Thursday, October 15, 2009

Thanksgiving Thursday ~~ The Countdown...

WELCOME to the first installment of "Thanksgiving Thursdays". Greetings from "The Chair".

Okay, I know stark white walls and white faced me, I almost blend into the walls. EEK!! =)
Each week I'll greet you from this chair or somewhere equally as me.

I am a smiler. But you will notice in this picture not much of a smile. Well with the whole tooth situation it might take awhile to get my pearly white smile back, but it will be back!!




Psalm 92:1 The Message "What a beautiful thing, God, to give thanks, to sing an anthem to You, the High God!"



So what are you thankful for?!! What does Thanksgiving season look like in your world?~~

I'm hoping that over the next six weeks we will be able to take a peek into each others lives to see how we celebrate Thankfulness and then CHRISTmas.



So much has happened in our lives over the last year that my heart is just oozing thankfulness to Father God. He has brought us through so much, taught us so much, and is still teaching us so much as we continue to walk the path of obedience to Him. Can I just tell you that sometimes it is just stinking hard.hard. But ALWAYS worth it. There have been times this year that I have wondered what in the world God is doing, but instead of question, I have tried to trust. Sometimes I've succeded and sometimes I've failed, but I always find myself back at His feet. It is the only safe place to be.



So each week I'll start with a Scripture and this week it is Psalm 92:1 out of The Message Bible. I love the way this verse is worded here. It calls giving thanks to God a beautiful thing. Have you ever thought that giving thanks to God was beautiful?!! I don't know that I'd ever really thought about it in just that way, but I believe thankfulness to God is a beautiful thing, not only for us who give it, but also to God who receives it. Yes indeed a beautiful thing to give thanks and to sing anthems to God. So go ahead lift your voice to Him today. Give Him some thankfulness and praise what do ya say?!!

So as I was preparing for this post I was thinking about all the cool things on my heart to share with you over the next six weeks. I love to decorate and cook and come up with things that help make our house a home in each season. From the simple and mundane to the intricate and complex, I love it all!!!

So today we will talk a few simple decorations and then a yummee recipe to kick off The Countdown all official like.

I like to take my fall decoations right on into Thanksgiving. It is cost effective and let's face it, pumpkins stay pretty along time if they aren't carved. So grab one or two to sit on your porch sourounded by some gourds sitting on a bed of leaves. It's simple and a lovely way for your porch to greet your guests. I have a few other simple ideas I'll show you next week complete with pictures.

Let's focus on appetizers this week. Do ya'll do appetizers for your Thanksgiving dinners? We do. My family really likes this part of it. You see they each arrive here at different times, so it's nice to have something to nosh on while you cook and talk and talk, and did I mention talk?!! =) Now most of you know that the appetizer plates can be a real diaster for any watching what they eat, so let me give you a few healthy suggestions.

Of course vegetables. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, olives and pickles. But go easy on the dip. A good dip to serve with these is Greek Yogurt with about a tablespoon of lemon juice, a little garlic salt and chives. It is easy and a little tart and if you get the non-fat variety there are only 140 calories IN THE WHOLE CONTAINER. So this is a GREAT alternative to heavy dips or cheese sauces.

Now speaking of cheese, we love cheese around this parts, so of course cheese and crackers find their way onto our platters, but another easy thing to do to portion control is to eat the white cheeses and put just what you want for a couple of crackers on a plate with your veggies and dip and step away from the platter.....step away. If it's not sitting right in front of you, you are a lot less likely to keep noshing on it mindlessly.

Here is a recipe for roasted chickpeas. This is another wonderful thing to have to snack on as you will not eat as many of these.

Roasted Chickpeas

1 1/2 cups canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400F. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Spray a baking sheet and spread chickpeas out in a single layer. Bake, stirring every 15 minutes, until golden and crunchy, about 45-50 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Make these a day ahead. Yummee. This makes about 6 servings at 72 calories a serving. My kind of snack.

So there you have it, our first installment of "Thanksgiving Thursday".


Enjoy the video and have a Blessed evening,



3 comments:

  1. Hey Dawn - love this post.
    Sorry about your tooth and the problems with your knee!

    Haven't seen you around much!

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  2. Dawn,

    I am just sitting here thinking just how many people you are going to bless with all your wonderful ideas. I say, begin stocking up on all your thanksgiving goodies now, don't wait!

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat

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  3. I so loved this Dawn! Looking forward to all you will share.

    I love love love this time of year Thanksgiving and CHRISTmas. I was even saying to my family that I'd like to put the tree up now. I think I will after the Retreat. :)

    Love ya.

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