Good job rating to ALL OF US. We made it to December which is a major thing this year of 2020. The Turkey Dinner Time has come and gone with hopefully a few good things that were left over for later treats. I really liked the leftover stuffing that I put in some of my fresh French onion soup with a few chunks of cheese. That was divine! I also just saw a recipe for making waffles with left over stuffing but I have to get more stuffing mix to try that.

Back in the old days of childhood times, I got out of having to milk cows on Thanksgiving morning because I got to make the stuffing and stuff the turkey. Those were the days when you had to BAKE the turkey for hours. I gathered up weeks of dried bread crumbs and made the huge amount of stuffing needed for the turkey plus on the side. Butter and turkey parts were boiled and picked over and then just the right amount of sage and other additives were mixed in. The turkey was packed and the back end was sealed with a firm piece of bread and some thread and lugged over to the oven to start its hours long journey. Now a days a few minutes of Stove Top mix works wonders. I had purchased the more expensive Pepperidge Farm mix but it appeared to be mostly bread and it appeared you had to add your own herbs to give it any taste. Not doing that one again!

Another sign of the times is getting out the light source to combat the winter blues. Daughter Nissa (very wisely) advised me that starting it before I felt that I needed it would help me ease into the dark days of winter. I had put off for years getting a light and found out that it really makes a HUGE difference for me. That and the combination of me doing the organic applique made the past winter, complete with Covid 19 mess, go by without any problems at all.

We have also made it through a very different Black Friday, Local Shopping Saturday, and Cyber Monday shopping. I was not going to do a lot of shopping anyway so it was not a big deal for me. I did treat myself to a chocolate order from Lindt (for the whole family of course) and a funky floor lamp for the She Shed for a birthday present to myself. As you may recall the Tooth Fairy took very good care of me by getting me 80 chocolate magazines for having my number 14 tooth removed and well he should have since I still have problems with it almost 4 months after it happened. The only thing I have to worry about is the Lindt and a chocolate shipment Daughter Nissa is sending. It could get waylaid by the dog. Sitka will get to any box left on the porch steps so I will need to make a sign for incoming shipments to be put IN THE GARAGE. If they had jobs for chocolate sniffing dogs he would be at the top of the class.

If any of you have tried the recipes I have posted and would like to comment, you can reach me at [email protected] In fact, you can do that for any reason. I especially want to hear from the Farm Market shopper whom I convinced to buy 6 egg rolls on the last day of Farm Market. She had just discovered them and they were the last the vendor had. I told her she would be glad she got all she could and I hope I was right!

Hot cooking tip for this time is to keep a package of instant potato mix handy. They come in all kinds of wonderful favored mixes that make 4 servings or so. This product makes a super easy thickener for soups and sauces. You will not need to mix together dusty gravy mix or cornstarch. Cornstarch takes only so much heating and it returns to a liquid form which does not make good reheating possibilities. A few Tablespoons usually is enough but start low and work your way up. Good advise for lots of life which I do not always take to heart.