Woodford Humane Black Friday
Black Friday. 
Now, as y'all know, both of my furbabies have dark coats. I spend a good portion of my days sweeping up black fur. And it just breaks my heart when I hear that darker dogs and cats are far less likely to be adopted from animal shelters. Dark-coated dogs are more likely to be seen as menacing or ill. A lot of times, they simply aren't adopted because they don't photograph well. Not to go all Sarah McLachlan ASPCA commercial on you, but this is a heartbreaking phenomenon. |
| From rescue to pearls... |
The Holiday Breakfast Buffet
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| Easter Breakfast |
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| Christmas Breakfast |
This morning, I put together the traditional buffet. We talked UK basketball. And we eased into the holiday. It was a great start to the day.
Did Somebody Say Jello?
Like Megan, I am blessed to have grown up with a grandmother who's an amazing cook. As my granny has gotten older, however, she hasn't been able to cook like she once did. She still quilts like a boss, but she's no longer able to cook.
This year, she asked for my help in making her cranberry salad. This concoction has three packs of Jello, and is the most Thanksgiving-y thing around. There aren't many of us who actually eat it, but it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without this dish on the table.
Nan's Cranberry Jello Salad
3 packs strawberry Jello (cherry works, too.)
1 cup sugar
3.5 cups hot water
1 Red Delicious apple, peeled and diced
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 cup pecans
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 can crushed pineapple (use the juice, too!)
Mix together Jello and sugar in large bowl. Pour in water and allow to thicken slightly. Stir in other ingredients and pour in flat-bottomed dish. Let chill overnight.
Boom. Thanksgiving in a dish.
What Do You Wear on Thanksgiving?
Remember that episode of Friends where Joey wore Rachel's maternity pants as "Thanksgiving pants"?
That's always the problem with Thanksgiving for me. It's a holiday, so I want to look nice. But, it's a holiday built around carbohydrates and football. I don't want to wear a dress if everyone else is super-casual. And, you know, a more forgiving pair of pants sure wouldn't hurt.
I don't want to dress like I'm headed to yoga...
Dressy Thanksgiving by heathercwatson
I find that, at least for my holiday purposes, dressing down is the key. I wind up playing outside with the dogs a lot on Thanksgiving. I try to layer up and stay comfortable. And hopefully not venture too far into "Outdoorsy Ralph Lauren-ish costume" territory.
Casual Thanksgiving by heathercwatson
Ok, sometimes I may fail on that endeavor, but I sure am nuts about those Winchester Shell earrings. (In case you're wondering, Santa...)
What do y'all wear to Thanksgiving Dinner?
Love in a Pan
My grandmother was the best cook in the entire world. The woman would put butter on toast and I would basically die over how she got the exact perfect ratio of butter to bread. It was so beautifully melted without being mushy. No one will ever top that woman in the kitchen EVER.
So many of her recipes weren't written down anywhere. I tried a few times to watch her make mashed potatoes, because hers tasted like creamy goodness and heaven and love all stirred together in a crock pot, but she never seemed to make them the same way twice and I finally gave up.
"made an out of this world mess"
Her handwritten notes are the best.
When she died last year, I inherited her recipe collection. It's an enormous mess of newspaper clippings, recipes cut from boxes, recipe cards, and hastily written notes on the back of whatever she had handy, such as receipts, envelopes, and shopping lists. I've been going through this pile for the last two days, trying to find some of her recipes to make for Thanksgiving this year.
Her best recipes- the magic she performed on green beans, the unbelievable macaroni and cheese, and of course, those mashed potatoes- aren't anywhere in my stash, but I finally picked one that I know she'd love. She was a firm believer in the power of cream cheese. I thought you guys would like this too. Enjoy.
There's no title. So let's just call it Love in a Pan.
What you need:
2 pkgs crescent roll dough
2 bars of cream cheese, softened (you can use light, but Granny is frowning on you for it)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick butter, melted (I refuse to allow you to use anything but real butter here)
Cinnamon-sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Spread one package of crescent roll dough across the bottom of a 13x9 dish. Press all the seams in the dough together, and press it into the ban and a little up the sides.
Mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.
Spread cream cheese mixture on top of crescent roll dough.
Place the other package of crescent roll dough on top. (This can be tricky. I usually spread it onto a cutting board, press all the seams together and roll it out a bit before laying it on top of the cream cheese.)
Pour butter on top. (Oh sweet Jesus YES.)
Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Do enough til you think it's too much and then do a little more. Trust me on this.
Bake for 30 minutes. Let them cool before you cut and eat them--it'll be hard, because that cinnamon smell is going to destroy your willpower, but they're easier to handle when they're not quite so soft.
When Do You Put Up The Tree?
