Slowly, but surely I am catching up on past blog posts that I should have written. This year we celebrated Friendsgiving with some of our friends here in Austin. Both of us work for retail companies so it's almost impossible to travel for Thanksgiving. We had a full menu this year, but everything turned out amazing. Our smoked turkey came from Big Cat BBQ here in Cedar Park. We ordered two turkey breasts and got so much turkey the day we picked it up. We ended up serving half and freezing half for busy holiday nights. Most of our other recipes come from people we know and love. I made Mike's family's stuffing/dressing balls, corn casserole from a recipe adapted for Foods classes by my friend, Carrie, and a green bean casserole created by my friend's husband. My desserts were German Sweet Chocolate Pie, a family favorite, and an apple crisp inspired by a recipe from my Aunt Tammy.

Cecil is always thankful for friends, family, and comfy beds.

I also made something new this year. For the first time ever, I made mashed potatoes. I could usually give or take mashed potatoes, but this were pretty good. I was also thankful that my great grandma insisted that I have a potato masher because it made everything so much easier. I used this recipe to make my yummy mashed potatoes. First, I peeled my potatoes. This was the timeliest step. Next, I boiled my cubed potatoes for about 30 minutes or until I could easily pierce them with a fork. I drained the water and mashed them on the stove on low heat, which made mashing easy. I added in butter, cream cheese, half and half and garlic. I stirred it all up until it was nice and creamy. I put them into a casserole dish and refrigerated over night. On Thanksgiving, I pulled them out to warm to room temperature and cooked them until they were heated through. They turned out great and will be a welcome addition to future Thanksgiving meals. We had a great day with wonderful company and look forward to hosting again next year.

The New Austonian