I've been busy!

I have been so busy these days! Someone should have warned me not to sign up as Ethan's room mom and to volunteer on the PTA. I didn't know quite how much I was committing to. It has been fun though. I have now published two PTA newsletters for Ethan's school and survived Ethan's fall class party. Now I am starting on my Christmas shopping, which is tiring as well! I have made three trips to Toys R Us in the past two days, and I need to go back again! 'Tis the season, eh?

I mentioned to many of you in a recent e-mail that our family joined our church earlier this month. Zachary was baptized and we were welcomed into Hope Presbyterian Church on November 1st. I never in a million years imagined joining a church as large and "contemporary" as this one, or one that was not Lutheran, but I have to say that I love it. I feel so at home here. Everyone goes out of their way to make you feel welcomed, no matter if you've been attending for 10 years or 10 minutes. Jason and I both feel comfortable there and have agreed that we take so much home with us from the worship service each week. The pastors have a way of relating the message to our daily lives, and I often think (sometimes out loud), "Hey, he's talking to me!" Right now they are conducting a series on finances (getting out debt & living on a budget), and how we are merely stewards of God's money. The series has included clips of the pastor's interview with Dave Ramsey, who teaches a class that Jason and I took called Financial Peace University. (Thanks to that class we are well on our way to being completely debt free, eventually including our house!) Ethan and Zachary enjoy their Sunday school classes, the preschool and the recreation ministries (soccer!!!). The church has so many other ministry and service opportunities as well; I love that it is such a service-oriented community. This week, their kitchen ministry unveiled a new Hope Church Chefs blog where they promise to publish budget-friendly recipes and answer cooking questions submitted by their readers. So cool. Anyway, whenever you come to visit Memphis, I would like to invite you to attend a service with us. It is unlike any church you've ever attended (in a good way). We look forward to going each week.

Back to cooking: Thanksgiving is only two weeks away and I can already taste the turkey & stuffing, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie! (Mom, don't forget the Cool Whip, please!) These are some of my holiday favorites. What are yours? Leave me a comment and let me know. If you've got the recipe handy, send me that too. Meanwhile, I'll be posting some of our family's traditional Thanksgiving recipes, starting with dessert first of course!

Libby’s Famous Pumpkin Pie
From the side of the can of pumpkin
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 (15-oz.) can LIBBY'S 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 (12-fl. oz.) can CARNATION Evaporated Milk
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
Whipped cream (optional)

Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.

Bake in preheated 425° F. oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.

Note: 1 ¾ teaspoons pumpkin spice may be substituted for the cinnamon, ginger and cloves; however, the taste will be slightly different. Do not freeze, as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.

For 2 shallow pies: substitute two 9-inch (2-cup volume) pie shells. Bake in preheated 425° F. oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F.; bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until pies test done.


Classic Pecan PieFrom the Karo Syrup bottle
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1 cup Karo Light or Dark Corn Syrup
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ cups pecans
1 (9-inch) unbaked or frozen deep-dish pie crust

Preheat oven to 350°. In medium bowl with fork beat eggs slightly. Add sugar, corn syrup, margarine and vanilla; stir until blended. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie crust.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Even I make mistakes!

So my dear old dad (yes, that's you Abbie) sends me an e-mail yesterday to let me know that I got some info wrong on a couple of recipes. For those of you who are keeping track, I have corrected the first one that he pointed out - the sausage balls recipe from October 15th. Apparently there should only be 2 cups of Bisquick (not 3) and no water. The second recipe he pointed out was the Cheese Soup recipe from October 16th. He remembers Aunt Judy's original recipe where she chops the frozen Italian vegetables a bit in the blender. You can do that, but I never have and the recipe is still delicious. It is a matter of personal taste I suppose, and I love big chunks of the good stuff in my soup.

Thanks for the help, Abbie. I love you!

If anyone else catches an error in any of the recipes I post, please e-mail me right away and I'll correct them (or argue a point).

So to end this post, I am posting a recipe that you really can't mess up. It's my Grandmother Mava's recipe for the most delicious fruit salad. I look forward to having this at our family's holiday dinners, but of course you can make it any time of year. It's not super healthy because of all the sugar, but I'm sure you can lighten it up with Splenda instead. Let me know how that works out if you decide to try it with Splenda.

To the left is a picture of my mom, grandma, sister and me at Christmas 2004. I am sure we had Grandma's fruit salad at dinner. Yummy!




Fruit Salad

Apples
Oranges
Grapes
Pineapple chunks, drained
2 cups sugar
Pecan halves
Maraschino cherries, reserve juice

Cut fruit into bite-sized chunks in a large bowl. Add pecans and cherries. Cover with sugar and add some juice from the cherries. Stir and set in refrigerator for a while – even better overnight.

Dessert First!

Anyone who knows me knows that I have one of the biggest sweet tooths around. Why do "they" make you eat dessert last? I say eat the best stuff first so you don't run out of room for it! (Of course that is likely the cause of my weight issues...hmmm...food for thought.) Anyhoo, I wanted to kick off my new site with a dessert recipe.

This recipe was submitted by my sweet cousin, Gretchen Bruner. Her daddy, Larry Linsenbardt, was one of the greatest men to ever live, and this was his recipe for Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce. She tells me that he loved the bread pudding from a certain restaurant so much that he went home and perfected his own recipe so he could enjoy it anytime. Well, Bread Pudding is one of my all-time favorite desserts, so I can't wait to give this recipe a try. If you decide to make this recipe, please return and post a comment to let us know how it turned out. And do me and my cousin a favor - whenever you make or eat this bread pudding, think of Larry; he was truly a wonderful human being and we miss him greatly. (FYI: This picture of Uncle Larry and Aunt Becky was taken in November 2002 in my parents' back yard on the occasion of my nephew, Joel's baptism.)

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

For the Pudding:
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
4 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon vanilla
½ Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 (1-lb.) loaf French bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
½ cup golden raisins (optional)

For the Sauce:
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup butter
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup whiskey

Preheat oven to 325°. In a medium bowl, whip together eggs and sugar. Mix in milk, heavy cream, vanilla, and cinnamon. Whip until smooth.

Arrange bread cubes in a 9”x13” glass baking dish. Top with raisins if desired. Cover bread with the whipped mixture. Stir so that the bread becomes saturated with the mixture.

Bake 1½ hours in preheated oven. After 1½ hours, turned the heat up to 450° for 5 to 10 minutes to brown the top.

While the bread pudding is cooling, make the whiskey sauce. Mix sugar, butter, cream, and whiskey in a small saucepan. Warm over low heat, stirring constantly until sauce in gently boiling. Spoon sauce over baked bread pudding and serve warm.

Variation – for Sauce without whiskey: Combine 1 cup sugar, ½ cup butter, ½ cup heavy cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla. While stirring, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and stir 3 minutes more. Spoon over bread pudding while warm.