Our Thanksgiving Table + Recipe | Cranberry & Apple Conserve

  

      After church today we came home and had a quick lunch.  Keith lifted a turkey into the roaster for me and then the boys went to the Packard Proving Grounds to stuff envelopes.  After they left I started to prepare a cranberry conserve for our turkey dinner. I also made mashed potatoes and home-made gravy, green beans, dinner rolls and a salad made of tossed mixed baby lettuces, dried cranberries, and sunflower seeds with a Orange & Dijon Vinaigrette.  Tomorrow I will make Mama and  Papa's dressing for the turkey left overs.   I bought a pumpkin pie on Tuesday at my favorite fruit market.   

      It's great to celebrate Thanksgiving at  one of our family members house, but I miss having the left overs.  So I always prepare a turkey the weekend after Thanksgiving day.  I'm so looking forward to having a left-over turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow!  

      I used mini grapevine wreaths for napkin rings.   I have the matching placemats for these napkins as well. 

 I  like to use natural decorations such as leaves,  pinecones, berries, fresh autumnal flowers and pie pumpkins.  For the table setting I used vintage Royal Doulton china, Candlewick goblets and linen napkins.

                                                               Cranberry & Apple Conserve

12 oz. bag cranberries

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

zest of one orange

2 medium Gala apples peeled and diced

1/4 Craisins  50% less sugar

In medium saucepan  combine water, cranberries. sugar, water and salt and cook over medium heat until cranberries pop open 10-15 minutes.  Turn heat down to simmer. Carefully add orange juice, orange zest, diced apples and craisins stirring occasionally just until  apples start to soften and the mixture thickens.  Cool completely before transferring to serving dish. Refrigerate.  



                                            

   When I was growing up our family spent most Thanksgivings with my mom's side of the family, either at my aunt Betty's or aunt Norma's house.  They were both lived "up north" and we would travel to one of their houses.  My mom's brother Bud would also meet us there, and few times my grandma and grandpa Belcher would come, if they were not in Florida yet.  There could be over 30 of us all together.  It was great!  I remember watching the Thanksgiving Day Parades in the morning, and the men would watch football in the afternoon.  My mom would help my aunts with peeling potatoes and carrots in the kitchen, while we played with our cousins.  There was always a lot of  delicious food and deserts.  Both of my aunts were really good cooks.  My aunt Norma made assorted flavored home-made hard candy coated with powdered sugar and gave us a jar to take home.  It looked like broken powdered sugared stained glass.  I also remember her opening up a couple of  canning jars with bright colored fruit, one red and one green and putting them on a crystal serving dishes.  I remember thinking---- I've never seen fruit that color before!  I asked my mom if I could try them and I really didn't like the spicy taste of them, but it sure was exciting to see her open those jars of fruit and place them on the plates.  I was thrilled when I found a picture and a recipe for flavored pears and peaches in one of my vintage cookbooks.  It brought back some of my fondest holiday memories. 

      Tomorrow I will be putting away the fall decorations and cleaning the house in preparation for Christmas decorating.

                              Hope everyone had a blessed, happy, and safe Thanksgiving weekend.
                    
                                                                       ~Marcie