In my family, Thanksgiving is all about the food. Oh- and giving thanks, family, friends, yada yada blah blah....
Back to the food. Oh, the food. I dream about this meal all year long. This time of year I smell hot buttered rolls, candied sweet potatoes, and sage dressing in my nose, when there isn't any in site. I am anticipating our great feast.
(Don't get mad that I called it dressing! We've always called it dressing, not stuffing. We're kind of Southern.)
This year we will have roasted turkey, smoked turkey breast, gravy, mashed potatoes, more gravy, dressing, *cough* even more gravy, candied sweet potatoes with those tasty little marshmallows, cranberry salad, rolls from the place where I work, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and maybe we'll throw a vegetable in there. I think this year, I'm going to set up a little drink station and play bartender. Tips welcome.
My close family will be here-my dad, mom, sister Rachel and her husband Jeremy, sister Kristin and her finace Mike, my little sister Hannah, Grandma H, and our new guest: Baby Jayden. He has his own supply of food, this year.
Together we will sit around the fire, drinking big mugs of spiced apple cider, sharing jokes and stories, quilting, passing around the fiddle, and smoking corncob pipes. Well...not really...but close.
We drink beer and play pool.
Nobody likes apple cider, either. Except my little sister, and I. We drink it and shiver in all of its delicious glory.
Ingredients:
1/2 gallon apple cider
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
A few strips of orange peel
1 cinnamon stick
A few whole cloves
1 star anise
Directions:
Stir together the apple cider and brown sugar, in a large saucepan, over medium heat. Add the rest of the ingredients, and heat mixture (stirring occasionally) until it starts to bubble slightly. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes, or until ready to serve. Ladle into mugs, straining out the spices.
Yield: 6-8 servings
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10 comments:
Don't you just love Thanksgiving!!??!! I love apple cider as well. I grew up next to an apple orchard, so we always had some in the fridge growing up. This sounds wonderful! Have a happy Thanksgiving!
yum. sounds lovely!
hope your thanksgiving was wonderful =)
I like the fact that baby Jayden will be walking with his own stash of food :)
Deb- I do! Growing up next to an apple orchard must have been fun.
Rebecca- Thanks! Hope yours went well, also.
Cynthia- Jayden was a good baby on Thanksgiving. He slept in my arms for 2 hours.
We love spiced cider and like to have it on the stove for holidays. It's fun to poke cloves into orange and apple slices and float them it it. YUM. Sounds excellent right now, as a matter of fact. And you are so right about Thanksgiving being about the food. Period.
i dont really like it either..too acidic and sourish..hehe
Kelley- Yes, making the cider was fun and easy. I actually liked the anise in it. You wouldn't want to use a lot of it, of course.
Joe- I guess...
Ahhh, family memories! We make this for every Thanksgiving and Christmas mornings!
Where did you get your cups and saucers from? It looks so pretty!
Really, it is already time to think about the holidays over there? Is it getting that cold so soon!? Since there is no Halloween or Thanksgiving here, they already have the Christmas stuff up in stores. With the mercury rising and the hot sun blazing and me about to take my first dip in the pool of the season, I just can't wrap my brain around it!
I don't hate 'cha for calling it dressing you Southern Belle! -And your cider looks might fine any time of the year to me! {I just might have to be icing it is all}
Okay, I got directed here from some link and didn't realized that this was NOT your latest entry! Ha! Okay, ALL of that is moot! Except the part about you being a Southern Belle.
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