Too Late, Turkey

I always think of tradition and turkey at Thanksgiving and not necessarily in that order. You know the saying "you've come a long way baby"? Every time I look at a turkey I think of those words because the first time I made a turkey, I took it out of the freezer 3 hours before serving it without realizing that it needed to thaw for days and cook for hours.

Now I have to chuckle to myself when I place that turkey on the table and everyone raves that it's the best turkey they've ever eaten. When asked what they're thankful for, they always add "mom's turkey" to the list. What I'm thankful for is my sweet family who always sits down at our Thanksgiving table with lots of love and a great sense of humor.

So this year along with your turkey dressing and pumpkin pie, serve a large platter of love, a bowl of patience, side dishes of kindness and consideration, pitchers of thankfulness and for dessert huge scoops of laughter with seconds on everything. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Not Just Beans and may God Bless You!

Sweet Potato Casserole

• 3 cups sweet potatoes, mashed
  
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
  
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
  
  
• 2 eggs
  
  
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla
  
  
• Topping
  
  
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  
  
• 1 cup pecans
  
  
• 1/2 cup flour
  
  
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
  
  

Mix all the ingredients and put in buttered 9x9 casserole dish. Sprinkle on topping. Bake uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes. This is a great dish for holiday dinners and potlucks as it can be made up the day before and then baked the next day.

Cranberry Sauce

• 1 can cranberry jelly
  
  
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
  
  
• 1 tsp. mustard
  
  
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
  
  

Mix together. Makes a great topping for ham or turkey.

Jill Cooper is the inspiration behind her daughter Tawra's frugal cookbook Not Just Beans: 50 Years of Frugal Family Favorites. Not Just Beans is a frugal cookbook which has over 540 recipes and 400 tips. For more tips and recipes visit our website at www.notjustbeans.com. To order Not Just Beans, send $14.95 (includes shipping until December 25, 2000) to Not Just Beans, P.O. Box 131, Manhattan, KS 66505-0131 or visit Amazon.com.

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