¡Ombligo!

My Mom hasn't been feeling good and all her energy is drained because of her Thalassemia. My father's favorite holiday is Thanksgiving so when she mentioned buying takeout instead of our traditional meal, I offered to make everything but the turkey.

The cranberry sauce:


I have the cranberry sauce in the slowcooker right now on low, it's been cooking since seven this morning. I followed this recipe but added 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp ground cloves. I also substituted Splenda for the brown sugar as my Mom's diabetic.

Sausage for the Dirty Rice

This recipe has been in my family for decades, it was given to my mom by a co-worker of hers who was from Louisiana and had been a family favorite ever since. Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without it.

Dirty Rice (or as my Mom calls it Rice and Sausage Casserole)

* The hotter it is, the better it is!*

Ingredients:
1 small package of rice - usually 2 cups white long grain rice dry rice, 4 cups cooked rice.
1 small green pepper
1 small onion
2 stalks of celery
1 Jalapeno - without the vein and seeds if you don't want it too hot.
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 C water
dash of worcester sauce
Tony Chachere's seasoning
1 package Hot Sausage - I use Jimmy Dean

Cook rice until done, set aside. Cook sausage, set aside. Cut up pepper, onion and celery and saute in butter or oil until done, set aside. Mix all ingredients together in a casserole dish adding the worcester sauce, water. Season to taste with Tony Chachere's seasoning or salt and pepper. Bake in casserole dish at 350 degrees for half an hour.

*I love Tony Chachere's seasoning! And I like it hot so I use the More Spice formula. If you don't have it in your kitchen it's a must have! It can be found at Walmart and at Cost Plus World Market among other supermarkets. You can also buy it online at cajunspice.com.

I still have much to do! *sobs*

2:30 p.m. Update: I just ate lunch, I hadn't had breakfast or lunch and was famished. I've done a lot so far but an not quite done. I still have to make the biscuit dough and finish up the Dirty Rice. Here's what I've done so far.

Stuffing prepwork

I'm making two different types of stuffing, savory and sweet. The savory one in the blue bowl contains: onion, celery, green onions, mushrooms and sausage. The sweet one in the white bowl contains: onion, celery, craisins, golden raisins and will have toasted pecans and apples. I don't dare cut the apples today as they'll change colors. I toasted the pecans but won't add them until tomorrow as they'll wilt in the fridge.

Toasted pecans and pumpkin pie

I made sugar free pumpkin pie using Splenda instead of sugar. I used a pre-made crust for the pie *gasp* I know, I know but a girl's gotta cut corners somehow. I do make an excellent pie crust from scratch but I have no time! I also used canned pumpkin over fresh - takes far too long to cook the pumpkin and all the jazz. Done it before and I'll never do it again!

I added more spices to the pumpkin pie than it called for, naturally! A little more cinnamon and added some nutmeg.