My Thanksgiving Favorites!

The Ham! I know traditionally it's turkey, but we decided to switch it up this year. Ham for Thanksgiving and turkey for Christmas. DISCLOSURE this is not a picture of my ham, sorry so busy cooking and everything I forgot to take a picture! Goal for next year. Yes we had a Thanksgiving meal with my side of the family last week, and on Thanksgiving we will have a meal with husband's family.

Ham
Ingredients:
Ham
2 cups water
2 beef bouillon cubes
12-14 oz can of pineapple chunks
small jar of cherries (won't use cherries, just the juice)
toothpicks to hold pineapple chunks on ham

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Put ham in roasting pan.
Add 2 cups of water with the 2 cups of beef bouillon.
I cooked ham on 350 degrees for 20 per pound. Last 30 minutes I took it out, made sure it was 165 degrees with meat thermometer. 
Took pineapple chunks out of can and stuck them on ham with toothpicks. Then poured the juice over ham. Next I held back the cherries with the lid of the jar, and poured the juice over ham.
Put ham back in oven for the last 30 minutes. Turned out juicy!

Classic Green Bean Casserole
Ingredients:
1 cup of milk
pepper to taste
2 - 10 oz can of cream of mushrooms soup
2 - 14.5 oz cans of cut green beans, drained
Approx. 2 cups of french fried onioins

Directions:
In 9x13 baking pan mix all ingredients (except french fried onions).
Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Stir, then top with french fried onions. I like to just go on outside. Bake additional 5 minutes.

Newest Addition - Corn Casserole (A friend once shared her recipe, of course I lost it and had to find one similar online. It turned out great!)
Ingredients:
15 oz can of whole kernel corn, drained
15 oz can of cream-style corn
1 package of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix (8oz)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup of shredded cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together (except cheese) in 9x9 greased pan.
Bake for 45 minutes, until middle has settled.
Take out, sprinkle on 1 cup of cheese. Put back in oven for 5-10 minutes.

Pecan Pie- Husbands favorite!
Ingredients:
Pre-made 9in. pie crust (I like the frozen kind, make sure to poke with holes and bake first)
1 cup white corn syrup
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 tsp salt
1/3 melted butter
3 eggs
2 cups pecan halves
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Cook pie crust as directions indicate.
Mix eggs in small bowl and put aside. Mix all other ingredients (expect pecans) in separate bowl, then stir in the eggs.
Put pecan halves onto plate (make sure they are spread out) and put in microwave for 2 minutes. When done put the pecans in pie crust. Next, add the filling into the pie crust. Place pie on cookie sheet in cause some spills over. (Lesson learned first time I made it.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and cook for 30 minutes add time if middle is not settled.

Well this is certainly not all that was on our table, but those are our favorites! Hope this helps any last minute cookers looking for a new way to cook something.

Up next will be a tribute to my upcoming 10 year anniversary with my amazing husband!

Thanksgiving Break

Phew ... it's finally here, Thanksgiving Break! I don't know what your busy life schedule includes, but we have been anticipating this break. Break from school and our regular humdrum schedule. Looking forward to the FOOD, some great fall weather so kids can play outside, and spending some quality time with family.

This is a picture of all my boys playing outside on our trampoline. They slept in (well most of them), and when they all got up and realized how warm it looked outside the first thing they did was to ask to go outside. Of course I couldn't say no, they were still in their pajamas. You truly have to enjoy this fall weather when you can, because here in Texas it doesn't last long.

Some of the things on my check-off-list to do this break are:
- Buy some Christmas and birthday gifts.
- Finish up sewing project (making tote bag from old jeans and dress).
- Go through the dreaded mail and shred all the dang credit cards they try to send to us! Or other junk mail that has any personal information on it, uhh I hate doing this!
- Let kids play outside as much as possible! Seriously you never know when it's going to get too cold or wet here.
- Of course eat lots of food, THANKSGIVING is the best!
- Spend time with family outside our immediate family while we can.
- RELAX try not to consume every moment with something planned to do, this is actually really hard for me to do.

As far as teaching what Thanksgiving is really about to our kids, I did a few different things this year. First I have always heard about a 'Thankful Tree' there are many pre-planned ideas online, but never did one. I decided just to do one of my own, I got some construction paper and make a tree trunk with a few branches. Nothing fancy as you can see. Cut out some leafs using different fall colors on construction paper. Then as a family (about once a week until Thanksgiving) we sit around our table think about what we are thankful for, and put it on a leaf. Sam (my sweet pea, now 3 y.o.) put down ones like; God and cousins. Matt (my rambunctious 5 y.o.) actually came up with some very biblical ones like; Jesus and that Jesus rose on the 3rd day. Josh (my practical 8 soon to be 9 y.o.) came up with ones like; our house, bible, sports, and family. I thought about what Daniel (my spunky now 20 mon. old) likes and wrote down things like; candy and cars. Dad was very insightful and wrote things down like; heater, home cooked meals, and a job. I put down things like; coffee and warm clothes. We all put down; friends, veterans, and grandparents. We still need to add some, but this was so simple and really made them think about how blessed we are.

I also just printed out some thanksgiving pictures, that they colored. We talked about how the Pilgrims came over and had a very rough first year in America. How the Indians helped us learn how to grow corn and other things for food. The first Thanksgiving the Pilgrims and Indians gathered together to celebrate their friendship and the hardship they had overcome. They used watercolors to paint the Mayflower. My oldest has learned some more facts in history but, really just used an informal way to learn and talk about Thanksgiving. 


1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV) 'in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.'

Up next on my blog will be my Thanksgiving Menu!

What is on My Lunch Menu

Grilled Cheese and Egg Sandwich

We first got the Egg Sandwich recipe from my sister-in-law, we just added our own twist to it. Thanks Kim! It now has become a weekend favorite.

What You Need:

Bread (slices depends on how many sandwiches you will make)
Eggs (boiled, estimate 1 per sandwich)
Miracle Whip (1 heaping tablespoon per egg)
Butter (to spread on sandwiches)
Cheese (I used velveeta and mozarella)

Step 1.                                             

Boil eggs.
The best way I (well actually my husband found this out online, we tried it and love it!) have found to boil eggs is to put eggs in pan, fill with water a little above the eggs, put on stove to boil, once it reaches a good boil turn off heat, leave on burner and put on the lid, then set the timer for 10 minutes.

 Fill pan with cold water. Let them sit for a few minutes to cool off. Then I empty water. Set eggs on counter, so I can use the pan to put the egg shells in. I tap an egg on the counter, then roll it. This cracks the whole egg.

 I get a piece of the shell and try to grab that thin layer under it, then it peels nicely.

 Had to take this picture of my helper peeling eggs with me.

Oh I love this egg slicer! I am sure I just bought it at Walmart or something. It first cuts them into wedges then smaller slices if you want.

I used four eggs. Kids wanted a boiled egg on the side of their grilled cheese sandwich.

 Since I used four eggs I added four heaping tablespoons of miracle whip.

 Use a spoon to mix. This is what the egg mixture looks like.

 Now I prepare for the grilled cheese sandwiches. We love to use velveeta, and I had some left over mozzarella slices I used too.

 I went ahead and spread the butter on the bread. I like to put butter on both sides!

Yep, that's how high our stack is. Almost the whole loaf.

 Next, I put one slice of bread on the griddle then add a piece of each of the types of cheese, then add the other piece of bread. I love my griddle, it works great for grilled cheese sandwiches, french toast and pancakes (and more, but that's what I can think of)! Also great to bring when camping.

 For those of us who wanted the egg in sandwich, I opened the grilled cheese sandwich right after I put it on the plate. Then added a good amount of egg mixture.

Yes, we use paper plates. Its lunch and its the weekend, don't judge me.

 End result. This is what kids plates looked like.
One day they will appreciate my new meals, right ?!?









This is what our plates looked like.

Yes, that is ketchup on our plates. We dip our grilled cheese and egg sandwich in it, don't  you?