Baked Apple Beet Casserole

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and Happy Columbus Day weekend to my American friends and Happy Monday to everyone else!  

We just got back from a lovely weekend at the cottage with family and friends.  It was cool, but a nice mix of sun and cloud which meant we were able to both sit inside and chat and relax as well as get out for some walks. Honestly, I could get lost in the reds and golds and oranges that were all over the trees. Most of the reddest leaves had already fallen, but the oranges and reddish-oranges were still going strong along with the yellows and golds. My personal favourite are the trees and leaves with a range of colours on them from red to yellow.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt's home which is near our cottage.  It was a fantastic dinner and everything was delicious. It was such fun to get together with our good friends who joined us for the weekend as well as family.  So much to be thankful for!

 

  

I did want to share one recipe with you (and preserve it so I can find it again as it is definitely one I want to repeat). We had ham on the day after Thanksgiving dinner and I wanted to serve beets with the ham. I checked some cookbooks for recipes and modified one to make Baked Apple Beets. They are so simple to make and great when you have company as all the fuss of skinning the beets is done long beforehand.

Baked Apple Beets
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked beets, chopped
2 cups apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 large onion, thinly sliced 
2-3 tablespoons margarine or butter

Method:
1. Cook whole beets for 40-50 minutes and skin them when cool enough to handle.
2. Combine ingredients in a baking dish and dot with margarine
3. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 hour at 325F

Thanksgiving Weekend

It was Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and there is nothing better than spending it at the cottage.  The colours were a little past their prime and a little less bright than some years, but great nonetheless.  It seemed like there was more yellow this year and not so much red so the few red trees and bushes were treasured all the more.

We had friends from France visiting us for the weekend.  Such a good time to visit as there was so much to share with them.

We had a day of blue sky and sunny weather 

and a day of rain.

One of my favourite things to do in the fall is to go for a hike in the woods so I took our friends on a hike near the cottage.  We walked through the forest admiring the leaves,

and collecting different coloured leaves to make our annual leaf art.

We actually made two this year because they are just that much fun.  We made a rainbow maple leaf and a sun (you can check out here and here for previous year's leaf art).

I love how bright the leaves look when they are concentrated together in the leaf art.  It looks like a little pool of colour on the forest floor.

It is always nice when the wildlife cooperate for a viewing - many thanks to you Mr. Great Blue Heron.  We appreciated you standing on that beautiful piece of wood in the water for us while we took your picture.

When you have come all the way from France to enjoy Thanksgiving weekend and you have a beautiful sunny day you have to pack in as much fun as possible.  So not only did we go for a hike, but we also climbed the lookout tower in Dorset.  Along with a lot of other people!  I had never seen it so crowded as you usually have the place almost to yourself, but because of the long weekend there were busloads of people enjoying the view.

Thankfully the Art Studio Tour was on this weekend as it was the perfect thing to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon.  We visited a wire sculptor, a jewelry maker, a potter, and a stained-glass artist. 

We had my some relatives join us for Thanksgiving dinner so there were nine people for dinner. The feast is the same every year, but you can't improve on the best.

One of the special things about the weekend was how beautiful Saturday and Monday mornings were.  They were calm and misty and the low sunlight made the colours just glow.  

An early morning canoe ride made it even better.

It was great to spend the weekend with family and friends.  So many things to be thankful for.

(photo taken by my husband)

Thanks for ...

The weather was a little hit-and-miss this weekend with rain showers and then sun and then more rain and cold temps, but nevertheless our Thanksgiving weekend at the cottage was the kind you look forward to all year.  

There was lots to be thankful for!

The tree colours were great this year.

We had eight family and friends at the cottage and another two joining us for Thanksgiving dinner.

The food was fantastic - as always.

I read my latest Style at Home and Canadian House and Home magazines and got some inspiration for Christmas decorating.  

We went for several walks which is my favourite thing to do on Thanksgiving weekend.

And my aunt brought us a branch from her forsythia bush that had produced a few blossoms of all things.  Isn't that the strangest!  On the purple fall-coloured leaves, the yellow flowers were beautiful.

Happy Thanksgiving Day. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too whether it be Thanksgiving or Columbus Day or just a regular old weekend.  What did you do?