing collection of vintage toys, as well as other fun antiques, like this working 1923 record player (the very first portable).





The centerpiece on the table:


DH cooked the turkey.



Blaze's favorite things about Thanksgiving dinner were having a big furry dog to play with, and playing with all of the noise-making toys in the house.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In preparation for Thanksgiving, there has not been much cooking going on, since we are going to a potluck, but there has been reading and crafting.

Every Thanksgiving, there are two books that I love to read. One is 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving, by Dav Pilkey:



The other is Cranberry Thanksgiving, by Wende and Harry Devlin, which must, of course, be followed by baking cranberry bread using the recipe in the back of the book.




Blaze made these cute little door decorations with the younger elementary kids at school,



While I had the older elementary students write what they were thankful for, on colored construction paper leaves.



I hung the thankfulness leaves on the outside of our classroom door, so that all the parents would see them when they came to the Thanksgiving feast at school yesterday at lunch time.


At home, Blaze has added this year's "hand turkey" to the Thanksgiving tablecloth.



This has been a family tradition since 2003.





I suppose that a first attempt at learning how to play football counts as Thanksgiving Day preparation, as well.

Thanksgiving Mad Lib Round-Up

I want to do something fun with my Language Arts students tomorrow, since it is the last day before the five day Thanksgiving break. I discovered that there are a few, free, printable, Thanksgiving-themed "Mad Libs" available on-line.


A pilgrim's letter home

A new Thanksgiving tradition

The family visit

Turkey dinner

Happy Thanksgiving

Today, I am thinking about our abundance of food, because the two batches of dough I made last night, have both risen out of the confines of their bowls in the refrigerator, crept across the refrigerator racks, and dripped down to other levels.

What are you thankful for?

The Annual Hand Turkey

It is that time again. The time of year when I get to slather Blaze's left hand with fabric paint and add a new hand-turkey to our Thanksgiving table cloth.




Here is this year's turkey:



This is our 7th year for this tradition, so we have a nice little parade of hand-turkeys running along the edge of the table cloth, each turkey just a little bigger than the one before it.



It's always fun to look at how much Blaze has grown:



When we started the tablecloth, in 2003, I also made a Thanksgiving T-shirt for myself with DH and I adding our handprints to Blaze's.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday, we did a little Thanksgiving preparation. I baked pumpkin cookies, using the wonderful recipe at Mountain Pulse.



The only thing I did differently with the cookies, was to substitute dried cranberries for the raisins.

We also decorated a little for Thanksgiving:




I'm not doing as much cooking for Thanksgiving as I have in past years, because we have been invited to the home of some friends, and all I need to make is dinner rolls. This is the recipe I will be using for those:


Refrigerator Roll Dough

1 package ( 1 Tablespoon ) active dry yeast
1 1/2 Cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 Cup unseasoned lukewarm mashed potatoes
2/3 Cup vegetable oil
1/3 Cup honey
1 1/2 salt
5 to 6 cups unbleached white flour

This is a good recipe to make on a night when you are making mashed potatoes for dinner. Before seasoning the potatoes, reserve 1 1/2 cups of the potato water and 1 cup of the plain mashed potatoes.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the yeast and water. Then add everything else, first mix with a spoon and then kneed by hand. Add flour as necessary, until it becomes a good pliable dough. Form the dough into a large ball and oil the outside of the ball, so it won't dry out while rising. Cover and place in the refrigerator over night. The dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The dough does not have to be baked all at once. You can bake just what you need for each meal. Punch down dough before using. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.

I use this dough for everything. It makes great cinnamon rolls. If a little nutmeg is added, it is perfect for hot cross buns. Fillings can be added to turn it into sweet rolls and it can be rolled around hot dogs or sausages to make "pigs in a blanket".


Here is a link to some of the recipes I used last year:

Favorite Thanksgiving Food

Happy Thanksgiving! Let the Cooking Begin!

In past years DH and I have had this wonderful tradition of buying new Thanksgiving issues of some of our favorite food magazines. We would then spend a day with a pile of food magazines spread out around us on the bed, deciding what exciting new recipes we wanted to try. This year, however, we didn't get to do that, so we are just making some of our old favorites.

Here is DH's favorite cranberry sauce:




Mulled Cranberry Sause


1 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries

1 1/2 Cups red wine

1 1/4 Cups dark brown sugar

1/3 Cup minced crystallized ginger

1 Tablespoon grated orange peel

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves


Place all the ingredients in large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and cook about 15 minutes, until the cranberries have broken down and the sauce has thickened. Transfer the sauce into a bowl and chill.



This is another of DH's favorites. It's not a sweet pudding, it's more like a savory casserole.



Corn Pudding


2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons chopped red bell pepper

1 medium onion, chopped

3 Tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/4 Cup milk

2 cans of cream-styled corn


Place butter, bell pepper, and onion in a 1 1/2-quart glass dish. Microwave for 2 minutes on high power. Stir. Add flour and stir in well. Add all the other ingredients and stir well.
Bake in a conventional oven for 30 minutes, or until set, at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.



A friend from Virginia gave me this recipe years ago, because she said Northerners like me don't know how to make good pecan pie.



Southern Pecan Pie


1/2 Cup sugar

1/4 Cup softened butter

1 Cup dark corn syrup

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 Cup pecan halves


Cream butter and sugar together. Add corn syrup and mix well. Add eggs, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Stir in pecans. Pour into unbaked pie crust and bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.



And the cooking continues...


Blaze breaking up bread for stuffing.