Giving Thanks

Today is the last day of Kelli's Giving Thanks posts. There's still a little time left, so if you have a Thanksgiving related post to share, please visit Kelli's blog for all the details.

Here is a recipe for pumpkin muffins which I clipped from my local newspaper about 20 years ago. The recipe is from the Publick House in Sturbridge, Mass. I'm thinking of making a batch tomorrow, for we may get a little bit of snow and that always gets me in the mood to bake something.

Pumpkin Muffins

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup light vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease a 12 cup muffin tin. Mix sugar, oil, eggs, and pumpkin. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Quickly stir together both mixtures. Fold in raisins and walnuts. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full and bake 18 to 20 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oven and let muffins cool a few moments in the pan before removing. Serve warm with butter or honey butter.

Here's a couple of my Thanksgiving decorations:

A Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 75th Anniversary Snowglobe:


They have a different one every year, but so far this is the only one I have.

This turkey hangs on our front door (gotta love those craft fairs!):



Thank you for visiting my Giving Thanks post and thank you, Kelli for hosting.

Zucchini Appetizer

Check it out-I finally tried one of those "Betty Crocker Recipe of the Day" recipes in my sidebar! It was the "Zucchini Appetizer" one (any recipe with the "z" word in it catches my eye this time of year) and it actually turned out edible. And I also had all the ingredients on hand so it was super simple. I've been looking for ways to use my monster zucchinis-they're so big the dog's afraid of them. I've made some sweet types of zucchini bread-Carlos doesn't really care for that type of thing, so yours truly ended up eating most of that. However, he really liked this and I will be making it again.

I'll admit I had my doubts about it before I put it in the oven. It didn't look too promising, in fact it looked downright gross! I expected it to turn into an "Our Gang" type wee-wow cake and take over my kitchen! But it turned out well-I did bake it about 5 minutes longer than the recipe called for. I also sprinkled a little Parmesan cheese on top while it was still warm and cut it into larger pieces. I served it as a side dish with our dinner. So if your looking for more ways to use up that surplus zucchini, I highly recommend this recipe.

My Sister's Potato Salad

My sister, Susan, often has cookouts during the summer months especially on long holiday weekends. Her former home had a big garage in the back where she kept a second refrigerator primarily for that purpose. It was always well stocked with the makings for a fine outdoor feast: assorted drinks, burgers, hot dogs, chicken, and of course homemade salads.


It was one of those homemade salads that would become a family folk tale, which I'm sure will be passed on to future generations.


It was Labor Day Weekend, sometime during the 1990's, and Sue's cookout was in full swing. The burgers, dogs, and chicken were all cooked to perfection and it was time to bring out those delicious homemade salads. One by one we carefully carried them from the refrigerator to the picnic table and uncovered them. It was then we noticed something was amiss with the potato salad. In fact, something was very wrong with that potato salad-it was green! We just kind of stared at it until my Mom finally spoke up:

"Sue, I think there's something wrong with your refrigerator, the potato salad turned!"

"Oh no Mom", my sister casually replied, "That's the potato salad from the Memorial Day cookout, the good one is on the bottom shelf in the fridge."

For those of you unfamiliar with American holidays, Memorial Day and Labor Day are three long, hot, summer months apart.

Well, all of us ladies quickly ran into the garage, not only to get the good potato salad, but mostly because we were all laughing so hard and we didn't want the other guests to know what was going on.

And we tossed that moldy green potato salad before anyone else could see or eat it.

We still tease Sue about this, and I think she cleans her refrigerator a bit more often, especially before a cookout or other party.

Here's a recipe for a sweet potato salad I like from allrecipes.com. I do alter it a little bit because that's a bit too much pepper for me and I use a little bit more potatoes. If you make it this weekend, it should be aged to perfection in time for your Labor Day cookout (just kidding!)

Taco Night

Hola-it's taco night at mi casa! Okay, it's not the most elegant meal in the world but it's definitelty one of the easiest things for me to make and it's quick. And I'm making it healthier by using ground turkey instead of beef and topping them with a low fat cheese and salsa. Maybe some beans on the side and a salad? Oh yes- some rice for hubby-he LOVES rice! Yo tengo hambre! (I'm hungry!)

M&M Party Cookies

It's a brrr 32 degrees here in New Jersey. It feels more like winter than spring. So what's a girl to do?-why bake some cookies of course! I usually make these for Christmas with red and green M&M's, but I used the pastel colored ones for Easter. I know they look kind of weird, but they're still pretty yummy. I once made them using the peanut butter filled M&M's and they turned out awesome.

1 cup shortening (I use unsalted butter)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups sifted flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups M&M candies

Blend shortening and brown and white sugars in a large bowl. Beat in vanilla and eggs. Sift remaining dry ingredients together, add to sugar and egg mixture, blending well. Stir in 1/2 cup of candies. Drop from teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate tops with remaining candies. Bake at 375 degrees, 8 to 10 minutes.

Crumb Cake Recipe

1 box butter yellow cake mix
4 eggs
2/3 cup oil
2/3 cup milk
Mix all ingredients and pour into greased and floured cookie sheet. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool cake.(Leave in pan)

Crumbs

Mix:

4 cups flour

2/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 teaspoons cinnamon

3 sticks of butter-softened

Sprinkle crumbs on cool cake. Bake at 350 degrees, 20 minutes longer. Sprinkle powdered sugar on cake.