The Thanksgiving Turkey ~ Part I of Thanksgiving Recipes

CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 ~ Photo by Julie on Flickr.com

I absolutely love Thanksgiving and all of the Thanksgiving dinner recipes!  For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving has been a family gathering time.  

My mother and I always prepare our traditional Thanksgiving recipes in anticipation of the family members flying, driving or riding in for the Thanksgiving holiday.  We never know exactly what to expect or what will happen when everyone is together, but we know what we will eat.


Preparing for Thanksgiving

The week before Thanksgiving, I go to the grocery store with my list.  The holidays are probably the only time of the year that I really enjoy grocery shopping.  Not because of the food I am buying, but because I know that food will be prepared for the holiday celebration and the people who make it all worthwhile.

My Grandmother & Brother ~ Holidays Past

Sometimes things get hectic and I get a little stressed, but I do try very hard to make the holidays easier by adhering to my own advice offered  in my article, Ten Ways to Make the Holiday Easier.

I want to enjoy the time I get to spend with my whole family and I want to have wonderful memories to reflect on throughout the years.  I also want them to enjoy the holidays in our home and to have fond, pleasant memories of time well spent.


The Main Course

When I was growing up, my grandmother and mother prepared the Thanksgiving meal.   Now, my mother and I cook the dinner.  Occasionally, my sister or one of my sisters-in-law will arrive in town early enough to help.  That is always guaranteed to be amusing and entertaining!

It is my job to prepare and cook the turkey.  I try to beat everyone else out of bed so I can shower and dress for the day.  By the time I am in the kitchen to start washing the turkey, Mom and Dad are usually here to chat with me while I get started.  Once the turkey is in the oven, Mom joins me and we work together for hours of cooking, laughing, cutting up and sometimes just talking.  It is a fabulous day.  I have always maintained that it is my favorite day of the year.  Sure, we get tired, but I wouldn't change a thing.

I share my recipe and tips for How to Bake a Turkey here:  Cooking for the Holidays


What's Next

Now that we have the turkey out of the way, be sure to join us here again next week.  We will be sharing the side dishes and desserts for the Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes Menu on Review This!


Be sure to check out additional Thanksgiving tips on Traveling Food - Holidays and Potlucks

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Cooking for the 4th of July

Family and friends gather in our home every year to watch the 4th of July fireworks and celebrate Independence Day.  Long before dark and fireworks, the table is always laden with a variety of food in order to accommodate the various preferences, health issues and diets.

Appetizers  to Start

 

Fruit is the one food choice we all have in common and is part of every holiday menu.  However, for our 4th of July celebration, we also get to include Watermelon and Cantaloupe.  We have several family members who enjoy creating shaped bowls from the watermelon rind and filling it with a variety of fresh fruit balls and berries.  Ct_mom shows us all how to do that in her article Fun Carved Watermelon Ideas.  She even included how to make a watermelon keg in her article, which is something I have never done before and would love to try myself this year.

Main Course for Our 4th of July Meal

 

For many years now, I have made my own special barbeque recipe for sandwiches simply because it is my husband's favorite sandwich meal.  

For our vegan daughter, we will prepare Grilled Black Bean Burgers.   I was rather excited to discover that Black Bean Burger recipe since I am always searching for a meat alternative to serve for our daughter.

Drinks & 4th of July Dessert 

My mother always brings the 4th of July Flag Cake.  She started making that cake for the 4th of July when I as a little girl.  Here we are decades later and it is still a family favorite.  

I also make homemade, fresh squeezed lemonade for our gathering.  My lemonade recipe is really very easy to prepare and is the most requested summertime drink in our home, but it is always fun to add a little fun to the mix with Mocktails by hlkljgk.

Write & Share Your 4th of July Recipes

The Fourth of July celebration is truly a blast in our home!   I am always looking for new ideas and recipes to serve and share.  

If you have a recipe for the 4th of July celebration that you would like to share, simply leave your link in the guestbook below.   



If you are planning a party for the 4th of July, you will definitely want to visit "Patriotic Party Time" for a wealth of suggestions and tips.

 Patriotic Party Time by Our Own Party Planning Contributor, DecoratingforEvents

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Holiday Cookbooks: Perfect for Mother's Day

Mother's Day is just around the corner, so now is the perfect time to pull out your favorite cookbook and plan a special treat for mom.  

If you or your mom love cooking for the holidays, or anytime, a holiday cookbook is also the perfect gift for Mother's Day.  I know I personally have a collection of specialty and holiday cookbooks that I absolutely love and frequently grab for reference.  I enjoy "pouring over a cookbook", as my own mother would say, reading recipes, making a grocery list and planning to try a new recipe.


The Pioneer Woman Cooks A Year of Holidays

Our very own pioneer woman, RenaissanceWoman2010, reviewed a fabulous cookbook for all of us recently in her article entitled, I'm Spending the Holidays with Ree.  I was so impressed by her review, that I simply had to purchase my own copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks A Year of Holidays.

I have my own grandmother's Pecan Pie recipe that I use, but the recipe and featured photo were all I needed to see to know I had to have the cookbook!

The Pioneer Woman's Holiday cookbook is chock full of some great recipes and while I don't know Ree personally, I do know she will now be a part of my holidays too.

May You All Have a 

Happy Mother's Day!

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Special Easter Treats Equal Special Easter Memories

I have always enjoyed creating fun food for holidays, birthdays and special occasions, but Easter treats are especially delightful.  There is something inherently fun about bunnies, lambs, chicks, and decorated eggs.  

They all represent the celebration of new life and spring, which make them most appropriate for our Easter celebrations.  


Making Special Memories While Making Special Easter Treats

In our home, everyone gets involved in making special Easter treats.  One of my all time favorite Easter memories was actually when my son was in college.  He called to ask if he could come home for the weekend before Easter, bring a friend and make Easter cupcakes for a charity bake sale.   

There are many reasons why that request thrilled my soul, all of which I am sure any mother of college age children could understand.   I had a wonderful time drinking coffee, taking pictures and watching the guys "create" their special Easter treats.   It is truly amazing what all you can learn about your children if you simply listen to their conversation while they decorate cupcakes.  

The faces they put on the Easter bunny and lamb cupcakes were simply downright hilarious.  Needless to say, their cupcakes sold out at the bake sale and I never even got to taste one myself, but I know for a fact, they were delightful.

Cupcakes in photos were created by using
  the Wilton Mini Cakes Bunny Rabbit Pan Mold 
 and the Wilton Lamb Mini Treats Pan

More Special Easter Treats Suggestions 

Stepping out of my own kitchen and into the homes of other  authors, I find there are several awesome Easter treat suggestions that would truly be a lot of fun for the whole family.  

Andreaberrios  invites us to make this gorgeous and creative Easter Cake Pops.  

She offers suggestions and recipes for chicks, bunnies and Easter egg cake pops.  I am certain any of these would be extra special Easter treats.





Seeking More Special Treats 


If you are like me and you are constantly on the lookout for special treats.

Now tell us, do you have a special Easter treat story full of special Easter memories to share?

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Cooking for Easter

For many families, Easter is a day for tradition and celebration, but traditions have to start somewhere.  

Most of the Easter traditions in our family were started by my mother, and her chicks have simply followed her example throughout the ensuing years.  

However, any of us can start a new Easter tradition without having to terminate the family traditions we hold so close to our hearts.  I have found several things in the following articles, that I would like to add to our Easter family traditions.

Some changes are just for fun, while others are for dietary needs.


The Easter Menu

The traditional Easter menu in my childhood home was similar to Treasures-by-Brenda's Traditional Easter Dinner Menu.   The one main deviation that Brenda makes from our family menu is a luscious carrot cake.   As I read her article, I wondered why I have never had a carrot cake for Easter.   It just makes since.  Easter bunnies need Easter carrot cake!  

Therefore, a new tradition must be started in our home this year.  We need carrot cake on our menu.


Easter Recipes for Vegetarians & Vegans

As the "chef" for holidays, I vowed to try to find ways to make cooking for the holidays easier.  

One of my personal favorite tips is to do as much in the days before the holiday as possible.  Then, you can focus on enjoying the actual day.

Good Housekeeping has published some totally awesome "Easter Brunch Ideas" article.   The site is packed with recipes for just about everyone.  They even has recipes for Vegetarians and recipes for Vegans!   Discovering this article thrilled me beyond description.  You see, my daughter is a vegan and I have been quite challenged to find recipes that are actually vegan friendly.   

Therefore, a new tradition and addition to our Easter dinner will be this Vegan Spinach and Mushroom Quiche Recipe.  Since my husband is the Quiche chef of the family, I will get help in the kitchen too!


 


Easter Desserts

I love all of the fabulous specialty desserts for Easter.  Frankly, the pleasure derived from making and serving the desserts far outweighs eating them for me.  

As you can well imagine, I actually had a difficult time selecting the dessert article to feature.  

In the end, I selected two articles that really stood out because they both offer a variety of fun ideas and recipes.  

Good Housekeeping presents several really beautiful Easter cake Ideas and Country Living focuses solely on fabulous Easter cupcakes.   


It is truly a difficult decision.  I just might have to have multiple Easter desserts this year.  

Now that really would be a new Easter tradition! 



Please Share Your Easter Menu Ideas and Articles

We would love to hear your menu ideas, suggestions and tips for making the Easter holiday easier, and Easter Recipes.  Please share your Easter recipes and tips links in the guestbook below.  

I look forward to hearing from all of you!    

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I'm the Cooking for the Holidays Contributor on Review This!

I am pretty excited about sharing holiday recipes! 

As the Cooking for the Holidays Contributor on Review This, I will not only be seeking and sharing awesome holiday recipes, but I  also plan to share the ways we prepare to serve multiple meals during the holidays, our time saving tips, as well as the sanity saving tips, that we all need when cooking for the holidays.

Websites are brimming with fabulous holiday recipes and special treats.  Many of which, have been handed down for generations.  Other recipes are straight from the pages of our favorite cookbook and they have been tried and proven for years.  

I love new recipes and new cookbooks!  We all want to be ready for the next holiday by having the right cookbooks on hand when needed.  So, I will also be searching for great cookbooks to recommend, as well as reviews to feature.

I would also love it if you would share your holiday preparation articles, time saving ideas, or survival tips for the holidays.  If you have published an article on either of those topics, awesome!  Simply share that link in our guestbook below.



I am waiting to hear from you!

Cookbooks & Recipes Reviewed Here on Review This 

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For More About Sylvestermouse, Visit:  About Me

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