A Thanksgiving Tale

Now, I'm sure you've heard it all. But you haven't heard it all from me..*wink*!
I tried some new recipes this Thanksgiving with mixed results. I started with the Pumpkin Muffins from Ree Drummond... see thePioneerWoman.com for the recipe. I would have taken a photo but her photos are much better and I don't have any muffins left! These muffins were DELICIOUS!
Two comments about this recipe. She uses the muffin tin straight up! Meaning... no cup cake liners! I said, "No cup cake liners!" "Can this be done?" You see, I have cup cake liners for Winter, Christmas, Halloween, Fall, Valentine's Day, Easter, and the old standy by pastels. I can't not use cup cake liners. I think I need to start a support group. Hello, my name is Sheila and I use cup cake liners. Soooo... I sprayed the tin(cringing all the while)and filled them with the batter. I let them cool and PRESTO, the muffins fell right out! Ok, I feel a little better, but I'm not sure I can do this all the time.
Also included with the muffin recipe was the frosting recipe. A simple cream cheese frosting. I was doing just fine, cup of this, teaspoon of that and then....whamo... a half POUND of powdered sugar! WHAT! Where is the half pound marker on my measuring cup. Quick, to the Betty Crocker cookbook... dang... no conversion for a half pound of powdered sugar! My blondness is blooming right about now. I ended up putting in the powdered sugar in a 1/4 cup at a time and had my handy dandy taste testers help me figure out when to stop. I felt compelled to let you know,an airhead like me had a few obstacles.
Next, I wanted to try the butternut squash puree. Ummm. I like butternut squash. And the recipe said to use butter (I'm in) and Maple Syrup(Awesome!) I baked the squash, scraped out the pulp and put it into the blender... all is good. Except, the blender. As Flannel Man put it... "it's not the blender but the person using it." Hmmm. Is it wrong for me to expect to put something in the blender and expect it to ...I don't know...BLEND!? I pushed the button..ok all of the buttons and nothing. Oh.. it whirred. But didn't BLEND. Flannel man said I needed a cement mixer to do all that squash.
I said, "SIGN ME UP. Do they sell one at Amazon.com?" "Well, Super Flannel Man,"I said, "what do you suggest I do?" He says, exasperatingly, "You have to take all that out and do a little at a time with water." "But dear," I say, "the recipe doesn't call for water." (I'm weird that way). So I pondered a moment, but I wanted to get done and did as he suggested. The puree was pretty, smelled good, but was ... a little watered down. OK. Check this off my list. Not an airhead approved recipe.
So, Flannel Man and I are moving on, he to the Sweet Potato casserole and me to the wilted lettuce. No problems there. But now there is a clicking noise. Now, I've heard this noise before and it hasn't been an issue. See we have a gas stove. (Do you know where this is going?) It's been clicking intermittently for a while, but has stopped in the past. Flannel man took off the element and plugged it back in. Still clicking. Oh well, we just kept on.. making the dinner. On to the mashed potatoes and gravy. The burner is still clicking. You know after a while that sound is annoying. I feel like its a timer and I'm on 'Beat the Clock' or something. Hurry, get that dinner done! Ahhh... stress!
Then flannel man turns on the burner and POOF! Yes, an actual, POOF! "Oh my," he declares. "Whoa," I say. He is reaching for the plug and I'm blowing out the fire...yes fire coming up through the knobs. Just to be clear, yes a gas stove has fire...on the burners. A fire, however, should not occur through the knobs. What an interesting odor. No longer did the house smell like sweet potatoes and turkey, but of an indescribable sulfur and electrical aroma. The gravy was finished but the rolls were not. We served the dinner. One of the darling daughters noted that we forgot to light our candles on the table. But she did come back with a witty reply..."That's ok Mom, We lit the stove instead"! *laughter all around*. Grandma shared our meal today and we are thankful that she is still with us,and that we have food and a warm home. We cleaned up after our meal and proceeded to move the stove out of the house.

We sang taps.

We are looking for a Black Friday sale on a stove!

Happy Thanksgiving.