Jennifer from Getting Ahead

Welcome to Thanksgiving in Jennifer’s kitchen. Jennifer writes about frugality, homeschooling, and the general ups and downs of life as a mom on her blog Getting Ahead. Jennifer opened her kitchen to us all during the end of July. You can read Day 1 of her week here.

For the first 10 years of our marriage, I didn’t really have to think about Thanksgiving very much. Sure, family would come to my house occasionally, but for the most part we traveled around to our parents for the holiday.  When family did come over, I just did exactly what my mother had always done.  I had dinner at the same time and made the same things in exactly the same way.

When we moved out to Ohio I finally had the opportunity to do things my way. When people found out we weren’t going anywhere and weren’t having family in town, they kept inviting us over.  We declined.  We were so excited to finally have a holiday to ourselves!

I have to say, while I love spending holidays with extended family, we really love having it just be the six of us. It just feels more relaxing for us.  We can just spend time with the kids however we want.  This year will be our third Thanksgiving here in Ohio and this time we have family coming to visit us.  But there will be no running around, as they are here for the week.  I have also come into my own as far as how I like Thanksgiving to be and will do things my way, not my mom’s way.  It will be different for them, but I finally have the confidence to do that.

Our menu will include turkey, Kraft stuffing balls, rice and gravy, sweet potatoes, relish tray, corn, and my daughter and I will be making homemade pie for the first time. I have pumpkin puree coming out of my ears, so we will make that and an apple pie.  And we will be having dinner around 4pm.  We will watch the parade, take the kids to the park down the street and watch a lot of football.  We will sit by the fire and play games and enjoy being with each other.  I can’t wait!

For those who have never made stuffing balls before, this recipe is awesome!  It is easy to make and you can make it ahead of time and freeze.  Just pull out and bake on Thanksgiving Day.  The stuffing balls go well with ham too.  They are an easy finger food if you are going to a pot luck or having a lot of people over.

Find more WFMW here.

Stuffing Balls

stuffing balls

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 ½  boxes of stuffing mix
  • 1 can of cranberry sauce
  • 1 egg (I omit this because my daughter can’t eat eggs and it works just fine)
  • ½ cup water

Mix together all ingredients and scoop out into little balls.  Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350.  Enjoy!

AUTHOR | Toni

Toni, one of the original 3 Moms, is a military wife and stay-at-home(schooling) mom of six, soon to be seven great kids. On her personal blog, The Happy Housewife, she writes about saving money, healthy eating, recycling, homeschooling, life as a mom, and crafting.

Posted by Toni on Nov 25th, 2008 | Filed Under Thanksgiving
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4 comments
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  1. Raise Them Up | November 26th, 2008, at 9:53 am >>

    For the last five years, we’ve been “just us”, too. Although we miss our extended family, I agree that sometimes it’s nice to enjoy a more relaxed day with the kids.

    Blessings!

  2. Sherry | November 26th, 2008, at 1:17 pm >>

    These sound scrumptious!! :D

  3. dani | November 26th, 2008, at 6:37 pm >>

    I’m new to your blog. I won a giveaway from you. I read but rarely comment. So, you mentioned you omit the egg b/c your daughter can’t eat it. Does she have allergies? I ask b/c my daughter has an egg allergy and I wondered if you had other eggless recipes.

  4. Life with Kaishon | November 26th, 2008, at 7:10 pm >>

    I just love this idea : ). I might make them tomorrow. Even though my designated item to bring is NOT stuffing : )! Happy Thanksgiving

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