Thanksgiving Tidbits

 

My Grandma Neelly was notorious for cutting people's heads off. 

Don't get me wrong: She was the most mild-mannered, even-tempered lady. But give her a camera, and she'd chop off your head in a heartbeat.  Lisa said she must have been channeling Grandma Neelly when she took the photo of her Thanksgiving crowd. Randy was the victim in this case. (He should have moved into Lisa's chair. Oh well!)

All is forgiven. We were just thankful to be included in the Thanksgiving feast hosted in Clay Center. And it was a good laugh while we remembered. My brother was the chauffeur for my parents, and we joined the Bauer crew for a delicious traditional meal.

The next day, Randy and I had a different kind of Thanksgiving at Jill's. Daughter-in-law Susan and daughter Jill came up with the idea to do an appetizer competition for our little family's Thanksgiving. It was just as tasty. We were all supposed to add our offering to a Google Doc so we didn't end up with eight versions of the Cranberry Relish Dip over cream cheese. As it turned out, no one brought that. (I'm sure it will be on my Christmas menu.)

Most people complied with revealing their contributions, though Brent was adamant that his would remain a secret until the event. Jill developed a ballot, and everyone scored each appetizer with a 1 to 5, with 5 being the best. If someone refused to even take a taste of the appetizer, you had to give that dish a 3. (There was some controversy concerning that scoring decision among our participants).

And, drum roll please: My appetizer won. (A caveat ... None of these food photos is great. Most were taken after we'd already eaten and not taken very creatively. But maybe they are better than nothing.)

I brought homemade soft pretzel bites with a warm beer cheese dip.  (I also had a platter of fresh veggies you could dip, too.) 

My offering was one of several that came off our family's go-to recipe website, Sally's Baking Addiction. As Jill says, "Sally never lets you down." 

I've made a lot of yeast bread. In fact, I also took the yeast crescent rolls for our Thanksgiving celebration at Lisa's. But this was the first time I'd used a soda water bath. I'd always been kind of intimidated by the thought, but it turned out to be easy - though a little messy. 

Still, I'm already thinking about making them again for our family's Christmas "charcuterie" evening meal. (We'll have the traditional ham with trimmings for our noon meal and go the appetizer route for supper.)

Brooke's focaccia turkey sliders and Kinley's fruit kabobs.

Brooke also used Sally's arsenal of recipes, making homemade focaccia to make turkey sliders. We were all highly complimentary of her efforts. 

Remember Brent's huge mystery contribution? It was Candied Prosciutto Crackers. Yummy! 

Susan brought Sausage Stuffing Balls, also a contender. 

Eric used his love of Little Smokies and turned them into an appetizer version of pigs-in-a-blanket with a cranberry/mustard dipping sauce. There were only two left when I got around to taking a photo at the end, so they were popular, too.

Jill said she knew that her Harvest Salad probably wouldn't be the most popular. But it was a nice, fresh addition to our menu. And it was a winner among those of us who like a little green with our meals.  

It seemed that effort was rewarded among our voters. Kinley's fruit kabobs and Randy's shrimp cocktail platters received the lowest scores, though we enjoyed them, too. (Randy knew what he was bringing as soon as the appetizer theme was announced. And, bonus points: He shopped for his own contribution rather than just adding it to my grocery list for me to pick up.) 

We are thankful that son-in-law Eric has long arms so that we could all end up in a selfie. 

There was a bonus optional competition for desserts. (I didn't get photos of those, but they were just as delicious.) Brooke made a banana cream pie, and Eric made a coconut cream pie. Susan contributed a blueberry-pear galette, and Jill made an apple-cranberry bar, also from Sally's website. (She used the filling recipe from the Apple Cranberry Crumble Pie and the crust recipe from Salted Caramel Apple Bars. The caramel apple bars are a family favorite already.)

I brought the leftover pecan, coconut and pumpkin pies that I'd made for the Bauer Thanksgiving. We had plenty of sweet treats! (I use the same syrup for both the coconut and pecan pies.)  

I am not including the recipe for the Pretzel Bites - just giving you the link. Sally's Baking Addiction has great, detailed instructions, and you might as well get it straight from the source. She even has a video, if you're a visual learner. She had a cheese sauce linked, but I used a different one. 

I saw this recipe from a Hutchinson kitchen store, Apron Strings, and wanted to try it. It was a hit, too, and I'm sure I'll make it again.

Beer Cheese Dip

From an Apron Strings email  

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 clove garlic, minced
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup lager beer
1-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated (1-1/2 cups)
1/2 cup Gruyère cheese, grated
2 tablespoons chives, finely minced (opt)

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Once melted, add the minced garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes. Create a roux by gradually whisking in the flour until all is incorporated.

Reduce the heat to low and add the cream, beer, and Worcestershire sauce. Continue to stir. Whisk in the spices. Slowly add the cheeses and stir until melted and the sauce becomes smooth. Taste and add additional salt or spices, if desired. Garnish with chives, if desired. Enjoy immediately.

I doubled the recipe to take to Jill's.  

***

All the girls went on a Black Friday shopping expedition to help me fulfill the wishes for two sisters from our Stafford community's Angel Tree. As we were coming back, Kinley wanted to know if they could wrap them, too. What a huge help!  

 

Then, on Saturday, Randy and I froze along with other Wildcat fans at the K-State vs. Colorado football game. The stands were definitely not packed. 

It was brisk! We had all the weather covered - rain, sleet, snow and even a little sunshine - very little sunshine. 

We sat in my folks' seats. If we'd have been in our regular seats, we would have faced that north wind the entire time, so we lucked out ... sort of. It was still cold!

But we got a victory to end the regular season and qualify for a post-season bowl game.

Through the purple smoke! 

And I left my car seat warmer on the entire way home.   

 

Angels Among Us

Kinley is not sure the Santa we saw at Manhattan's WalMart was the real Santa - her words, not mine.

"I think the real Santa might be too busy working in his workshop," Kinley told us.

The WalMart Santa was friendly enough, but he wasn't as hefty as the stereotypical version. And then, when we went to a Christmas festival just down the road at Blue Earth Plaza and saw Santa again, Kinley was even more skeptical.

"How'd he get over here so fast?" she said, as we hurried the duo past the curving line of children and parents waiting to talk to Santa and checked out the ice sculptures instead.

 

Brooke didn't offer an opinion about Santa's authenticity. But she was not going to interact without the buffer provided by Grandpa. 

Randy is hoping that it was the real guy from the North Pole and not just an imposter.

"I want a new tractor," he boldly told the man.
"What kind?" Santa's helper asked.
"Red," Randy proclaimed, clearly trying to appeal to the guy's fashion sense.

Santa looked at me and said, "Do you suppose he'll get a red tractor for Christmas?"

I looked at Santa and said, "I kind of doubt it, even though he's been pretty good this year."

At the time, I was questioning my decision to be at WalMart on a Saturday in December. When we entered the doors, there wasn't a cart available. We waited until someone leaving politely asked if we needed a cart.

And I was there with two little girls - neither of whom wanted to ride in the cart. They were willing to hold onto the cart, but that made us worthy of a "wide load" designation in a store packed with shoppers, carts and aisles with items strategically placed to entice us to buy, buy, buy!

But we were there for a specific purpose: Before we left Stafford to babysit the girls for the weekend, I'd gotten a gift tag from the Stafford Angel Tree. I asked for a little girl in the 3 to 6 age range because I wanted my experts to help me.

There were a couple of reasons for that. First, I'm notoriously decision-challenged. (Just ask my family.) Second, I thought it was a good exercise for Kinley and Brooke. On our way across town, I told the girls that we were going to shop for a little girl who, according to the gift tag, "likes reading and coloring," two activities they love, too. I told them that the tag gave us her shoe size and clothing sizes and that we'd pick out those things, too. Her parent also said, "She'll be happy with anything!" That sentiment made me even more eager for the girls to wander the toy aisles for what they thought would be the perfect toy to add to the Christmas bag.

I explained that this little girl might not get much for Christmas unless we helped out.

"Why?" my curious helpers asked.

"Well, sometimes Mommys and Daddys don't have enough money to buy toys or even new shoes," I explained. "Sometimes boys and girls don't have as much as you guys do, so it's up to us to help them out so they can have a fun Christmas, too, just like you guys will."

Earlier in the month, the girls and their Mommy had already packed shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, a project at their church. They had found treasures small enough to pack inside a shoe box.

For the Angel Tree project, we didn't have that size restriction. The hardest part was paring down the girls' choices. In the end, they picked out light-up shoes, saying their Mommy didn't let them choose the illuminated version for themselves during their last shoe-shopping trip. They selected clothing, books, coloring book and crayons, as well as a baby doll complete with stuffed animal.

When Jill and Eric got home, Jill quizzed the girls about what they'd done. They talked about the cookie decorating and the ice sculptures at the Christmas festival. They showed their craft creations.

But then Brooke offered an explanation about shopping for another little girl. And I was amazed at how much her 3-year-old mind had retained, telling Mommy that we were helping a little girl have a good Christmas.

I usually bring a bag of library books to read when we visit the girls. This past weekend, my voice was out of commission because of a cold. But there were evidently lessons taking place anyway.

Besides the lessons about sharing and giving, Grandma learned that she still was able to get three people ready and out the door in time for an 8:30 church service. (I did let Grandpa fight a shoe selection battle while I went to change.)

Grandma also learned that it's nice to just sit in the audience and enjoy the show at a church Christmas program. (I was in charge of the Stafford UMC Christmas musicals and programs for a lot of years, so I appreciate all the work behind the scenes.)

And, if I get discouraged about my lack of progress in decorating and baking for Christmas because I'm still fighting this silly cold, I'll just watch the video of Brooke and her preschool buddies rehearsing their big moment in the church Christmas program. And I'll remember her sweet little voice telling her Mommy that we were helping another little girl have a good Christmas.

That's what it's all about anyway.


Brooke's Away in a Manger from Kim Fritzemeier on Vimeo.