Thanksgiving at Birdeye

Kara's First Thanksgiving Feast

What a wonderful lunch! The beauty of today was Kara had PLENTY of help in the kitchen, that's her mother Polly, our mother-in-law Jeanie, Emmy, her fabulous sister and of course Martin, who I caught on the couch with a glass of cab when I got there. Pic #1 is her fabulous table.

I loved going to her house at 1:30 p.m. with Polly's casserole that Harmon brought to my house, around the corner, to bake at noon...yes, Kara's lunch was scheduled for noon...humm...they ran out of oven space.

At 12:45 I called to see if they were ready to eat at Kara's second predicted meal time, they said no, just come at 1:15 with the casserole late...so I did, and later I found out that Kara's Inaugural Turkey didn't go into the oven until after 9 am....well let's do the math....we sat down for lunch at 2:45. Yes, I'm glad Jackie, Chloe and my diabetic self had a snack when we realized that lunch would be late! Fun times at Birdeye!

The hit of Kara's fabulous table was her mother's Asparagus Casserole that was from her mother's cookbook from many years ago. It boasted almonds, marinated artichokes, cream of mushroom soup and the like...OMG, unbelievable, and a HUGE distraction from the turkey and dressing that we all came to eat. I will add the recipe when I get my hands on it. Kara's turkey was super moist, which was awesome as she was a first-time turkey cooker. Her mother also made the rolls, pic #2. We cringed when Polly announced her cookie sheet of rolls couldn't fit in Kara's narrow oven and she said, "Let's bake them at Keeli's", Jeanie quickly stepped in and removed a rack in the oven and placed that cookie sheet in the oven slanted. Very inventive until the rolls slid off the end and baked unevenly. They were good yeast rolls, nonetheless.

By the way, on the buffet was turkey, dressing (I did miss Winnie Bob's dressing with rice and tons of rubbed sage), green bean casserole, asparagus casserole, spinach casserole, gravy, rolls, cranberries (they were fabulous by Jeanie), mashed potatoes and of course a relish tray. It was a beautiful table with lots of great conversation, one of which was all about Martin's stay in the hospital in Jonesboro with his appendix and complications. Yes, Jackie huffed and cringed and blew out his nose in horror of reliving Martin's February stay in the hospital and near death experience. Fun times, talking about near death experiences....that's what family is all about, right? Pic #3 is the plate of samples of all of it.

Pic #4 is Stella, 2-1/2, Chloe, 8-1/2 and Whit, 5 years old, yes all toasting Thanksgiving with Cranberry except Whit, he had some Cabernet...no joke...Chloe said he wasn't old enough to drink, "you have to be 21", she said.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A huge thanks to Polly, Kara's fabulous mother, for sharing this timeless recipe from her family. I can't wait to make it, it is delish!

Artichoke Asparagus Casserole

1 large can asparagus tips
1 can artichoke hearts, slice
2 C. cracker crumbs
1/2 butter
1/2 lb. grated cheese
1/2 c. almonds or pecans, I think she used almonds
1 can cr. of mushroom soup
salt and pepper to taste

Grate cheese and mix with cracker crumbs. Add liquid from asparagus to soup. Put layer of crumbs and cheese on bottom of casserole dish, a layer of asparagus and artichokes and sprinkling of nuts. Dot with butter, cover with soup. Repeat until all ingredients are used with a layer of cheese and crumbs on top. Decorate with whole blanched almonds and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. This is excellent and can be prepared the day before it is to be baked and served. Recipe by Miss Charles Jones