Sue's Diner: Pumpkin Roll

 If you'd like to serve a  pumpkin dessert for your Thanksgiving dinner that isn't pie, we have a good one to share with you today.

And we're sharing it early in case you want a couple weeks to practice it, especially for those who've never made a cake rol).

This week's recipe is "Pumpkin Roll," which Sarah submitted for the BryonySeries cookbook Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony." 

Here is an excerpt from Bryony that puts the recipe in context:

Steve arrived at the cottage early Thanksgiving morning, and Brian was up to meet him. Together, they babysat the turkey and prepared side dishes. Brian even set the table.

Melissa spent the morning reading and trying not to think about vampires. Her mother finished a story. The smell of food reached Melissa’s nose long before Brian announced dinner. In amazement, Melissa gazed at the festive table Brian had laid: lace tablecloth, her mother’s real silverware, and even a centerpiece of autumn leaves. Just last summer Brian scorned napkins. Gracing the table, in addition to the turkey, was a medley of roasted vegetables that included regular and sweet potatoes, cornbread, baking powder biscuits, and a salad Brian had tossed with a special dressing he made. Yesterday, her mother had prepared trifle and her traditional pumpkin log with cream cheese filling. The table looked so good no one wanted to touch it.

No one, that is, except Brian. “I mean, we made all this food to eat, right?”

Try this recipe on the Sue's Diner page on the BryonySeries website. 

But try the recipe this week. It will be gone some time next week. A new recipe will take it's place. 

All proceeds from Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony." are donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties

If you have any troubleshooting questions or comments, email us at bryonyseries@gmail.com. 

By the way, Sue's Diner is only real in the BryonySeries world. But didn't Timothy do a great job making the page look like a real menu at a vintage diner?

Here is the full diner page: bryonyseries.com/sue-s-diner. You can't really order, of course (wouldn't it be great if you could?).

For more BryonySeries recipes, check out our three cookbooks at bryonyseries.com.

Sue's Diner: Pumpkin Roll

If you'd like to serve a  pumpkin dessert for your Thanksgiving dinner that isn't pie, we have a good one to share with you today.

And we're sharing it early in case you want a couple weeks to practice it, especially for those who've never made a cake rol).

This week's recipe is "Pumpkin Roll," which Sarah submitted for the BryonySeries cookbook Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony." 

Here is an excerpt from Bryony that puts the recipe in context:

Steve arrived at the cottage early Thanksgiving morning, and Brian was up to meet him. Together, they babysat the turkey and prepared side dishes. Brian even set the table.

Melissa spent the morning reading and trying not to think about vampires. Her mother finished a story. The smell of food reached Melissa’s nose long before Brian announced dinner. In amazement, Melissa gazed at the festive table Brian had laid: lace tablecloth, her mother’s real silverware, and even a centerpiece of autumn leaves. Just last summer Brian scorned napkins. Gracing the table, in addition to the turkey, was a medley of roasted vegetables that included regular and sweet potatoes, cornbread, baking powder biscuits, and a salad Brian had tossed with a special dressing he made. Yesterday, her mother had prepared trifle and her traditional pumpkin log with cream cheese filling. The table looked so good no one wanted to touch it.

No one, that is, except Brian. “I mean, we made all this food to eat, right?”

Try this recipe on the Sue's Diner page on the BryonySeries website. 

But try the recipe this week. It will be gone some time next week. A new recipe will take it's place. 

All proceeds from Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony." are donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties

If you have any troubleshooting questions or comments, email us at bryonyseries@gmail.com. 

By the way, Sue's Diner is only real in the BryonySeries world. But didn't Timothy do a great job making the page look like a real menu at a vintage diner?

Here is the full diner page: bryonyseries.com/sue-s-diner. You can't really order, of course (wouldn't it be great if you could?).

For more BryonySeries recipes, check out our three cookbooks at our BryonySeries bryonyseries.com/general-store.

Sue's Diner: Pumpkin Roll

If you'd like to serve a  pumpkin dessert for your Thanksgiving dinner that isn't pie, we have a good one to share with you today.

This week's recipe is "Pumpkin Roll," which Sarah submitted for the BryonySeries cookbook Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony." 

Here is an excerpt from Bryony that puts the recipe in context:

Steve arrived at the cottage early Thanksgiving morning, and Brian was up to meet him. Together, they babysat the turkey and prepared side dishes. Brian even set the table.

Melissa spent the morning reading and trying not to think about vampires. Her mother finished a story. The smell of food reached Melissa’s nose long before Brian announced dinner. In amazement, Melissa gazed at the festive table Brian had laid: lace tablecloth, her mother’s real silverware, and even a centerpiece of autumn leaves. Just last summer Brian scorned napkins. Gracing the table, in addition to the turkey, was a medley of roasted vegetables that included regular and sweet potatoes, cornbread, baking powder biscuits, and a salad Brian had tossed with a special dressing he made. Yesterday, her mother had prepared trifle and her traditional pumpkin log with cream cheese filling. The table looked so good no one wanted to touch it.

No one, that is, except Brian. “I mean, we made all this food to eat, right?”

Try this recipe on the Sue's Diner page on the BryonySeries website. 

But try the recipe this week. It will be gone some time next week. A new recipe will take it's place. 

All proceeds from Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony." are donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties

If you have any troubleshooting questions or comments, email us at bryonyseries@gmail.com. 

By the way, Sue's Diner is only real in the BryonySeries world. But didn't Timothy do a great job making the page look like a real menu at a vintage diner?

Here is the full diner page: bryonyseries.com/sue-s-diner. You can't really order, of course (wouldn't it be great if you could?).

For more BryonySeries recipes, check out our three cookbooks at our BryonySeries bryonyseries.com/general-store.

Sue's Diner: Pumpkin Roll

Good morning!

I shared the following "Thanksgiving" story last week.

But for those who missed it, I'm sharing it again - along with a new recipe.

Why am I sharing the same story again?

Because someone who isn't celebrating a "traditional" Thanksgiving might feel encouraged by it.

Because Thanksgiving happens more in the heart than on the table.

Feast well, dear readers!

When our family delivered thousands of newspapers each night in the middle of the night, Thanksgiving week was the most challenging week of the year.

The newspapers themselves were enormous, which took longer to prepare for delivery, and often required multiple trips for delivery.

Because the holiday season would officially begin with that publication (at least in the newspaper world), newsroom deadlines were right and we had more pre-stuffing of ads for us and the kids customers, for other newspaper carriers would pay my children (at the rate of $5 per hundred) to do the stuffing for them.

This meant we had more work as a family while simultaneously losing the help of one member (me) for part of the time.

For many years, we arrived home too late and, quite frankly, too tired to cook a proper Thanksgiving dinner, since we would be back on our feet again in a few hours.

So we created our own tradition: poor boys, kettle chips, raw vegetables platter, and pumpkin pie. That dinner is still part of our Thanksgiving weekend tradition.

But a few years ago, with those midnight days behind us, we began a new tradition: building our Thanksgiving dinner around the recipes in the BryonySeries cookbook: Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony."

Like the recipe I'm sharing with you today.

Each week for the next three weeks, I'll share one of those recipes with you on the Sue's Diner page on the BryonySeries website. 

This week's recipe is "Pumpkin Roll," which Sarah submitted for the cookbook.

If you want to keep it, copy and save it. It will be gone some time next week. A new recipe will take it's place. 

Of course, it would you like all the recipes, order the cookbook from the BryonySeries store or Amazon. 

All proceeds are donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties.

By the way, Sue's Diner is only real in the BryonySeries world. But didn't Timothy do a great job making the page look like a real menu at a vintage diner?

Here is the full diner page: bryonyseries.com/sue-s-diner. You can't really order, of course (wouldn't it be great if you could?).

For more BryonySeries recipes, check out our three cookbooks at our BryonySeries bryonyseries.com/general-store.

Sue's Diner: Pumpkin Roll

Each week for the next couple of weeks, I'm planning to feature one selected recipe from the Thanksgiving menu that's featured in the BryonySeries cookbook: Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony," which is a permament fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties.

All of these recipes are referenced in the novel Bryony. The complete menu is found in the cookbook.

Here is the explanation from the cookbook:

For the Marchellis’ first Thanksgiving in Munsonville, Melissa’s little brother Brian shows off the depth of his newly acquired culinary skills, under the direction of his mentor, Steve Barnes, the village maintenance man.

You can try the pumpkin roll recipe, which is Sarah's recipe, on the Sue's Diner page on the BryonySeries website. 

But try the recipe this week. It will be gone some time next week. A new recipe from the BryonySeries Thanksgiving menu will take it's place.

By the way, Sue's Diner is only real in the BryonySeries world. But didn't Timothy do a great job making the page look like a real menu at a vintage diner?

Here is the full diner page: bryonyseries.com/sue-s-diner. You can't really order, of course (wouldn't it be great if you could?).

For more BryonySeries recipes, check out our three cookbooks at our BryonySeries bryonyseries.com/general-store.

Next Week on Sue's Diner: Recipes for a BryonySeries Thanksgiving Feast

Want to change it up this year?

How about preparing the Thanksgiving Day dinner featured in the Bryony?

For the Marchellis’ first Thanksgiving in Munsonville, Melissa’s little brother Brian shows off the depth of his newly acquired culinary skills, under the direction of his mentor, Steve Barnes, the village maintenance man.

Next Sunday (Nov. 19), I'll post recipes for the following on the Sue's Diner page at www.bryonyseries.com:

Steve’s Roast Turkey (brine and turkey recipes by Rachel Buchanan Savicz)

Steve's Stuffing (recipe by Virginia Schonbachler)

Roasted Root Vegetable Medley (recipe by Sarah Stegall)

Traditional Cornbread (recipe by Tutti Weiss)

Drop Biscuits (recipe by Rebekah Baran)

Salad Dressing (tastes like Thousand Island, recipe by Janet Cooney, salad by Timothy Baran)

Darlene’s Trifle (recipe by Virginia Schonbachler)

Darlene’s Pumpkin Roll (recipe by Sarah Stegall)

Rebekah, assisted by Daniel, cooked up this feast for us last week while I was at work. Timothy plated the entire meal (next week's photo), as well as the salad and desserts.

Needless, to say, we ate well for a couple of days!

Why, might you ask, would we cook a Thanksgiving Day dinner early?

One: I wanted to have photos to share with you, in case you'd like to try some of all of the recipes this year.

Two: Our traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner is comprised of poor boys, kettle-cooked chips, and pumpkin pie (Don't judge us), a Frankensteined tradition born our of my mother working in retail and hosting Thanksgiving at her house on the Sunday before Thanksgiving; Thanksgiving deadlines for both newsroom, routes and insert customers; too tired after meeting those deadlines; and, now still too tired after working long hours to want to cook up a feast on a day we're not working.

Besides, now that some of the adult kids work in the culinary industry, they, too, don't want to waste a precious day off in the vacation. It's far, far better to cook on a work day (or a working weekend).

So we did. Or rather, THEY did. 

But I enjoyed every scrap.

And maybe, just maybe, Rebekah will make some pumpkin rolls instead (or along with) pumpkin pie.

BTW, if you'd like a cookbook, proceeds benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties. Order a cookbook HERE.

And if you didn't try out last week's recipe (cinnamon coffee cake), it will remain up for another week. Find that recipe on the Sue's Diner page HERE.