Thanksgiving . . . a time to be thankful for everything we have, and a time to celebrate our earths great green bounty with our family and friends. My family always had a big Thanksgiving celebration every year as I was growing up, with my parents, my twin brother, both grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. It was always a big production that involved days of preparation, planning the menu, cleaning, baking and cooking. It was very exciting, emotional and exhausting all at once, especially if you are the one hosting and preparing the dinner! Our family would share in hosting the dinner with 3 or 4 different families. Everyone always helped by bringing one of their favorite dishes to share and everything was homemade. No store-bought pies, artificial whipped topping, frozen, boxed or processed canned foods.
Over the years our family has gotten smaller with the passing of both of our grandparents, my parents and several aunts and uncles. What is left of my family has now scattered over the state, but most of us still live within a 1 to 3 hour drive. My brother and I have taken on the task to keep up the family traditions and still make many of the special Thanksgiving recipes that we grew so fond of as children.
My sister-in-law and I usually trade-off in hosting the holiday celebrations each year. This year my son and his girl friend have volunteered to have it for the very first time at their new apartment. We have all offered to bring a side dish or something, to help ease the stress of our brave new host and hostess. I am making my mothers candied yams and I will be making my mother’s pumpkin pies this year with the help of my 12-year-old granddaughter. She is taking a cooking class in school and wants to help contribute to the festivities, so she will make my recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies for the very first time.
I am making one small, but very important change to all my recipes this year, and that is by using organic ingredients and products. I find it is very difficult to eat totally healthy or organic foods during the holidays, when you are attending other people’s parties and festivities, so you do the best you can.
I am also in charge of bringing the tableware for the dinner, so I checked out all the paper plate products at the local store and I decided on the Chinet brand dinner platters, which is biodegradable and made from recycled material in the USA. I also bought their recyclable plastic beverage cups (no Styrofoam). These were a little more expensive than the other plates and cups, but they are much larger, sturdier and are more Eco-friendly. We can always wash the cups and reuse them a few more times before recycling them.
The best part of celebrating these holidays to me is the special memories that you will make and carry with you the rest of your life. I have many vivid and fond memories about family, friends and the special foods of the holidays when I was a child. One of my oldest and most vivid memories was when we had dinner at my Aunt Viola’s house. She would always serve her homemade rose petal jelly for the holidays. It was a very light shade of pink, clear with a few pink rose petals floating in the sweet and wonderfully light rose fragrant jelly. She served it in a special cut crystal bowl with a silver handle the held a delicate very small jelly spoon, hanging over the center of the dish. It was served with her homemade rolls (no poppin fresh in those days). *laughs* I guess I just found it so fascinating that she could make jelly from rose hips and petals. Another one is the wonderful smell of my mother’s homemade pumpkin pies baking in the oven. She even made her own piecrust from scratch and she would give my brother and I the extra pie dough to make cinnamon sugar pinwheel cookies. Ah . . . and then there was the beautiful golden brown turkey that my father would proudly, if not skillfully, carve. The mounds of mashed potatoes, stuffing, giblet gravy, marshmallow covered candied yams with maraschino cherries, pea and broccoli casserole, my mothers homemade bread & butter pickles, candied crab-apples and choke cherry jelly, that she had canned earlier that fall. The large black olives we used to put on all our fingers and eat, thick rich eggnog (with a touch of whiskey when we were old enough) and fresh nutmeg sprinkled on top. I will always cherish the sounds of laughter, sharing of many family memories and stories.
I started one of my own Thanksgiving food traditions several years ago by making homemade soup from the left over turkey carcass each year. I use organic chicken or turkey broth, carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, fresh herbs and spices and I sometimes like to add wild rice in place of the potatoes. I cook the carcass in the broth in a large crock-pot until all the meat falls off the bones. I then strain the broth and pick the bones out of the soup and then add the chopped organic vegetables, herbs and spices, to the broth and turkey meat, cooking the vegetables until they are tender. This is a good way to not let anything go to waste, since there is still a lot of meat left on the turkey carcass after the big meal. It is a very delicious and hearty soup. I usually give some to family and neighbors, freezing any left over for later on during the cold winter months.
I am thankful for the many special memories I have and will have of my family and friends. I am also thankful for the good food that our earth has provided that we will all share together today as a loving family.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
“Although I may not be the greenest crayon in the box, at least I am trying!”
Coloring Me Green – Vickie Jo Higgins
