We had a great weekend! I love Friday nights for many reasons, but I love that it is a no homework night. Some times the girls come home on Fridays and they want to do their homework, but I won't allow it :)! Thankfully this weekend the girls had very little homework and Samuel's was manageable. His reading teacher actually gave the homework that is also due tomorrow so we did most of it to keep homework down tonight. Samuel does have a social studies test today and a science test tomorrow, so I am praying he can stay focused these next two days and do well on them. All three kids were really sleepy this morning and they are ready for Thanksgiving break to get here.
Saturday Jeremy had something to do, but he took the girls with him. Samuel and I cleaned the house and started prepping for our Thanksgiving lunch on Sunday and I actually got a little too excited that I finally got my cornbread situation figured out. Cornbread situation? So, I remember eating beans and cornbread some times growing up and I really wasn't that crazy about it. My dad loves eating beans and cornbread and I remember him telling us that when he was growing up they ate beans and cornbread every day because it was so inexpensive. Jeremy also grew up eating beans and cornbread and when I started feeding a family of five I learned to also love beans and cornbread because it really is the cheapest meal you could probably make. I had my mother-in-laws recipe and I made it all the time in TN. Since we moved to Chicago my cornbread NEVER came out right! I was convinced that it was rebelling against living in the North :), but the main problem was that I could not find the self-rising cornbread mix and I probably tried six different cornbread meal and six different recipes and none of them turned out. I mean they were totally inedible. So against any trace of Southern roots that I have went out the window and I found a sweet cornbread mix in a box and that is what we have been eating with our beans and since I was already breaking the rules I actually used canned northern beans instead of soaking and cooking the beans for hours at a time. Every time I make this meal I can almost sense the Southern women in my life hanging their heads in shame. My other problem with not making my skillet cornbread was that I have several recipes that call for the cornbread and the box mix just wasn't working for those recipes. Insert this weekend, I had agreed to make my mother-in-laws famous cornbread dressing so I knew I had to figure this out! I was at Wal-Mart if Friday and behold, there was the self-rising cornbread mix! I snatched it up and I made two perfect pans of cornbread this weekend for the dressing and all is right in my culinary world. Samuel thought I had lost my mind taking a picture of it! Yesterday morning started super early so I could get my turkey in the oven and get ready for our lunch. I actually decided to make two smaller turkey breasts, one in my crock pot and one in the oven. I have to admit the crock pot turkey was amazing! I cooked that over night and it was so juicy and tender. The oven turkey turned out nice too, but I probably would of done a few things differently, but it all worked out. We all had invited several people, but things just did not work out for our family or friends to come so it turned out to be our core group. At first I was disappointed that we did not have more, but I think it turned out just the way it was supposed to. It was an amazing time of just being together and laughing and talking and it was just like being with family. I am very thankful for our friends! Everyone left around 3;00 and I hit the bed, I was so exhausted, but had a heart of thanks for everything God is doing here in our lives and in the people in this city.
Today I am going to put up my Christmas lights around my windows and will be dragging all of my Christmas stuff out. I will probably put the tree up tomorrow so the kids can help decorate it tomorrow night or Wednesday. Jeremy really doesn't like for the Christmas stuff to go up before Thanksgiving, but he is picking his battles :).
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| Samuel shares my disgust for any raw meat! |
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| My cornbread breakthrough |
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| Our Feast |
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