I made five pies to take to thanksgiving, and it ended up that
instead of 25 people there were only 12, so there was a ridiculous
amount of dessert! Everyone sampled and nibbled and we had pie for
dessert for the rest of the weekend... my SILs don't cook from
scratch, so they were impressed by homemade pastry, but it really
wasn't a lot of work - it took about three hours to do all five pies.
Apple and Blackberry pie was a novelty to them even though I thought
it was a pretty mundane combination... they enjoyed it. They raved
over the homemade 'fruitmince' (no it didn't have suet and it didn't
age - I made it on the stovetop with currants, raisins, golden
raisins, some cherries for colour and a nice granny smith apple, and
sugar and spice of course) and it turned out pretty good!) The pecan
cheesecake pie also went down well though I found it a bit too sweet
and treacly - I couldn't taste the cheese at all. I had peach pie for
breakfast every morning, and the girls loved the traditional pumpkin
pie so I'm glad I made them all.
John's aunt made a 'cheese cake' which was yummy, and my SIL made her
traditional pumpkin bread but because there was so much food we didn't
eat it and she took it back home again. She gave us four little loaves
to bring home with us, and boy are they good.
We also had the traditional thanksgiving dishes - turkey cooked in a
tabletop roaster (tastes fine but John's neice was upset that it
doesn't go brown so she couldn't have crispy skin), a yummy ham with
pineapple glaze, sweet potatoes and vegetables and a Waldorf salad
that John's neice makes every year for her Thanksgiving contribution.
The only disappointing thing was the dressing, which came out of
packets and baked in the oven. It was a fairly expensive brand and my
SIL swears it doesn't have MSG in it (I'm sensitive to the stuff), but
it was mediocre compared to the 'real thing'. Maybe next year I'll try
my hand at making a dish...

Next time we go up to visit I'm going to make dinner here and take it
up in the cooler and reheat it there - they're always feeding us so
it's time to reciprocate.

--
~Karen aka Kajikit
Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life
http://www.kajikitscorner.com
Online photo album - http://community.webshots.com/user/kajikit

Sounds like you had a yummy time. I had 8 for Thanksgiving and I made 1
pumpking pie and 24 pecan Tassies. It was killing me I wanted to make a
carrot cake and an apple pie like usual years, but I thought do we (I)
really need to eat leftover dessert for 4 days. Plus hubby's BD is the 25th
and I always make him a chocolate cake. So, I was SO sure there'd be
whining that there wasn't enough pie, but everyone had a slice and a few
tassies with my homemade whipped cream and they were happy. My mom makes
the best stuffing every year and she's been teaching me how. I told her I
need to make it more than once a year so I'll remember how to do it. So,
2006 I think I make stuffing a few times.

Lynne

"Karen AKA Kajikit" > wrote in message
...
>I made five pies to take to thanksgiving, and it ended up that
> instead of 25 people there were only 12, so there was a ridiculous
> amount of dessert! Everyone sampled and nibbled and we had pie for
> dessert for the rest of the weekend... my SILs don't cook from
> scratch, so they were impressed by homemade pastry, but it really
> wasn't a lot of work - it took about three hours to do all five pies.
> Apple and Blackberry pie was a novelty to them even though I thought
> it was a pretty mundane combination... they enjoyed it. They raved
> over the homemade 'fruitmince' (no it didn't have suet and it didn't
> age - I made it on the stovetop with currants, raisins, golden
> raisins, some cherries for colour and a nice granny smith apple, and
> sugar and spice of course) and it turned out pretty good!) The pecan
> cheesecake pie also went down well though I found it a bit too sweet
> and treacly - I couldn't taste the cheese at all. I had peach pie for
> breakfast every morning, and the girls loved the traditional pumpkin
> pie so I'm glad I made them all.
> John's aunt made a 'cheese cake' which was yummy, and my SIL made her
> traditional pumpkin bread but because there was so much food we didn't
> eat it and she took it back home again. She gave us four little loaves
> to bring home with us, and boy are they good.
> We also had the traditional thanksgiving dishes - turkey cooked in a
> tabletop roaster (tastes fine but John's neice was upset that it
> doesn't go brown so she couldn't have crispy skin), a yummy ham with
> pineapple glaze, sweet potatoes and vegetables and a Waldorf salad
> that John's neice makes every year for her Thanksgiving contribution.
> The only disappointing thing was the dressing, which came out of
> packets and baked in the oven. It was a fairly expensive brand and my
> SIL swears it doesn't have MSG in it (I'm sensitive to the stuff), but
> it was mediocre compared to the 'real thing'. Maybe next year I'll try
> my hand at making a dish...
>
> Next time we go up to visit I'm going to make dinner here and take it
> up in the cooler and reheat it there - they're always feeding us so
> it's time to reciprocate.
>
> --
> ~Karen aka Kajikit
> Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life
> http://www.kajikitscorner.com
> Online photo album - http://community.webshots.com/user/kajikit