Thanksgiving and old memories

Ah, Thanksgiving. The holiday about being grateful, celebrated by elaborate feasts. Growing up, my favorite part of the holiday was the family. I have a very small family, I can count my entire family (siblings, aunts, cousins, grandparents, the whole lot) on my two hands.  But despite our small size, our family has always been very spread out and Thanksgiving was the only time of year where we'd all be together. 

As the years have passed, my family has only gotten increasingly spread out, I moved away to take my first job dancing ballet professionally, and much of my other family moved far far away - the sun never sets on my family's empire"! Further, as a ballet dancer, I'm dancing Nutcracker throughout the holiday season, which means I have no time to go home. All in all, we no longer have our family Thanksgivings anymore. Instead, I, along with whatever other dancers have no family in the area, hold "Orphan Thanksgivings". We all make a couple dishes, get together and share in our delicious food and each other's company! It's usually ends up being quite fun, even if we do miss our families.

This year I made three dishes for the Orphan Thanksgiving. Cranberry sauce (my favorite thanksgiving food), my mother's cornbread (the best cornbread ever!), and a festive fall salad. 

Fall pear and frisse salad:

I have a thing against using recipes when making salads, mine are always created off the top of my head, and never measured, hence I do not have an exact recipe to give, only ingredients and hints!

mixed baby greens, this is the base of your salad

frisse lettuce (2 small heads)

two pears (I like mine nice and crisp, so they slice nicely)

a small handful of cranberries for color

sliced fennel

red grapes, I used the seedless holiday grapes from central market, they are amazing!
simple balsamic vinaigrette 

My mother's cornbread is a classic, and always comforting, favorite of mine. This cornbread uses less "filler" flours than many other cornbreads, and the result is a denser, flavorful loaf. For a special twist my mother would mix in whole berries to the batter. My favorites to use are raspberries or fresh cranberries (dried if you want a sweeter taste). 

My Mother's Cornbread

1 and 1/2 cups cornmeal or grits

1/2 cups other flour (preferably a gluten free flour, but whole wheat can also be used)

1 t. salt

2 t. baking powder

1 and 1/2 cups milk/yogurt

1-2 eggs

2 T oil

1 T honey/maple syrup (add more if a sweeter taste is desired)

fresh or dried berries. I've even used apple slices - laid thin across the top - delicious and pretty!

The cranberry sauce I've now made for the last two "orphan thanksgivings" I've attended. The recipe includes orange, and so is quite zesty and has always been a hit! Recipe can be found at: allrecipes.com

Hope you all had a very happy holiday!