Thanksgiving

Roasted Cornish hens this year for Thanksgiving. Prepared them at my place to take over to Christine's for roasting. Also made cranberry-apple dressing and apple roses for dessert.

Christine made Brussels sprouts. Jan brought sweet potatoes. Kay brought pumpkin pie and acorn squash with a delicious mushroom stuffing.

I also had tomatoes from the garden!

The hens.

The meal

The biggest Thanksgiving plate

Thanksgiving (Christmas) cactus

Just in time for Thanksgiving, the biggest Christmas cactus ever is in full bloom. So pretty.

More Thanksgiving

I cooked a turkey this year. I can't remember the last time I prepared the Thanksgiving turkey along with stuffing and gravy.

Christine's parents could not make the trip this year but the rest of us kept the tradition and shared the making of the feast.

I brined the turkey overnight with coarse kosher salt, honey, rubbed sage and cracked red pepper. It turned out great.

  

Thanksgiving sweet potato tots

When I was in Wisconsin this past September, the Grumpy Troll in Mt. Horub had these wonderful sweet potato tots.  Like regular potato tots but made with sweet potatos.  I thought that would make a great Thanksgiving dish.  So I set out to create my own.  Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
2 medium sized yams (I used red garnets) that came to about 4 cups shredded.
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/8 - 1/4 cup brown sugar (I wasn't so precise about this)
1 cup mini-marshallows

Stir all the above together to mix well.
Microwave 2 minutes to melt the mini-marshallows.  stir half way through
Allow to cool.

Now the difficult part.  Form balls of the shredded yam mix with your had and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze as much of the liquid out as you possibly can.  Set carefully into 375 degree oil.  I used a canola oil.  Deep fry for about 1 1/2 minutes until brown.  Allow to dry on paper towel. Makes 15 - 20 tots.

These are labor intensive but really really good.

shredded yams

mixed with mini-marshallows

the tots

I would like to figure out how to make them a bit smaller.  Or possibly keep the size and come up with different dips.

Thanksgiving

Christine and her mom, Nancy, holding my homemade apple and raspberry pie.

For the past several years I have had Thanksgiving dinner with Christine and her parents.  Tim and Nancy fly in from West Virginia and stay for a week or two.

Mrs. Peters always cooks a wonderful Thanksgiving feast.  I bring the sweet potatos and usually a pie.  This year I made the pie from apples and raspberries picked in my backyard this summer.

And for the record there was no snow on the ground.  The high temperature for the day was officially 59 very warm degrees.

Its beginning to look a lot like Chr...rrr...Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from snowy Minnesota....