planning holiday meals

Next week is Thanksgiving and my family is coming to eat dinner with us; my daughters, their husbands and children, my sister and her family and my nephew and niece and their families--about 17 total. We'll cook lots of good food, eat too much and laugh a lot. That's how it usually is when we get together and I don't expect this year to be much different.

I'm mentally making up my shopping list for the meal, trying to get all the details straight in my head and before I forget anything, I will write it down. Gotta have it down on paper or I will forget something important. It's happened before.

I like planning for a get-together. I enjoy the hugeness of it all. Ten pounds of potatoes, ham and turkey, stuffing, gravy, rolls, pies and cakes. I love looking through magazines for new taste treats and watching the Food Network for something tasty and different to serve. This whole thing would be very enjoyable were it not for one special person missing--my mother.

I miss my mom a lot right now.

All the arrangements, the menu ideas, different dishes to try--that's what we did every holiday--we'd talk about and mentally prepare dish after dish beforehand. She would get so excited about some new dessert or veggie dish she'd see on television that I'd have to find the recipe for her online. She'd study it and we'd discuss how good it sounded and how we could tweak it and make it even better than the original. We did it every holiday, every year. When we couldn't discuss anything else, we could talk food. That's what we did until she died. I'd sit in the chair in her room and she'd be in her bed, and we'd watch Paula Deen or Emeril or Ina Garten and we'd cook along with them, thirty minutes at a time.

"Now, Suzy, I think if we added just a little bit more butter..."

According to my mother everything tasted better with a little more butter. Funny thing is, it usually did taste better. So, we planned, and we cooked, and we baked--if only in spirit. I can still talk a good game when it comes to food, and I daresay I can cook a little too, but the sparkle is gone right now because my cooking partner isn't here to share it with me. Maybe that sparkle will come back one day soon. I surely hope so, because when it's good, it's grand.

Here's a simple side that is different and tasty. It's one we saw on Paula Deen's cooking show and we had it for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. Mama and I loved it. I hope you like it, too.

Pineapple Casserole
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 25 min
8 servings

1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups grated sharp cheddar
2 (20-ounce) cans pineapple chunks, drained
6 tablespoons pineapple juice reserved
1 cup cracker crumbs (recommended: Ritz)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted, plus extra for greasing pan

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a medium-size casserole dish with butter.

In a large bowl, stir together the sugar and flour. Gradually stir in the cheese. Add the drained pineapple chunks, and stir until ingredients are well combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish.

In another medium bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, melted butter, and reserved pineapple juice, stirring with a rubber spatula until evenly blended. Spread crumb mixture on top of pineapple mixture. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

I miss my mother so very much right now but I plan to enjoy the rest of my family and these special days to the fullest this year. They are my joy and the lights of my life. The Lord has blessed me with the best family anywhere. The Lord is good and I appreciate his vast blessings to me.

Father, my heart is full with thanksgiving to you. I am a grateful woman. I love you.

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Suz