Living to Tell the Story

The dishes are done, the floor swept, the left overs precariously stacked in the fridge threatening to cause a landslide everytime the fridge door is opened. Another Thanksgiving Day come and gone. It was a lovely, albiet, busy weekend. Saturday was spent running around looking those last few ingrediants to make some of those mouthwatering dishes. But it was worth it. Sunday, in the midst of 50 - 70 mph winds, we had dinner at my sister's for one side of the family. My brother in law and sister served a wonderful dinner for all of us but my cooking was nominal for it. We took a mouth-watering huge pumpkin pie from Costco (I don't do pies) and for those who don't enjoy pumpkin or pie I baked the Apple Pie Cake. The food was delish, the company even better. With full tummies we retired to the tv room to watch a pirate adventure. A wonderful day.

Thanksgiving Monday morning, with the wind gone and beautiful skies, I made dinner for the other side of the family. Unfortunately, my Tia (12) started to get sick even while we were at my sister's the night before. She complained that her nose was starting to get stuffy. By evening, she had a bit of a fever running, which turned into a sore throat, which in turn turned into being sick through the night. So Monday morning found me stuffing turkey quite bleary eyed. I did get into the groove after the 1st or 10th cup of coffee, though, and woke myself up enough to try two new dishes. Both were awesome.

The first was the link I gave you the other day to these. They were absolutely heaven. This little number will now be gracing my Thanksgiving Day dessert table for years to come. Easy, quick, looked beautiful and absolutely melt in your mouth delicious, they disappeared quickly.

The second was a spaghetti squash dish. I love spaghetti squash. Usually I just bake it, then mix it with butter and salt and pepper, sometimes adding brown sugar too. Pretty basic. But this year I found a new recipe and gave it a try. Everyone thought it wonderful. So I'll share with you. It's a perfect, lovely looking dish to take with you somewhere also. Sorry, didn't get a picture though. Was a little too rushed to grab the camera for this one too. You'll just have to trust me when I say it looked lovely with all it's yellow squashyness, with the red of the tomatoe and brown of the mushrooms and little bits of white flecked throughout. This also disappeared quickly.

Yes, there was much to be thankful for. Family being able to be together, food on our table, having homes to gather in, being able to gather together without fear with other believers in church on Sunday, a long weekend to enjoy and even having a young lady over who didn't have family around to go to was an extra blessing this year. This year made me feel very humble for the goodness and grace of God in my life over the last year. To know I could count on Christ being my Rock and solid foundation in the ever shifting thing that we call life is a gift from the hand of God that I cling to and pray I never take for granted.

ITALIAN SPAGHETTI SQUASH (makes a 13 x 9 dish full feeding at least 12)

(recipe may be made to fit a smaller casserole dish by using a medium squash and halving the other ingrediants)

-1 large spaghetti squash

-1 large onion, chopped

-3 cloves garlic, minced

-2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced

-salt and pepper to taste

-1 tsp. oregano

-large handful of fresh parsley, chopped or 1 Tbsp. dried parsley

-2 large fresh tomatoes

-2 cups cottage cheese, drained

-2 cups grated mozzarella

-grated parmesan

Earlier in day, or the night before, cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seed and pulp. Pour a little water onto a baking sheet with edges and lay squash cut side down on the sheet. Bake in 350*F oven for 50 - 60 minutes until a fork stuck in the skin side goes in easily. Remove from oven. Let sit on baking tray until cool enough to handle easily. Taking a fork, shred the squash by running the fork from the top and coming through the squash down to the bottom making long strings like spaghetti. Place in lightly greased baking dish.

In a 10 inch skillet, in 2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, saute onion & garlic until the onion just starts to turn transluscent and tender. Add sliced mushrooms, salt & pepper, oregano and parsley. Saute a couple minutes. You want the mushrooms to retain their shape and not shrink too much.

Meanwhile, while that's cooking, seed your tomatoes by cutting into quarters and running your finger through the juicy, seedy part of the tomatoe over a bowl or sink. Chop the meat of the tomatoe into bite sized chunks and add to mushrooms in pan. Saute over medium high until the juice is almost all gone.

Add to cooled squash. Add the cottage and mozzarella cheeses and toss together distributing ingrediants well through the squash. Sprinkle with parmesan and bake in a 350*F oven until it's hot and bubbly, approximately 45 - 60 minutes. (Depending on how hot or cold your squash was).