Almost ready!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the big family shindig is at our house. I spent yesterday getting casseroles ready to bake, as well as baking the cornbread for dressing. Today was dessert day--pies (apple, pecan and pumpkin) and pumpkin cheesecake.

Early tomorrow morning, we'll get the turkey in the oven and hopefully have everything ready by 1pm.

Wish me luck!

Jelly

I finally finished making apple and bullace (wild grape) jellies yesterday. I had made the juice a week or so ago and put it in the refrigerator. So after lunch yesterday, I set the giant water bath canner on the stove to heat, pulled the juice out of the fridge and got to work.

Once the jelly was made and dinner served, I realized we had nothing for dessert, so I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

My day didn't start out too well yesterday, (see previous post) but it ended nicely. Warm oatmeal cookies make it all better.

Saturday Around the Homestead

There was lots to do around our place today and some of it actually got done. Andy mowed grass, around the house as well as down the driveway. He also fixed a faucet handle and one of the children's games.

I brushed down the pool and added chlorine, weeded about half the vegetable garden, made pickles and a yummy supper. The children and I made and decorated cupcakes for the holiday weekend.

The pickles were the big project of the day. My nine-year-old son helped me cut up cucumbers on Friday, in preparation for making bread and butter pickles today. The cucumber slices soaked in salt water overnight.

This afternoon, we combined sugar, vinegar and spices on the stove. We then added the cucumbers, simmered them for a few minutes and put them in jars. After a quick trip through the water bath canner, we now have pickles!
The cupcakes are red, white and blue in honor of Independence Day. The children had a great time adding the sprinkles.
Any plans this holiday weekend? Or non-holiday weekend, if you're outside the US?

What's for Supper?

We had our own version of taco salad and chocolate cake for dessert. Our taco salad is tortilla chips, topped with seasoned ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, sour cream and guacamole.

Dessert was extra special tonight. My children helped with the baking as their school work for the morning. We added the ingredients (my son learned how NOT to crack an egg) and talked about how they combine to create "cake". We worked together on the frosting and they were in charge of adding the sprinkles.

All supervised by Abby, of course.

Thanksgiving Weekend in the Swamp

I had a great weekend, busy with Thanksgiving dinner for 21 people and then my birthday on Saturday. I spent Wednesday making pies, cheesecake, casseroles and cranberry relish. Here are pictures of me getting the pumpkin pies in the oven.
My husband, Andy, and I got up at 6 am on Thursday to get the turkey in the oven. It was delicious! He gets the carving honors every year. And, yes, you do see two turkeys there. The one in the foreground is the one we roasted; the other is a smoked turkey, and it looks and tastes like ham!
To top off an already busy weekend, Saturday was my birthday and I love my gift. Andy bought the components for a quilt rack and our son-in-law put it up for me. The quilt was a wedding gift to my parents in 1963, from my dad's mother.

So, how was your weekend?