HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I hope you and yours have a wonderful, safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
Now because it is almost Thanksgiving and everyone is sooooooooooooooooo busy this time of year I invite all my readers that want to participate to consider themselves tagged! Be sure and leave me a message so I can come read your answers!  I did this a couple of years ago and we had a lot of fun with it!

There are only two easy rules:

1. Post these rules when you participate in this meme.

2. Link to the people you tag as well as the person who tagged you.

Now on to the FUN!!

1. Which do you like better: hosting Thanksgiving at your home, or going elsewhere?

Years ago I somehow ended up hosting for my family and that became tradition. I think I prefer it, but we have had many wonderful Thanksgivings elsewhere. Last year was at my sis-in-laws and 2 years before that at her DIL’s and while were both wonderful, they were much different from having had it here.

2. Do you buy a fresh or frozen turkey? Organic? Free-range?

Depends on what is available in the small town neck of the woods. I don’t care whether it is frozen or fresh per se, but do want a free range one.

3. Do you make stuffing or dressing? What kind?

Absolutely make it from scratch! It’s an Oatnut Sourdough Herb Stuffing.

4. Sweet potato pie or Pumpkin pie?

Neither, it’s Pumpkin Cheesecake here.

5. Are leftovers a blessing or a curse?

Definitely a blessing. We love the leftovers for easy meals the following week and MUST HAVE turkey sandwiches.

6. What side dishes are a must-have in your family?

Oatnut Sourdough Herb Stuffing, Apricot Carrot Casserole and Baked Pineapple.

7. What do you wish you had that might make Thanksgiving easier?

A double wall oven would be easier on my back.

8. If/when you go to someone else’s house for the holiday, do you usually bring a dish? If so, what is it? My Apricot Carrot Casserole because it is so different and blends well with whatever their menu is.

9. What do you wish one of your guests would bring to your house?

Smiles, appetites and positive attitudes.

10. What do you wish one of your guests would NOT bring to your house?

Bad attitudes coupled with deep seated arguments over politics and/or religion.

11. Do you stick with a particular menu from year to year, or do you mix it up?

While I do try to mix-it up now and then, a lynch mob quickly forms if I don’t keep it pretty close to what it has always been. For Christmas I have been able to mix it up better as it is also our youngest son’s birthday. He gets to pick the basic meat and then everyone else gets to pick a favorite to go with it and that has become our tradition since.

12. Is Thanksgiving a religious or secular holiday in your home?

It is a beautiful melding of both. We celebrate the pilgrimage with the influence God has always had on it.

13. Share one Thanksgiving tradition.

The Thanksgiving traditions in my family seemed to dwindle as the kids grew older and then the extended families and alternate get togethers grew. We do have a traditional meal with the same traditional recipes we have always used though.

14. Share one Thanksgiving memory.

As for disaster, it seems that in my parent’s house it always happened on Thanksgiving and usually involved the garbage disposal backing up and creating a HUGE mess. One year in particular it was really bad! So bad we couldn’t even have people over. My grandparents only lived a few blocks away. Long story short, grandpa brought their red Chevy station wagon over to our house with and old quilt spread out in the back and the adults loaded all the food there. My uncle and I rode in the back to keep all the bowls and pans from tilting over. While grandpa had been at our house, grandma had set the table at their house. All the food was unloaded from the station wagon and the preparation continued in grandma’s kitchen. It was one of the more memorable Thanksgivings I can remember.

15. Name five things you’re thankful for.

  1. My Faith and love of God
  2. The love of family and friends
  3. A roof over our heads
  4. Food on the table and Dirty Dishes
  5. Babies & Puppies

THANKSGIVING ROUND-UP

WHEN: WEDNESDAY, November 24th ~ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8th, 2009
WHERE: OuR KrAzY kItChEn

We’re having a party here at the OuR KrAzY kItChEn and you’re invited. Bring your favorite recipe, decorating idea, pictures, anecdotes and let’s have some fun together.
  • Do you have a special pumpkin pie recipe recipe?
  • What is your favorite side dish recipe?
  • Do you have a favorite apple recipe?
  • Do you have special way to carve a turkey?
  • How about a party punch that’s perfect for the Thanksgiving crowd?
  • What is your idea of a best decorating idea?

APPLE RICE STUFFING ~ SIMPLY DELICIOUS SUNDAY

Hi! I’m Wendy from The Local Cook, where I blog about eating simply and in season. I get to share a new recipe with you the 3rd Sunday of every month here at OUR KrAzY kitchen.
Believe it or not, some people (like my in-laws, cough cough) cannot stand the texture of soggy bread. So stuffing is a big “no!” Here is an alternative that I made last Thanksgiving and was a hit.

Apple Rice Stuffing             Source: Simply in Season
1 cup brown rice
2 1/3 cup apple juice
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 large onion diced
1 stalk celery chopped
2 large apples, unpeeled, diced
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbs dried herbs (any combination of oregano, basil, thyme, etc.)
salt and pepper to taste
1. Cook rice and apple juice until tender and set aside (about 40 minutes).
2. Melt butter in frying pan and sauté the onion and celery until soft.
3. Add everything else together and either stuff in poultry or place in a covered casserole dish and bake at 350F for 45-55 minutes.
It’s a really nice change of pace from the standard stuffing, even if you do like soggy bread! It’s sweet from the apples and brown sugar, but savory as well.

Party time!

REMEMBER THAT ALL REGULAR MEMES WILL DISPLAY JUST BELOW THIS PARTY LINK FOR THE NEXT 2 WEEKS.

YAY!! WOOHOO!! It’s finally here.

We’re having a party here at the OuR KrAzY kItChEn and you’re invited. Bring your favorite recipe, decorating idea, pictures, anecdotes and let’s have some fun together.
  • Do you have a special pumpkin pie recipe recipe?
  • What is your favorite side dish recipe?
  • Do you have a favorite apple recipe?
  • Do you have special way to carve a turkey?
  • How about a party punch that’s perfect for the Thanksgiving crowd?
  • What is your idea of a best decorating idea?
  • Stop by the buffet table and grab a cup of cheer and an appetizer.
  • Sign Mr. Linky and let us know what you’re bring to the party using the following format. For example: Tamy @ 3 Sides of Crazy (Family Favorite Cheese Ball) or Martha @ Menagerie (Fool proof Gravy)

All of us here at ThEKrAzYkItChEn look forward to visiting with you and having a great time at this party. We hope you enjoy yourselves.

We interrupt this regularly scheduled meme to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a safe and happy holiday and Get your Spatulas ready!
We would also like to announce our upcoming new meme to kick off the new year. Dave from My Year on the grill will be joining our team for a weekly event. He will be featuring experiments with recipes he’s collected from other bloggers. Dave recently guest hosted at Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? for us and has a wonderful sense of humor and will certainly give us all a run for our money.

Look for I CAN COOK THAT on Thursdays beginning New Year’s Eve.

It’s almost Turkey day!!


Thanksgiving will be here before you know it! Have you made your grocery shopping list? Check out the Vons ad for your local store here. I did and found some wonderful sales! I am saving a bundle on preparing our feast. We are going to have a house full for several days and I want to make it special for everyone! There is also a helpful Meal Planning Guide.

Hurry, the FREE turkey with minimum purchase offer ends Monday, 11/23. I’m doing my shopping this week to avoid the crowds. I found everything I needed from yams and pumpkin pies to wheat thins and bread for turkey sandwiches the next day to prepare a terrific feast for my family easily and most of it was on sale. Using your club card will increase your savings even more.

One of the most amazing items they have is the recipe for their 2-Hour Turkey. It is a very simple recipe with excellent results. The whole crowd will think you spent the entire day in the kitchen!


You will also find some wonderful decorating ideas.


Not sure what to do with all the leftovers? Check out their recipes at the Leftovers Lounge.



I can’t wait to try the Warm Turkey Bacon Salad and the Garlic Lover’s Turkey Enchiladas.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

FULL DISCLOSURE: In the interest of full disclosure I was contacted and asked to voice my opinion and Domino Sugar links in exchange for a Domino Sugar gift card. I did this because I believe in the product and the recipes and not for payment.

Turkey Day is on the way…


Thanksgiving will be here before you know it! Have you made your grocery shopping list? Check out the Vons ad for your local store here. I did and found some wonderful sales! I am saving a bundle on preparing our feast. We are going to have a house full for several days and I want to make it special for everyone! There is also a helpful Meal Planning Guide.

Hurry, the FREE turkey with minimum purchase offer ends Monday, 11/23. I’m doing my shopping this week to avoid the crowds. I found everything I needed from yams and pumpkin pies to wheat thins and bread for turkey sandwiches the next day to prepare a terrific feast for my family easily and most of it was on sale. Using your club card will increase your savings even more.

One of the most amazing items they have is the recipe for their 2-Hour Turkey. It is a very simple recipe with excellent results. The whole crowd will think you spent the entire day in the kitchen!


You will also find some wonderful decorating ideas.

Not sure what to do with all the leftovers? Check out their recipes at the Leftovers Lounge.



I can’t wait to try the Warm Turkey Bacon Salad and the Garlic Lover’s Turkey Enchiladas.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

wildatheart

FULL DISCLOSURE: In the interest of full disclosure I was contacted and asked to voice my opinion and Vons grocery links in exchange for a Vons gift card to use towards my shopping. I did this because I believe in the company and not for the payment.

You’re invited to a Thanksgiving Soiree’


WHEN: Sunday, November 15th ~ Saturday, November, 28th, 2009
WHERE: OuR KrAzY kItChEn
RSVP: MR. LINKY

We’re having a party here at OuR KrAzY kItChEn and you’re invited. Bring your favorite recipe, decorating idea, pictures, anecdotes and let’s have some fun together.
  • Do you have a special pumpkin pie recipe recipe?
  • What is your favorite side dish recipe?
  • Do you have a favorite apple recipe?
  • Do you have special way to carve a turkey?
  • How about a party punch that’s perfect for the Thanksgiving crowd?
  • What is your idea of a best decorating idea?
We’ll post Mr. Linky on November 15th and leave him in place through November 28th. Write your post piece and come link it up. We’ll all have some time to blog hop and see each other and try recipes.

wildatheart

Thanksgiving Party


WHEN: Sunday, November 15th ~ Saturday, November, 28th, 2009
WHERE: OuR KrAzY kItChEn
RSVP: MR. LINKY

We’re having a party here at the OuR KrAzY kItChEn and you’re invited. Bring your favorite recipe, decorating idea, pictures, anecdotes and let’s have some fun together.
  • Do you have a special pumpkin pie recipe recipe?
  • What is your favorite side dish recipe?
  • Do you have a favorite apple recipe?
  • Do you have special way to carve a turkey?
  • How about a party punch that’s perfect for the Thanksgiving crowd?
  • What is your idea of a best decorating idea?
We’ll post Mr. Linky on November 15th and leave him in place through November 28th. Write your post piece and come link it up. We’ll all have some time to blog hop and see each other and try recipes.

We Interrupt this regularly scheduled meme…

…for an important update, a reminder & some important announcements.

We are sure many of you have noticed that we’re experiencing a few growing pains around here at OuR KrAzY KiTcHen as we test and expand the waters and horizons around us.

Just a quick reminder that the Halloween Party at OuR KrAzY KiTcHeN begins this Sunday.
Sunday, October 18th ~ Saturday, October 31st, 2009

here at OuR KrAzY kItChEn
RSVP via MR. LINKY

We’re having a party here at the OuR KrAzY kItChEn and you’re invited. Bring your favorite recipe, decorating idea, pictures, anecdotes and let’s have some fun together.

  • Do you have a special popcorn ball recipe?
  • What is your favorite fall recipe?
  • Do you have a favorite apple recipe?
  • Do you have special way to carve pumpkins?
  • How about a party punch that’s perfect for Halloween?
  • What is your idea of a best costume?

We’ll post Mr. Linky on October 18th and leave him in place through Halloween. Write your post piece and come link it up. We’ll all have some time to blog hop and see each other and try recipes.

Next we would like to announce the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas parties.


WHEN: Sunday, November 15th ~ Saturday, November, 28th, 2009
WHERE: OuR KrAzY kItChEn
RSVP: MR. LINKY

We’re having a party here at the OuR KrAzY kItChEn and you’re invited. Bring your favorite recipe, decorating idea, pictures, anecdotes and let’s have some fun together.
  • Do you have a special pumpkin pie recipe recipe?
  • What is your favorite side dish recipe?
  • Do you have a favorite apple recipe?
  • Do you have special way to carve a turkey?
  • How about a party punch that’s perfect for the Thanksgiving crowd?
  • What is your idea of a best decorating idea?
We’ll post Mr. Linky on November 15th and leave him in place through November 28th. Write your post piece and come link it up. We’ll all have some time to blog hop and see each other and try recipes.

AND


WHEN: Sunday, December 17th ~ SUNday, December 27th, 2009
WHERE: OuR KrAzY kItChEn
RSVP: MR. LINKY

We’re having a party here at the OuR KrAzY kItChEn and you’re invited. Bring your favorite recipe, decorating idea, pictures, anecdotes and let’s have some fun together.
  • Do you have a special Christmas Cookie recipe?
  • What is your favorite holiday recipe?
  • Do you have a favorite fudge recipe?
  • Do you have special way to decorate the tree?
  • How about a party punch that’s perfect for a holiday party?
  • What is your idea of the perfect family holiday?
We’ll post Mr. Linky on December 17th and leave him in place through Sunday, December 27th. Write your post piece and come link it up. We’ll all have some time to blog hop and see each other and try recipes.

NOW FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT:
We are looking for guest hosts!


As a guest poster:

  • You can post on any food genre or topic.
  • You can guest for a week or a month, we’re pretty flexible.
  • Perhaps you have a wonderful tutorial for a favorite recipe that you already posted. No problem, re-posts are great when formatted well.
  • Guest hosts will need to post a new entry advertising their guest posts to oUr KrAzY kItChEn on their own home blog.
  • A Mr. Linky will be added so our regular readers can play along with you.
If you’re interested in becoming a guest host, please sign Mr Linky and we’ll contact you ASAP.

The Tablecloth ~ Who Says God does not work in mysterious ways?

This story came across my email this past week and I thought it was a beautiful way to start the Thanksgiving / Christmas Holiday spirit so I thought I’d share. So much more than calling the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday. I always thought that such a dark negative term for the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. This is such a beautiful story that makes you understand that things truly do happen for a reason. Don’t forget to grab the tissue box.

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn , arrived in early October excited about their opportunities When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc… and on December 18th they were ahead of schedule and just about finished.

On December 19th a terrible tempest – a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.

On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.

The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc… to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet.. ‘Pastor,’ she asked, ‘where did you get that tablecloth?’ The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. He was captured, sent to prison and she never saw her husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth, but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a house cleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn’t leaving.

The man asked him where he got the Tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike.

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.

He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reuni
on he could ever imagine.


This true Story was submitted by Pastor Rob Reid.

final blog signature.