What's Cooking This November

If November is known for nothing else, it's known for Thanksgiving...and by extension, lots and lots of delicious food. But the goodies aren't just consumed at Thanksgiving; in our house, it feels like I'm always working on some food-related project during this month (and December too, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent). Here are a few of my foodie highlights from the month so far:

I made my annual batch of applesauce a few weeks ago. This is probably my family's favorite home-canned treat that I make, and lucky for me, it's one of the easiest foods to can at home. Here's my recipe for applesauce, if you'd ever like to try making your own. As usual, I made the applesauce out of Jonathan apples....in my humble opinion, Jonathan apples make the best applesauce!

This time around, I had a little help...

I didn't have to pressure Aurora to be my helper; she volunteered happily! It was wonderful to have an extra pair of hands, even if they were tiny.

She especially loved washing the apples off for me, and for sticking the apple slices into my stock pot. Sure, she eventually got a bit bored and wandered off, but not before helping me with my first batch.

 

She also helped with "clean-up"...by licking off the applesauce leftovers from the pot. Aurora is a girl who doesn't normally like getting her hands dirty, so for her to eat applesauce with her bare hands is high praise indeed.

Next time I make applesauce, I'm going to have to try doing it when my girls are home from school. Sometimes, I think of canning as something to do when my kids aren't around. However, they're getting old enough that I need to start actually teaching them how it's done, and hopefully trying it out later for themselves.

On another topic, it wouldn't be November if I didn't make a ton of these...

It's the time of year when I hand out my delicious delicious pumpkin chocolate-chip bread to my piano students & friends. Here's the recipe for the bread, for those who want to try it out! (Don't be scared, it's a very easy recipe and it makes a lot of bread).

Believe it or not, I was trying to cut back on the amount of bread I made this year! I'm pretty sure I made a batch or two less than most years. Oddly enough, I felt like I had more time than usual to make them; perhaps because my kids are all in school and I'm less rushed during the day? Either way, I managed to give away most of the bread, but there are still two loaves hanging around in the freezer taunting me. We'll see how long they last.

I have also been cooking in preparation for December. Yes, in preparation for December. My friend Miranda is heading up the ward Christmas party this year, and I volunteered my services. I was promptly put on the food committee, and asked to bake 150 Christmas cookies. However, I was to freeze these cookies, because the party isn't for three more weeks!

These are "Grinch" cookies; they're green, with a heart "two sizes too small" in the middle. Cute idea! Luckily, I didn't have to make the cookie dough; it was delivered to me. But it was a long night of cooking all the same. It was hard to resist trying one out; I am curious to see what they taste like!

And of course, it wouldn't be November without a huge turkey:

Yes, I realize this is the day before Thanksgiving. We're having our actual Thanksgiving dinner at Nathan's mom's house tomorrow afternoon; however, I just couldn't let the holiday pass by without cooking a turkey! So we invited the missionaries over for dinner tonight so I would have an excuse to "host" a Thanksgiving.

 

As you might expect, I overdid it on the food. But it was no problem to send the missionaries home with a bunch of leftovers, and we still had a lot left over ourselves! Now I need to save room for the terrific feast that is awaiting us at Grandma's house tomorrow. I hope all my friends & loved ones have a wonderful Thanksgiving, eating delicious food and counting their blessings. That's what I plan on doing.