Here's wishing all WizBang readers a joyous Thanksgiving. Even though we are in the midst of great economic and political turbulence, there is still plenty to be thankful for.

For our family, Thanksgiving Dinner is truly a cooperative affair. Grandpa always does the turkey of course (my four year old calls it "the big chicken") but the rest of us each contribute our specialties -- deviled eggs, fresh yeast rolls, casseroles, and of course deserts. Here is my annual contribution:

Never Fail Pie Crust

3 cups flour
1 1/4 cup Crisco shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, well beaten
5 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vinegar

Mix flour and salt. Cut shortening into flour, then blend with a spoon. Mix egg, water, and vinegar together, and add this mixture all at once to the flour and shortening. Blend just until all flour is moistened. Sprinkle flour on dough to roll. (I like to roll my pie crust on floured waxed paper. Then you just flip the paper over on top of the pie pan and peel the paper away, leaving the crust in your pan.) Crust should be rolled 1/8 to 3/16 inch thick.

Pecan Pie

3 eggs
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup pecan halves

Mix eggs, sugar, salt, butter, vanilla extract, and corn syrup together with a spoon to blend, then mix until smooth with a rotary beater. Add pecans and blend them in with a spoon.

Pre-bake pie crust for 5 minutes at 425 degrees. ( I use an old stainless steel pie pan that belonged to my grandfather - pie turns out great every time.) Pour pie filling into crust, cover pie with tinfoil, and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to a hour, or until the center of the pie no longer "jiggles." Remove the tinfoil and bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes at 400 degrees to brown the top. Good served by itself, and amazing served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
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And if you'd like some after-dinner reading, here is a longish but informative and thought-provoking post that I wrote on my blog last year, that traces the history of Thanksgiving back to Plymouth Colony and its resourceful governor, William Bradford. While not everything that conservatives claim to be the "real" story of Thanksgiving is accurate, it is true that Plymouth Colony strengthened itself to the point of true self-sufficiency only after it abandoned its "common stock" economic system and allowed the settlers to provide for themselves first, before voluntarily giving out of their abundance to the community at large.