Thanksgiving Traditions & Recipes

For today's Every Girl Link-Up, Astleigh and I are sharing our favorite Thanksgiving traditions and/or recipes! If you have a tradition/recipe to share, feel free to link up with us at the bottom of the post!

Interestingly enough, every year that Steve and I have been married, we have done something different for Thanksgiving. Some years we travel, and some years we stay in town and eat at our parents' houses.

I'm going to share an old food tradition from my family and a dessert tradition from Steve's family.

NORWEGIAN LEFSE

Lefse is a traditional Norwegian flatbread, sort of like a potato pancake or a potato tortilla. It can be served with butter and cinnamon sugar for a dessert-like treat, or it can hold something more savory like ham and eggs or lutefisk(!)

My dad's side of the family has a tradition of making lefse on the day after Thanksgiving using the leftover mashed potatoes. I took these photos five years ago, so they aren't the clearest, but they're so special because it's my Danish/Norwegian Grandpa making the lefse, along with my Aunt Karen, and Steve at the griddle.

Ingredients:

2 cups mashed potatoes

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 Tablespoons melted butter

This is the simple recipe passed on to me:

Using a cloth-covered rolling pin on a floured table, roll out 1/8 cup of batter. Cut the flattened dough into a circle by using a plate as a stencil. Roll on a lefse stick to transfer from table to a frying pan. Cook on frying pan until done.

(Makes about twelve.)

I found an online store, Ingebretsen's, that sells "Lefse Stuff" including the special turning stick, cloth-covered rolling pin, a measuring cloth, and lefse grill. I may have to invest in some of the tools so I can make my own lefse! It's one of my very favorite holiday traditions.

BLACKBERRY PIE

 As for Steve's side of the family, Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without his mom's homemade blackberry pie. I posted this recipe last year, but I'll post it again today!

One of the very first things that I learned about my mother-in-law, Alice, is that she makes an incredible blackberry pie. It is sweet and deliciously tart with a soft, flaky homemade crust. The best part is that the pie is nice and solid when you cut into it, so that the fruit filling doesn’t ooze out onto the plate. Serve it with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, or a dollop of whipped cream!

I’ll let you in on this famous family recipe. You’re going to love it!

Ingredients:
Crust:
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 Tablespoons cold water

Filling:
4 cups blackberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine blackberries (can be slightly frozen still), 1 cup sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine flour and salt. Next add oil, and mix until grainy. Sprinkle with water. Mix to moisten. Add another tablespoon or two if the dough seems like it needs to be softer or more pliable.

Form dough into two balls or patties. Use the larger half for the bottom pie crust. Roll out each half between 2 pieces of wax paper.

Remove one piece of wax paper from the larger rolled-out dough. Place the dough paper-side up in a 9-inch pie pan. Peel off the paper. Press the dough into the pan. Trim, leaving a 1/2” overhang. Fold under. 

Pour in the filling. Cut up little pieces of butter and scatter them on top of the filling.With a knife, make slits into the top half of the dough. Unpeel the wax paper, and lay the dough over the pie filling. Trim, leaving a 1/2” overhang. Fold under and flute edges. 

Bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

And as I was looking through photos, I can't believe we had this cute baby last year!

  I'm so excited for a brand new Thanksgiving in two weeks!

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