It is the tradition and making new traditions that makes it special. I forgot the asparagus casserole for my daughter. This is my out first year without dad and I had to carry on the tradition of Apple Stack Cake for him. The younger ones don't care for it. Oh and the Sweet Potato casserole. See what I mean about ending up with too much food.

sandytn wrote:
Hi Sandy,

Your family is like mine. They look forward to our family's traditional dishes. We can add a new dish, but not use it as a substitute for one the traditional dishes that they expect. Now that my grandmother is no longer with us, at Christmas we still have to make her traditional recipes for homemade yeast rolls, cranberry relish, cheeseball, oyster stuffing (yuck), coconut cake, etc. The younger folks expect some of our newer traditions, started by my generation, like Seven Layer Guacamole Dip & Tortilla Chips. But isn't making those memories and respecting the traditions some of the fun of the holidays?

I hope we have too much this year.

Nancy

I like "I'm hosting" instead of everybody's coming to my house. I like to try a couple of new dishes but I still have to prepare the standard menu and we end up with way too much food. I have to do turkey, dressing, dumplings, and cranberry salad. And then for Shelby - Vegetable Pizza; the boys - Potato Skins (and I use the potatoes for potato salad); my son - Honey Baked Ham. My husband's says lets just go out but I love the homecooking and the leftovers.

Morning Anna,

I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year for both my extended family and in-laws. It will be a pretty large group, but that's the tradition I grew up with in a very large family. I just finalized my Thanksgiving menu last night. For the veggies, I decided on a Broccoli Cauliflower Cheese Casserole (my son's favorite) and my original Beautiful Three Bean Pasta Salad (I'll e-mail the recipe to you). One of my sisters is bringing Collard Greens.

My bean salad recipe is very colorful and uses Agave Nectar, instead of sugar, which is great for diabetics. I'm not diabetic, but just love Agave Nectar. If you haven't tried it yet, you must. It can be found at Whole Foods, Trader Joes and most health foods stores.

My family doesn't let me through their doors on holidays without my Caramel Cake and/or Potato Chip Cookies. To make your favorite cookie recipe more festive, try substituting pistachios for the pecans/walnuts and dried cranberries for the raisins.

Happy Holidays,
Nancy

Well the holidays are here and once again we will be doing the running everywhere thing. I need ideas on what to bring to pot luck holiday meals... (both Thanksgiving and Christmas - - - New Years) Something healthy as well as festive that diabetics can eat.... Somehthing a little out of the ordinary as I and my sister in law are the only ones that cook. ... everyone else get carry out foods from the local markets...

I am providing vegetable, then a meat dish at different parties ( different family groups / parties.) Also dessert and cookies would be appreciated.


Any ideas / recipes would be appreciated... I know you ladies will have great ideas that I have not thought of...