You know you live in the south when you go to Publix and in amongst all of the Thanksgiving desserts, they have sweet potato pie. We do love our sweet potato pie here. It's very much like pumpkin although I think it's better. I mean- which would you rather eat- a nice baked sweet potato or a glob of baked pumpkin?
I know, I know. It's all about the spices. But I think that sweet potatoes carry the spices in a more profound and delicious manner than pumpkins. I could be wrong.
I went to Publix today to get the last few things I need for Thanksgiving. The whipping cream, more butter, eggs, self-rising flour and buttermilk and shortening for angel biscuits. Things like that. I still haven't made my angel biscuit dough or the cornbread for the stuffing but I'll get around to it. I made my regular cranberry sauce this afternoon though.
As I have so often said, I think I like making cranberry sauce just for the pure pleasure of the way it looks. That color! Rubies. Cranberries are rubies that you can eat. I know that many people love the cranberry sauce that slides out of the can and I have no problem with that. I think my mother served that at some Thanksgiving dinners but at other times she made the cranberries from scratch. If Thanksgiving is about anything, it's about tradition. Oh sure, there's that whole "thankfulness" thing but come on- it's really about the dressing and gravy and green bean casserole your mama made. I know some people like to get jiggy with the dressing but to me, it is not real dressing (or stuffing in our case) unless you use Pepperidge Farm Herb-Seasoned Classic Stuffing Mix. And please don't offer me any stuffing with fruits in it. That just ain't right.
Now over the years, my stuffing has evolved into more of a cornbread stuffing. I still use the Pepperidge Farm but I make a skillet of cornbread with sage and rosemary and let it dry out and use that too. The other things in my stuffing are celery, onions, a broth of some sort (if I am on top of things enough I get the giblets out of the turkey the day before and boil those with more onions and celery and use that broth for both stuffing and gravy) and because it's a cornbread-ish stuffing, a sliced hardboiled egg or two must also go in it.
Do not ask me why. This is just how it is done.
Now over the years, my stuffing has evolved into more of a cornbread stuffing. I still use the Pepperidge Farm but I make a skillet of cornbread with sage and rosemary and let it dry out and use that too. The other things in my stuffing are celery, onions, a broth of some sort (if I am on top of things enough I get the giblets out of the turkey the day before and boil those with more onions and celery and use that broth for both stuffing and gravy) and because it's a cornbread-ish stuffing, a sliced hardboiled egg or two must also go in it.
Do not ask me why. This is just how it is done.
Tradition. Oh! Wait! I always throw a few pecans in there too. Let's face it- you could live on this stuffing perfectly well.
I'm a little tired. I took a short walk this morning and it was nice to be out and about. Harvey gave me one of his big waves and I have to say that his yard is looking spiffy with those potted sagos lined up with a post-hole digger all ready to start making the holes to get them into the ground. There is actually a whole lot going on there these days but you know Harvey- things can change on a dime. What an interesting man he is.
I have sort of fallen in love with this woman on TikTok who calls herself "a recovering Californian." I take it that she fell in love with a Tennessee boy and as a woman who is in love with a Tennessee boy, I can understand. Anyway, you can see her one minute take on Thanksgiving HERE if you'd like. I wish I could embed it but for whatever reason, the embedding feature is not working for me so damn. You have to go to all that trouble to click on the link.
I would love to hear about any of yours and/or your families' Thanksgiving traditions whether of food or anything else so bring 'em on. I'm completely ready to be impressed and mystified, delighted and curious.
I would love to hear about any of yours and/or your families' Thanksgiving traditions whether of food or anything else so bring 'em on. I'm completely ready to be impressed and mystified, delighted and curious.
Love...Ms. Moon
Grew up in N. Illinois and my Mom never put hard boiled eggs in her stuffing! We never had cornbread in there either! Green bean casserole had not been invented yet!
ReplyDeleteMy Mom use to make the best divinity fudge at Christmas time and she had no KitchenAid mixer ... she beat it all by hand!!
She was a fantastic cook!!
My mother made homemade noodles. I can remember a huge sheet of dough drying on the kitchen table. When she died, I volunteered for the job. That dough has a mind of its own. So I bought a pasta roller. And then a Tinker toy looking rack to dry them on. I never had more respect for my mother than when I tried to roll that dough by hand.
ReplyDeletegrowing up.....we rarely had a turkey.....but usually a huge stuffed chicken with side of mashed potatoes and roasted veggies, gravy and of course, cranberries (freshly made). And...homemade pumpkin pie WITH whipped cream.....always a treat. I must say..this year....I have flummoxed even myself in that I bought a can of whole cranberry sauce (in a can? which I haven't had in 20 years). for myself.....since hub doesn't eat sugar ...and we will be as thankful as if we had eaten anything else! Given that a zillion people in the world currently don't even have water to drink, nor food to eat.......I will not complain about my life, nor do I have reason to do so.
ReplyDeleteSusan M.
and I must add....the occaisional green been casserole with cream of mushroom soup and fried onions on top.........is still to die for....though I haven't made it in many years
DeleteSusan M
My grandma came and stayed through the weekend. All the rest of the family rolled in on the day. With all the leaves, the table could seat twenty or more, especially if a whole line was children who accessed the back of the table by crawling under, and sitting backs to the wall.
ReplyDeleteWe ate turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, brussels sprouts, definitely a root vegetable, cranberries. Punkin pie, whipped cream, apple pie, pecan pie.
Men crashed in the living room, women retired to the kitchen to clean up.
Now that my mom is no longer able to orginize the Thanksgiving meal I have been the one. My siblings and niece and nephews and I do all the food with everyone making a dish or two. I have always done pies for the last 40 something years. Now I also do the dressing and usually an snack item. A few years back I was talking with my co worker Lisa and I mentioned I was going to buy the canned cranberry sauce. She showed up at work with the items to make homemade cranberry sauce and insisted that we go in the work kitchen and she would show me how easy it was to make. So she had me make it and take it for our dinner. That is how Lisa is and I love for for it.
ReplyDeleteThanksgiving is one festival I wish the rest of the world adopted. It can be non-religious (although I understand it started with the pilgrim fathers but I could be wrong) and is non-commercial. The food aspect leaves me reeling! Here, pumpkin is a vegetable that you eat with a roast dinner or make into soup. I remember my English Christmas turkey came with a variety of stuffings but none like yours. One day I would like the opportunity to experience an American Thanksgiving meal. I may not recover but it sounds as if it would be worth it!
ReplyDeleteWe don't do Thanksgiving Downunder, but I'm happy to read about yours and anyone else's from your country.
ReplyDeleteI had no tradition growing up, because it's not a thing in the UK. But it's MT favorite holiday because NO PRESENTS! Just nice food, good company. This year my son is doing more because it was getting a bit too much for me, much as I like doing it. It doesn't matter to me as long as he's there!
ReplyDeleteThat's supposed to say my. But predictive text inserts weird capitalized things when I'm not looking.
DeleteNew England here. Pumpkin pie all the way. For dessert on the day and more important, breakfast Friday morning. Pie for breakfast is our great contribution to American cuisine. Savory roasted sweet potatoes with butter, salt and a little garlic are delicious, but not for Thanksgiving and definitely not as dessert.
ReplyDeleteFellow New Englander here, in exile on the Texas Gulf Coast. Making pumpkin pie tomorrow as I must have it for breakfast Friday. Margaret
DeleteI married my husband because his Lebanese grandfather's classic turkey stuffing is rice, lamb, pine nuts and cinnamon. His grandfather is no more, but we - and everyone in Mike's family - carry on the tradition. That being said, I do love bread stuffing too. My grandmother would grind the onions in the old meat grinder, and grind a piece of bread through at the end to clean the blades. And cranberry-orange-walnut conserve!
ReplyDeleteChris from Boise
My grandson texted me from England where he is studying this semester.and asked for my dressing recipe nothing could have made me happier. He plans to give some of his new English friends a traditional American Thanksgivingl .. Of course I don't exactly have a recipe so I wrote down as best I could what I do but you know I certainly could not give him amounts of anything. because that is by feel and observation. He is a smart boy I am sure that he will figure it out. Ours is going to be a sad holiday this year with many of us missing so his request cheered me up.
ReplyDeleteThe only way to eat cranberries is homemade. I like a little orange zest and orange juice in mine.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite traditions is next-day-turkey sandwiches. Tasty bread goes on the bottom. Then load up all the leftovers: a smear of mashed potatoes, a slice or two of turkey (dark meat is superior in this application),a pile of stuffing, a dollop of cranberry sauce, and then pour gravy over the whole thing. It's a knife and fork/open faced situation and it's delicious.
Susan Z. from Ohio
Once, many years ago, when I was recovering from surgery, a friend brought me a sweet potato pie. It was my first experience and I've been team sweet potato pie ever since.
ReplyDeleteThey actually do sell sweet potato pie at my grocery store here in Naperville, Illinois, but we do like our pumpkin pie, Mary.
ReplyDeleteI make a yummy gluten-free, dairy-free stuffing which is surprisingly great! I do it for my daughter but everyone always enjoys it.
I bought the wrong damn bread Sunday which I didn't realize until this morning when I was going to set it out to get stale for the dressing so I have to go soon and buy more. I'm making the dressing, family recipe which uses cornbread too which I have to make today and the cranberry sauce but that's tomorrow when I do all the prep work. people are coming to my house instead of my daughter's this year.
ReplyDeleteI have found that we are apparently quite low-key about Thanksgiving in my family. It never seemed that way growing up but compared to some others our traditions are modest: turkey, stuffing, cranberry, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, a green veg of some kind, a relish dish with black olives and celery, and pie. Dave, on the other hand, goes all-out and makes about twice as much food as we ever had!
ReplyDeleteOh this is fun. Our traditions are all about the food and I think they are fairly "boring". Roasted turkey, unstuffed, for me I always cook using a baking bag; boxed stuffing made with all the recommended butter and chicken broth; real masked potatoes whipped with tons of butter and some milk; sweet potato casserole with all the butter, brown sugar, and pecans (thus is new since starting to spend the holiday in FL) scalloped corn; canned cranberries; fruit salad (peaches, mandarin oranges, pineapple, and real whipped cream); and pumpkin pie with real whipped cream.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, and homemade gravy!
DeleteThose cranberries do look wonderful! Of course here in England we don't have any Thanksgiving traditions but I do have a fab cranberry and sour cream tart which it's reminded me to make. We eat cranberry sauce for Christmas and so we do get cranberries available in store around December. And last year I froze some cranberries and they're still sitting in the freezer. So it is about time to make the pie, I think!
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