A Legacy of Stitches

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

This rather large hay bail turkey sits at the west end of Main Street in Henderson, MN and right in front of the Sibley County Historical Society Museum. I just think it's so fun!! He is no danger of ending up on anyone's dinner table. Hope you are all looking forward to a fine meal with lots of family and friends. Our kids and grandson will be joining us and we each have our part - Steve cooks the turkey, I'm the pie baker and mashed potato maker - real mashed potatoes (I fell down on the job last year when I didn't cook the potatoes in time and we had to eat instant mashed potatoes - won't happen this year!!), Collette and Daryl are making green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole, and Devlin is bringing bread. His girlfriend Stacia will be in Iowa with family. And Jacob will be busy playing with cars and toys and Kaiser will be cruising for crumbs! :-) We have much to be thankful for and family is at the top of the list. We are also blessed with food on our table, sufficient clothing and shelter for our needs, and so much more. My heart was truly warmed when yesterday I received word that many of our donations from the Sew and Share group have been so welcome to those who lost so much in the flooding in Iowa this past summer. Many are still not in their homes and so what I have is so much more than they have. We made only a dent but at least we made a dent!!! There is still a need for larger quilts, queen size so if you are reading this and have a quilt you would want to donate, please e-mail me. It doesn't have to be a machine quilted fancy quilt. Nope, a lovely patchwork tied quilt that will provide winter warmth is all that it takes. Let me know if you have one you could spare.
Must run and frost a cake for the coffee time after this evenings Thanksgiving service at the church. And while I'm at it, I'll remember to grab the peanut butter ball recipe (I got it and added it below). There is, oh, so much to do at this time of year that sometimes, I "short-circuit" and forget things. Well, that's my excuse anyway. :-)
Sandi

Peanut Butter Candies

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened

1 tsp.vanilla

1 - 16 oz pkg. powdered sugar

1 - 6 oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate chips

2 tblsps. solid vegetable shortening (Butter flavor Crisco)

In medium bowl, mix peanut butter, margarine or butter, vanilla and sugar with hands to form a smooth dough. Mixture will be very stiff (and may be somewhat crumbly). Shape dough into small balls. Place on wax paper or parchment paper covered tray and then refrigerate while you prepare chocolate coating. You can also make the peanut butter balls one night and do the chocolate dip the next night. Use double boiler to melt chocolate and shortening together (I don't have a double boiler so I am just very careful to melt the chocolate and shortening very slowly). When the chocolate mixture is smooth, it's ready for dipping. Remove peanut butter balls from refrigerator and insert toothpick into ball and dip into melted chocolate and coat 3/4's of the ball (so that the peanut butter ball "peeks through"). Place on the wax paper/parchment paper surface and remove pick. When all are coated, place in refrigerator for 30 minutes and then they are ready to eat. These are a bit of work but they are really good. They also disappear really fast!!! The original recipe was given to me by a neighbor back in the 80's and I think it came from one of the women's magazines of that time. Have fun and enjoy the goodies!!!