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Saturday, November 29, 2014

A Canadian American Thanksgiving!

This past Thursday, we celebrated an American Thanksgiving at our house!  I started this tradition a couple of years ago because I had yet to cook a Thanksgiving meal for my family. Every year, my mother roasts the turkey and hosts our Canadian Thanksgiving at her house. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October. It's tradition and we wouldn't have it any other way!  She has been cooking our Thanksgiving meal ever since I can remember.  She prepares the turkey, stuffing and potatoes in a typical Portuguese fashion and boy, oh boy, is it ever delicious! 

Sooo, a couple of years ago, I decided to have a go at roasting my very own turkey.  I also made  traditional fixings like sweet potatoes, sage stuffing, and homemade cranberry sauce.  Well, it was such a hit, we now look forward to sharing the holiday with our American neighbors every year.  

Do you know what this means?  It means we get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice!  Two Thanksgivings?!  Yes, please!  


Here are a few highlights (and a couple of recipes) from our Thanksgiving dinner...



Thanksgiving Table


I set the table while listening to the Macy's Day Parade on T.V.  I was too busy with preparations to watch it all, so I recorded it to watch the following day!  



I absolutely love these brass alphabet napkin rings I bought from Indigo bookstore!  We each had our own initial!  The striped napkins I bought (brand new in their package) at a garage sale over the summer, as well as the crystal wine glasses!  :)



Sage Stuffing


Drying the loaf bread in the oven...




Sauteeing onions and celery in butter...





Sage stuffing is ready for the oven!




Homemade Cranberry Sauce


Ingredients

3 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water


Directions

Wash cranberries.  Mix sugar and water in a saucepan over medium high heat. Boil for 5 minutes (stirring once in a while). Add cranberries and simmer for another 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.  As the cranberry sauce cools, it will thicken.  Serve warm or refrigerate until ready to serve.



Marshmallow-stuffed Sweet Potato Balls


These sweet potato balls were inspired by a recipe from the mother of a dear friend of mine, Nancy Sussan.  I made them for the first time two years ago following her recipe exactly and used an entire large marshmallow in the center. This time, I cut the large marshmallows in half and in turn, it rendered smaller sweet potato balls.  These are very easy to make and they're so delicious! 

Ingredients

4 large sweet potatoes
6 large marshmallows (cut in half) 
cinnamon
2-3 cupscorn flake crumbs 

Directions

Roast sweet potatoes on a foil-lined cookie sheet in a 400 degree F oven for approximately 50 minutes to 1 hour (or until tender).  Allow them to cool.  

Peel and mash the sweet potatoes.  You can add butter, brown sugar, etc and season them to your liking.  I find that sweet potatoes are sweet enough on their own, so I simply add cinnamon.  

Next, take half a marshmallow and form a ball around it with the mashed sweet potatoes.  Roll the balls in the corn flake crumbs. 

Place the sweet potato balls in an oven-safe pan or dish and bake for approximately 20 minutes in a 350 degree F oven.  Careful not to over-bake them, or the marshmallows will pop!

Tips:

Wash your hands after you roll each ball.  They will get sticky!

It's more affordable to buy Corn Flakes cereal and crush the flakes yourself, than to buy the pre-crushed flakes. 


Let's Eat!!!









My world is sitting right here at this table!  I have so much to be thankful for!



And of course, we saved room for dessert...


Pumpkin Pie!


I made mini pumpkin pies - one for each of us!  We were absolutely stuffed!  

I hope my American girlfriends (you know who you are) had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!  I'm so thankful that I could share this special day with you!  Now it's time to prepare for Christmas!  Can you believe it's almost December?  Where did November go?










20 comments:

  1. Rosinda, my Sunshine...
    As always your Blogs are something that brings a smile to my face :)
    Love how you display everything with so much taste.Turkey, side dishes and desert look so delicious...Only you can so something like that!
    I'm so proud of the young lady you became...My daughter.. My best friend...One of my biggest Blessings :)

    Love you all so much...Hugs and kisses to you, Nuno, Anita and Annabel <3

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    1. Thanks, Mom! It makes me happy to know that you enjoy reading my posts! I love you! xoxo

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  2. Doesn't it all look wonderful and yummy!! I'm not sure I approve of cutting the marshmallows. Just make the balls thinner. I'm laughing here. My mother has a couple recipes for cranberry sauce, maybe both she used to mold, which was so pretty. Or maybe she did it in a bowl and I made molds. I really loved it and it was good leftover served with vanilla ice cream (my innovation). Your mini pumpkin pies look so charming. You did a great job fluting the edges. They look like ruffles. I'm so glad you get to have Thanksgiving with us every year. Next time don't forget the green beans. I feel no dinner is complete without a green veg. My mother (like everyone in those days) used to make a green bean dish that was made with canned green beans, canned mushroom soup, and was topped with those canned fried onion strips. I don't actually remember how it tasted, as you can imagine. I make everything fresh but that's not a dish I'd want to duplicate. I like my beans crisp and naked or buttered. Anyway don't forget the green! Your dinner was very pretty and I already mentioned those darling napkin rings. ♥

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    1. Thank you, Nancy! I do prefer the marshmallows cut in half. You can't get away with a thin layer of sweet potatoes around the large marshmallow, that's why I cut them in half. The balls are smaller and not so much marshmallow inside. They were perfect this way! Hope you, Dolly and Boo had a fab Thanksgiving!

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  3. Looks fabulous!!

    We always make our own cranberry sauce too - nothing compares.

    Your stuffing looks scrumptious - I'm never ever happy with mine!!!

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    1. Thank you, Jill! What type of stuffing do you make? I can share my recipe with you, if you like! xx

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  4. This looks like an amazing time! This year, for the first time, I made cranberry sauce following Susan Branch's recipe on the November page of her calendar. Very pleased with the outcome here.

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    1. Thank you, Nellie! Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday! I made Susan's recipe for cranberry sauce a couple of years ago. The cinnamon and cloves were a nice touch, however, the actual cooking time was 3 to 4 hours. The recipe I use takes only ten minutes plus cooling time, and it turns out delicious!

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  5. What a simply gorgeous spread, darling! It all looks delicious, and I loved the pretty table & the happy family tucking in with gusto! What a great tradition to have TWO Thanksgivings...much love to you xoxo

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    1. Thank you, sweetheart! Love and miss you! Happy December!. Love and hugs to you, Paul and Alice! xx

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  6. How lovely your Thanksgiving feast looks, Rosinda! We should all have more Thanksgivings! There is so much to be thankful for! I love the way your heart thinks. Have a lovely week as we all prepare for Christmas. xoxo ♥

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    1. Thank you, dear Martha! I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We chopped down our Christmas tree yesterday and Timmy, our elf on the shelf has returned! Happy December! xoxo

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  7. Hi Rosinda, What a feast! Your Canadian/American Thanksgiving looks amazing! What a nice tradition to celebrate with us! Thank you for sharing your recipes! I am going to try the sweet pototoes. They look so good AND with a hidden marshmallow inside might be just the trick to get John to eat one! Your table looked beautiful (love the napkin rings!) and I also watched the Macy's parade. Good idea to tape it! Every year on Thanksgiving we go to family's house on the holiday. I think next year on Canadian Thanksgiving I will cook my first turkey! Then I can celebrate with you : ) So glad you had a blessed day. So much to be thankful for! Now, it's on to Christmas! xo

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    1. Thank you so much, Danielle! I hope you and your family had a happy Thanksgiving! You will love the sweet potato balls! John may just eat them knowing there's a sweet surprise hiding inside! How lovely it would be f you roasted your first turkey next year on our Canadian Thanksgiving!! This way, we c can celebrate with each other every year! :)

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  8. Hi Dear Rosinda, Your Thanksgiving table looks very inviting and the turkey with all of your trimmings are perfect in every way. I am curious about your sage dressing, I have always used poultry seasoning so I would love to know how much sage you added to your mixture. It looks fantastic! Will be trying the marshmallow and sweet potatoe recipe too.
    This is a lovely post Rosinda and it truly shows what a beautiful family you have.
    Hugs. . .Audrey.
    p.s.(off topic here, but I did find some EB mugs, not the one that I really love, but the ones I found are very nice. . .so maybe. . .will let you know.

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    1. Thank you so much, Audrey! I added two teaspoons of dried sage along with a few sprigs of fresh sage to the dressing. It turned out delicious! Speaking of EB, did you receive an email from the website last week? They were offering discounted shipping! Hope you find a mug you love soon! Keep an eye out for the holiday sales!! xx

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  9. You did such a beautiful job!! It qualifies you as an American by way of stuffing!! Love all of you....Joann xo

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    1. Ahh, thank you, sweet friend! Love you, too...very much! xo

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  10. I do not know how I missed this post! Those sweet potato balls look delicious- I'm going to try them! xx

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    1. Thanks, Patricia! Let me know what you think! :)

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