I just read Barbara Lombardo's blog about Thanksgiving and parts of it brought tears to my eyes. I, too, have so much to be thankful for: a great husband, four adult children, five adult grandchildren, one 2-year-old great-grandson and one expected the first part of December. Now that is really what there is to be thankful for.
But as far as Thanksgiving day, I was especially thankful that my Stove Top dressing turned out great. If you read my previous blog you'll see the reason why I used Stove Top. To make it extra special I mixed one box of turkey dressing with one box of cranberry dressing and chicken stock instead of water. It was done in five minutes. Another year I will try adding already cooked sausage (crumbled) and I bet I will have another winner.
My turkey was great and when I added the homemade turkey gravy over the mashed potatoes and boxed dressing no one really knew.
Now that I have enough turkey leftovers, I am ready to indulge again. Tonight I will have a repeat performance of Thanksgiving dinner and I am really thankful for that.
And next year, I'll let you know how the Stove Top turned out with the added crumbled sausage. Or maybe I'll experiment beforehand just to be sure I don't have another disaster.
Now bring on the rest of the holidays that will bring family and friends together and smiles on everyone's faces. And, I don't need to make dressing this time. That I am thankful for.

It has been a very long time since I had Thanksgiving dinner at my home. I usually travel with my husband to one of our children's homes. But this year we decided to stay home with one son and I did most of the cooking.
But here's what happened for the first time and I mean first time, I made or attempted to make the stuffing (dressing) or whatever you want to call it. For more than 30 years, my mother-in-law, who was a great cook, made her sausage stuffing. I never worried. But, my stellar accomplishments are baking especially the pumpkin or apple pies. Stuffing is not my thing. But I was willing to give it a try.
Manned with my sausage, onions, celery, spices, chicken broth and cubed bread I was ready to go. I had a special recipe from my Food Network magazine and I could just hear my husband and son saying "Lady" this is great.
But I made a big mistake. I bought two bags of sage and onion seasoned bread cubes, which I felt the more seasoning the better. WRONG!
It was so salty no matter what I did it just wasn't edible. Thank heavens I made it on Monday so I had plenty of time to rethink what I would do.
I'm ashamed to say Stove Top turkey dressing was my answer. After all all I had to do was add water, but I made it better by adding chicken stock and this time it was edible.
I guess I will stick to writing my Inside Saratoga column and this blog and invite someone to dinner next year and ask them to bring the stuffing.
Hope everyone will have a great Thanksgiving and the best tasting stuffing you ever had.

Older folks, especially women will remember when their moms or grandmoms use to wear an apron. Aprons today I nearly a thing of the past. Too bad.
When I was growing up my mom not only wore one every day to protect her dress (yes, dress), but she was a talented seamstress who made beautiful ones and sold them. I had so many I cherished every one. Now my mom is gone and they are almost a thing of the past. I still have my holiday one she made me and I pull it out each season.
I recently came across this article and it brought back cherished memories.
I don't think our kids know what an apron is. Its principal use was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few and because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses.
But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. In my case, mine always had pockets and they were great for hiding candy or cookies so no one knew I was eating that stuff. But, I found out later in life, everyone knew.
When the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes.
REMEMBER: Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but love ...

First it was the color-tinged leaves falling to the ground - not just a few but a deluge of them. Now, once again I look out my computer room window it is the white stuff. And it doesn't look that pretty to me.
However, I try to think about when I was a child, which, of course, was many, many years ago. I complained because my mother said I couldn't go out and play in the new fallen snow because it was too wet.
But my father made me feel a little better with his explanation and I have never forgotten it. "That's nature's fertilizer," he explained. "God always sends us just enough to seep into the ground to make sure our grass is greener next spring." Naturally, I believed him and honestly I think he was right.
But still when it was as slushy and slippery as it was on Monday,I have a difficult time thinking about next spring. I think it might be time to head to Florida in a few weeks.
However, I hope I don't get snowed in before then. But if I do, I can see if our lawn comes up greener than ever in the spring.