Thanksgiving Recipes

Here are some of the recipes from the Thanksgiving meal we juts hosted - all tried and tested and DELICIOUS!

First - the turkey dressing (did you know, t's called that if you cook it outside the fowl, and stuffing if you cook it inside the bird's cavity - some general knowledge for you!). Go on over here, and take a look - it was yum!

Grandma Ople Apple Pie (No idea whose Gran this is, but it is an awesome pie!)
Ingredients

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (I used Braveheart's Gran's recipe for the pastry, can't buy no pie crusts here that I know of!))
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

K's Pumpkin Crisp

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 package butter flavor yellow cake mix -- I couldn't find this and used vanilla cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup butter, melted
whipped cream (optional)

Stir together the first five ingredients. Pour into a lightly greased 13 x 9" baking dish. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle evenly with the pecans. Drizzle butter evenly over pecans. Bake at 350° for 50-55 min. or until golden brown. Remove from oven, and let stand 10 min. before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream. Sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg if desired. (it's also good served warm with ice cream)

CL's Mouthwatering Sweet Potato Casserole

1  c  sugar
1  can sweet potatoes  or 3-4 fresh potatoes  (mashed)
2  eggs-beaten
1 stick butter-melted    

 (She tries to use a little less than this! Also, a stick of butter here equates to about 8 Tablespoons)
1/2 cup canned evaporated milk
1  tsp  vanilla

Mix above together & pour into baking dish.

Topping:

1  c  brown sugar
1/3   c  flour
1  c  chopped pecans
1/3   c melted butter

Mix together & pour over potato mixture.

Bake 350*F (baked it on 180*C here in SA) for 35 minutes (or until bubbly and brown on top).

 Enjoy!

Weekend Wrap-Up

My grand plan worked on Friday evening, and I had the kids in bed by 615 - utterly shattered. They didn't make a sound until we got home at about 10! We had a lovely time out - I made the mistake of trying to drive like lady when the boys were driving like maniacs! A great outing!

I made these kebabs for dinner - a great make ahead thing for nights like this. I marinaded cubed chicken breasts in this:

• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon soya sauce
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons fruit chutney
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tsp curry powder

for the whole day. Then cut up red pepper into cubes and a red onion into quartered slices. The kids loved helping me to make this just before dinner. For theirs I threaded just chicken onto toothpicks, and the adults ones I used the pepper, onion and chicken on larger kebab sticks and then grilled them. And you know what? the kids devoured them! Oh yes, this one's a winner!

Aragorn avoiding having a picture taken!

On Saturday morning Braveheart had some things he needed to do at Canal Walk - it pains me to be in a mall on a beautiful day - truly it does. I'm fine to be at the shops on a windy or rainy day, but on a  beautiful wind free sunny day in Cape Town - aaaagh!  I did score though - CUM books has a green dot sale, and I managed to buys the Little Boys Bible Storybook for Mothers and Sons for only 20 Rand (it was 129!) I intend to use this for our Bible Studies next year.

Later on Saturday we attempted Fishoek beach, as did everyone else, and it was most unpleasant. We all had an ice cream (nyum) and left as soon as we could! I'm funny - I love crowds at certain places - the fan walk for example, didn't phase me at all. But this beach on Saturday afternoon made me feel very uncomfortable. Funny huh?

Sunday dawned,  another wonderfully beautiful day, and I went off for my first ride of the season. It was beautiful. Truly, (and no, I won't be taking my camera with me every ride!). It was however quite disappointing  - I have spun throughout winter (that is the right past tense of spin hey?) and yet I found this ride over Chappies and into Hout Bay so tough! Lucky for me I still have a good few months to train for the Argus!

My riding partner loves stopping for coffee, which drives me mad! Nothing
quite like just getting into a rhythm and sitting down for coffee.
However, I will say this - this little spot, Deli Delicious
is just lovely! (Hout Bay)

I got home to find Braveheart had taken the kids to Fishoek beach, so changed my shoes, had a quick shower and joined them there...

Belle loves the beach!

Aragorn and photos - sigh!

Sunday afternoon was lazy - we had the future tenants of our house round for tea, and then signed the lease for our new home (cue to celebrate here!)...but sadly won't get the keys until later this month. And  family round for a braai. So lovely really!

Oh, and this? This is how my week began this morning - how stunning is this day?

Quick Dinner

Today is a 'park day' for the homeschooling community in our area, and I have offered to organize some games for the kids today - should be relatively amusing considering they range in age from 3 weeks to 10! 

So, as we will probably get home quite late and somewhat hungry, this is one of my standard quick fix meals (that may very well offend some purists, but here goes anyway!). 

This is the original recipe:

1 packet brown onion soup

1 packet cream of mushroom or chicken soup

1 litre box mango juice

6-8 chicken breasts

Sprinkle the soup packets over chicken in a large rectangular  dish, pour juice over and bake till cooked! Serve with rice and salad.

Now I have used all kinds of chicken cuts - pieces (drumsticks and thighs), breasts on the bone (this is the most economical - I then take the chicken off the bone once it's cooled down and then it's like a casserole) and skinless breasts (these cook fast like this).

I prefer the cream of chicken as the rest of my family is adverse to mushrooms, and I once made it with apricot juice which didn't work so well! I also add a chopped onion to begin with, and to make it stretch I use beans and carrots (thinly sliced) covering the casserole dish. Works like a charm and it's never failed! So this dish has already been cooked (it's lunchtime now) and the salad can be made ahead too. Then while the kids are bathing later, I'll cook the rice - and voila - dinner is served!

What are your quick never fail meals?

ps -I've also replaced the juice with water in tough times, and it still works!