Yes, the day is a reminder of the cooperation and friendship between the Indians and Pilgrims, but it’s not about that either. It began with the Pilgrims inviting the Indians to their celebration of thanks to God for His provisions. They had plenty of trials, but they were still grateful.

We spend a lot of time preparing the food. So much so, we are overwhelmed with the bounty on our tables. There is excitement over family and friends coming together. And, advertisers tell us it’s all about the turkey. If we forget to be thankful, then the focus is on the food.

At our home, we begin our annual feast with my husband, Dick, giving a corporate prayer of gratitude, thanking God for His many blessings. We always end the meal with a family tradition where each person gives a personal story of why they are blessed and thankful. We used to do this before the meal, but our food would get cold, so we moved it to the end of the meal.

Sometimes there is laughter. Kids are always sure to surprise you when they share why they’re grateful. Teens can be another matter altogether. One year, a cranky teen, sitting at our table laden with scrumptious food and surrounded by people who love her (I’ll not say who it was, but I’m sure my daughter Joy remembers this), said she didn’t have one thing to be thankful for! So much for the teen years. If you have a cranky teen at your Thanksgiving table, you can be thankful that cranky teens grow up and become loving, grateful adults.

Sometimes, our thankfulness brings tears. Last Thanksgiving was difficult for our family, because my mother passed away three weeks earlier. We were sad and thankful at the same time. I remember another Thanksgiving where we gathered at Jackie’s (another daughter’s) home. She asked that we all say why we were thankful for someone at the table. We pretty much bawled through the entire thing.

Most Thanksgivings, we have guests other than our immediate family. A few years ago, Karen, a business acquaintance of ours, had just moved to Colorado and shared the festive meal with us. My granddaughter Ally, who was seven at the time, sat next to Karen at the table, and when it came time for Ally, to say what she was thankful for, she said she was thankful for her new friend, Karen. We bawled again. Okay, we’re a bunch of crybabies.

Another Thanksgiving, our dear friend, Guy, survived a year-long battle with cancer. He has spent many Thanksgivings with us and was very familiar with our tradition. When it came time for him to say why he was thankful, he whipped out a pre-written note and read us a beautiful, thankful, message of God’s blessings. Yes, there wasn’t a dry eye at the table.

This Thanksgiving, make it a thankful day, not Turkey Day. Thank God, especially in your most difficult times… God is providing.

CLICK HERE for “Have a Natural Thanksgiving.”

CLICK HERE for “What Ya Gonna Do With Those Leftovers?”

What to do with leftover turkey?

What to do with the leftovers? A little creativity goes a long way. You’d be surprised at the number of ways you can make Thanksgiving leftovers into tasty meals. First, I always use the turkey carcass and leftover gravy and stuffing, for turkey soup. I make a large pot of soup the day after Thanksgiving, because the carcass takes up so much room in the refrigerator.

Do you have leftover mashed potatoes? Refrigerate and then make potato patties later in the week. Leftover sweet potatoes? Make sweet potato soup. Mash, then add a dash of ginger, nutmeg, chicken broth and heat. Just before serving, mix in a little cream.

Sometimes, I use what’s been accumulating in the refrigerator for a “Leftover Casserole.” Leftover Casserole works great with leftover turkey.  CLICK HERE for the recipe. Make scrambled eggs for breakfast Friday morning with sauteed onions, green peppers, and leftover chopped turkey. Or if you have more time, make Sunday Quiche and substitute, chopped turkey for the chicken in the recipe.

Then I—FREEZE, FREEZE, FREEZE.

If you have more turkey than you can consume in a day or two, portion it in one or two pound packages and freeze. You can pull it out of the freezer in a week or two and make a turkey casserole or creamed turkey sandwiches or heat up and serve with a veggie for dinner.

I’ve found that I waste less if I do a couple of things on a regular basis. First, good intentions often end up in the waste can. Uneaten portions of meals make great leftovers. That is unless you forget about them and they turn moldy in the back of your refrigerator.

I bypass the refrigerator and leftovers go right into my freezer from the table. Then instead of throwing it out a week later, when I need a quick meal, one is waiting to be defrosted. I’ve even frozen milk! If you find that you have too much milk, don’t let it spoil use it in a pudding or, yes, freeze it. Isn’t ice cream milk? Milk defrosts just fine, even just for drinking.

If you shop at a warehouse grocers, produce can be a bargain, but you’ll purchase large amounts. Produce is best when it’s eaten in the first three days after you’ve brought it home from the store. Although some fruit, like oranges and apples, will last much longer. Soft fruit can be held in the refrigerator until a day or two before you plan to eat it. Then place it out on the counter to ripen. This is especially practical when you purchase a bag of 5 or 6 avocados. Set one or two on the counter to ripen and keep the rest in the fruit bin of your refrigerator until a day or two before you want to eat them.

Have your bananas turned brown? Don’t have time to make banana bread? Peal the bananas and place individually in sandwich baggies and freeze. Remove from the freezer and use frozen in a fruit smoothie or defrost and make banana bread at a later time.

Keep onions, those large bags of garlic, and potatoes in a cool, dark place, like your basement. Never place onions next to apples, as your apples will spoil faster. If your veggies and fruit fight, Click Here for the remedy.

Lastly, don’t throw away old bread. You guessed it. Freeze it before it gets crusty. Bread defrosts beautifully from the freezer. Save the heals, if you don’t regularly eat them and stale pieces for bread crumbs and bread pudding.

CLICK HERE for “Have a Natural Thanksgiving.”

CLICK HERE for the Baby Bites book.

Throw together this quick and easy casserole with refrigerator leftovers and items from your pantry. Left-Over Casserole will bring out your hidden chef, because you’re creating a new recipe each time you make it.

Begin by opening up the refrigerator to see what’s there.

Saute one onion; ½ chopped pepper (green, red, yellow or orange); ½ cup chopped celery and 1 large minced garlic. (Optional a couple of chopped tomatoes, 1 can of drained artichoke hearts, and/or sliced mushrooms.)

Then add any of the following: 2 to 3 cups cups already cooked, chopped or sliced, left-over chicken or turkey or roast beef; add 2 cups of already cooked brown rice. Heat through and serve.

Turn Leftover Casserole into Leftover Hash

Omit the brown rice and substitute 3 or 4 cooked whole potatoes. Slice the potatoes and brown in olive oil. Then add the sauteed onions, green peppers, celery and garlic. Mix in the cooked turkey, chicken or beef and heat.