{"id":10624,"date":"2013-11-19T04:00:22","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T09:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/\/wp\/?p=10624"},"modified":"2013-11-18T15:44:50","modified_gmt":"2013-11-18T20:44:50","slug":"the-feast-of-love-and-hope-and-gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=10624","title":{"rendered":"The Feast of Love and Hope and Gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"turkey-card-web\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This month Americans are observing many anniversaries. Today is the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln\u2019s Gettysburg Address. I long for its eloquence and brevity every time I write\u2014and every time I listen to a political speech.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy\u2019s assassination in a few days is dominating our television screens now almost as much as it did at the time of that president\u2019s death.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mulling over it repeatedly, we explore our history, our feelings about our leaders, and the difficulty of ever knowing precisely what happened in the past. (The assassination is an event that has been seen by millions of people and studied by thousands\u2014and yet no one can be 100-percent sure exactly what happened on that day in Dallas.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The anniversary that interests me most, however, is another Lincoln-related one. In November 1863, a week after writing and reciting the Gettysburg Address, our 16th president led Americans in celebrating our first national day of Thanksgiving.<\/span><\/p>\n

States and communities had celebrated their own days of Thanksgiving for a couple of centuries by then. It was Lincoln who nationalized the holiday and identified it as the last Thursday in November. (It eventually became the fourth Thursday rather than the last.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sarah<\/a>

Sarah Josepha Hale<\/p><\/div>\n

Writer\/editor Sarah Josepha Hale had campaigned unsuccessfully by letter for such a day with previous presidents beginning with Zachary Taylor. It took Lincoln\u2019s genius to identify Thanksgiving as a quintessentially American holiday\u2014one that was particularly appropriate to a nation at war.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is when we are feeling the most stress that we have the greatest need to be grateful. Lincoln realized that a nation at war needed to stop, take stock of its blessings, and express gratitude\u2014perhaps even more than a nation at peace. Indeed, his original proclamation reminded Americans to be particularly mindful of those whose families had been disrupted and\/or destroyed by the war.<\/span><\/p>\n

This spirit lives on in the efforts of a variety of organizations to serve Thanksgiving meals (and bring Thanksgiving cheer) to veterans and their families. It also continues whenever those of us hosting Thanksgiving dinner invite friends, relatives, or strangers to join us for this annual feast of love and hope and gratitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"card1web\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You may see Lincoln\u2019s original Thanksgiving proclamation at the National Archives website<\/a>. And the White House website<\/a> offers what it calls the \u201cdefinitive\u201d history of the practice of pardoning a turkey for Thanksgiving. I love the weird American-ness of this tradition; we pardon one turkey a year so that we can feel less guilty about eating millions of its cousins!<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not actually posting a Thanksgiving recipe this year\u2014although I refer you to several of them I have posted over the years. Try the\u00a0hush-puppy pudding<\/a> \u2026 or cranberry upside-down cake<\/a> \u2026 or even simple roasted Brussels sprouts<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead I offer this simple seasonal quiche. It uses a vegetable I always overbuy at this time of year, the sweet potato. (I received several with my farm share last week so I\u00a0was forced\u00a0to get creative.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Happy Thanksgiving to you all \u2026 and to your families. Don\u2019t forget to open your homes and your hearts to strangers at this time of year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"SP<\/a><\/p>\n

Sweet Potato Tart<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

1 large sweet potato, cut into small pieces and peeled if you want to peel it
\nextra-virgin olive oil as needed
\nsalt to taste
\n3 large or 4 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced
\nfresh, chopped parsley to taste
\nfour eggs
\n1\/2 cup cream
\na dash of Creole seasoning
\nounces (more or less) sharp cheddar cheese, grated
\n1 8-inch pie shell<\/span><\/p>\n

Instructions:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Pour a tablespoon of oil into a bowl. Stir in salt to taste (start with 1\/2 teaspoon). Toss in the pieces of sweet potato.<\/span><\/p>\n

Place the sweet-potato pieces on a cookie sheet or baking pan, and roast until they are lightly brown around the edges, stirring occasionally. This took me about 1-1\/4 hours, but my oven runs cool so it may take you less time.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the sweet potatoes are cooking, splash oil onto a non-stick frying pan. Place the pan over medium-low heat. Toss in the onion slices.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cook them slowly, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until they are reduced and softly caramelized. This may take an hour or more. Add a pinch of salt after the first 1\/2 hour\u2014and add a little more oil if you need it as you cook. When the onions are finished, stir in the parsley.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both the onions and the sweet potatoes may be cooked the day before you want to serve your quiche; refrigerate the cooked vegetables until they are needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you are ready to assemble your quiche whisk together the eggs, cream, and Creole seasoning in a bowl.<\/span><\/p>\n

Place the pie shell in a pie pan. Sprinkle half of the cheese over the pie crust. Top the cheese with the onions and then the sweet potatoes; then pour on the cream\/egg custard, and finish with the remaining cheese.<\/span><\/p>\n

Place the tart (or quiche or whatever you want to call it!) on a rimmed cookie sheet to prevent spillage, and bake it for about 40 minutes, until the custard is set and the top is golden\u2014but the sweet potatoes peeking out are not burning!<\/span><\/p>\n

Serves 6.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"assembling<\/a>

The tart halfway through assembly<\/p><\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This month Americans are observing many anniversaries. Today is the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln\u2019s Gettysburg Address. I long for its eloquence and brevity every time I write\u2014and every time I listen to a political speech. The 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy\u2019s assassination in a few days is dominating our television screens now almost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9,16,17],"tags":[1617,1618,1619,1620,1621,40,1616],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10624"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10624"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10636,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10624\/revisions\/10636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}