Happy thanksgiving (with recipe)

Thanksgiving is one of the reasons November is my favorite month. The food, the family, the camraderie, the laughter...it's a wonderful holiday. An unspoiled warm moment in life, and I hope everyone has a good one.

For those in a last-second bind, below is one of my favorite recipes of all time:
Apple Pecan Stuffing

1/3 cup Butter, divided	1/8 tsp Ground sage
2/3 cup Diced onion	1/8 tsp Ground marjoram
2/3 cup Diced celery	1/8 tsp Ground thyme
3 cup Diced apples	1/2 tsp Dried parsley flakes
3 cup Day-old bread	1/2 cup Chopped pecans
1 tsp Salt	1/2 cup Water
1/2 tsp Black pepper

1. Melt 1/4 cup butter into skillet
2. Add onion and celery. Cook until tender.
3. Add to bread.
4. Melt remaining butter in skillet.
5. Stir in apples.
6. Cook until golden.
7. Add apples to bread mixture.
8. Mix in salt, pepper, sage, marjoram, thyme, parsley, and pecans.
9. Add water and mix thoroughly.

Makes enough for a ten pound turkey.

A bold stand for turkey

I don't get the whiny petulance I've read about how horrible turkey is on several blogs. As with almost all food, the quality is as much as a good cook can bring out of it. With the right gravy and stuffing, such as my family provided today, turkey is delicious. Here's my advice for stuffing: use this recipe...

Apple Pecan Stuffing

Butter
2/3 cup Diced onion
2/3 cup Diced celery
3 cup Diced apples
3 cup Day-old bread
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black pepper
1/8 tsp Ground sage
1/8 tsp Ground marjoram
1/8 tsp Ground thyme
1/2 tsp Dried parsley flakes
1/2 cup Chopped pecans
1/2 cup Water

1. Melt 1/4 cup butter into skillet
2. Add onion and celery. Cook until tender.
3. Add to bread.
4. Melt 2 tbsp butter in skillet.
5. Stir in apples.
6. Cook until golden.
7. Add apples to bred mixture.
8. Mix in salt, pepper, sage, marjoram, thyme, parsley, and pecans.
9. Add water and mix thoroughly.

Makes enough for a ten pound turkey.

Not to mention the eight varieties of pies for dessert. Ohhh.... Anyway, a Belated Happy Thanksgiving. And thanks to noternie for reminding me to listen to Alice's Restaurant.

Here's what you do...

I love to cook, and on occasion will post recipes for my loyal reader who actually looks at this blog during July. Here's a light, easy, healthy cook-out favorite:

Apple Yogurt Salad

3 apples (Braeburn works best, or Fuji or Gala)
1 container light, fat-free vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds

Core, then dice the apples into small pieces.
In a separate bowl, combine the yogurt, cinnamon and honey. Wisk together.
Pour the mixture over the apples, and mix gently until coated.
Sprinkle with almonds.

Posting will be light...baking

One of the essential Christmas activities is baking.

I won't give away too many secrets, but I will say the best new recipe to come to my attention this season has been the Chris Dodd family cookie recipe at Yankee Magazine (though I tend to add 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon of cloves, rather than the full teaspoon of cloves recommended in the recipe).