Hope Everyone Had a Great Thanksgiving!

I do not know about all of you, but while we had a great Thanksgiving, I am happy to be out of my kitchen for a few days.  Thanks so much for all of the kind words on the List-Serv.  It is nice to have dishes for the whole family to share.  It really is the point of Cook for Love. I really appreciate you taking the time to write your e-mail - that is the way we can get more people on the site.  We are at 950 members - we got over 100 new people over the past two weeks. (My hope was 1,000 in a year so we are exceeding all expectations - thanks for helping to spread the word.)
 
This is the first year where Thanksgiving was not completely overwhelming to me. Usually we leave our house two hours after we planned, the kitchen is left a disaster and I have not even showered!  This year we left within twenty minutes of schedule, the kitchen was reasonably tidy and I had showered and put on make-up! This site has really been of personal benefit to me this holiday.  When my mom asked what she could make, I gave her two recipes from the site (the portabellas and the butternut squash dish) and she made them.  That was two less dishes for me to make so I was thrilled!  My family is wonderful in so many ways but is still a little hesitant to cook much for Molly.  I know that it is a fear thing and if this site can help them overcome that, it would be amazing. We have both sets of Grandparents coming for Christmas, so I am going to ask each to bring a dish. 
 
I'll get back in the kitchen in a few days to work on some more holiday desserts.  We are having a cookie decorating party (all low protein) with a few of the cousins the weekend before Christmas so I am going to start prepping next week.  Did you know you can make the cookie dough a month in advance?  I even roll out the dough, cut the shapes and freeze on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Once frozen, I transfer to a ziploc bag with cardboard on the bottom for support and parchment between layers to prevent sticking.  I then pop them in the oven as needed.  Makes life a lot easier!
 
The filming of the Holiday Baking Series has been completed and will hopefully be up on the site soon.  (Editing is the most time consuming piece.) 
 
Happy Cooking!
Brenda