Thanksgiving blessings to all. May you have a day full of love, laughter, and thankfulness. -Miss Toni

Bonus Holiday Recipe; SLAP-YOUR-MOMMA-GOOD MACARONI AND CHEESE

Because tomorrow is the day where we concentrate on food, I'm going to post a bonus recipe and tell you the history behind it.

I've mentioned this dish in a previous recipe, and I've also mentioned in my last post that I'm pretty much a stickler for the Thanksgiving staples. You may not think that macaroni and cheese is Thanksgiving-ish in anyway, but let me tell you that in my husband's family it most certainly is. Not only does his Thanksgiving menu offer the typical turkey and such, growing up his holidays have always been flavored with a lot of soul and southern comfort. Food, that is- not the drink. The drink comes out later on in the day when the domino case is busted out.

After we first got married, we were living in Phoenix for our first several Thanksgivings, and his family was a good four hours away in northern NM. His sisters Tammy and Von, along with their kids and eventually a grandkid or two would drive down the day before, and stay usually until Sunday. Since it was the only time throughout the year that we really got to see them, we threw a feast that lasted for days... At any given Thanksgiving we had no less than 10 to 12 people staying at our house. Who needs a hotel when we have sleeping bags?? As and added bonus, they could swim while dinner was being cooked!

Somehow I was nominated to make the macaroni and cheese. It seemed like a strange thing to me at first, but I just went with the flow and found a recipe I thought everyone would enjoy. It happened to be from a cookbook I had by Patti LaBelle. Her recipe was originally titled "Over-the-Rainbow Macaroni and Cheese".

So I gathered the ingredients, and added a little more cheese than the recipe called for. This recipe is really more cheese than macaroni, but that's okay!

When the mac-and-cheese was pulled from the oven my sister-in-law Von was the appointed taste tester, to which she took her first bite and said- "This macaroni and cheese is sooooo good it makes me want to slap my Momma!"

From that Thanksgiving forward, I have been faithfully making this dish, meanwhile thanking everyone for NOT slapping their Momma while indulging.

So- if you're ever looking for the best (slapping optional) recipe for macaroni and cheese, look no further, my friends!

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds elbow macaroni
10 tablespoons plus 3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup shredded Muenster cheese
3/4 cup shredded New York Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup shredded Monetary Jack

3/4 cup shredded Colby cheese
3 cups half-and-half
2 cups Velveeta , cut into small cubes
3 large eggs , lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a deep. large casserole dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the oil, then the elbow macaroni, and cook until the macaroni is just tender, about 7 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain well. Return to the cooking pot.In a small saucepan, melt 10 tablespoons of the butter. Stir into the macaroni.

In a large bowl, gently toss the shredded cheeses to blend by hand.

To the macaroni, add the half-and-half, 3/4 of the shredded cheese blend, the cubed Velveeta, and the eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to the buttered casserole. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/3 of shredded cheese and dot with the remaining butter. Bake until it's bubbling around the edges, about 35 minutes. Serve hot.

Recipe of the Week; ALMOND-CRANBERRY SQUASH BAKE

Thank goodness for the folks at Taste of Home. Like I don't have enough recipes I've been wanting to try out for years! Thumbing through their book gave me a plethora of new ideas to serve up along with the usual turkey and mashed potatoes.

I'm pretty traditional when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, I don't serve anything weird like eel or alligator. (Although alligator is actually quite tasty- I'll reserve that for my Mardi Gras-inspired dinner in February.)

That being said, I mentioned before I like to take the common ingredients that are customary with Thanksgiving and serve them in different ways, like with my Pumpkin Bisque I plan on debuting this year.

So it goes with this recipe I found in this year's Taste of Home Christmas cookbook. Although I can't say it's a regular dish at Thanksgiving, I have served different types of squash casserole-type dishes around this time of year. This one in particular seemed to tickle my fancy, but we shall see if it ends up being only a one-time deal!

INGREDIENTS

4 cups mashed cooked butternut squash

4 tablespoons butter, softened, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 can (16 oz) whole-berry cranberry sauce

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

In a large bowl, combine the squash, 2 tablespoons butter, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. Transfer to a greased 2-quart baking dish. Stir cranberry sauce until softened, spoon over squash.

Combine the almonds, brown sugar and remaining butter; sprinkle over cranberry sauce.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

A Glorious Thanksgiving to You and Yours

Recipe of the Week; CURRIED PUMPKIN BISQUE

Perhaps the previous post leads you to believe that I'm a Thanksgiving Scrooge. It's not true- I adore Thanksgiving!

So much, in fact, that I'll be eating it on Thursday, Friday, and again on Sunday. Thankfully I'm only responsible to cook one dinner, the rest are up to relatives!

I like to try things that are pretty much Thanksgiving dinner staples in non-traditional ways, and pumpkin just seems to be served one way- in pie. Well, this year it'll be the first course and the last course!

My slow-cookers get a lot of use over Thanksgiving, usually with Todd's collards and my "Slap Your Momma Good Macaroni and Cheese". I'll post that recipe soon, and tell you all how it got it's name.

Anyway, I've always wanted to serve a pumpkin soup, and I think I found a recipe that looks both tasty and not very labor intensive. No, I haven't actually made this yet... but here's a preview of one of my experiments for Thanksgiving 2009. I got this recipe from one of Mom's old slow-cooker books. As it says:

"Heavy cream, milk and mushrooms are stirred in at the end of the cooking time for body and texture. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

INGREDIENTS

1- 29 oz. can solid-pack pumpkin

4 cups chicken broth

2 medium onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2- 4 1/2 oz. cans mushroom stems and pieces, drained

sour cream, chopped scallions, and/or crispy bacon for garnish

In a 3 1/2 quart slow-cooker, mix together the pumpkin, broth, onions, garlic, curry powder and seasoned salt.

Cover and cook on high heat setting 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Carefully puree the hot soup in 2 or 3 batches in a blender or food processor until as smooth as possible. Return to slow-cooker. Stir in the cream, milk, sugar, and mushrooms. Cover and cook on high 15 to 30 minutes longer. Serve garnished with sour cream, scallions and/or bacon bits.

Thanksgiving, What's Not to Love?

WARNING- The following post is so horribly sarcastic and pessimistic, you may not believe I authored it. But oh, I did.

I am thankful for Thanksgiving for many reasons. Yes, the huge dinner is wonderful. All the prep... the sleepless night before spent baking pies... the rush to get a huge turkey, only to find I'm out of room in my freezer... the debate with my husband over which is better, cornbread dressing or stuffing in the bird... fighting with my son to eat his green bean casserole.... fussing over every detail, from the garnish to the place settings... hating Martha Stewart for always having the perfect table and dinner... feeling so horribly stuffed and tired after eating that I could just explode... wait a minute, UURRCH!

I thought I was supposed to be thankful!

Oh, but I am! I am thankful! Don't get me wrong, I really love the idea of Thanksgiving. I enjoy spending the day with family and over eating. I enjoy getting harassed by my brothers and ignored by my husband while he watches football. (Seriously- he doesn't watch the Lions any other time they are on TV, why is it so important to watch them on Thanksgiving Day?) I enjoy it when my Dad points out what a lousy Mother I am. I just love it when my niece spills her food everywhere and eats all of the olives.

Oops- there I go again.

Maybe I really don't like Thanksgiving. Let me try to focus on what I do like instead:

1. Having the day off from work.
2. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
3. Anticipating Black Friday shopping the next day.
4. Trying new and fun things with canned cranberries.
5. Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving cartoon (what's wrong with toast for Thanksgiving, anyway?)

You know, that's really all I can think of. I don't know why lately I've become a little disillusioned with Thanksgiving. You would think it's right up my alley. I do have some great memories of dinners growing up, where Aunts, Uncles and countless cousins would gather at my Grandparents' country home and devour turkey with all the fixin's.

Then there was the time my Dad stuffed a turkey with unpopped popcorn kernels, thinking they would pop as the turkey cooked- it didn't happen. Or the one Thanksgiving when my father-in-law for whatever reason stuffed his turkey with Vienna sausages and hot dogs.

Okay, all that aside, I believe the reason I'm not feelin' very Thanksgivingish these days is because we have it all wrong. We don't reflect on the true meaning of the holiday. If we did, we'd be sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with Al-Qaeda and negotiating peace. Isn't that what the Pilgrims and Indians did?

And when you really understand on the history of Thanksgiving, you realize that the Pilgrims left England to avoid the persecution of the English King so that they could in turn go about persecuting the Native Americans. What's to be so thankful about there? That I'm a descendant of people who pillaged and plundered in order to rule this land that was built on the backs of slaves while it's Native people were eventually run off and forced to live on a desolate reservation in the desert? Yes, look at me beaming with pride.

Do you know that turkey wasn't even eaten on the first Thanksgiving? The most detailed description of the "First Thanksgiving" comes from Edward Winslow from A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, in 1621:

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

So when was the last time venison was on your Thanksgiving menu, I ask?

Anyway, I'm hopeful that I'll be in better spirits in the upcoming week. I plan on posting some new recipes that I want to try for Thanksgiving dinner. I guess the purpose of this post is to yes, celebrate the season, but also ask that we not forget the reason and the history behind the holiday.

GOD BLESS OUR VETERANS

"It's easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you" -Author Unknown

"Give me Liberty, or give me death!" -Patrick Henry