Carnival of Family Life — Thankfulness Edition

Welcome to the Car­ni­val of Fam­ily Life — Thank­ful­ness Edi­tion! I hope that you had a won­der­ful, joy-filled Thanks­giv­ing, sur­rounded by the folks you love most and a bounty of deli­cious food!

We had a won­der­ful day. It was low-key, relaxed, and com­fort­able. Although we have gone out to one of our favorite restau­rants on many pre­vi­ous Thanks­giv­ings, my boys really wanted to stay home this year and cel­e­brate in our new house. They specif­i­cally asked me to cook, so I obliged. I did not cook a turkey. Rather, I ordered a glazed, smoked turkey breast and glazed, spiral-cut ham from Honey Baked. And I picked up cherry and pump­kin pies from our local Coco’s. I haven’t tried the cherry, but the pump­kin pie was out­stand­ing — it tasted very much like the pump­kin pies my mother used to bake.

I made mashed pota­toes and gravy, my ver­sion of green bean casse­role, corn casse­role, and apple cran­berry stuff­ing. I found the recipe on a web­site and had to try it because it is made with King’s Hawai­ian bread which my boys love. It was deli­cious. I made a few changes, so am shar­ing the recipe with you the way I pre­pared it today. (And by the way, this is the very first time in the nearly five years since its incep­tion that I have ever posted a recipe here at Col­lo­quium.)

Apple Cran­berry Stuffing

Ingre­di­ents:

2 cups chicken broth
1 1/4 cups dried cran­ber­ries
1/3 cup but­ter
1 chopped onion
1 cup chopped cel­ery
2 apples, cored and finely chopped
3 large eggs, beaten
1/2 tea­spoon salt
1/4 tea­spoon ground black pep­per
1 (10.75-ounce) can cream of cel­ery soup
1/2 tea­spoon ground cin­na­mon
8 cups King’s Hawai­ian bread, cubed

Direc­tions:

Pre­heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch bak­ing dish.

In a small bowl, com­bine chicken broth and cran­ber­ries. Let them soak while you pre­pare the remain­der of the ingredients.

In a large skil­let, melt but­ter over medium heat. Add onion, pep­per and cel­ery and allow to sim­mer until ten­der.
Add the apples, again let­ting the entire mix­ture sim­mer until the apple are ten­der. Add salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, com­bine the vegetable/apple mix­ture, chicken broth and cran­berry mix­ture, cel­ery soup, eggs, and cin­na­mon. Add bread, stir­ring gen­tly to combine.

Spoon mix­ture into pre­pared dish and bake for 40 min­utes or until the cen­ter is set and the top is lightly browned.

Thanks­giv­ing / Thankfulness

e-Mom presents Let Grand­par­ents Shine at the Hol­i­days posted at Chrysalis.

Kandi Thomp­son presents Thank­ing God… posted at Twin-spiration.

Deb Bixler presents Turkey Recipes posted at You Are Really Lucky.

Paul Reyes-Fournier presents Being Grate­ful and Let­ting Go posted at coupledumb.com.

Ash­ley presents Unex­pected Thank­ful­ness posted at Moth­ers’ Hide­away.

Fam­ily Cook­ing & Recipes

Make it from Scratch presents Spiced Apple Pie Cock­tail posted at Make It From Scratch.

Dan presents Sav­ing Money on Baby Food with DIY Fresh Fruit posted at My Dad Blog.

Cyndi presents Baked penne and cheese posted at Real Food Fast!.

mar­jorie presents Fruit Pop­si­cles! posted at Lau­rel on Health Food.

Cyndi presents Apple tarts posted at Real Food Fast!

Cyndi presents No-Brainer Stir Fry posted at Real Food Fast!

Cyndi presents Popovers with gre­mo­lata posted at Real Food Fast!

Fam­ily Crafts & Activities

Sonja Stew­art presents Hal­loween with No Candy? No Way! posted at Par­ent­ing Squad.

Party Games For Girls presents Out­door Party Games Chil­dren Will Love posted at Party Games For Girls.

Guffly presents Let Your Inner Child Shine with These Eco-friendly Games posted at Guffly.

Kerry Fletcher presents How to Grow Huge Pump­kins posted at ehow.com.

jim presents How to Make Your Own “Green” Mouth­wash posted at Bar­gaineer­ing.

Make it from Scratch presents A lit­tle girl’s head­band posted at Make It From Scratch.

Quirky Momma presents Learn about Tex­ture by Mold­ing and Paint­ing Alu­minum Foil posted at quirkymomma.com.

Alex presents Christ­mas Cards Designs posted at Home Life Weekly.

Party Games For Girls presents Hal­loween Slum­ber Party Activ­i­ties posted at Party Games For Girls.

Party Games For Girls presents Out­door Thanks­giv­ing Games posted at Party Games For Girls.

Education

Sadie423 presents Chem­istry Unit– Les­son 10 posted at It’s a Boy’s Life.

Guffly presents Going Back to School the Eco-friendly Way posted at Guffly. Guff at http://www.guffly.com”

John Mas­tro presents The Edu­ca­tional Ben­e­fits of Audio­books and Children’s Learn­ing posted at got audio­books?.

Fam­ily Humor

Stephanie presents Should I be Con­cerned? posted at Adven­tures in the 100 Acre Wood.

Twyla Motkaluk presents Kids These Days posted at bitch­about.

Grandpa Odd­ball presents I Was a God « GetOddNews posted at GetOddNews.

Laura presents Potty Train­ing sucks! — in a nut­shell posted at Laura’s Mommy Blog.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Heinous Heenes? posted at Mad Kane’s Polit­i­cal Mad­ness.

Ban­quet Man­ager presents Real Brides’ Worst Wed­ding Guest Sto­ries posted at So You Want To Be a Ban­quet Man­ager ….

Hay­ley Milks presents Read the Man­ual. posted at Exx and the City.

Ash­leyB presents Pump­kin Guts posted at The Bow­den Brigade.

Katie Sorene presents 13 Most Awk­ward Fam­ily Vaca­tion Pics posted at Trip­base.

Fam­ily Finance

Joseph Mwangi presents Finan­cial Plan­ning Can Revi­tal­ize Rela­tion­ships posted at Kick Debt Off!!.

Man­shu presents Pre­paid debit cards to con­trol spend­ing posted at One­Mint.

Guffly presents Doing the Organic thing on a Bud­get posted at Guffly.

Rob presents 5 Energy Sav­ing Lap­tops posted at Energy Sav­ing Gad­gets.

David presents Credit Card Offers for Young Adults posted at Credit Card Offers IQ.

jim presents » Hol­i­day Tip­ping Guide posted at Bar­gaineer­ing.

The Dough Roller presents Does Apply­ing for a Bal­ance Trans­fer Offer Affect Your Credit Score? posted at The Dough Roller.

Khan Ben presents Work­ing at Home With a Baby posted at Women Weblog.

The Dough Roller presents 5 Rea­sons Why You Are Not Wealthy posted at The Dough Roller.

The Smarter Wal­let presents Cre­ate Your Fam­ily Hol­i­day Tra­di­tions and Save Money! posted at The Smarter Wal­let.

June Tree presents Citi ThankYou Points Net­work: Rewards For The Shop­per posted at The Digerati Life.

Fam­ily Health and Wellness

KidsYo­gaOn­line presents Hatha yoga for kids: float like a but­ter­fly, hum like a bee posted at Kids Yoga Online.

Aparna presents Home reme­dies for tooth aches posted at Beauty and Per­son­al­ity Groom­ing.

Richard Shelmer­dine presents Ill­ness is All in Your Mind posted at Richard Shelmer­dine.

C. Myers presents Four Nat­ural Sup­ple­ments That Will Ease Back and Joint Pain posted at Mind Mart.

Aparna presents Beat­ing stress – some tips posted at Beauty and Per­son­al­ity Groom­ing.

Par­ent­ing Tips & Advice

Sarah Clark presents The Mother Load: Cleaner liv­ing through mom’s cook­ing posted at The Mother Load.

Sonja Stew­art presents Why It’s Not Okay to Call Your Sis­ter a Douchebag posted at Par­ent­ing Squad.

Paul Reyes-Fournier presents Tam­ing a Stub­born Child posted at coupledumb.com.

Jenny presents Enjoy the Silence? posted at novgtmhyer bl9ovgtvgtinvgt j7ennif4er.

Kevin Heath presents Ran­dom Acts of Kind­ness: Teach­ing Your Child to Pay it For­ward posted at More4kids.

Christina presents Mother-son bond­ing: ice hockey posted at Solo Mother.

Sonja Stew­art presents The High Cost of Music posted at Par­ent­ing Squad.

Paul Reyes-Fournier presents My father and Wii posted at Exam­iner.

Paul Reyes-Fournier presents Do Chil­dren Change a Rela­tion­ship? Ha! posted at coupledumb.com.

Toni presents Can I put MOM on my resume? posted at Wifely Steps, say­ing, “Moth­er­hood is a career too, isn’t it?”

Paul Reyes-Fournier presents Preg­nancy and Noth­ing to Fix posted at coupledumb.com.

Jacque­lyn presents Your Teen and His Money posted at Wise Par­ent­ing Guide.

Adam presents 7 Habits Of Highly Effec­tive Nat­ural Par­ents posted at Nat­ural Par­ent­ing Tips.

OCMo­mAc­tiv­i­ties presents Ran­dom Act of Kind­ness posted at OC Mom’s Activ­ity Guide.

Min­is­ter Mamie L. Pack presents Thanks­giv­ing has presents posted at The Life I Now Live.

Emma presents How to buy a high chair you won’t regret buy­ing, part 2. posted at Baby-Log.

Ed Jones presents It Worked Just Like Dad Said! posted at Lessons Learned From My 2 & 4 Year Old.

Fam­ily Pets

Lisa presents Blitzkrieg’s Bal­loon Boy Cos­tume! posted at Condo Blues.

Jake presents 3 Rules of Dog Walk­ing Eti­quette posted at Dog Train­ing Pet.

Fam­ily Rela­tion­ships & Self-Improvement

leah aha­roni presents Moth­ers’ Guilt posted at Ingath­ered.

michael fehlauer presents Talk Her Up posted at Mike N Bon­nie.

bestofkid­sites presents The Super­woman is the Stay-at-Home Mom posted at Advice for moms by moms.

Melissa Hed­ding presents Finds For Fam­i­lies: The Moral Intel­lect posted at Finds For Fam­i­lies.

Paul Reyes-Fournier presents Mis­car­riage, Accep­tance and Being Pissed at God posted at coupledumb.com.

Stephanie presents Nolan the Wise (?) posted at Adven­tures in the 100 Acre Wood.

steven ger­main presents Let Us Now Praise Famous Men — Mike and Son… posted at Rough Frac­tals.

Paul Reyes-Fournier presents Mak­ing an As out of Sum and E. posted at coupledumb.com.

North­ern Cheap­skate presents Feel­ing Val­ued as a Stay-at-Home Par­ent posted at North­ern Cheap­skate.

OPTED Mag­a­zine presents Reject­ing clut­ter: how life stages affect depen­dence on pos­ses­sions posted at OPTED Mag­a­zine.

Amruta Ranade presents Love. Mar­riage. Friend­ship… posted at A Life­time of Eter­nity.

Surbhi Bha­tia presents A Fam­ily – Us and Them posted at The Views­pa­per.

Don­ald Latumahina presents Anthony de Mello on How to Find Hap­pi­ness posted at Life Opti­mizer.

JL 4 Media presents Mommy, They Said I’m Bad! posted at Live Life to the Fullest.

Fam­ily Travel

Amy presents Disney’s Ani­mal King­dom — The Con­densed Ver­sion posted at The Q Fam­ily Adven­tures Travel Blog.

Barry presents 7 Tips To Save Money On A Vaca­tion posted at Asso­ciate Money.

Thank you for par­tic­i­pat­ing in and sup­port­ing this Edi­tion of the Carnival!

The Merry Christ­mas 2009 Edi­tion of the Car­ni­val will be the final edi­tion. The Car­ni­val, founded by Kailani at An Island Life has remained pop­u­lar for sev­eral years. But I have other projects to which I would like to turn my atten­tion, so it is time to dis­con­tinue the Car­ni­val. In con­junc­tion with the final edi­tion, there will be other major changes to this site.

To sub­mit a post for the final edi­tion click here! Sub­mis­sions must be received by Decem­ber 23, 2009, at 11:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Pri­or­ity will be given to posts focused upon Christ­mas and/or the hol­i­day sea­son. Be sure to include both the perma­link to your entry. Should you have ques­tions, the Car­ni­val guide­lines can be reviewed by click­ing here.

Tech­no­rati Tags: Blog Car­ni­val, Car­ni­val of Fam­ily Life

On the Same Topic:

• Car­ni­val of Fam­ily Life: The Merry Christ­mas 2009 — and Final — Edition
• Car­ni­val of Fam­ily Life: Happy Hal­loween 2009 Edition
• Car­ni­val of Fam­ily Life: Sep­tem­ber 2009 “Fall Into Fall” Edition
• Car­ni­val of Fam­ily Life: August 2009 Edition
• Car­ni­val of Fam­ily Life