It’s time for our annual Grace Girls Thanksgiving Feast! This is a feast in our Grace Girls Group that is hosted entirely by the girls themselves using the skills that we have learned over time in our classes.

I am VERY grateful for our Grace Girls Group. My girls & I have learned some amazing lifelong homemaking skills through this group. It has helped us form strong bonds as Mother & Daughters. It has helped us form friendships with other like-minded homeschooled girls & mamas.

The girls each choose a dish they’d like to bring to our potluck feast. The girls are then responsible for:

• Making a shopping list of ingredients needed, AFTER checking the Pantry to see if we already have the items on hand.
• Prepare ingredients – wash, cut, measure, etc.
• Cooking, baking, or assembling dish.
• Preparing table decor & setting the table

*** We are SO lucky to have this group where our girls (& myself) are learning incredible homemaking skills at such a young age by so many mamas with great wisdom! I know firsthand that not every mama has that opportunity, but still wants to teach basic kitchen skills & don’t know where to start! 🔪 Does the idea of a child holding a knife in the kitchen make you panic? The Kids Cook Real Food method of knife skills will have them cutting like pros in no time! Check out the FREE knife skills class HERE. ***

Ella 🦃 (Age 11)

Ella chose to bring a turkey (plus Gravy & stuffing, of course) for the second year in a row now! Which I, of course, forgot to photograph before we left 🤦🏼‍♀️. Luckily I got a couple side shots of it on the buffet table before it was cut into. It was a really, really beautiful turkey.

The turkey needed an 20 minutes of cooking time, so we were late (as usual), but I’d rather it be fully cooked & late than show up early with an underdone bird and cause food illness 🤷🏼‍♀️. The moms were so kind and helpful to wait for me to pull up and unload everything & everyone for me so I could park and hurry in for prayer.

She used a Loaf of Italian bread & a Loaf of Light Rye from the bakery department to make bread crumbs, lots of butter, onions & Celery, turkey broth, & fresh herbs.

I quickly threw together gravy from the Turkey drippings while Niko safely packed the food & children in the car.

PRO TIP: pack everything in a laundry basket or collapsible tote. It makes carrying in food so easy!

Mia 🌽 (Age 9)

Mia chose to bring Corn Pudding – a timeless potluck classic that is one of my personal favorites!

This is a very simple dish that is really easy to keep Pantry staples on hand to be able to whip together for any event quickly.  

Other than supervising the putting in & taking out of the oven, it is entirely do-able for children to make by themselves from start to finish. Children being able to cook by themselves gives them such a huge sense of accomplishment.

Sasha 🥗 (Age 6)

Sasha chose a Grape & Walnut Salad with both red & green grapes. We substituted goat cheese with Feta because I already had it on hand.

I wanted to share this recipe from one of our favorite family cookbooks: At The Farmers Market with Kids. It gives very simple recipes that kids are able to follow by themselves (with a little supervision). I love that it is divided by seasons to offer healthy seasonal produce options throughout the year. It’s such a great book for kids just beginning their healthy food journey or even just to come back to seasonally for inspiration or practice!

Thea 🍞 (Age 5)

Thea chose to bring Dinner rolls.

We doubled the recipe since our family devours the 36 rolls in mostly one meal and thought we will definitely need more… but with bread you do not need to double. There was so much food that everyone was too full for much bread.

We made a total of 6 trays, brought 5 because we “tested” one during lunch and I ended up giving away 2 trays to other families to take home. I didn’t like how they turned soggy on the bottom during travel.

When we arrived, we saw these cute signs leading the way to our feast.

The leaders of our group invited “The Elders” to join our feast before their meeting. I commented to my husband that the term “The Elders” sounds very culty. It specifically makes me think of The Village by M. Night Shyamalan 😅. He laughed and said he can definitely see that.

The first table was appetizers, salads, & breads. I loved the bread tray, pumpkin-shaped rolls, & Cardamom bread!

There were post-it notes & Sharpies for us to write down when we brought & who made it.

Next was the Hot Dish table with main items like Turkey, Ham, Soup & Sides.

The Macaroni & Cheese was the first dish gone like always. We’ll have to keep that in mind for next year & sign up for that as one of our dishes so that there is plenty to go around.

There was also a delicious glazed sweet potato Casserole with pecans. I’ve tried a lot of sweet potato dishes in my life, and this was definitely a new favorite! As an adult I’ve grown out of the marshmallow-topped casseroles & learned to truly appreciate the deep, warm, richer fall flavors out there. This was really yummy – I think I’m going to try to replicate it for Thanksgiving this year. I have plenty of sweet potatoes that need used up!

Another girl brought her version of stuffing, which was definitely better than ours, in my opinion. Had I known ahead of time that she was bringing stuffing too, I would have made the Holiday Stuffing with cranberries I’ve been eager to try for variety, but it gives me the excuse to make it for our Family Thanksgiving next week since we already had plenty of original stuffing this week!

Everyone thanked us for bringing the turkey. They said that it was delicious! I’m glad my husband competitively picked the largest bird he could find – it was a good size to feed such a large crowd. I’m excited to make some bone broth this cozy, cold evening to can for the cellar with the leftover carcass.

I loved the pumpkin pie & apple crumble so much. I had to go back for seconds of the apple crumble! Mia liked the fudge a lot.

We had Mulled Apple Cider & Fruit Punch, or water, to drink. Both were so delicious! The Punch was made with fruit & ginger ale. The Mulled Cider was so warm & delicious! It tasted & smelled so much like Fall in a cup, I can only imagine how deliciously fragrant Mrs. Melissa’s home smelled as they were making this for us.

The table settings were really cute. They reminded me of Ukrainian decor with the wheat, sunflowers, & berries. I love everything about Fall. The colors, the sunflowers, the smells, falling leaves, cozy weather. It is such a time to be grateful.

The drive to the church smelled so amazing, the snow was falling, and it felt like we were traveling to a family holiday dinner like I remember doing year after year as a child. It felt like a really magical drive there.

Some of our favorite dishes at the Grace Girls Thanksgiving Feast were: Macaroni & Cheese (Mia & Thea), Seafoam Salad (Ella), Pumpkin-Shaped Rolls (Sasha), Turkey (Moses). Pumpkin Pie (Mom).

Some things we are grateful for are: We have a roof above our heads (Ella), Having a great family (Mia), Having great food (Thea), Having a family (Sasha), Having Mom (Moses), Still having our electricity on (Mom).

The last two years as I have gained a lot of Potluck Experience (both Ukrainian & American), I’ve learned the importance of planning ahead & bringing take-home containers with me to potlucks to bring Leftovers home in! This is such a game changer!!! No one wants to balance a flimsy paper plate full of food in a moving vehicle. I also learned the importance of a cooking schedule!

I’m grateful for this experience & the chance to do a good taste testing of the Thanksgiving menu. We were able to try some new dishes & get a sense of gathering since we have decided not to host or attend Thanksgiving this year to keep things the holiday small & stress-free and focus on what we are grateful for in our hearts.

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov