Thanksgiving brought with it a plethora of family recipes and great food. My sister, Tommie Buchanan, with the help of my mother, Ruth Wright Duncan, made a loose-leaf cookbook for us and the grandchildren and she started with this menu:

Turkey, Ham, Beef Roast

Cornbread Dressing Giblet Gravy

Green Beans Creamed Corn

Turnip Greens Turnips

Fried Okra Macaroni and Cheese

Sweet Potato Souffle Cranberry Salad

Pickles: Peach, Beet, Squash and Cucumber (all homemade)   

Fruit Rolls, Cornbread and Biscuits

Fruit Cake   

Pound Cake   

Applesauce Cake

Tea and Coffee

While my dad was a great cook, my mother excelled at baking. She was famous for those three cakes listed above, along with several other desserts. Here are a few of the recipes my folks made at Thanksgiving:

Cook cornbread the day before (I use a good white cornbread mix with eggs, buttermilk and oil in 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan.) Crumble, using crusts and all. Add four slices of wheat or white bread that you leave out to harden, crumble. Add two packages of Pepperidge Farms cornbread stuffing mix. Mix all the above. Chop 2 cups onions, 2 cups celery. Melt two tablespoons of butter and saute the onions and celery until tender. Add to cornbread, stuffing and bread, (I do not saute as I prefer them to be more crunchy.) I put in a whole 0.5 oz bottle of ground sage but you can put in from 3 tablespoons to taste. If you have the broth from your turkey, add until mixture is very moist and then add 3 beaten eggs and mix well. If you don’t have broth, I use cream of chicken soup—about 3 large cans mixed well with warm water. Add until just moist, not soupy. After adding eggs, pour into well buttered baking dish and dot top with butter. Bake about 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees. Do not overcook or it will dry out. 

1 package raw cranberries 1 large can crushed pineapple with juice

1 cup sugar 2 cups boiling water

1 large package raspberry Jello 1 cup celery , finely minced

1 cup pecans, chopped (can use walnuts)

1 large package miniature marshmallows or 15 large marshmallows chopped

Combine cranberries and boiling water and cook until cranberries pop. Stir in marshmallows until dissolved. Stir in Jello and sugar, pineapple and juice. After cooling slightly, add celery and nuts. Chill until firm.

½ cup sugar ¼ cup butter (melted)

½ cup light corn syrup 2 eggs

4 large sweet potatoes (cooked and well mashed)

Combine sugar, butter, syrup and well-beaten eggs. Beat in mixer until creamy. Stir in potatoes. Spoon mixture into a buttered baking dish and sprinkle with topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup butter (melted) 1 cup chopped pecans

Combine ingredients and mix well. Sprinkle over top of souffle before baking.

APPLESAUCE CAKE (This was my mother’s specialty. It is delicious!!)

3 cups dried apples, cooked and well mashed 1 cup butter

2 cups sugar 4 cups all-purpose flour

4 eggs 1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 box seedless raisins 1 cup pecans, chopped

Cream shortening, add sugar, beat eggs and add to mixture. Sift flour, salt, soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves together and add to mixture and mix well. Mix raisins and nuts with some flour (to prevent them going to bottom of cake) and then add to cake mixture. Bake in greased and floured tube pan at 350 degrees (preheated oven) for one hour or until tester comes out clean. (You can add 1 cup candied, chopped cherries and/ or 1 cup candied pineapple, fig preserves (1/2 cup) or chopped dates (1/2 cup). I prefer the basic recipe.)

Usually, one of the aunts would bring sweet potato pies. We did not eat pumpkin pies. My dad and his family did not like pumpkin. Funny story: I had never had pumpkin pie so when I acquired a Wisconsin mother-in-law, at one of my first meals with them, she presented us with these beautiful pies. I exclaimed that was my very favorite pie! I bit into it and thought, “What has this woman done to this sweet potato pie????” They all got a big laugh at my reaction. I still do not like pumpkin pie. If you make the last recipe, you will see why…maybe.

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes ¾ cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon ½ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon cloves 3 eggs, well beaten

Blend together all above ingredients and add one 13-ounce can evaporated milk, blending well.

Pour into unbaked pie shell (I use Pillsbury pie shells and roll them out thinner and thinly butter them with softened butter on both sides.) Bake 25 minutes -- or until done – at 350 degrees.

From south to north and east to west, what matters at Thanksgiving is that we can enjoy good food with our families and friends with plenty of love to go around and recognize how very blessed we are as we give thanks. This year, Thanksgiving may be quite different. It will be at our houses so our family will be enjoying our Thanksgiving feasts together via Zoom. Have a blessed Thanksgiving and just enjoy!