We tend to join our two families and celebrate thanksgiving at Johanna’s house. This year, little Molly has joined the family and now there are four little kids to be grateful for.
While we did not grow up with Thanksgiving (it does not exist in Sweden) we have come to really enjoy this day.
The holiday season is often very busy and full of things that we have to do – Thanksgiving always offers a calm celebration of just being together. We love setting the table early. Make sure you have a soothing playlist on and take the time to make your table pretty and festive. We use our “best china” everyday, and think its well worth the extra effort to wash dishes (as supposed to using paper plates during the holidays). Besides, the best conversations happen in the kitchen, right?
Perhaps its the Swede in us, but we do not decorate for Christmas until Thanksgiving has past. So we like to use a fall or harvest theme on the table. We love adding lots of greenery, either lay a garland of greenery along the center or make small arrangements. Keep the flowers simple and unfussy, just let the plants shine. You can make simple arrangements from flowers you get at your local supermarket. Start with picking a flower that you think looks pretty and then add some green fillers and complimentary smaller flowers. We love adding in branches that have small berries or simple eucalyptus. Add lots of candles on the table and use pretty placemats and napkins to warm up the table. You can also play around with string lights, we love adding them inside lanterns, or draping them along the center of the table.
While Johanna’s husband Peter makes a great turkey and always has lots of wonderful traditional sides, here are a few unusual sides that we also include every year.
We love adding this salad to bring color and some lighter to the spread. Here is the recipe that we first discovered in a Southern Living magazine a few years ago.
We also like to add this corn dish. Now the kids make it (because its so easy to prepare) and its one of their favorite dishes:
Baked Corn Casserole:
- 1 15 oz can of while kernel corn, drained
- 1 cup of sour cream
- 1 15 oz can of creamed corn
- 1 8,5 oz box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
- 1 stick butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and mix all ingredients. Place in 11×7 inch pan and bake for 1 hour. Let sit 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving.
Caramelized Apples Cheesecake Tart
If you want to make an amazing dessert, try this delicious Apple cheesecake. It takes a while to make, so start early. Arranging the apples on top makes it so pretty.
We hope you will all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a calm time with your family and friends.
Johanna & Viveka
