Thanksgiving! The Food...

Part I

The Food

When we walked in the door to my Sister and her husband's house,

we were handed nametags. 

Only they didn't have our names on them.

My Shug's tag.

Trent's tag

My tag

Mom's tag, she is known for winning in our family.

Winner, Winner Turkey Dinner!

Emily's said Don't Put me at the Kid Table and Dad's said I need a nap!

My sister's said Mom's favorite little turkey! (gag)

and she did not make that pie!

 I can't remember what they all said and I didn't get pictures of them, but it was such a cute idea.

And now the food.

Cheese ball (in the shape of a turkey-but I didn't get there in time to get a picture of it before it was half eaten!) deviled eggs, and this yummy cream cheese with sauce.

I saw her recipes on the counter so I snapped some pics of them. 

 

And then there were these yummy things which I do not have a recipe for, but she said they are just puff pastry, with cranberries and brie inside.  Bake them until they are golden.

Maybe if she reads this she'll find the recipe for us.

How can we eat after those appetizers!

Turkey

Green Bean Casserole

Crack Potatoes

Crack Potatoes

 

Ham

Mashed Potatoes

Noodles

(and mac and cheese)

Stuffing

One of my favorite salads

 

Cranberry something?  And I did not get to try this and now I wish I would have.

Since I'm trying to lose weight - yep, still on it - I did not go back for seconds.

Time to eat...

 There were two more tables set up, but I didn't get pictures of all of them. 

Check out the fun tablecloth!

First, time for The Blessing.....

(at least we didn't have to hold hands this year!)

And no worries about that food going to waste.  We all took leftovers home!  She had the cutest to go containers from World Market.  

More to follow.....

Cindy

Apple Sauce Cake

Last week my Shug asked me to make him an Apple Sauce Cake. 

This is a cake his Mom used to make for him,

and this recipe is actually in her own writing.

I had asked her for it because he loved it so much, but only made it once, but it didn't turn out so well the first time I made it.  I always let her make it! 

If you have any family heirloom recipes, please WRITE them down and pass them along to family members.  I love having hand written recipes from loved ones.

This is a very moist, dense cake.  If I remember correctly the family originally found it on the side of a cocoa box.

Here is the recipe for those of you that want to give it a try.

Apple Sauce Cake

1/2 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

2 cups applesauce (unsweetened)

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

3 tbs. cocoa (she made a note that she adds a little more cocoa)

1/2 cups raisins (Cook and cool)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

nutmeats (who calls nuts "nutmeats" now a days!)

Cream shortening, add sugar gradually, beating after each addition.  Add applesauce and continue beating. 

Sift flour, soda, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, salt and cocoa together three times.  Add to above mixture beating well. 

Add raisins which have been cooked and cooled.  Add nut meats, as many as desired. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 to 40 minutes.

I remember asking her how do you cook raisins.  You boil them in water, then let them sit until they are cooled.   They plump up and become moist.

Where it says to sift, I usually put it all in a bowl and take a whisk, and whisk it around until it's all mixed up and fluffy.  Saw that tip on Martha Stewart years ago.

There you have it. 

Apple Sauce Cake recipe handwritten by Virginia Rush

Cindy

PS.  In an effort to actually post on my blog, I'm going to start posting short posts, rather than long ones.  And I might post more than once a day so check back often.

Family Shopping Trip

Coming off of the last post, I didn't want to go right into the shopping trip without letting you know that Uncle Jerry's funeral was beautiful.  His wife was married before, as was he, and she had children by her first husband.  One of her daughters has seven children and they call him Grandpa.  It's the only Grandpa they knew.  Well, one of those children is a pastor and he gave the service.  And for the music, the grandchildren sang.  They were really good and I guess they used to sing for him when he and his wife would come for visits.  It was so moving.  Then there was an opportunity for family and friends to talk about memories. 

Uncle Jerry had written his own obituary and had planned the dinner afterwards.  I don't think he realized so many people would attend!  It was one of the most beautiful services ever. 

That was Tuesday, and the rest of the week was dismal for me.  I had a cyst removed on Monday and stitches were in order, I got my teeth cleaned Wednesday, and on Friday I had to get a shot in my foot for plantar fasciitis.

I was ready for some fun family time.

So, the shopping trip!

We've been going on this shopping trip for years. 

Our Mom's started it when Vickie (my cousin) and I were young.

Saturday morning started early for all of us "shopping trip girls"

because my sister sent all of us this picture at 5:30 am wanting to know who was up!  

She has to get up first because she and her daughter come my way, and then we head to our cousin's house, and we leave from there.

But she didn't WAKE me up because I had been awake since 3:30AM!  We were having BAD STORMS most of the night. It kept the dog up and my Shug awake too.  The last time we had thunder in November was in 2013 and our town was hit by a tornado.  Glad that wasn't the case this time, but with weather like this, you wonder.

And Vickie is always up early for work, and is a bit too chipper for this early in the morning!

She was sending these texts!

I think she was excited about the donuts Theresa always picks up for us.  

(I called the donut shop at 4:00 am and had them add 6 donuts to the order for my Shug! 

I didn't tell Theresa until right before she went to get them.)

And this was the picture Ashley sent!!!  LOL! 

She was showing us how dark it was in the country,

and complaining because she lost half an hour of sleep because of all of this texting nonsense!

And this is the picture that I never got sent.  Her and I are the two that live in the country.  I was going to show them how dark it was here too......but I was walking around the house in the dark trying to not wake up my shug..... 

which was a big mistake.  

They got this pic instead.

AUGH!  Dixie does not like to go out in the storms.  

I couldn't figure out what it was my foot grazed in the middle of the doorway.

Not a good start between 3:30 am storms and poop on the floor!

 So, after all of that, we made it to Vickie and Robert's house.  First thing we do is open gifts.  Which we actually "stopped doing" years ago, but somehow started up again.

Theresa and Taylor got us hats, and of course we had to get a picture.

Seriously Vickie is just way too chipper for this early!

Vickie, "Robert I'm not ready for the picture."

Robert, "yeah I know, but it's kind of fun to take it anyway."

Ashley and Theresa!

Now we have to do it again.

 Really?

Here we go.

 

And Ashley and Vickie got us matching pajamas!

And we need another picture...

And Taylor and I are the only two smiling...

This'll do.

And now for the traditional matching sweatshirt picture!

Really Ashley...This is the pic you are getting a copy of next year!

Off we go!  Traditional in the car picture!

Are you kidding me?  How old are we?

As I'm trying to back out there is something in my rearview mirror and I said, "whatever is back there needs moved....

Ummmm.....

She is just not a morning person.

And off we go!
First stop!!!  Albanese Candy Factory!
Yes it's a shopping trip, but this was close to the mall, and we did a lot of shopping here.
As you can see, the weather was awful the entire day.  It rained, and rained harder, and was very windy.

This place has a LOT of gummy bears, jelly beans, and chocolates!
Check out their website here!  The gummy bears have all different shapes.

This is chocolate coming down this pipe!

And it was all decked out for Christmas.

Another photo op!

Then off we went to the mall to Christmas shop.  We went to the Merriville, IN mall this year.

And they had these virtual reality machines  that you could go on rides or shoot killer zombies!

It was hilarious to watch them!

And as I was backing up to get a picture,
I almost fell over this train coming by! 
Seriously!  Where are we, the county fair!

The mall had two levels and I stopped and said, "I'm going to take a pic of Santa."  He waved.

After shopping, we went to our room and played a nasty tasting game called Bean Boozled.  You spin the dial to see what flavor of jelly bean you taste.

Thing is, the jelly beans look identical but the flavor could be lime, or dirty socks.  Or plum pudding, or canned dog food.  You get the idea.  You don't know what you are getting until you bite into it.  I didn't want to play, but was forced!

And we took some time out for some foot pampering!

And face masking!  These were kind of scary looking!

And for the age appropriate, a glass of wine.

Then we played this HILARIOUS game!

I don't even know the name.  There are several of these contraptions so you each get one.  You don't have to share!  You put it in your mouth and you try to read something off of a card, and the rest have to guess what you are trying to say.  We laughed so hard our stomachs hurt!

And in case you are wondering,

we did get some shopping done!

Cindy

HAPPY THANKSGIVING
EVERYONE!