Thanksgiving ...

Well - here we are at the last day of November.  It is hard to believe that December is upon us and Christmas is just around the corner.

We have just come through the Thanksgiving holiday.  At our house this year, it was over a week long event (and I loved it!).  My parents came in last Friday afternoon, our daughter, son in law, and the 3 most beautiful grandchildren in the world arrived later that evening.  We had a great time with all of them here - played games, checked the cows, and the son in law even got to go out hunting as we set up a deer feeder in our back pasture.  They had to head home on Monday, but my parents stayed.  Our son came in from college on Tuesday evening and the guys got to have some time together on Wednesday.  Thanksgiving day was a bittersweet day.  My sister and her boys came over to spend the day with all of us - their first without my brother in law, who passed away in June after a long battle with ALS.  We missed his laugh, his sense of humor and his love for all of us!

The day was filled with tears, laughter, games, football and of course food.  The guys also got to go out to the ranch to do some target shooting - think they enjoyed it!  Games of choice were Spades and 42.  We were blessed to have everyone here and love the time spent with family.

My parents and our son left this morning - sure was quiet!

This is a food blog so I am getting to the food.  We did not have a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal.  No turkey and dressing.  Instead we opted for beef.  The brisket was excellent - cooked all night long with the Red Mud sauce (Thank you again, Lane and Susi Thompson) and it was so tender, juicy and had great flavor.  We had baked beans, cole slaw, cheesy potatoes, green beans with tomatoes, cowboy biscuits, pecan, pumpkin, and chocolate merignue pies.  it was excellent!  I am sharing 2 recipes today.  The baked beans is actually my mother in law's recipe and is one of our favorites.  The pumpkin pie is one that I ran across several years ago and it is the best one yet!  Hope yall enjoy!

Baked Beans
3 cans (15 oz.) Van Camp's pork and beans
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dried, minced onions
1/4 tsp. dried red peppers
4 slices bacon, cut in half
1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the first 7 ingredients in a oven proof dish.  I use a 13 x 9 pyrex dish for mine.  Stir all ingredients together.  Place bacon slices on top and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar over the bacon (this will carmelize as the bacon cooks on top of the beans and give a great topping).

Cook for 45-55 minutes until bubbling and thick.


Pumpkin Pie
(from Borden)
1 9" unbaked pie shell (see earlier post for recipe)
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin
1 can (14 oz.) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground Ginger
1/2 tsp. ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In large mixer bowl, combine all ingredients except pastry shell; mix well.  Pour into pastry shell.  Cover crust with a circle of foil or a pie crust cover.  Bake 15 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees; bake 35 - 40 minutes longer or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean.  Cool Garnish as desired.  Refrigerate leftovers.  Serve with sweetened whipped cream.

Flat Enchiladas

This is a staple at our house.  My children actually thought that Mexican food was a major food group when they were growing up - we had some version at least once a week.  This is a very easy recipe to put together but is very filling.  You can add a salad, chips, salsa, guacamole - anything you like to finish out the meal.

Ingredients:
Corn tortillas
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. Spicy Montreal seasoning
1 can Ranch Style Beans (you can use refried beans or pinto beans)
1 can Enchilada Sauce
Cheddar Cheese - grated
Tomato - chopped
Avocado - chopped
Salsa
Guacamole
Sour Cream

Heat a skillet to brown ground beef.  Add ground beef, salt, cumin and Montreal seasoning.  Cook, scrambling the beef until it cooked through with no pink.  Keep warm as you prepare the tortillas.  To cook the corn tortillas, heat oil in a small skillet (needs to be large enough to hold the tortillas).  Once oil is hot, cook corn tortillas, one at a time.  Place carefully in oil, count to 3, turn over, count to 3 and remove to a paper towel lined plate.  Continue cooking until you have enough for at least 2 per person.

Heat beans and enchilada sauce - I just put in bowls and heat in the microwave.

To prepare the enchiladas - place one corn tortilla on a plate.  Add ground beef, beans, cheese, enchilada sauce (and hot sauce if desired).  Layer another corn tortilla on top and layer ingredients in the same order.  If you would like the cheese melted, heat about 30 seconds in the microwave.  Add fresh tomatoes, avocados, salad, etc. and serve.  If you would like - you can add fresh chopped onions as well.  No pictures - sorry we ate them too quickly and I didn't think about getting a picture.

Enjoy!

Red Velvet Butter Chews

Ok - finally  - I got my new computer and can actually post again.  It has been a while and some things have changed in the past couple of weeks that have taken time away, but I will work to start this up again.  The recipe for today is one that I found but changed up a bit.  It is a very easy recipe that takes a short time to put together.  Let me know what you think.

Red Velvet Butter Chews

1 box Red Velvet cake mix

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 stick butter, softened

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup white chocolate chips

2 eggs

2 cups powder sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with nonstick foil.

Combine cake mix, 1 egg and butter with a large spatula or wooden spoon.  Keep folding over and pressing mix until it makes a dough that

resembles children’s play dough.  Using your fingers, press dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.  Sprinkle with the white chocolate chips and gently press into the dough so they do not roll around.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and eggs for 30 seconds.  Stir in sugar just until combined, then beat on medium speed for 3 minutes until smooth.  Spoon the cream cheese mixture evenly over the bottom layer.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until center is set.  Remove from oven and let cook on rack at room temperature.  Dust with powder  sugar if desired.  Slice cookie bars into squares to serve.