Holiday Fun

Though the Pilgrims could never have envisioned it as such, Thanksgiving is the calm before the storm. A day set aside to reflect on our blessings and bounties before the craziness of the Christmas holidays hit.

I’m fortunate to have all our daughters living here in our city, and we get together every Sunday for a big family dinner, without fail, which my husband and I absolutely treasure. But as my family grows with grandbabies and sons-in-law, I’m feeling the need to establish some traditions apart from those we had with my own parents. A special day and meal to stand out from the 52 Sunday meals we already share.

Thanksgiving tradition comes in many varieties for many families, but it’s perhaps most meaningful of all to the children.

Here’s a few tradition ideas that I’ve found delightful:

**The week before, make a Thanksgiving Tree. Draw a large tree trunk and branches on poster board. You could even use a small *real* tree branch. Attach to a door or wall. Make construction paper leaves out of fall colors. On the days before Thanksgiving, have everyone in the family write something they’re thankful for. Attach to the tree each day. What a great display of all our blessings!

**If you’re like me, Thanksgiving is the day to lay out a beautiful table with china, tablecloth and lit candles. However, children can lend their touch with ‘Sugar Cone Cornucopias’ which will keep little hands busy while waiting for guests to arrive. These could even be used as name cards if you wish. Simply take sugar cones and decorate with fruit candies. Tie a ribbon around the opening of the cone and write guest names on using store-bought decorator icing. Place paper doilies over saucers, set the cone on top, and fill with candies such as candy corn, citrus slices or raspbelly jellies.

**Designate a special tablecloth to use during each Thanksgiving dinner. Provide fabric markers and have each guest write a message or something they’re thankful for. Be sure to date each message!

 **This one is an absolute must at our house.  Talk about what you’re thankful for!  Everyone gets a turn to say something, and when my daughters were younger, they’d groan about it, but invariably, by the time we’ve gone around the table, there’s nary a dry eye left.

**Instead of joining a gazillion shoppers the day after, have Family Friday. Stay home, play games, watch a movie together. Enjoy those you love most without the distractions of the outside world. Make Mexican or bring in pizza. Something different than turkey. Those leftovers will keep!

These are just a few tradition ideas that will help make Thanksgiving even more special. 

Do you have any you’d like to share?  I’d love to hear them!

Have a wonderful, blessed holiday tomorrow!

Sitting in my comfortable home with plenty of food just a few steps away, it’s hard for me to imagine the hardships of the early pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock November, 1620. The conditions must’ve been horrendous, both on the Mayflower and in carving out a settlement in the dead of winter.

One hundred and two passengers set sail from England in a cramped ship that had little room for breathing, much less eating and sleeping. One adult male died enroute.  But one child was born during the long voyage, a baby boy who was named Oceanus.   

An unmarried passenger, John Howland, fell overboard during the voyage and was miraculously rescued. Here’s an odd fact—if he had drowned, we wouldn’t have had President George Bush Sr., President George W. Bush, President Teddy Roosevelt’s first lady, or Humphrey Bogart. They directly descended from John Howland. How wild is that? I’ve always heard that only six degrees separates each of us. Must be true. Five years after arriving in Plymouth, John married Elizabeth Tilly who had lost both parents within a few months of landing. John and Elizabeth ended up siring ten children and 82 grandchildren before they died.   

Also John Alden, another on board, was a descendant of John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Vice President Dan Quayle. Seems these pilgrims contributed quite a lot to the presidential office!  

But back to their arrival in November, 1620, you can imagine how glad they must’ve been to have seen land. I know how squirmy I get in the car during a four hour trip. These people endured 66 days of nothing but water and pounding, gigantic waves. Most of the time, seawater soaked their bedding and clothing. It would’ve been extremely difficult to stay dry. Seeing that shoreline could only have renewed their hope. They just didn’t know what lay in store for them and how much strength and determination it would take.  

In four months over half of them died. By March only 47 colonists were left. By the time they saw November, only four adult women out of eighteen who started out had survived. It’s a proven fact that none of the colonists would have made it if it hadn’t been for the generosity and compassion of the Native Americans who provided food and taught them how to live off the land. Oh, the thanks the settlers must’ve given!  

In November of 1621, Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony declared a day of Thanksgiving and prayer to celebrate the pilgrim’s first harvest and that was our first Thanksgiving.

From written account, they had roasted venison, turkey that was probably boiled or stewed. And for vegetables, squashes, carrots, cabbages and onions. They had no potatoes at that time. Corn was probably in the form of meal and not on the cob and used to make bread. Pumpkin, if they had it, was cooked into a pudding and not made into a pie. Honey and maple syrup was the only sweetener available. They had no cranberry sauce either. It wasn’t the most scrumptious feast, but I’m sure they were grateful for each morsel.

It wasn’t until November 26, 1789 that George Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving. But, the holiday wasn’t widely observed on the same day. States had wide latitude on which day they wanted to celebrate it. President Abraham Lincoln made it an annual holiday in 1863 and it was observed on the fifth Thursday in November. Then for three years, President Franklin Roosevelt moved it to the third Thursday. But after much uproar, Congress and the president anchored it officially on the fourth Thursday and that’s where it’s remained ever since.  

Now we get to celebrate it again this Thursday. I hope when we sit down to our heavily-laden table that we remember the pilgrims and their Native American friends—their sacrifices and the resiliency of the human spirit. It’s a time to give thanks for what we have and a time to remember our service men and women who are far from home.

I’m thankful for freedom to come and go as I wish, for the food I eat, and especially for the love of family and friends. What are you thankful for?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

For all of you die-hard nutritionalists — or just for all those who want to eat cleanly, here’s my recipe for Halloween Brownie Protein Bars.

Recipe:

1 3/4 cups Egg White protein powder — I use Jay Robb

1-4 cup Rice Protein Powder — organic if possible

2 Tblsp. edible vegetable glycerin — or maple syrup if you can’t find the vegetable glycerin at your health food store

7-8 teasp. pure stevia — get at a health food store

3 tblsp. cocoa powder — organic if possible

4 tblsp. butter

5 – 6 tblsp. coconut oil — get at a health food store, please — the kind you find in most grocery stores is not a good source

If too gooey, add more protein powder.  Pat flat and cut into pumpkin shapes, adding pecans as decoration.

Okay, it’s not like this is as good as a cookie, but it’s healthy — gives you the protein the body so needs and tastes better than any other protein bar out there on the market.  HAVE FUN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

I have two boys, so the creepier the Halloween treat, the better.  Since we live in the country, trick-or-treating isn’t an option, though they still manage to load up on sweets.  We grow our own pumpkins and have a blast carving them—here’s two from last year, Harry Potter & the Puking Pumkin  🙂

Last year these cookies were a big hit at the Junior High.  They gobbled up these delicious witch fingers and goblin fingers (no green coloring for goblins, added a few creepy cuts and scars).

CREEPY WITCH FINGERS

Yield: 5 dozen

1 cup –  Butter, softened
1 cup – Powdered sugar
1 – Egg
1 tsp – Almond extract
1 tsp – Vanilla
2 2/3 – cups Flour
1 tsp – Baking powder
1 tsp – Salt
3/4 cup – Almonds, whole blanched **I used roasted almonds

Few drops – Green food coloring

1 Tube red decorator gel  **I used a tube of decorator’s milk chocolate instead of gel—the tube is warmed in the microwave to melt the chocolate—when the chocolate cools it really holds on those fingernails—being a chocoholic, I also painted the fingers with chocolate    *A friend of mine used sliced almonds for fingernails, those also turned out nice. 

In bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, vanilla and food coloring. Beat in flour, baking soda, and salt. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Working with one quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remainder refrigerated, roll a heaping teaspoonful of dough into finger shape for each cookie. Press almond firmly into narrow end for nail. Press center together to create the knuckle shape–you puff it out rather than squeeze it in. Using paring knife, make slashes in several places to form knuckle.Place on lightly greased baking sheets; bake in 325F (160C) oven for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 3 minutes. Lift up almond, squeeze red gel (or chocolate) onto nail bed and press almond back in place. Remove from baking sheets and let cool on racks. Repeat with remaining dough. 

Baker’s tip:The cookies will puff up while baking—shape them THIN.

Wishing everyone a Safe & Fun Halloween! 

I have to restrain myself from laughing here because I NEVER have any excess candy! But if you do, here are some things you can do with  it.

Peanut Butter Cups — Melt and pour over cake or ice cream as a sauce or press into the center and make thumbprint cookies.

Candy Corn — Fold candy corn into pancakes or roll them into popcorn balls and puffed rice treats. Or when icing a cake, use them as a bottom border in place of piped icing. They also work well on top of iced cupcakes.

Snickers, Baby Ruth, M&M’s — Use a food processor to quickly chop bars into bits, then fold them into cookie dough in place of chocolate chips. Or use them to top brownies and other baked bars. Or some cooks use this candy to decorate cookie pizzas, or fold them into softened ice cream to make your own blizzards.

Peppermint Patties — Put them in brownie batter by layering them on the bottom half of the batter, then spread the other half of the batter on top and bake. Yummy!

Lollipops and other hard candy — Make stained glass cookies by cutting out the middle of sugar cookies and putting crushed hard candy in the hole, then bake.

Gingerbread Houses — You can use all kinds of candy to decorate gingerbread houses next month. Necco wafers make good roof tiles. M&M’s or Skittles make excellent door knobs. Licorice string can border windows. Gumdrops make pretty flowers. Hard candy makes windows. Snickers, Baby Ruth and bars like that can be broken up to use in lots of ways. Your imagination can run wild.