Vegetable Container Garden: Last Gift of the Season

I don't think I ever mentioned here but I have decided to combine my Vegetable Container Garden blog and this one.  That being said.  One of the vegetables I was growing was lettuce.  Since it was hot very early in the Spring one of my heads of lettuce went to seed rather quickly. 

Now with the exceptionally warm Fall weather I found this little guy growing between the cracks in the driveway next to the garage.

One very determined seed waited in the crack till things cooled down then shot up.  He will make a very nice last fresh salad of the season.

Happy Thanksgiving

May everyone have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving and may we all remember all that we have to be Thankful for.

It's The Only Way

Every year the marketing industry trys to start the Christmas stampede earlier and earlier.  This year some obnoxious stores have decided their employees don't need to have time with there families and have decided to open on Thanksgiving.  What's next Scary good deals on Halloween  or how about Christmas on the Forth of July?  It is time as consumers we take a stand.  If we don't stand together we shall surly have our pockets emptied alone.  I know they are promising so good deal or another but so what ... What ever gadget or toy they have now will be obsolete by Christmas anyway.  The only way to stop this nonsense and take back our Holidays is to say NO and stay home on Thanksgiving. 

If there is no profit they will stop doing it and we can all then be truly Thankful.

Pumpkin Ginger Parfaits

Found this most excellent recipe for pumpkin ginger parfaits over at hobbyfarms.com. Its the place I go browse when I'm sick of living right on top of my neighbors here on Long Island. I'm going to swap out the canned pumpkin for pumpkin puree since I have tons of it in the freezer. I can't wait to serve it for Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Ginger Parfaits




Ingredients
1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1 7-ounce jar marshmallow crème
½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 8-ounce container frozen whipped topping, thawed
¼ cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped
40 ginger snap cookies

Preparation
Working in batches, crush ginger snaps in food processor until they form fine crumbs.

Using an electric mixer, beat pumpkin, marshmallow crème and pumpkin pie spice until smooth. Fold in 2 cups of the whipped topping and crystallized ginger.

Place 2 Tablespoons crumbs in bottom of each glass. Top with a generous ¼ cup of pumpkin mixture, using a spoon to press out air bubbles and smooth the top. Repeat layers in each glass. Refrigerate until firm, at least two hours. Garnish with remaining whipped topping. Serves 6