Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Pies and Turkey and a Flurry of Frivolity


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  We had a happy one, for sure.  Six pies - so of course we were happy!  We cooked all of our traditional dishes including a twenty-one pound turkey, dressing, ham, green beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, and all the rest.  This year, there were eighteen of us enjoying the meal together.  


The fun started Wednesday evening after work, when we baked pies and corn bread for the dressing, and prepped all the vegetables and turkey for cooking the next day.


We made all the pie crusts from scratch, and everyone took turns cutting butter into flour.   Luckily my nieces also find measuring and mixing ingredients as much fun as I do.  Everyone has their favorite pie too, so it's not hard to find lots of helpers.  We baked until well past bedtime, and still saved plenty to do the next day.  


Chocolate pie with meringue, pumpkin pie made with honey, and apple crumble pie.  Two of each, of course, because it's important to guarantee that everyone gets pie to take home for the next day.


My eldest niece turned the cornbread into dressing practically by herself this year.  It's her favorite of all the holiday dishes, so she was extra interested in learning how to make it.  Cracking eggs is one of the best parts of cooking.


My youngest niece gets most excited about the sweet potatoes, so she had enough enthusiasm to make a brown sugar and pecan topping, and then topped that with marshmallows too! 


The pies turned out beautifully this year.  We had a debate about which was the best, and in the end, the apple pie got the most votes.  It was tart and cinnamony.  Brandon and I enjoyed left over pumpkin pie by the fire the next day for lunch, which held us over until we could get to his brothers house to eat Thanksgiving dinner again, but this time we didn't have to do any of the cooking.  We played games and stuffed ourselves while we enjoyed their brand new puppy, named Patches.  


Saturday was chocolate pie for breakfast day, to tide us over until we got to our friends house for our first Christmas party of the season.  We stayed out too late laughing around the campfire, so I didn't have time to bake more pie for my great aunt's ninety-fifth birthday party on Sunday.  Family members from all over gathered near Cincinnati to celebrate her long life, and were excited to coax her into telling us stories about her life - "They had to start that cotton-picking World War 2 right when I'm old enough to date!" 


We started this holiday season off with a flurry of frivolity, for sure.  I'm not sure my sore back can keep up the pace, but I'm willing to try!  

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