I was just here checking to see if anyone was still canning anything, since I canned beef broth today. I raised the heritage Blue Slate turkey that we had at Thanksgiving, along with the fingerling potatoes which store very well in the cellar. Pumpkin pie was made from home canned pumpkin and an appetizer of a savory cheesecake was topped with my Habanero Gold. Mulled cider from cider we pressed and I had in the freezer stayed warm in the crockpot. Christmas thumbprint cookies contained homecanned jam and the green beans were from my basement "store" and my stepson roasted another one of those turkeys. The guys all doused theirs with my home canned hot sauce. All the Christmas baking was done with eggs from the freezer too, and the pie was made with homecanned apple pie filling. Throughout the holidays we snacked on fresh tortilla chips and salsa that I had canned (Yes, I'm THAT Annie). Oh, I made the ricotta for the lemon ricotta pancakes too, as well as the yogurt. Enchiladas made with leftover turkey were topped with tomatillo sauce that I made and froze when the last of my tomatillos vines were threatened by frost. My kids are coming over tomorrow and we're having beef roulades, with the onions in the rolled beef coming from the root cellar and the beef from my barnyard, good organic grassfed beef, a Hereford/Highland cross. Sweet and sour kale from our bumper crop of greens this year, home canned green beans with bacon for the grandkids and the cheesecake will be topped with homecanned blueberry topping. Appetizers will be venison sausage and homemade liverwurst from that same grassfed beef, pickled beets and Linda Lou's 10 day sweet pickles So, yeah, I use a lot of my canned goods. Annie

Our traditions when I was a child were fairly simple and mostly revolved around gathering family (grandparents, aunts, uncles cousins and honorary family) at a table for the meal and not a lot of other fanfare. Foods were specific to the holiday and pretty consistent over the years although my mom did love to try new things. Unfortunately the response more often than not, was to stick with the tried and true - kids can be so mean!! We didn't make big productions out of many of the holidays that are big events now. Halloween involved carving a pumpkin for/with each child then shoo-ing us out the door to trick or treat in whatever homemade costumes we came up with from the dress-up closet. My parents would never decorate our house and it never felt like anything was missing in our lives. Fourth of July was our village parade (with our decorated bikes) and speeches, then that night the fireworks. Memorial Day was more somber but also a village event. Being Jewish, I loved being invited to decorate trees with friends, but we had 8 nights of Hanukkah and the last night was the big family event with games, the traditional meal and presents. But other than the menorah and candles, no decorations. Passover was a huge production (I understand now how much work it entails), the High Holidays meant new outfits for temple, eating, fasting, lots of family in and out for the various services. My DH is not Jewish and came from a whole different set of (religious) traditions. Oddly, he didn't like many of them, even as a child and stopped participating as an adult. Of course, I get the blame for that! We forged new traditions with our sons, celebrating Hanumas or Christmakah. We topped our tree with a Jewish star for many years, until I realized no one else cared about the tree but me and when I stopped buying one they all said 'what took you so long?!' Last year we went to Washington for Thanksgiving. Our older son lives there in a tiny apartment in a national park. Tiny as in you can sit on the foot of the bed and open the refrigerator! Our younger son came from his college in CO, and the 5 of us (including DS1's girlfriend) stood shoulder to shoulder preparing the big meal. Nothing traditional, no turkey no stuffing no mashed potatoes - we had oysters, Dungeness crab, roast brisket..... and Mexican flan for dessert. Close quarters, limited equipment, borrowed dishes, no fancy table settings or decor but we laughed and felt so TOGETHER - it was probably the best Thanksgiving we've ever had! I love traditions but have come to appreciate the wonder of shaking things up now and then. In the end, though, it's all about the people I share the events with and have found simplifying things allows me to enjoy them much more.

Scott, There is no smell like ANY peppers roasting! Truly! If I was trying to sell a house, I'd have peppers and tomatoes dehydrating or roasting in the oven just to fill the house with that delicious aroma. I think a house would sell based on how good it smelled! I miss frying! I miss making home-made fried chicken and chicken fried steaks as well as fried pork chops, and fried potatoes, or my dad's summer garden dish where he'd mix together sliced potatoes, okra, onions and peppers (hot or sweet) and fry them in lard or bacon fat, sprinkling a handful or two of cornmeal over them as he fried them. We never had a name for that dish but I loved to make it, and it too has been relegated to the more fattening meals of our past and no longer is included in the healthier meals of the present day. Tim has high cholesterol, though, so frying things in the old southern style is something we dropped almost entirely at least 15 years ago. Homemade fried chicken still is a favorite birthday meal here in this household, and I'll make it if that's what the birthday person wants. I think that on their birthday a person should get to eat what they want. If you're eating healthy most of the time, an occasional old-style fried southern meal won't hurt. Stockergal, Well, I grew up on meat and potatoes, growing up in Fort Worth a few miles from the Stockyards. Beef was always the main thing we had when I was a kid, but we did have lots of chicken and occasionally pork or fish. It is just that when you live in a Wild West sort of town like Ft. Worth (I am sure OKC was very similar in the same decades) where beef and potatoes are the holy grail of meals, that's what you eat. I'd still rather eat meat and potatoes than anything else, but we do try to eat more fish and poultry now and less red meat. My first job was as a waitress in a steakhouse and I would have eaten steak every day if I could. It has been hard to slowly (way too slowly, most likely) learn to eat in a more healthy manner. Carol, As soon as I saw "hobo dinners", I did instantly think "Boy Scouts!" That's some good eating, and I love hobo dinners. I also love cooking anything/everything outdoors in cast iron dutch ovens, also a remnant, I guess, from our Boy Scout days. Andria, Well, you made me hungry! We do cook a lot less in the heat. I love it when cold weather returns in fall or winter and find myself spending a lot more time in the kitchen then (coincidentally at a time when I am spending less time in the garden). I find eating healthy works best for me one day at a time. (grin) If I had to think that I'd only eat perfectly healthy meals for the rest of my life, I'd rebel and go buy and eat the biggest ribeye I could find, and then I'd finish the meal with incredibly rich and delicious homemade (made from scratch) chocolate cake. An occasional cheat day isn't too bad, but we truly are eating healthier than we ever have, most days. We are trying really hard to eat healthier as we get older, and it isn't always easy. The taste buds want what they want, but I do think that once I cut a lot of junk out of my diet, I don't enjoy it as much when I do eat some of it because my taste buds have learned to enjoy things that are less fattening, less processed, less salty, etc. I suppose that's a good thing, but I miss the days when I was younger and had better metabolism and could eat anything and everything I wanted and never gain an ounce. Those days are gone forever. If I ever find a way to grow my own chocolate, I'm in trouble. Dawn

justwantapool-I make the peanut butter cookies with the Hershey kisses. It's the only one I cheat on and use the Betty Crocker cookie mix for. I find the full size kisses too large for the cookies so last year I used the Brach's chocolate stars. I think they're just the right size and the star shape is pretty on the cookie as well. I noticed this year that Ghirardelli also makes a drop that they say is specifically for that type of cookie. They call them Thumbprint Drops. Miss lindsey-I make the raspberry thumbprints as well but this year, I got a fig orange jam to try in mine. I love figs in cookies so I thought I would give it a try.