Happy Thanksgiving

This year my family had our regular Thanksgiving hoo-ha at my parent's place, about 30 minute's drive from my house. I was discouraged from riding my bike there, so I road in the morning and arrived by car with DH for our 2:00 summons. The usual suspects were all there -- my mom and dad, my aunt and uncle from France (OK, so they're not Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd), my grandmother, DH and me.

This year we are opted to forgo Grandma's inedible pumpkin pie in favor of pumpkin pie cheesecake provided by moi. We'll have to see if this is a new tradition or not. I do think that we've seen the last of the rock hard pie crust though!

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 4 cookie sheets)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325°.

Coat an 8-inch springform pan with cooking spray, and sprinkle pan evenly with crumbs.

Combine sugars and cream cheeses in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add pumpkin and next 9 ingredients (through eggs), and beat well.

Pour cheese mixture into prepared pan. Bake at 325° for 35 minutes or until center is just set. Turn oven off, and partially open oven door. Cool cheesecake in oven 1 hour.

Remove cheesecake from oven, and cover. Chill at least 8 hours or overnight.

Source: Cooking Light, December 2005

Otherwise, we had our traditional Thanksgiving -- fresh turkey with mom's cornbread stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, baked sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, black olives, homemade dinner rolls, Grandma's fruit salad, green beans...

It was a really nice visit and I think that a good time was had by all. What a nice day!