Grand Champion Pumpkin Cake

It's November already (yikes! how did that happen!?) and I just finished packing away all my Halloween decorations.
I've been busy making a list for our Thanksgiving dinner and corresponding grocery list. I usually try out a new dish or dessert every year at Thanksgiving so have been scanning through a few cookbooks for ideas.

I found this recipe in a Pumpkin Cookbook I purchased way back in 1992. The cookbook was put together by The Crusader Sunday School Class at Calvary United Methodist Church for a fundraiser. 

 

Cheesy Bacon Dip

Summer is nearly here along with endless barbecues, July 4th parties and family gatherings.  Looking for recipes to take along I thumbed through a cookbook my daughter Alexis gave me for Christmas last year.  

Trisha Yearwood’s cookbook Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood is full of really yummy recipes which were passed down through the years from Trisha’s mother, aunts, cousins, and longtime friends.  I love those kinds of recipes.
 

The Birth Tree

My daughter Jami

The last time my daughter came to visit she had a surprise for us.  She asked if we would be willing to plant a memorial tree on our farm using the placenta from her last child’s birth to place under the new tree.

My grandson Dax was born in Texas, so his placenta had to be frozen until the planting ceremony.

Truthfully I had never heard of this before and it all happened so very quickly that I didn't have much time to prepare. 

Afterward, I did a little research and found out quite a lot. 

There are simple ceremonies, eloquent ceremonies, and elaborate ceremonies performed to honor the placenta all over the world. 

Many cultures, including the Navajo Indians and New Zealand's Maori, bury the placenta to symbolize the baby's link to the earth.

New Year Wishes and Resolutions

Happy New Year!
Here are a few quotes and sayings I like for the New Year.

Photo from Pinterest

HAVE  hope
TRY new things
BE active
SEE the good
SAY I love you more
CHALLENGE yourself
CHOOSE to be happy
EAT better
ENJOY today
FORGIVE more readily
READ more often
BECOME your best you

"The greatest need of this nation is strong, healthy, intact families. 
The greatest thing you can do as a mother is to strengthen your own family. 
Build your family life. 
Don't get involved in too many things outside your home. 

You will become flustered, frazzled, and the family will become fragmented. 
Instead, think of ideas to gather the family together. 
Think of things to do that will strengthen your family.  
Daily gather around your family meal table for your meals. 
As you strengthen and build up your family, also seek to 
encourage and bless other families around you. "

Coconut Macaroons

Here's another of our favorite Christmas cookies: Coconut Macaroons.

These are easy cookies to make, have just a few ingredients, but pack a big punch of flavor.

Adding a little almond extract gives the cookie just enough extra flavor, but not enough to over shadow the coconut.  
If almond is the flavor you wish to dominate add a little more extract.

These store well in a sealed air tight container.

These can be made Gluten Free, just use GF flour.

Lemon Bars

I usually bake cookies to give out as gifts during the Holidays.  Some years I have made as many as 50 to 60 dozen cookies!
Each year I get the most requests for this cookie recipe.  And I have to say it is one of my favorite cookies too.

Many Lemon Bar or Lemon Cookie recipes call for lemon zest or grated lemon rind added to the cookie.  I have found that the zest or rind added makes the cookie slightly tarter.  Without it, the cookie is a perfect delicate lemon flavor with a delicious crust.

These cookies are best kept in the refrigerator but after tasting them they may not last long enough to worry about it.  If giving as gifts, I suggest you wrap each individual cookie bar in Sarah Wrap so they store better, do not stick together and do not absorb the odor or flavors from other cookies.

Fall Leaf Place Cards

Fall or Thanksgiving Place Cards made with leaves.

I use the few days leading up to Thanksgiving to pre-bake desserts, dry the bread crumbs for stuffing, set the table and multiple other tasks to cut down on the work load on Thanksgiving Day.  

One of the things I made ahead is place cards.  I started using place cards a few years ago more for fun than actual assigned seating.

Along with these leaf place cards another of my favorites for fall is my Scrapbooking Place Cards.

These leaf place cards take only a few supplies are easy-peay to make and look beautiful on the table.

Supplies Needed:

Thanksgiving Place Cards

Place Cards Using Scrapbooking Paper

First, for those of you who have never used them before, you may be wondering what exactly is a place card?  

A place card is a card or something similar bearing a person's name and used to mark their place at a dining or meeting table.

It’s really anything you wish to use with a name tag on it, placed on the table for assigned seating. 

The placing of the place cards are usually never set in stone at my house. As guests arrive they like to rearrange where they and others are sitting.  Some guests wish to sit next to other guests (or far away from them), so they just move their place card. 

My kids like to keep their personalized place cards as a keepsake each year and we have fun making them. 

Some years I purchase place cards and just embellish them, but most years I make them myself.

Fall Decorated Christmas Tree

Decorating a tree for Autumn or Halloween

I got the idea for this tree a few years ago after seeing one in a home I was visiting.  I loved it!

I took the idea home with me, changed it a little and made it my own.

I have a bay window in my kitchen and since purchasing our farm, have had a Christmas tree in that window decorated for Christmas to match my kitchen.

I started out with the 3 foot tree for an autumn themed tree for October and have since purchased a 4 foot tree to hold all the wonderful fall and Halloween decorations I have found.

Irish Colcannon

My Twist On An Old Favorite

It’s March and nearly St. Patrick’s Day.  For our March book club we're reading Angela’s Ashes, which discusses food a lot, including cabbage and potatoes.  (Or more, the lack of them).

Although my family enjoys this dish throughout the year, its most commonly associated with St. Patrick’s Day.  Colcannon is a unique and simple potato dish and is unmistakably an Irish comfort food.
It traditionally includes green cabbage mixed with hot, floury mashed potatoes and butter. Let’s not forget the butter.  Potatoes came to Ireland from South America, and by 1688, they had become a staple of the Irish diet.

Cherry Brandy (Visinata)

Bottled and ready to serve

Easy Homemade Cherry Brandy (Visinata)

Vişinată is a Romanian homemade alcoholic beverage made from sour cherries, and since it is homemade, there really is no "official" recipe for it.

This sipping drink is traditionally drank on Christmas morning.

This is a drink I share with friends and family during the fall and winter holidays.  It has a very smooth pleasant taste equally enjoyed by people who enjoy dry wine or people who enjoy sweet wine.

Just a word of caution:  This is a very smooth drink and sometimes is mistakenly thought to have a low alcohol content.  The women at our Crafting Circle Christmas Party got a “snoot full”, as my mother used to say.  There was much singing, gaiety and shenanigans needless to say.

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays!

~Froehliche Weihnachten und ein glückliches      Neues Jahr!

~Nollaig Shona Dhuit Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit

~Uwotlvdi Danisdoyohihv, Alihelisdi Itse Sudetiyvda

~Feliz Navidad Féliz Año Nuevo

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: 

the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other". 

~Burton Hillis

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time." ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Mini Pecan Pies

One of our favorite Holiday desserts, either for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is pecan pie! About 3 years ago I decided to use the same pecan pie recipe I always use, but with a twist: as mini or individual pies! Most years I use a ready made pie crust, (I’m all for ease and time saving methods), but this year I decided to make the crust from scratch.

Either way, these are delicious and much easier to wrap, store and freeze after all the guest have headed home. And the best part? I can just reheat one and add my favorite topping!

I like the Karo Syrup Classic Pecan Pie Recipe, but you can use your favorite recipe with similar results.

Tasty Cranberry Sauce

Well it's that time of year to dig though all my recipes, try to find the best ones to make for Thanksgiving Dinner!

I keep notes each year of recipes used and food prepared in the past.  I also pencil in tips to myself such as "fantastic" or "this was really yummy" or "not so good".

We have all the traditional food: Turkey, dressing, yams, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, etc. And I always have cranberries. But each year it seems many dinner guests do not like cranberries, and won't even try them!  So in recent years I have been experimenting with different Cranberry Sauce recipes and came across this one in 2007. It was a big hit that Thanksgiving and all the years to follow. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanksgiving On Friday?

Table set for Thanksgiving dinner

Thinking of the Holidays coming up, Thanksgiving in particular, and I am quite excited.

I love this time of year! We don't always, but often, share our Thanksgiving Dinner on a day other than the actual Thursday.

Why, you ask?

I am selfish!

We don’t like to share our family and friends with their other friends and relatives! Seems if I have our dinner on the actual day that has been set aside, I must share my guests, them staying only an hour or two, then off they run to visit someone else on their list.

If I have our dinner on the weekend before or even the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my guests can come early, help with the cooking or just sit and enjoy the aromas and conversations before dinner. There is also no need to run off so quickly after eating, and many times we have had our guests spend the entire evening with us or stay the night.

All of which I think is the real meaning of Holidays, spending time with our loved ones!

Day Of The Dead Bread

Day of the Dead Bread

So I get an email from my nephew-in-law Ben, saying he made "Day of the Dead" bread and had an extra loaf and would I like one.
Well as some of you may know, bread is my friend. I was super excited but hadn't opened the email until late in the day so had to wait an entire (eternity) day to pick it up.

Let me give you a little info on Ben: He is a wonderful cook, has his own cooking website and is a great photographer. I had, up until trying his home baked bread, only salivated over his dishes via his website.Anyway, I arrived at his and Jon's house to pick up the bread yesterday and upon entering his house immediately became brain dead.Yes that's right.
Upon viewing the wonderful little loaves of bread my hands began to shake and my mouth watered against my will.  Heaven!