My mother-in-law just moved out of the house we shared and into a house in the Poconos, so we had a lovely first Thanksgiving in the new home on Thursday.

As usual, my MIL soaked the turkey in a kosher salt/sugar solution overnight, which keeps the entire thing moist with minimal basting and makes it so you really don’t have to put any salt on it. She made mashed turnips instead of mashed potatoes, another tradition in our house, as well as Pepperidge Farm stuffing (don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it) and a nice can of jelled cranberry sauce (hey, some things you just don’t mess with!).

Rafael chowed down on a whole bunch of turkey, though we had to explain several times that it was turkey and not just a really big chicken. I’m still not sure if he really believed us. Markus ate a couple of small pieces of turkey, but then became a refusnik, happy to sit at the table with us and drink his milk.

Eventually, he agreed to eat pieces of biscuit, but definitely preferred it if we stuck it in his little mouth than if we put it on the table in front of him. Little pasha.

The most interesting aspect of the holiday, for some reason, was Rafael’s ravenous desire for Clementines.

Grandpa had bought a box from Costco and Rafael wanted to try one. He loved it. On Thanksgiving eve, he at at least four or five. On Thanksgiving itself, another two or three. He couldn’t get enough of them.

I don’t really know what that means. But he definitely won’t get scurvy.

Yesterday was my youngest son’s first proper Thanksgiving meal. Last year he was just over a year old and too young to really eat much of the spread. This year, though, he enjoyed his first bite of turkey and his first nibble of stuffing. And he loved the yams.

I enjoyed this Thanksgiving more than any recent one because I got to help in the cooking. I wasn’t raised in the United States so I didn’t grow up with the whole tradition of Thanksgiving dinner. This year, though, we spent Thanksgiving with dear friends, a couple of Indian and Greek descent, and got to witness first hand how Americans of different backgrounds incorporate their traditions into this most American of holidays.

I understand that most of the food served yesterday was traditional Thanksgiving fare: the butternut squash soup, turkey, gravy, stuffing, yams, green beans, roasted vegetables, etc. But the cranberry sauce definitely had an Indian twist. I thought it was very nice with a tart taste, kind of like an English chutney, so I brought back the recipe. I’d like to share it with our readers.

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup water

1 12-ounce package fresh cranberries

1/2 cup sugar (or more according to taste)

1/2 tsp ginger powder

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp curry powder

juice of one orange

a bit of orange rind

Mix vinegar, water, sugar, orange juice and all the spices in a pan and heat in a pan. Add the cranberries and rind and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. And then enjoy.

A coworker used the term “food overdose” this morning to describe the feeling she had when she got up hungry but not interested in eating after yesterday’s big bash.

I thought that was a perfect description for those of us fortunate enough to have a big feast on Thanksgiving. And where others might use the description “family overdose” for the same after-holiday lookback, it was a pleasant time for our family even though my in-laws couldn’t make the 500-mile trip that has become our family tradition. We just took their change in plans in stride.

My oldest and I invaded the kitchen early yesterday to make dessert. My mother-in-law is a pie specialist and my oldest seems to have inherited her light touch. Since we would be without our expected influx of sweets, we debated doing something different for our after-turkey time, but quickly determined that we wanted to keep to our traditions. So while I peeled apples and searched the pantry for two cans of pumpkin I knew I had in there somewhere, my oldest brought out the Betty Crocker Cookbook and looked up the directions for both apple and pumpkin pie. As a nod to expanding our offerings, I decided on a tray of baklava.

I think of all the Thanksgiving traditions, cooking together is one of the best. When my babes were younger, I would put them to work grinding nuts, peeling carrots and potatoes and (under supervision, of course) chopping celery and other ingredients for stuffing and our vegetable dish. Now that they’re older, I can leave some of the preparation to them entirely.

Eventually they’ll be off on their own and creating their own traditions. I hope that cooking together will be one of them. Working with my daughter reminded me of the many good times I had in my mother’s kitchen, and every time I took out a pot that used to be hers, or added a side dish that once graced my parents’ table, I was thankful for the time I had with my parents and the laughter and good food we once shared. I hope that’s a legacy I pass on to my own children — a chance to be thankful for present comforts and memories.

Tomorrow will mark my daughter’s first real Thanksgiving. Last year, she was 8-months-old and didn’t know what was really going on and didn’t get to savor the food like the rest of us. But this year she’ll get to enjoy her own plate of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans and candied yams. And  how could I forget the pies.

As a new mom—relatively speaking—I’ve noticed how much more exciting holidays can be. Everything is new for my little girl and we get to experience it through her eyes. The joy and the excitement are so genuine and refreshing—things that not even video cameras or photographs can capture.

I interviewed a mom the other day on what she is thankful for this Thanksgiving. She talked about the impact the failing economy has had on her family and friends and the stress of preparing a feast during these tough times.  And yet, she said, how could she complain, when they will all be together to celebrate in the holiday. She talked about the traditions they share every year, like the Thanskgiving football game and the New Year’s “make-the-best-pizza contest,” moments that don’t cost a thing but stay with us for a lifetime.

She called their traditions corny but her thoughts stayed with me because I knew she meant it, even the part where she said she was still madly in love with her husband after 19 years : ).

As we get ready to dig into a delicious feast this Thanksgiving, I hope the anxieties that everyone seems to be feeling these days fade away so that we can truly appreciate what we do have. For me, I’m thankful for my beautiful daughter, for her strength and her health, how she learns something new every day and fills me with surprises each time I walk through the door after a long day at work.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

What’s not to love about Thanksgiving? 

A nice big turkey, pumpkin pie, football, family, more pumpkin pie, all those great leftovers, OK the last slice of pumpkin pie if no one else is going to take it…

It’s one of my favorite holidays. Everyone celebrates it, there is no mad rush to the mall because you forgot the Baby Alive, and there’s always some reminder on the table of your family’s unique history.

We usually spend Thanksgiving close to home, with my husband’s family, given my folks are a good 5 hours away and most of my brothers and sisters are scattered around the northeast. We have a great, great time, but a little part of me misses one of the Ryan family’s most unusual Thanksgiving traditions — Grandma’s lime Jell-O mold.

It’s not just any lime green Jello mold. No, this is lime Jell-O made in a Bundt pan with apples, celery and walnuts magically suspended throughout.

As a kid I thought it was just the most amazing, delicious thing. How did Grandma get everything to float in there? Sweet, crunchy and jiggly all at the same time.

Sure, some of you are thinking this is just plain gross (or wonder if we also skinned squirrels on the back porch with cousin Gomer) but I assure you, ours was not the only family to feature this sort of Jell-O concoction at the harvest table.

I haven’t subjected my in-laws to it — yet.

What’s your strange but beloved Thanksgiving tradition? What do you remember most from your childhood Thanksgivings?

My father commented to me the other day that, gosh, gas prices sure have dropped quite a bit lately, but those food prices haven’t.

Isn’t that always the way, though? Prices always go up quickly, but don’t seem to go down nearly as fast, nor as evenly.

But add to that the uncertain economic climate and the threat of layoffs everywhere you turn and a trip to the grocery store can become fraught with peril. OK, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but fact is, it can become a frightening prospect, even for coupon-clippers like me.

So the other day, I knew I had to share when I saw this article in Men’s Health on tips to save at the grocery store while still buying quality food, I knew I had to share. It seems the American Dietetic Association, basing its research on the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (updated every 5 years, so we have a couple years to the new one), “found that you can enjoy a 2,000-calorie, wholesome meal plan for just $6.69 a day—about the cost of one super-value lunch from the drive-thru,” according to Men’s Health.

Even better, the magazine went to a nutritional expert from my alma mater, Anne Leavell from the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern University, for advice on good eats on a budget. For all the original info, of course go to the MH link provided above (aw, heck, here you go again), but I’ll give you the short list, along with my thoughts on each:

Every Thanksgiving I seek refuge in neighbors and friends.

Having been raised outside the United States, I didn’t even know what Thanksgiving was, let alone know how to cook a turkey. Seven year after coming to the United States, I still haven’t mastered the art. Rather than struggle in the kitchen every November, my family and I enjoy the largess of our neighbors and friends.

This Thanksgiving I’m looking forward to introducing our youngest to turkey and stuffing. Last year he was too young to partake in the traditional Thanksgiving meal. This year he has more teeth and a more curious palate, and if turkey doesn’t do it for him, there’s always stuffing and ham. He loves carbohydrates, and ham is his favorite meat. Billi, our oldest, enjoys tradional American fare.

This Thanksgiving our hosts are a couple of Indian and Greek heritage. I’m sure the meal will be traditional, but with a twist. I’m looking forward to it not only because of the food, but also because my husband and I have been asked to help with the prepping and cooking. I think that’s a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving with friends. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll learn enough to host my own Thanksgiving next year.

Thanksgiving is just a week away, and I’m looking for inspiration to carve out a menu.

Loyal readers of my posts (yeah, the two of you) know that I run a vegetarian household, and will not be stuffing a turkey.

We’ve invited a couple over (who are also vegetarian and therefore will not be bummed by the missing traditional centerpiece) for Thanksgiving dinner.

Every year, I find myself cooking up new plans for a tasty centerpiece dish. We’ve tried Tofurkey (Tofu Turkey) before and found it not to be very appetizing. So this year, I’ve settled on Basil Pesto Lasagna.

Here’s what I’m planning (both appetizers and desserts will be store bought):

(And because this is a blog about kid nutrition, let me quickly add that my kids love every item on this menu!)

HORS D’OUEVRES / APPETIZERS
•Spincah puffs
•Samosas

DINNER
•A thick harvest soup (made with onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, corn, pumpkin and V-8 juice).
•Basil pesto lasagna.
•Spicy roasted red potatoes with garlic.
•Roasted asparagus with Parmesan cheese.
•Mashed potatoes with sour cream and chives.
•Basmati rice pulav with carrots, beans and corn, topped with cashews and raisins.
•A spicy coconut milk stew with potatoes, carrots and tomatoes.
•Raita—a bowl of yogurt into which I add diced cucumber and freshly chopped cilantro.

DESSERT
• Pumpkin pie
•Cranberry tart

Suggestions for future centerpiece dishes, anyone?

Photo Credit: Seth Harrison, The Journal News

The other day my youngest asked that I modify the lunch I pack her and leave out the chocolate peanut butter cup.

She doesn’t eat lunch in the cafeteria except on Fridays, so whatever I put in her brown bag is eaten in her classroom, she said, and she worries that someone in the class might have a peanut allergy.

“I know it’s my favorite dessert,” she said. “But I can’t be sure there isn’t someone nearby who might be affected. You can keep it in for Friday, though.”

I used to wonder what would be the upshot of all the health education and peanut-free table alerts and cutbacks in what you can bring into your child’s elementary school classroom for a birthday treat.

Now I know. It’s an awareness of others on a whole different level that I don’t think my generation had.

That strikes me as not being a bad thing.

Now what could all those things possibly have in common?

A Tuesday afternoon at the car dealership, naturally.

I was just reading Hema’s great post about the healing power of ginger and it reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a fellow mom as I waited on an oil change.

We were both in the service-area waiting room with our children, her daughter roughly the same age as my oldest. With the two girls happily playing in the toy-stocked alcove with the baby, we began to chat about this and that. The gorgeous sweater she was knitting, mostly, (How I wish I could do that!) and the fact my 2-year-old’s nose had not stopped running for seven straight days.  I said I was beginning to worry about allergies, but she’d never shown any sensitivity before. Maybe it was just that time of year.

Then she offered a few things she does for her daughter’s colds, cribbed from old Polish family recipes. One, if I’m remembering correctly, involved boiling a raw onion in a little water and then sweetening the water-onion juice with a bit of sugar and spooning it into little mouths. 

“It tastes sweet,” she said. “The kids love it.”

The other home cure had you dabbing Vicks VapoRub on the soles of their feet, then covering with socks for the night. Who would have thought?

My daughter’s cold finally ran it’s course on day nine or 10 with little more than my usual saline nose spray-suction-elevate-the head-of-her-crib method, but I couldn’t get the idea of onions out of my head.

As a kid, I remember my Dad would eat onions raw with gusto, biting into them like an apple. Great for your health, he would say. (Or maybe that’s what I think he might have said amid all of our cries of “Eww! Gross!”) 

I Googled onions and colds and found a laundry list of cures involving onions — including my personal favorite for the sheer visual fun of it — putting a raw onion in a sock and wearing it around your neck at night. Which, incidentally, is also billed as a surefire cure for fevers and earaches.

I tried the raw onion cure myself a few weeks later, now myself stuffy and miserable, with a wicked sore throat. I chopped the onion and sweated it out with honey in a covered coffee cup. Then I gargled with apple cider vinegar and warm salt water every hour or so, another popular home remedy.

I felt perfectly fine 48 hours later and I’m always good for one bad cold every change of season.

So yesterday, when I noticed a little bit of, well, snot coming out of the 2-year-old’s nose I jumped into action — boiled an onion, cooled and sweetened the juice and mixed it in a sippy with ice and a little apple juice. She was none the wiser.

This morning?

Nose perfectly clear. 

Hmmmm….

What’s your favorite home remedy? Anything from your grandparent’s day?

Photo by Ricky Flores — the onion was part of the sofrito he made for pasteles. Yum!