Guest Author - Marilyn Crain

If you’re from Texas and you’re planning for the holidays, you always have a back-up plan. In the case of Thanksgiving that plan can be summed up in one word--cafeteria. Texans believe that either Luby’s or Wyatt’s Cafeteria is an absolutely acceptable place to take the family for an almost homemade turkey dinner. You know, things can happen, like the turkey didn’t thaw in time or it came out of the oven just a little on the burned and dry side. Sometimes it’s a matter of simply being too tired or not having enough time to cook for a crowd. Off to the cafeteria it is and everyone is perfectly satisfied, as long as they’re home in time for the football game.

That’s the back-up plan, but the goal is always to put a fabulous Texas Thanksgiving spread on the table. Here’s one family’s traditional turkey and dressing dinner:

Oven-roasted turkey
Cornbread dressing (not stuffing mind you, dressing baked in a sheet cake pan)
Country cream pepper gravy and…
Giblet gravy
Fluffy mashed potatoes
French-cut green beans (always frozen not canned) with slivered almonds
Sweet potato casserole with marshmallow topping
Cheesy broccoli and rice casserole
Cranberry sauce--Jellied and whole berry (and now whole berry made with Splenda)
Dinner rolls (always the ready to bake kind from the bread aisle)
Fruit salad
Sweet potato pie
Pecan pie
Coconut cream pie
German chocolate cake


Texas Thanksgiving Fruit Salad

Del Monte Chunky Fruit Cocktail (packed in pear juice not sugar syrup)
Red Delicious apples
Bananas
Oranges
Pears
Pecans
Shredded coconut
Lemon juice

The proportion of each fruit is not important. This can vary according to taste, how large the serving bowl is or even how many bananas you managed to save from the hungry hoard.

Open and drain the fruit cocktail, then add to serving bowl.

Cut all fresh fruit into bite-size chunks and add to a second bowl with lemon juice. Toss to coat with juice so the fruit will keep its fresh colors.

Add fresh fruit to serving bowl, leaving the excess lemon juice behind.

Stir. If necessary add another can of fruit cocktail or more fresh fruit to fill the serving bowl.

Just before serving, sprinkle pecans and coconut on top of the fruit.

So that’s one family’s traditional Texas Thanksgiving and their back-up plan just in case of a holiday emergency.

A little extra:

If the timing can be figured out, if a second oven is available or if the turkey is being cooked in grandma’s Westinghouse electric roaster, then there will be a special treat for breakfast. This Texas family’s all-time favorite Thanksgiving tradition is homemade Pecan Cinnamon Breakfast Rolls. These are huge and yummy yeast pinwheels full of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans.

No matter where you live, may you all enjoy your family and friends as you celebrate your own Thanksgiving traditions. Peace and harmony.

I couldn’t find a Westinghouse but here is an example of what I’m talking about.

Roaster Oven at Amazon