thank-you JESUS!

peanut butter cup brownies:

• one box of brownie mix
• all suggested wet ingredients [I use coconut oil instead of butter]
• two generous handfuls of halfed peanut butter cups

Gently combine mix and wet ingredients.  Gently fold in  peanut butter cups.  Bake to suggested temp and time on box.

Yes, who better to thank for all of the year's blessings than Jesus himself.  With it being the last one we celebrate in America, this mother hen couldn't help but want it to be the best for the kids.  There were no plans made to share the day with friends.  It was just to be we seven.  I've never been good, that I can remember, at buying all ingredients the pay day before.  So, there were last minute purchases the day before to make sure everyone got what they were hoping to feast on.  I laughed as I picked up the box of lemon bar mix that Mike pointed out and he says, "is that going to be enough?"  He wanted to make sure there would be more than plenty to last a couple days of extra sugar munching.  It was the brownies, the lemon bars [which turned out to be lemon cheese cake bars], sausage balls dough and spinach balls dough that were baked and prepped the day and evening before.  Pumpkin cheesecake[s] was also on the menu.  But, there wasn't enough energy and space for all of that too.  The sausage and spinach balls dough needed to set overnight in the fridge before baking.  Since the house oven doesn't work, I happily used my small toaster oven.  I'm already well accustomed to the smaller oven because it saves on electricity and gas [depending on what type of ovens I've had in the past].

lemon cheesecake bars

• one box of lemon bar mix
• all required wet ingredients
• one 8oz pkg of cream cheese
• mix bake as directed

Victoria helped me with the lemon bars.  She's such a good helper.  Always has been.  We upgraded the recipe and added the cheesecakey element.  The box had the cheesecakey instructions.  What an easy  recipe.  

I used Jimmy Dean's sausage for the sausage balls.  I went by no recipe...but by the basic memory of having made these in the past.  For the spinach balls, it was pretty much the same, but instead of cheddar cheese, I used spicy pepper jack cheese and plenty of butter.  These, were to help hold Mike and the kids over while the turkey was cooking all morning and into the afternoon. However......

biscuits and gravy

Victoria specifically requested biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  It's one of those rare dishes I treat the family with.  It's so country.  It's so filling.  It's so fattening.  It's so YUM!!  The sausage and spinach balls took quite some time to bake as they had to be in small batches for the sake of the toaster oven.  But a 'las, once those were done, I used the pancake mix for the biscuits and more of the jimmy dean sausage for the gravy.  It was noon by the time it was all done.  Dylan had filled himself up on the sausage and spinach balls that he'd left no room for the biscuits and gravy.  For everyone else...welp, it was another hip packing symphony of satisfaction for us.  

The turkey was 24lb and didn't look done yet at 1:30pm.   It looked like it needed another two hours in the fabulous electric roaster.  I'm going to miss that roaster.  It's such an energy saver.  These feet and hands were pooped.  A nap was definitely in order.  Good thing we weren't running on someone else's schedule.  The great benefit to enjoying this Thanksgiving day all to ourselves.  

It wasn't until 4pm that I was ready to go at it in the kitchen again.  The next two hours were a perspiring joy of loving slavery.  When we finally all sat down, it was the perfect time for candles.  My kind of ambiance for such a feast.  We all went around the table and shared three things we're thankful for.  Dylan's turned out to be as sentimentally sappy as his dad.  He said, "I'm thankful for my family" and failed to hold back the tears.  I can only imagine all the other things he would've liked to say if he didn't have to fight tears.  Chances are he was thinking of this being his last year with all his friends and yet being so thankful that the near future geographical transition into a world of unknown for him makes him all the more thankful that it's with his family.  Tyler, being the happy-go-lucky sweet and tender teenager, proudly tells us that he's firstly thankful for mom and dad because without us neither he or his siblings would exist.  We're so thankful the kids are close.    

It was a beautiful day and evening of romancing Thanksgiving and the annual turkey feast.