Foooooood

I love holiday food.  And to be honest, as much as I love BBQ and fried zucchini, fall/winter holiday food is my favorite.  I especially love Thanksgiving food because it is the most holiday specific.  It seems like Christmas just borrows Thanksgiving's food.  For the most part anyway.  So, as Thanksgiving gets closer I've been thinking about my favorite holiday foods.

Sweet potatoes.  I love sweet potatoes.  There is one sweet potato recipe that is my absolute favorite though.  I got it from this sweet, sweet lady at the church I grew up in.  Her name is Sammy.  She brought lemon bars to the dinner after my aunt's funeral.  They were delicious.  She passed away just a few days later.  I will always love her for those lemon bars.  Funeral food is not always guaranteed to be good.  But in my hometown it is.  I remember opening the door for Sammy and seeing those lemon bars.  I can still taste them.  Okay, back to the sweet potatoes.  They are the most amazing sweet potatoes in the world.  You could put them in a pie crust and eat them for dessert.  They are creamy and sweet with a pecan crunch on top.  Amazing.  I wish we were having them for Thanksgiving.  We're not.  Maybe I'll make them to take to my mother in law's.  I really may have to.

Dressing.  I swear my mom makes the best dressing in the world.  Wait, is it stuffing or dressing?  We call it dressing because it never goes in the bird.  My mom makes hers with half white bread and half cornbread.  Man it's sooooo good.  And this year she's getting special white bread so that I can eat it.  Best Mom ever!  I hate it when people don't make real dressing for Thanksgiving.  I mean Stove Top and what not is good but you need the real stuff at Thanksgiving.  I may secretly judge people who use the instant stuff for holidays.  If you do, I'm sorry.  I promise we can still be friends.

Cranberry relish.  My sister makes it.  It's amazing.  I love cranberry in pretty much anything though.  Sauce, bread, on a sandwich.  Trust me people.  Cranberry relish or sauce on a turkey sandwich is amazing.  I can totally do without turkey for the most part.  It's fine, not my favorite, but it's fine.  But you put it on a sandwich with cranberry relish and it's amazing.

Cranberry bread is probably my favorite.  Nothing says Christmas to me more than cranberry bread.  Someday, maybe tomorrow, I will give you the recipe.  You will love me for it.  I promise.

Chocolate pie.  That is my thing.  The thing that I bring to all dinners with my husband's family.  When we first started dating and I started going to holiday stuff with him he asked me to make a chocolate pie.  I've been bringing it ever since.  Apparently it ranks right up there with Grandma's chocolate pie.  I just use a recipe out of Betty Crocker.  The real key is whole milk and butter.  So healthy, right.  But it's delicious.  

So, now that I've made you hungry and possibly jealous of holiday food I have to cook dinner for my hubby.  But I promise I will share recipes tomorrow.  What's anybody else cooking for the holidays?  What are the foods you have to have or it's just not Thanksgiving?