Are Pagan's Thankful at Thanksgiving too?

It's the holiday season for most Christians. Personally even though I am a Pagan I find this time of year to be wonderful because everyone is nicer no matter what faith they are. Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrating our coming to this new land and finding our new freedoms. I, for one, have a lot of things to be thankful for. Most people do; and yes that includes Pagans.

 I love Thanksgiving it is one of my favorite holidays. I love to cook! Anyone who knows me can attest to this. Since I am a Kitchen Witch cooking is a big part of everything I do. It is a major way I show love to people. The saying that feeding someone is the best gift wasn't a lie. To spend time thinking of someone and preparing nourishment for them is a big deal. I wanted to share with everyone some of the recipes that I have that have been passed down to me from my Grandmother that I love to cook for this time of the year.

Oyster Dressing:

Two cans of Oysters chopped up

One stalk of celery chopped finely

Five cloves of Garlic chopped finely

Two sticks of butter melted

One loaf of bread cubed

One onion chopped finely

Saute the celery, onion, garlic until translucent pour over the cubed bread and oysters and mix well. Then transfer is into a turkey or bake in a dish and enjoy!!!

Jenn's Roast Turkey:

I use the biggest Turkey I can find because usually I am feeding a ton of people( seriously more than I can count)

Make sure your turkey is thawed out and then run your hand under the skin of the turkey to separate it from the meat.

Mix together 1tblspn each

rosemary

basil

garlic

celery salt

Cajun seasoning

black pepper

butter softened 1 stick

Take this mixture and rub under the skin of the turkey rub down the skin of the turkey. Slice up an orange and stick under the skin as well and in the cavity.Rub down the skin of the turkey with melted butter. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees. Every hour check the turkey and bast with the drippings from the pan.

Jenn's Gravy:

Take half a stick of butter melt in a sauce pan and add about a 1/4 cup of flour mix around and cok for a couple minutes. Then add to it the drippings from the turkey pan slowly as to make sure you do not make the gravy to watery you can always make it thinner but it is hard to thicken it back up without making it lumpy. I sugest adding the liquid about a cup at atime stirring with a whisk the entire time. add salt and pepper to taste.

Apple Pie

Everyone has a recipe for apple pie!

4 apples cored and sliced thinly

1 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

crust

1 bag vanilla wafers crushed finely

1 stick melted butter

Mix wafers and butter and press into the pan and bake till golden at 350 degrees

mix sliced apples and sugars and vanilla extract pour into the crust and bake for about 45 minutes let cool for a little while to let the pectin set up in the pie then serve with vanilla ice cream

Garlic mashed potatoes

NOTE:  You will need 2 potatoes for every person you are cooking for peel and cubed and boiled till soft 8 cloves of roasted garlic smashed; mash the potatoes and garlic with 1 stick of butter and about 1/2 cup of milk add salt and black pepper to taste.

  I hope that you all enjoy these recipes with your loved ones and talk about all the things you are thankful for with your family. Enjoy, and HAPPY Pagan Thanksgiving! 

Jenn Kitchen Witch TSG-ATC 

Jenn Kahn is the "Queen Kitchen Witch" at the Temple of the Sacred Gift, Atc. A first degree student, maiden at the Temple, and understands that she is priestess and Goddess while walking an Egyptian Path.  She also is an accomplished seamstress, makes specialty cakes, a fabulous belly dancer, decorator, and plays viola.  While doing all of these other interesting accomplished things she still manages to have a career in the mundane world, and raise three healthy beautiful pagan children. 

Mabon Fixins with Jenn Kahn, Southern Fried Pagan Style............

At Mabon, we celebrate the goddess in her aspect as the crone, or the Dark Mother. She is Demeter, she is Hecate, she is the wise old woman wielding a scythe rather than a basket of blooming flowers.  This makes me think of the Grain of the Fields, and instantly makes my hands itch to make and create wonderful fixings for me and my community! 

Here is me sharing one of my Bread recipes and hoping you will use it to celebrate Mabon with those you love.  Remember (while you are preparing your food in the kitchen hum, sing, dance, and spell it with visuals and a whole lot of love).

This honey wheat blend is a delicious way to celebrate the end of the harvest and say farewell to the fertile months of summer. Serve warm with herbed oils for dipping, or with a big scoop of Apple Butter.
Make this either in your bread machine, or by kneading it by hand.

Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Ingredients: •2 C. warm water •1 Tbs. active dry yeast •1/3 C. honey •3 C. whole wheat flour •1 tsp. salt •1/4 C. vegetable oil •2 Tbs. butter •4 C. all purpose baking flour

Preparation:
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add honey and mix well.
Stir in the whole wheat flour, salt, vegetable oil, and butter and mix until a stiff dough has formed. Gradually work the all-purpose flour into the mix, one cup at a time.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured countertop, and knead for about fifteen minutes. When it reaches the point where it's sort of elastic, shape it into a ball and place it into an oiled bowl. Cover with a warm, damp cloth, and allow to sit and rise until it's doubled in size -- usually about 45 minutes.

Punch the dough down and cut in half, so you can make two loaves of bread. Place each half in a greased loaf pan, and allow to rise. Once the dough has risen an inch or two above the top of the loaf pan, pop them in the oven. Bake at 375 for half an hour, or until golden brown at the top.

When you remove the loaves from the oven, allow to cool for about fifteen minutes before removing from the pan. If you like, brush some melted butter over the top of the hot loaves, to add a pretty golden glaze to them.

Note - If you're doing this in a bread machine, remember, the recipes makes two loaves. Halve everything if you're allowing the machine to do the mixing. If you hand mix it, you can still drop the single-loaf balls of dough into the machine to bake.

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If we lived out further we would be pulling something out of the smokehouse, or going hunting to bring in a nice meat to eat at Mabon.  In Memphis, we go to our local supermarket and bring in the kill already skinned, de-boned, and ready for preparation.  We traditionally serve Pot roast at this time of year, this is my Southern Fried Pagan twist on that traditional dish.

All things Harvested Pot Roast:

4-5lb pot roast
1 stick butter
 1 large onion sliced
 3 celery stalks chopped
 1 garlic clove chopped
 ¼ tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp. dried parsley
1 bay leaf
1/8 tsp. black pepper
 ¼ tsp. salt
 2-10oz cans French onion soup
 4 large potatoes, quartered
 1-8oz package raw baby carrots
 1-16oz pkg. frozen broccoli/cauliflower mix

In dutch oven or oven safe pot w/lid brown both side of the roast, using half the butter. Set the roast aside. With remaining butter, saute' the onion, garlic, and celery until onions are tender and beginning to brown. Add the the thyme, parsley, bay leaf, and pepper. Mix well and then return the pot roast to the pan. Sprinkle salt over the roast and add the french onion soup. Cook at 325 degrees for 4 hours. Baste meat as needed. Add potatoes and carrots and salt to taste. Cook for another 45 minutes. Add broccoli/cauliflower mix and cook for 20 more minutes. Serve with hot bread. (Makes 8 servings)

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 You cannot have a Southern Mabon without a great dessert!  Dessert is what we all oooh and ahhh over; and what makes us eat less Pot Roast and bread saving room in our bellies for delight.  Keeping that in mind, and what is plentiful for us in this part of the region we use apples in everything around Mabon.  I am sharing with you my coveted "what's that special ingredient" Crumble pie, knowing that whether you fix it in a skillet, a bread pan, or a pyrex dish it will make you the talk of the Potluck event.   

Lunch Crumble:

 5 apples
1 cup rolled oats
 2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
6 tbs. butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
 1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. allspice
 2 tbs. apple juice or orange juice

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a 9-inch square baking pan or a casserole of the equivalent size, then dust it with flour. Peel, core and slice the apples, and arrange them in the pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the oats, brown sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon, salt and allspice on low speed until it forms a coarse meal. Crumble the mixture evenly over the apple slices and sprinkle with the juice. Bake for 35 minutes.
Makes 6 servings. (Serve warm with chilled fruit and vegetable plates, buffet style)

Don't forget to say a prayer of thanks to the Goddess and thank her for her bountiful blessings that she so richly shares with us....ENJOY!

Jenn Kahn is the "Queen Kitchen Witch" at the Temple of the Sacred Gift, Atc. A first degree student, maiden at the Temple, and understands that she is priestess and Goddess while walking an Egyptian Path.  She also is an accomplished seamstress, makes specialty cakes, a fabulous belly dancer, decorator, and plays viola.  While doing all of these other interesting accomplished things she still manages to have a career in the mundane world, and raise three healthy beautiful pagan children. 

" I would like a mummy dog, dipped in blood, with an eye of newt on the side please!"

Some Witchy Recipes:

Many of us answer to the name “witch”.  We take pride in it, bandy it about, cackle like one, have a collection of witch hats, pointy boots, black capes, carpet bags, bottles with labels, cats galore, and use this name in reference to our spiritual path.  I have never taken “offense” to the name witch when attached to me; in fact I like it.  I feel like it makes me “special” in a world that is encouraged to stamp out “unique” individuals.

I was told when I was a little witchling that every “real witch” (this term real witch could be an excellent blog) starts either in the kitchen or in the garden learning her trade and polishing her skills. I have found this particularly true in the South if you ask enough people they concentrate usually in one area or another.  Me, I chose the kitchen and later delved into a bit of gardening.  Honestly though I enjoy “brewing up teas and concoctions”, making special cakes and pies and delightful treats.  I find my heart singing, and my lips peeled back in a smile I cannot contain.  

I rune my pies, I whisper over my cookies, I talk to my cake batter, I sprinkle herbs, spices, flavorings, like a witch from a painting taking time to do everything with a flourish and grand gesture because why not enjoy what you are doing?  But the real important ingredient in Kitchen witchery is not only having good ingredients, a good recipe, great stove, good pots and pans and a love for the craft of it in you heart it is one thing--- LUCK.  Yep, you need luck if you are going to not “over cook” something or if you are really going to go on your instinct “and throw in a dash of oregano” in a chocolate pie.  

How does one guarantee luck?  Well that takes surrounding yourself with lucky objects does it not, or possibly asking your Gods or Guides to assist you in the kitchen?  Witches know how to attract luck, that is why many wear lodestones.  Of course growing shamrocks in in your kitchen does not hurt.  Hanging a kitchen witch and charging her in the kitchen definitely turns the tide in your favor.  What about a few gnomes or house elves?  Just like ingredients make up a recipe, so do “kitchen helpers” in a witch’s life. AND kitchen witches truly in the heart believe that there is no limit to when you can cook “fun” what others would call “haloweeny” dishes and desserts.  Because, to a witch every day is Halloween!

Keeping this in mind, I am going to share a couple of recipes I cooked this last week for a ghost hunting workshop that was done at my home.  Of course, I know it was not Halloween but it sure was fun making Mummy Dogs and Eye of Newt Deviled Eggs and Ghost cookies!  I do not feel that these recipes should be limited to Halloween they should be made any time of night or day when you just need to smile or take life less seriously!

EYES OF NEWT: Yields2 dozen newt eyes

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 pinch celery salt
• 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
• 2 drops green food coloring, or as needed
• 1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained

Directions

1. Place all of the eggs into a large pot so they can rest on the bottom in a single layer. Fill with just enough cold water to cover the eggs. Bring to a boil, then cover, remove from the heat and let stand for about 15 minutes. Rinse under cold water or add some ice to the water and let the eggs cool completely. Peel and slice in half lengthwise.

Remove the yolks from the eggs and place them in a bowl. Mix in the relish, mayonnaise, celery salt, mustard, and food coloring. Spoon this filling into the egg whites and place them on a serving tray. Round the top of the filling using the spoon. Place a whole olive inside each yolk to create the center of the eye. Dab a tiny bit of mustard in the center of the olive as a finishing touch. Sprinkle liberally with paprika! 

MUMMY DOGS:  Yields 2 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 (11-oz.) cans refrigerated breadstick dough
• 24 bun-length hot dogs (choose turkey or chicken or vegan)
• Vegetable cooking spray
• Whole Cloves
• 2 Cups mustard, 1 Tbsp chili powder, and 1 Tbsp or real honey for Dipping Sauce

Preparation

• 1. Preheat oven to 400°. Unroll breadstick dough, and separate into 12 strips at perforations. Gently stretch each strip to a length of 8 inches.
• 2. Wrap 1 dough strip lengthwise around each hot dog. Secure with wooden picks, if necessary. Coat lightly with cooking spray. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
• 3. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes.

MAKE your Dipping Sauce and make sure you put it next to them in a FUN bowl (I use a cauldron)

I hope these recipes give you a taste of what it is like to eat at my table, and to dance in my kitchen!  I enjoy the little things as they call it because I know the little things not only add up and make big things but that the Goddess is always in the details!  So relish your kitchen witchery, put on that big hat whilst cooking, but always take the time to invoke LUCK while baking up a brew!

You could add a lime to that coconut...but I prefer Prosperine!

Prosperity:  The condition of being Prosperous

Prosperous: Having success, Well-to-do; well-off: a prosperous family, Propitious; favorable: a prosperous moment to make a decision

Right now, in the present economy, talking about Prosperity almost seems blasphemous but it’s not.  It is a concept that is deeper than it looks, and is attainable in any season, any weather, any condition, even in the present economical windfall.  I find myself concentrating on the concept of prosperity time and time again…refocusing my mind, and driving the chatter out of it while breathing deeply to get calm and then I start to notice how well we (especially me) are all provided for.  There is so much bounty in America…we have garage sales!  There is so much bounty in America we fill up thrift stores!  There is so much bounty in America, that we give away coats!  These are little things we take for granted, but our grandparents during the “depression” did not. 

Today, take the time to look around your office.  What do you have?  Do you have pens and paper?  Do you have a desk, chair, air conditioning, heating?  Do you have running water, and a “septic system”?  Do you get paid minimum wage or above?  Take a deep breath, and tell the Universe thank you.  NO, do not tell it you need more money, do not say big deal I have running water, think of how people all over the world do not have these basic things.  These are not requirements for living, they are perks.  Do the same at your home, then in your relationships, and finally look at yourself and see how much you have.

For example…I moved in my home about two years ago, when we did I remember complaining that it was empty.  Now, I find that every surface has something on it.  I have plates that match, coffee cups aplenty, Ed Hardy Drinking glasses, retro platters and pitchers, nifty bowls, silverware that overflows the drawers, more pots and pans than I could imagine.  But when I moved in here…It was bare!  Now, once a year we have a Temple Garage sale…and we all gather together and put our “extras” out and sell them and use the money for our building fund.

I used to have to work every day long hours doing hair in a high paced shop and still manage a new church.  Now, I can work from home. I have more free time to concentrate on the Temple and my family.  Guess what?  The loss of that income has not hurt my family!  We adjusted, and I start to see that I was moving so fast I could not see the bounty the Goddess provided for me so readily.  I have four wonderful children, who all love me and who are all healthy!  I have a strong handsome smart husband who shares my faith, and thinks my cooking is awesome!  I have a spiritual family that feed me when I hunger, is strong for me when I feel weak, and does not expect me to be “perfect” and loves me for my quirks.  Life if full….Life is bounty-full….I am prosperous!

Just in case, the mental exercise does not do the trick I have a dish here that I think you could make that might make you ingest the feeling and emotions that “change your vibration” so that you too can resonate and get yourself “attuned” to Prosperity.  Draw it into you personally; share it with your friends and family, take it to a card game, a pagan meetup, but share your spell of prosperity with all…because when the Gods give you something it is so wonderful to share it!

SPELL FOR PROSPERITY:

You are going to utilize the skills of Kitchen Witchery for this spell.  The spell will be dedicated to the Goddess PROSPERINE/PROSPERINA which is the Roman name for the Greek Goddess Persephone.  She is the Goddess of Vegetation, the Spring Maiden, the Daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the wife of Hades/Pluto, and the Queen of the Underworld.  Light a candle for her, lay out an offering to her, and pour her a refreshing glass of juice.  Invite her into your home……

 “Prosperine, Lady of Bounty, please assist me

 as I share your prosperity in this dish I bake in your honor

May all who eat it, including myself; start to see your gift everywhere!

May we live in prosperity,

May we dwell in prosperity,

May we rejoice in our prosperity!

Thank you for all you have done for me and mine!”

Gather the ingredients, and sing while blending and cooking them or hum….PROSPERINE, or a song that makes you feel HAPPY and full…..When it is done, serve, and enjoy!

Prosperine’s Coconut Rice Pudding -

Ingredients:

2 cups water

1 cup uncooked long-grain rice

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Pinch of salt

18 ounces evaporated milk

1 can cream of coconut (14 ounces)

1/2 cup golden raisins

3 egg yolks, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Place water, rice, butter and salt in medium saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat and stir frequently. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 10 - 12 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Spray Crock-Pot with non-stick cooking spray. Add evaporated milk, cream of coconut, raisins, egg yolks and vanilla to Crock-Pot and mix well. Add rice mixture and stir to combine. Cook on LOW for 4 hours or on HIGH for 2 hours. Pudding will thicken as it cools. Garnish servings with toasted coconut, if desired.

Thank you for the gift of  your time!  Please share with me if this spell brings you the prosperity you desire.  I am off to Mabon and dancing in the woods with the Pagans!