HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 

Happy Thanksgiving

to all my blogging friends,

my family and those I love.

MyHero is going hunting this weekend

with my son.

I bought him a special outfit to wear

in the woods

so he would blend in.

Perfect? Whaddaya think?

Be back soon with some

Christmas Cheer!

A LITTLE THANKSGIVING POEM I WROTE YEARS AGO-WISHING YOU ALL A BLESSED THANKSGIVING

I have so much to give

Thanks for...SO much.

Thanks to my family,

Thanks to friends coming my way,

Thank you to everyone that

touches my day.

Thanks for my husband,

Thanks for my home,

Thanks for a resting place

wherever I roam.

Thanks for new babies,

Thanks for sweet life,

Thanks for allowing me

peace amidst strife.

Thanks for my children,

Thanks for grandchildren, too.

Thanks for the blessings

that fall on this crew.

Thanks for Thanksgiving,

As we gather this clan,

Bless every child in it

and woman and man.

Which brings us to the banquet,

The banquet of life,

Where some poor old turkey

Gave us his life.

We'll surround him with taters,

We'll smother him with peas,

We'll say, "Pass the gravy"

and Thank You and Please.

But let us remember,

As the table boards bend,

That all of this bounty

Belongs to God in the end.

Amen!

 © D. Diana Kosmoski 2011 

Told you it was an old poem

but some things never change.

Thank you to everyone that has stuck

here over the years and been part of

my blogging world.

Love to all of you-

Diana

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Well,

the countdown is on,

isn't it?

I am sitting by the fireplace

with my morning

cup of 

"Thank You God Coffee".

In our rental (yep-still haven't found our 'new' home yet)

 I am looking

towards our dining area

and loving my 

opaline pumpkin.

I am headed to work in a bit

and starting to plan on how to deal

with the upcoming

Thanksgiving Day.

I think this will work.....

Here's hoping YOU have a

STRESS FREE

Thanksgiving!

We are celebrating 

THANKSGIVING

tonight----don't ask.....

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!! A PECAN PIE FOR THANKSGIVING---YUMMMMMMMM

Do you know that hardly

ANYONE

in my family

likes nuts?

Can you IMAGINE that?

I can't!

I have always loved nuts!

Peanuts,

Almonds,

Walnuts,

Cashews,

Brazil Nuts,

Pistachios,

You name it- I love it.

But my FAVORITE of all time

is probably

PECANS!

Gotta love those pecans!

At Thanksgiving I always

make at least one

PECAN PIE.

Now I have always used a

traditional recipe for

Pecan Pie

but when I spotted this recipe

I thought it would be fun

to try it for

Thanksgiving.

This came from

Southern Living.

If you can't read it 

I have typed it out here for you.

Utterly Deadly Southern Pecan Pie

1- 10" pie crust (I use Pillsbury Dairy Case)

1 TBS powdered sugar

4 large eggs

1-1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup melted butter @ room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

2 TBS all purpose flour

2 TBS milk

1-1/2 tsp vanilla (I use a bit more)

1-1/2 cups pecan halves

Preheat oven to 325º

Fit pie crust into 10" cast iron skillet

Sprinkle pie crust with powdered sugar

Whisk eggs in large bowl until foamy

Whisk in brown sugar and next 6 ingredients

Pour mixture into pie crust and top with1-1/2 cups pecan halves

Bake at 325º for 30 minutes

Reduce oven temp to 300º

Bake 30 more minutes

Turn oven off and let pie stand

in oven with door closed

for three (3) hours.

Serve with dollop of whipped cream

Just so you know-

there are many NUTS in this family

which lends itself to

much hilarity at family gatherings.

We don't all go out to eat at

restaurants very often because

the family gets LOUD...even though

most of us don't drink.

We laugh about everything

and some poor soul is usually the

BUTT of the jokes--

but the VICTIM changes

on a whim.

Anyone else have a family like that?

My Hero does his best to ignore

everyone and pretend he is just

a visitor at the table.

Yep- one in every family!

By the way,

I am home from vacation

and as soon as I figure out how to get

my pictures out of that darned
CLOUD

I will be posting some pictures.

I promise you will NOT see ANY

pictures of me in a bikini--

YEAH---Wouldn't want you to 

lose your appetite

before Thanksgiving.

Hmmmm...on the other hand-

maybe that's not such a bad

deterrent for overeating....

nah..........never mind..........

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Wishing You All

A Beautiful

And Blessed

Happy Thanksgiving

Now WHERE did that

turkey get to?
He knows we have a date!

FRENCH TOAST FROM LEFTOVER PUMPKIN PIE!!! Yep- It's true!

Well, I already KNOW you all

think I am crazy..

so I might as well add to my legend!

I wasn't going to post this weekend

but this is too good not to share

while you still have leftover

PUMPKIN PIE!

WHAT do you do with 

LEFTOVER PUMPKIN PIE?

Well, if you live with ME

you might just get a piece of

THIS!

Well. you will notice that I didn't

POLISH the silverware for you!

Shhh..close your eyes and only look at the toast, m'kay?

Do you have some of THIS around your house?

You know the crust gets kinda 'soggy'

and it loses a bit of its appeal, right?

Well, cheer up!

I have a FIX IT for you!

Here is what you will need:

Scrape a few tablespoons of pumpkin pie

off the crust and spread it on

one slice of 

WHITE BREAD.

(It does NOT taste nearly as good 

on whole grain bread-sorry)

Spread some softened CREAM CHEESE

on the another slice of white bread.

Whip 2 eggs with about 1/2 cup of 

half and half and 

a teaspoon (or more) of GOOD VANILLA!

Put the two slices of bread together and

DIP THEM into the EGG MIXTURE.

They should be saturated but not too soggy.

Place it in a preheated buttered frying pan

and cook over medium to medium-high heat.

Oh! Yeah! Baby!

Wait til ol' bj over at Sweet Nothings 

sees this-

She is gonna think she died and went to

BREAKFAST HEAVEN!

She is my

"recipe tester"!

Now, I also made another one but forgot to 

take pictures.

Same thing EXCEPT-

Spread one side with Cream Cheese,

Add 2 Tablespoons leftover Cranberry Sauce,

Put a few thin slices of turkey breast 

on the other side.

Dip in egg and fry just like regular french toast.

Different and OH SO GOOD!

Easiest way to start a fight at the 

DESSERT TABLE!

You all have a great rest of the weekend.

I am recovering from a 

FRENCH TOAST COMA!

HAPPY BLACK FRIED-DAY!

SHORT AND SWEET

Kinda like me--

Oh! Wait- I mighta lied about that

I am 

TALL & NOT-SO-SWEET!

I am trying to figure out if I can get 

a drive in to go see some special people-

It's about a SEVEN HOUR drive 

FOR ME-

They can make it in SIX HOURS because

they don't know where all the REST STOPS

are along the way.

Don't you LOVE the expression on Bright Eyes face?

Have a great

BLACK FRIDAY

and I will see you the first of the week.

You know why?

NOT!

I am actually dragging out my

CHRISTMAS STUFF 

this weekend

if I stay home.

I won't be in the stores today

because.....................

Have a wonderful weekend, folks!

A THANKSGIVING POEM FOR MY BLOG READERS

Poetry has always come easy to me.

My girl cousins and I listened to a lot

of poetry growing up.

Both of our fathers read poetry to us

so it is second nature to me.

Are my poems perfect?

Nope- Not even close

 but they are heartfelt.

Here is the one I wrote last night.

Thanksgiving

Oh! The memories of Thanksgivings past,

When I was just a child,

When the days spread out forever,

And I could just run wild.

I remember early morning sun

Upon the kitchen floor,

And father hurrying across the room

Going out the old screen door.

He would go to do the milking 

Then come  in to eat his fill,

Of Thanksgiving dinner lovingly prepared

In that house up on the hill.

My little grandmother always came,

Bringing the mincemeat pie,

I never ate a single bite of it

Cuz I didn’t want to die. (smiling)

My Uncle came along with her,

And another Uncle, too,

A cousin tagged in here and there,

When they had nothing else to do.

Oh! Then the years just marched along

And God took some family home,

The Thanksgiving table got smaller,

As other members began to roam.

I never dreamed when I was a child,

That the day would come to be,

That the old homestead would all be gone

And the only family left would be me.

So, gather your family close, my friends,

As you celebrate -I say-

Remember to give Thanksgiving,

For the love & riches you have today.

By: D. Diana Kosmoski ©2017

I hope your day is 

FULL OF BLESSINGS

and for those that do not have family

to spend the holiday with

I wish you 

peacefulness  and  joy

as you celebrate alone.

I'll celebrate with you in spirit......

GET STUFFED!!!!!!

I love it.

In some areas of the country they call it

STUFFING.

In other areas of the country they call it

DRESSING.

At my house we call it

one of

Nana's Make-You-Fat Foods.

Whatever you call it,

each family has their

own special secret recipe,
often guarded by a
 bulldog of  a mother-in-law 
wonderful cook.

Well, I don't have many secrets so

I am gonna share my own

recipe with you.

Why get fat alone when

you can share the 

fat with a few good friends, right?

With this recipe I 

do all the messy work the 

day before.  

The morning of Thanksgiving

I just have to get up,
mix the ingredients together. 

and stuff that baby...

or in our case...

that FAT BOY.
Not such a good picture---sorry.

He weighed in at almost 

THIRTY POUNDS...

Uh-Huh!

And here is what got stuffed 

up his -ahem- behind.

(and in the place where

his poor neck used to be)

So...the day before

I chop about 1-1/2 cups celery.

I cut up a huge onion.

I quarter my own and peel the

quarters- so much easier 

to get the skins off that way,

if you've never tried it-
you might want to give it a go.

Then I put the celery and the onion in a 
microwave safe bowl with 
1/4 cup BUTTER

and nuke microwave them for

about 6 minutes...more or less..

till they are softened.

While they are getting nuked

I brown one pound of sausage

in a pan. 

Have you ever used a potato

masher to smash up your meat?

It is the best thing ever...

but it has to be a wire one like

this to work.  

I do all my ground meat this way.

Then I chop up a can of

Water Chestnuts and a can

of Mushrooms.

When the meat is browned and

the celery/onion mix is done

I put them, along with the 

mushrooms and water chestnuts

in a tupperware container

in the fridge.

The next morning when I am

ready to stuff the 

BIG BOY 
(the turkey-not MyHero)

I beat two eggs a bit and

add 1 large container 

Swanson's Chicken Broth.

I add this to 2 to 3 

large bags of stuffing crumbs.

2-1/2 bags makes my own

dressing moist enough 

for our family.

(yeah- I really wanted to lie

and be all Martha Stewartish

and say I made my own bread cubes

but...)

Here's what I use.

Then I proceed to stuff

the neck cavity and the 

well-you-know-where

area of the turkey.

Can you see he barely fits

in my roaster?

Now because my family

loves dressing I always 

make a side pan of it, too.

And...HOW do you get that

TURKEY TASTE into

the side dish

Easy-peasy!

You know those parts nobody

wants?

I stick them on top of 

my dressing....cover with tinfoil

and bake away.

MyHero says...

DIANA! You can't post that last picture!
It's disgusting!  

I say..

WATCH ME!

(you will notice that I

didn't watermark THAT one)

So, tell me...

What do you stuff

YOUR 

Big Boy with?

My "girls" and I will be on our annual
Mother/Daughter Christmas walk today.
They are predicting snow, howling winds
and freezing temps.
Sounds like a good time to me!