Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

I think Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. For us it's a day to relax with family and eat good food. No gifts to buy. No stress. No pressure. To make sure it stays that way I usually keep the menu fairly simple and make things ahead if I can.

We don't have exactly the same menu each year. Sometimes we have turkey. Sometimes we don't. The last two years we had glazed cornish game hens. This year we are having glazed spiral ham. My mom makes the ham and it's delicious.

Since there are only five of us for dinner, I don't make a lot of side dishes. I don't like to eat leftovers for a week. We'll have plenty of ham leftover for sandwiches, and I'll make a big pot of ham and beans with the bone and the little scrappy pieces. Yum!

Here's my simple, but tasty, menu:
Glazed Spiral Ham
Baked Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon Butter
Green Beans (I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these yet)
Waldorf Salad
Pumpkin Pie Squares
Mini Pecan Tarts

Today I am making the mini pecan tarts and will freeze them. My husband and stepdad love pecan pie. I can eat about two bites and that's it. It's way too rich for me. I love the little tarts though. They aren't nearly as sweet and rich as pecan pie, but still have the flavor so everybody is happy. We also love pumpkin pie, but we like the pumpkin pie dessert squares even better. Even people who don't like pumpkin pie seem to like these.

Mini Pecan Tarts
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup flour
1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coarsely broken pecans

Combine cream cheese and 1/2 cup softened butter. Stir in flour. Blend well. Chill for about 1 hour.

Heat oven to 325. Form dough into 24 1-inch balls. Place each ball into a mini muffin cup and press to form a crust. Mix egg, brown sugar, melted butter and vanill until well blended. Place about 2/3 of the pecans into the crust lined muffin cups. Pour the egg mixture into the cups filling about 3/4 full. Sprinkle remaining pecans on top of each tart. Bake at 325 for about 25 minutes or until filling is set. Cool. Remove from pans.

Pumpkin Pie Squares

Crust
1 box yellow cake mix (reserve one cup for topping)
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg, beaten

Filling
2 eggs
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 16 oz can pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Topping
1 cup reserved cake mix
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, softened

Heat oven to 350 (325 if using a glass pan). Grease bottom only of a 9x13 baking dish. Reserve 1 cup of cake mix and pour remaining mix into a bowl. Add melted butter and beaten egg. Mix thoroughly and press into prepared pan.

Beat two eggs slightly in a large bowl. Add remaining filling ingredients and mix well. Pour over crust.

Mix 1 cup reserved cake mix and remaining topping ingredients with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over filling. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool. Cut into squares and serve with whipped cream.