May You Be Blessed-Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, if not the favorite.  This year is a little odd because I will be spending it alone.  Not because I have no family to spend it with, but my husband is out of the country and I am sick with the flu and do not want to pass that along to all my kids.  I was hoping that by now I would be better, but I had to make the difficult call to my son this morning not to make the trip over here since I didn't want him catching this. Thankfully his girlfriend is also stranded there so they will be together for their first Thanksgiving!

So Christmas will be extra special this year as then we will all be together, at least most of us.

I decided instead of feeling sorry for myself, I would look at all the past Thanksgivings and wonderful memories I have.  As far back as I can remember my mom prepared the Thanksgiving meal like clockwork.  I in turn continued with that tradition.

On Wednesday we would bake the apple pie and pumpkin pies.  My mom always had Christmas music on while baking. Here are some of her Wednesday before Thanksgiving recipes!

 
My Mom's Famous Pumpkin Pie
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon of allspice
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
4 large eggs
1 can 29 oz of Libby's Pure Pumpkin
2 cans 12 oz each  evaporated milk
2 unbaked 9 inch pie crusts

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.  Beat eggs in a large bowl.  Stir in pumpkin and sugar and spice mixture, gradually stirring in the evaporated milk.  Mix well.  Pour into the pie shells, cover crust edge with foil.

Bake in pre-heated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 degrees, bake for an additional 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool for 2 hours and serve or refrigerate.

Perfect Apple Pie
6-8 tart apples, pared, cored and thinly sliced (6 cups)
3/4 to 1 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon allspice
pinch of ginger
2 tablespoons of butter
dash of salt

If apples lack tartness sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.  Combine sugar, flour, spices, salt and mix with apples.

Line a 9 inch pie plate with pastry, fill with apple mixture, dot with butter.  Adjust top crust, cutting slits for escape of steam, seal.  Sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar mixture.  Cover crust edge with foil and bake in a 400 degree preheated oven for 50 minutes until done.



Thanksgiving Bread
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups of water
2 teaspoons of salt
2 packages of act. dry yeast
6 cups of all purpose flour pre-sifted 
1 egg
salad oil
margarine

In large bowl combine sugar, salt, yeast and 2 1/4 cups of flour.
In 1 quart saucepan 1/2 cup margarine and warm water, on low heat, warm only, not HOT.

With a low speed mixer, mix in warm liquid to dry mixture, blend together, increasing speed to medium for 2 minutes.  Beat in egg with 3/4 cup more flour, beat 2 minutes more, adding additional flour slowly and mixing with hands until smooth.  Knead for 10 minutes.  Place in a large greased bowl, cover with damp towel and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.  Punch down, turn over and brush top with salad oil and cover bowl with saran wrap, place in refrigerator.

Thanksgiving Day, 2 hours before the meal, grease a squared or round cookie sheets.  Makes 30 small balls, placing them with a small space in between.  Cover with towel and let rise in a warm spot for 1 - 1 1/2 hours.  Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven, melt butter and with pastry brush, brush over golden brown rolls.

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the movie below!

Disclosure:  This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.  This post includes "Affiliate Links", of which the blogger will receive a small commission if the links are clicked.  The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.  This blog does contain content which might present a conflict of interest. 

Stealing and Ripping, A Sunday Tradition?

The 14 Question Meme

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing. Sunday Stealing originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we also have our rules. First, we always credit the blog that we stole it from and we will “fess up” to the blog owner where we stole the meme. We also provide a link to the victim's post. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") We do sometimes edit the original meme, usually to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, sometimes to select that meme's best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from either this new meme or recently asked questions from a prior featured meme. Let's go

Today we ripped this meme off a blogger named Jayne at the blog Journey Through Grace. She states that she was tagged by her friend The Bug at the blog Bug Eye's View. But, it was probably stolen there as well. So, of course, that will be as far as we go. Tracing back our theft's thieves might take some time. Link back to us at Sunday Stealing!







1. What do you consider your hometown to be?

I grew up in a few towns, but we ended up in Naranjito, Puerto Rico in 1973, when I was 15 years old.

 

2. What’s the hardest part of your average day?
Dealing with Dysautonomia and not being able to do all the things I used to.
 

3. The easiest? Why?

When I am laying down, I have less symptoms

4. What beverage do you reach for to quench your thirst?

 

5. What is one not-so-secret goal you have for your life? I’ll let you keep your secret ones to yourself.

Enjoy everyday to the fullest because life is too short

6. What physical pain do you fear most? For example, I’m trying to decide how bad my jaw pain needs to get before I risk a potential needle from my dentist. So, for me, throbbing is preferable to jabbing.

I fear the chest pain that I get frequently

7. Where do you find solace?

When I am talking to my best friend

8. What makes you the saddest when you read/see the news?

The lies that are always told

9. What do you eat for a favorite snack?

I have a few snacks that I like, but when I asked my husband, he said, "See Food", everything I see I eat.  Wasn't that so sweet and loving?

10. What movie could you/would you watch more than two or three times and still enjoy just as much as the first time?

I don't know why I love this movie, I did grow up watching the original Bewitched back in the day, but I have watched this one over and over.

 
11. What boy/girl first made you cry?
J.G.S.
 
12. What brand of coffee/tea do you drink most often?

 
13. Dig in the dirt with or without garden gloves?

 
14. James Taylor or Carly Simon?

My Forgotten Passion

Ever since I was a little girl I loved to write.  I think it started back in the third grade.  Our teacher would have us pick pictures from magazines and we would have to write a story about the picture.  I remember the first day we did this assignment, I was so scared.  I didn't know if I would be able to write about anything.  I looked at the picture I chose and all of a sudden I started to write a story.  It was fun! I looked forward to those days that we would pick our picture from that old cardboard box. 

I wish I had kept all my stories, as it would be wonderful to read what I was thinking back then.  It was so much fun sitting at my desk in my room creating magical plays and writing so many stories.  One of my dreams was that I was going to write a novel. 

However, in just one quick moment all those dreams would be taken away.  Why would I allow that to happen?  I had now been writing for a few years, I was no longer in the third grade, I was sitting in my 9th grade classroom.  

We were reading OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck.  Our assignment was to take the book home and finish reading the story and stop right before the last chapter.  We were not to read it, just close the book and write the last chapter ourselves.  I wasn't even intimidated about finishing John Steinbeck's story, it didn't even occur to me until now that I am writing this post!  I just remember being so excited to get started!

I did what I was told.  I sat and wrote what I thought should be the ending of this amazing book and the next day handed it in to my teacher. 

A few days later the teacher handed out the books to all of us and we were to read the last chapter silently.  As I was reading the ending my stomach began to knot up, I know I must have changed several shades of red.  I had written an ending almost word for word, identical to Mr. Steinbeck!  Instead of being proud and excited, I was sick as I knew I was now in trouble.  

To this day I remember that old desk that I sat at, the American Flag to the right of the chalkboard, the posters on the wall and even the aromas coming from the cafeteria, as it was soon going to be lunch.  My heart was pounding out of my chest.  I didn't know how I was going to explain this, no one was going to believe that I hadn't cheated.  

The teacher then said those dreaded and expected words, "Someone here decided not to follow directions and copied the last chapter of the book."  She also continued on with a long discussion about plagiarism.  

Inside my head I was screaming, "No, I didn't cheat, I swear, those were my words, I didn't read the last chapter!"  I knew no one would believe me, I just sat there speechless, sickened and sad.  I had never cheated or lied in my life and to be accused of something that I hadn't done was devastating.  

My dreams were stolen that day.  I never wrote again until now, almost 40 years later, as I write on this blog. Would I have written that novel by now if that hadn't happened?  I will never know. 

I chose this writer's prompt from Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop, "If you had made a career out of whatever you were passionate about when you were ten...what would you be doing?"

Disclosure:  This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.  This post includes "Affiliate Links", of which the blogger will receive a small commission if the links are clicked.  The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.  This blog does contain content which might present a conflict of interest.