RevGals Friday Five: Left-overs...

Deb, over at the RevGals blog offers this post-Thanksgiving Friday Five:

.... let's think about leftovers today..

1. What has SURPRISED you in this season of Thanksgiving? My husband and are parents of grown children. Our daughter is 24 and our son is 20. Our daughter lives 300 miles away and is involved with a man who may become her life-partner. As a result she needs to share the holidays with his family and with ours. I am taking the approach my mother-in-law always took - go easy on yourself. Don't spread yourself so thin trying to engage with ALL of family that you can't enjoy any of it. That means that this year she and Keith did not come here for any part of the Thanksgiving weekend. Instead she went to Keith's family and then stop by and visited some extended family (her aunt - my husband's sister, and cousins). And, it was okay. We called each other via "Face Time on our iPads and talked for a bit.

My husband, son, and I spent the day together and had fun. We drove to the country and cut a fresh Christmas tree. Made a delicious Thanksgiving meal, walked our dogs, and decorated the Christmas tree. Even our son commented on what a nice Thanksgiving we had. 



2. Share a recipe or a favorite way to use up all the extra food from a big holiday meal! What's your specialty?  When I was little it was my job to clean the carcass of the turkey so we could make soup or a casserole. I really hated that job. As an adult I simply don't do it. I throw out the carcass (I know it's wasteful, some would say). I am not a big fan of  left-over turkey casseroles or soup. Tonight we will have a repeat of last night's meal and that will use up all the left-overs. Then any turkey that is left over I will add to a pot of black bean chicken/turkey chili that I plan to make. (I have saved the broth from a recent crock-pot chicken and a lot of the left over meat). I plan to:

Soak black beans over night. In the morning I will rinse them (again) and then boil them for an hour or so. In a skillet I will saute onion, celery, and green pepper then add that to the boiling pot of beans. I'll add the chicken broth and chopped chicken/turkey and season it with cumin, chili powder, garlic, coriander, salt and pepper, some diced tomatoes or a can of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce or paste (depending on how liquidy it is. I may add a can of corn.  We'll eat it with some grated cheese and a dollop of sour cream.I'll make a batch of corn bread to serve with it.



3. We have a Sunday in between Thanksgiving and Advent this year, (to which all the preachers say, "THANK YOU!") Are you wrapping up Thanksgiving, preaching about Christ the King, or having "leftovers" with someone doing pulpit supply? It will no doubt be light attendance with the kids present for the entire service. I will have an all generations sermon focusing on thanksgiving and the Reign of Christ (as our Feast of Title day). I will probably talk about the squirrel I encountered IN THE CHURCH on Wednesday and have pictures of squirrels for the kids to color. I have no idea how I will connect the squirrel to the feast day and thanks-giving...but I think it will be something along the lines of enjoying life in the simple ways.

4. Do you give the holidays their due? Or are you tempted to rush past the fall festivals for a love of Christmas? I think we made a nice transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas in the same day.

5. Is there some THING, some TASK or some ONE who gets the "leftovers" of your attention?
In my busy life it seems there is always some thing, task, or person getting the left-overs of my attention. But eventually everything moves UP the list and gets my attention, it just might take awhile...that, or I have to let it go (usually not a person, often a task gets let go of)...

BONUS: A photo of your last holiday spread, family/guests or soup pot. Or those who are begging for the same. 

No photo of our holiday spread....




Comments

Sandy said…
Sounds like a lovely day. Thanks for sharing!
Unknown said…
Thanks for the turkey,black bean chile recipe
so glad your day was relaxing...
it makes all the difference as ministry moves into high gear soon and very soon...
Anonymous said…
What nice gift to your family not to have a "required" holiday. It was always stressful for us because my in-laws pouted if we drove to my parents for a holiday. A lovely grace-filled response. It sounds like it was fun day!

I'm laughing with the story about the squirrel. That must have been fun.

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