Hello my friend! Its such a special week here in the United States as we prepare for Thanksgiving on Thursday! Its a time we gather with family and friends and take time to be Thankful for the good people and many blessings in our lives. And its a time we share a delicious meal together! We joke about wearing pants with stretchy waistbands because more than any other holiday, this one elevates a special meal! I’ve been out walking this week early in the morning with my lady friends in our walking group, “The Dirt Road Divas”, trying to do a little preemptive damage control!

So today I am sharing two lovely side dishes you might like to include with your Thanksgiving dinner or for any dinner!

But first, I want to tell you how very thankful I am for my dear friend Maribeth Schmidt who provides the photography for my Tasty Tuesday blogposts. She is so talented and so giving, she is like the Energizer bunny filling her days chock full of helping her lovely family and then a long stream of people she supports in a host of ways! She is a true professional, and if you would like to see more of her work or make an inquiry, you can reach her at Maribeth Schmidt Photography.

I wanted to share a few shots of her at work, so I have included a few photos of her set up in my kitchen this past weekend. 

She brings the backdrop, often white for many of her pictures, especially the ingredients shots.

You can feel the intensity and passion with which she takes each shot.

I am so impressed with her work, and she is ever learning, and growing in her skills in photography!

Maribeth is also quite a cook and entertainer in her own right! She shared a delicious recipe with our blog this week, giving us 2 recipes for a Tasty Tuesday! Maribeth’s family loves cole slaw, and she shared the following recipe with us for this week! So let’s proceed with Maribeth’s Cole Slaw Recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 half head green cabbage
• 1 half head red cabbage
• 1 small bag shredded carrots

Coleslaw dressing: (Maribeth uses a dressing recipe from Allrecipes.com)

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions: Using a cutting board and a large, sharp knife, cut each head of cabbage in half.

Take one half of the green cabbage and start cutting into slices similar to how you might slice oranges.

 

Keep cutting the slices until you use the half head of cabbage up. You don’t have to shred the cabbage. You can simply keep cutting it into smaller and smaller pieces as shown in the picture.

Once you have cut both the green and red cabbage halves, place them in a large bowl

and mix them together with the shredded carrots. Add enough carrots to your sense of it looking balanced with the cabbage. Put as little or as much as you like!

In a separate bowl, medium or small size, combine the mayonnaise, sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, pepper and salt using a whisk or spoon. A whisk will do a better job. Blend thoroughly so there are no lumps and so that everything is very smooth.

Pour the dressing into the bowl with the cabbage and carrots. Mix thoroughly with a spoon.

This dressing is extremely light in texture and refreshing. Be sure to stir the coleslaw thoroughly every time you bring it out of the refrigerator because a certain amount of the dressing will settle to the bottom. If you feel that there is not enough dressing in your coleslaw, simply make more of it according to the recipe and add it into the mixture. Everyone has different preferences so make it customized to what you like.

Variations to this recipe would include finely chopping onions and adding about 1 to 2 tablespoons to the mixture depending on your taste, adding dried cranberries or dried cherries, and even your favorite nut like walnuts or pecans.

This coleslaw is a wonderful side dish to roasted turkey or chicken, on a turkey sandwich, or as a tasty snack in the afternoon or evening.

Yum! Ok, its still breakfast time and I am drooling over cole slaw!

Next up… Grandma’s Pink Jello!

This is a recipe my Grandma Hammonds made for almost every holiday dinner when I was a child, and we all loved it! The pan would be scraped clean every time, with the biggest fans being us kids! Well, I have gladly assumed the role of making the pink jello, and now I am sharing it with you!

Ingredients:

• 2 boxes of Strawberry Jello, 6 oz size
• 1 large tub of Cool Whip
• 1 lb of Strawberries 
• 3 bananas

Directions: 

Empty contents of the 2 boxes of Strawberry Jello into large bowl. Add 4 cups of boiling water and stir until dissolved. ***Note be sure and read the pkg directions for water quantities***

Add 4 cups of cold water, and stir. After stirring, pour a little over half of the jello into a 9×13 pan.

This can be a little messy, so pour slowly.

Make room on a shelf in your refrigerator and put the 9×13 in the fridge to begin to set. This takes maybe 30 minutes or so. While it is firming, you prepare the pink layer. Take the remaining liquid Jello in your bowl, and add about 1/2 of a large container of Cool Whip (thawed).

Use a hand mixer and mix it.

It changes to a lovely pink and is absolutely delicious! I warn you, if you taste test it, you might find it very difficult to stop. Now, slice up your strawberries, and then slice the bananas (I line the bananas up and slice them at the same time)

Now take your slightly set pan of Jello from the fridge, the gelatin should have a little movement but definitely thicker than when you put it in the fridge. Add in the sliced bananas, spreading them out somewhat evenly over the pan. You can see how the fruit semi falls into the gelatin.

Now add the strawberries.

And gently press the fruit so the gelatin pools over the surface of the fruit, I use a spoon.

Now to pour that glorious pink mixture over the top! Drizzle it so that it covers as much as you can simply from the pouring process (not too much in one spot)

And then take your spatula and gently spread it to make a lovely pink coat!

You could also do this entire process in little parfait or dessert cups!

Chill for a few hours and its ready when you are!

Gently slice and serve!

I give you permission to call this a salad. You can garnish with extra strawberries if you like!

  

This is my dear sweet Grandma Hammonds who made this amazingly simple but exquisitely delicious treat for us at all of our holiday meals! In those kind eyes and that warm smile, everyone found unconditional love and acceptance, but better than that, you found your biggest fan, for she would look at you like you were a walking breathing miracle! And you know what? She was right! You are! A lot of wisdom in those kind eyes!

Those of us blessed to have known her know just how incredible it felt to be loved so greatly by such a humble, selfless woman! She took babies in for the court system, for families going through all kinds of crises. My mom says she would generally have 3-4 bassinets at any one time with babies from birth to age 2, living in her home. She did this for years and years… showering them with her perfect love at a time those little ones needed it more than anything! She was an angel with such love in her hands and heart for literally hundreds of babies that would never remember her, but at the time they needed her, she was priceless to them!

We said goodbye to her about 24 years ago, but we know we will see her again! Her pink Jello was just one way she told us all over and over how much she loved us and was delighted when we were together! So  now I cherish the chance to lavish the ones in my family with Grandma’s pink jello! It is fun to have some traditions built purely on love and joyful memories!

We all get that chance to simply pour out love on people, and make them feel amazing! When you see people respond to it, its like a flower getting sunlight and water, they stand up a little straighter and begin to know how truly beautiful they are!

Well, dear friend, I wish the very best for you this week as you gather at tables large and small, maybe tv trays, or plates on your lap, wherever you find yourself this Thanksgiving, please know how Thankful I am for your friendship with me, and how very dearly you are loved!

I’ll be back Friday for another Fashion Friday on the busiest shopping day of the year! Oh my stars! We will need an early start! I’ll warm up the car, you get the coffee! Blessings on you dear friend!

Love Always,

Amy

The thankful heart opens our eyes to a multitude of blessings that continually surround us.  ~James Faust