Riff's Christian Journal

When it comes to eating a most wonderful meal, November is the month for me.

This is a month for giving thanks and nothing says giving thanks more than Thanksgiving. The meals at this time of the year are fantastic. Especially the ones I remember as a kid from the late 1940’s to the early 1960’s.

From my Mom to my Grandmothers they all knew how to cook from scratch and using nothing but fresh – never frozen – meats and vegetables, mostly from their garden.

The fresh Turkey was always nicely brown, fork tender and juicy. Filled with wonderful stuffing that was moist and tasty. The “smashed”, yes smashed, potatoes were nothing like today’s “whipped” smooth and wimpy potatoes. Those potatoes, which I still make myself, where hardy, full of russet flavor, buttery and so wonderfully stiff with a thickness that it would hold up to any homemade gravy from the pan drippings of the Turkey. Add a side of corn and you have a fantastic meal. Except…

Except, it was even better when you had a side of homemade cranberry relish, made with real cranberries, apples and oranges with sugar for added sweetness.

We ran everything through an old style hand cranked food processor (grinder). Beginning with the cranberries dumped into the intake funnel, as you turned the hand crank to crush the berries out came the ground up berries and juice. Then the apples were added, peeling and all, along with the oranges just sliced with the rind still on, all through the same manual food processor.

Once the right amounts of fruits were added, all the ingredients were mixed with a big spoon while adding sugar to the mixture for the sweetness one wanted. Then it was finished… ummm, not quite.

For best results, the mixture was best made about two weeks before Thanksgiving so that it could sit and marinate, and the results were an added measure of taste that was out of this world. Not to mention, that whoever made this relish always filled a quart-canning jar with the relish, seal it with paraffin wax and a lid, and set it in the back of the refrigerator until…

Until Christmas!

At this point, after having sat for so long in a cold environment the result from the fermenting process gave the relish an extra added boost of extravagant flavor and a taste that no canned relish or sauce could ever duplicate. Can you say “ambrosia”?

Not to be outdone by the meal there was one last thing to have; either a big slice of homemade pumpkin pie topped with homemade whipped cream, or a big hunk of homemade thick apple pie topped with real homemade ice cream. What a way to finish a scrumptious meal.

However, before the meal, one thing was always done before any eating took place, and that was the saying of grace.

Now this was something that the kids always took turns in saying and it was very appropriate for little children to say as it was also the way Jesus wanted people to be in following Him – with the faith of a little child.

Our version went like this…

“God is great, God is good and we thank Him for our food. By His hands, we all are fed. Thank you Lord, for our daily bread. Amen.”

You see, food is a blessing. We do not need to ask God to bless it. It already is blessed because God has given it to us. All we need to do is to be grateful to God for our daily bread and just give Him heartfelt thanks in return.

Even Jesus gave thanks for food as He did at the last supper:

Luk_22:19  (KJV)  And he took the bread, gave “thanks”, and gave it unto His disciples…

The food is the blessing…

“God is great, God is good and we thank Him for our food. Amen.”