Thanksgiving

I am thankful for so many, many things. I'm thankful for Jesus first and foremost, for my wonderful, loving husband and for my sweet, little dogs. I'm thankful for my family and my friends and job and so much more. I'm also very thankful for electricity. As the power went out yesterday an hour before I was supposed to serve dinner, and Mike peeled potatoes by candlelight, I said, "Lord, thank you so much for the gift of electricity. I am happy that I have the serenity to accept that there is nothing I can do about this power outage. Now that I have this acceptance, can I please have power back?" Everything turned out perfectly fine, but I do not wish that kind of Thanksgiving adventure on anyone, haha.


It goes without saying that Thanksgiving is a great day to slip a few new recipes in with the tried-and-true family favorites. Last night, we enjoyed mashed potatoes, squash casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, and canned (it must be canned, per my husband's tradition) cranberry sauce, just like we do every year. We also had Heather's Delicious Pumpkin Bread instead of pumpkin pie and the homemade Dutch Applesauce I featured on here before. For the turkey, however, Mike asked for a twist on that this year, and I tried a new citrus-y apple cider recipe.

Yorkshire Pudding With Chicken
Or turkey in my case.

PUDDING:

1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. milk
3 eggs
1/4 c. parsley

CHICKEN:

1/4 c. oil
1/3 c. flour
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 tsp. sage
1 broiler-fryer (about 3 1/2 lbs.) or boneless breasts

Pudding:
Stir flour, baking powder, salt and beat in milk, eggs and parsley. (This can be done before chicken is cooked or while it's cooking.)

Chicken:
Pour oil in 2 1/2 quart round casserole or 13"x9"x2" dish. Combine flour, salt, pepper, sage on waxed paper.

Coat chicken with flour mixture. Rub chicken skin side down in oil; turn

Bake in hot, 400 degree, oven 40 minutes to 1 hour.

Pour pudding over chicken. Don't remove excess fat from baking dish. Place on cookie sheet to catch over flow. Return to oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until brown.

Hot Spiced Cider
2-1/2 cup apple cider or unsweetened apple juice
2/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick (3 inches)
12 whole cloves

In a 1-1/2-qt. slow cooker, combine the first five ingredients. Place cinnamon stick and cloves on a double thickness of cheesecloth; bring up corners of cloth and tie with string to form a bag. Place bag in slow cooker.

Cover and cook on low for 1 hour. Discard spice bag; continue to cook 1-2 hours or until heated through. Yield: 3 servings.

We ate till it hurt. Everything was amazing. It was a small, relaxed get together with my mother-in-law, Valerie, and our friends Jon and Nova, and I couldn't have asked for a nicer time. Nova also brought some very lovely deviled eggs, a chocolate pie, and some banana bread. So much food! But that's the way it's supposed to be, isn't it?







I hope all of you had a wonderful, happy, and safe Thanksgiving with your family and friends.