Thanksgiving 2011

For Thanksgiving this year we have been invited to my cousins house to get together with family we have not seen in several years.  As you know I love to cook and large gatherings are a wonderful time to cook the amount of food that I am used to.  (Growing up in a family of 5 children - all big eaters! you learn to cook large amounts of food.)  

If for some reason my typing jumps off into some foreign language or skips all around it is because my puppy has come to "sit" with me on the couch as I write this.  She seems to be most curious with the noise the keys make as I type.  

For our contribution to Thanksgiving I thought I would make homemade rolls, what we always called "special veggies", and a cake.  I want to try a new recipe for rolls that I found on the internet.  It is supposed to be the rolls like they make at the Golden Corral, which I LOVE!  I will try it on Jimmy before I put it out there for others to sample.  Maybe that would be a good undertaking for the day.  

As for my cake I could be open to ideas.  I am considering a fall theme for the cake which would have leaves and maybe pumpkins... ohhhh maybe even a scarecrow!  Must give this more thought.   It can not be too elaborate since it will have to travel from East Texas to Houston.   Maybe scheming ideas for my cake contribution is something I can work on today as well.  

OK, homework for today, try to make rolls.  I will keep you informed on how they turn out.  

Bananas anyone

Even with as much as I love bananas, there are times when we have bananas that are too ripe to eat.  I love that too.  We always make banana bread with our leftover bananas, but this time I decided to try something different.  Banana cake is what came to mind this time.  Sounded good to me, so cake it was.  The cake recipe was basically the same as making bread only with the addition of sour milk or buttermilk.  I took 2/3 cup of milk and added 2 teaspoons of lemon juice to make the milk sour.  Sift together 2 1/3 cups of flour, 1 2/3 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of soda, and 1 teaspoon of salt.  Add 2/3 cup of shortening, 2/3 cup of mashed bananas and the milk; mix.  Add 2 eggs and beat for 2 minutes to aerate the cake mix.  Put this into two greased and floured cake pans and cook for about 35 minutes.

This is how I did it, I think next time I will grease and flower the pans and line each pan with waxed paper.  Whenever I  make a cake that I intend to be a showcase I always line the pan with wax paper.  This helps the cake come out without sticking and tearing.  Most times a cake will come out without sticking anyway, but there are times when it does not and if there is no time to try again wax paper is used.  Wax paper is a MUST when making this cake.  It fell apart coming out of the pan.  I am hoping the wax paper will help keep it together long enough to ice it.

I love cream cheese icing and used it on the banana cake.  Good choice for sure.  The two flavors were great together.

There are no pictures of this cake, it looked like a mountainous heap of  some kind white lumpy substance unrecognizable as cake.  But it was so moist and delicious I wish I had taken a picture of it.  Now all that I have to photograph is the crumbs on an empty plate.  My mom had to hide it from my nephew so that she could have another piece later when she was ready for her coffee.

If you try this cake you will not be disappointed with the flavor and the moistness.  I have not remade it using wax paper, but give the wax paper a try.  I am hoping that it will hold it together so that the finished product at lease resembles cake.

Marshmallows

Wow, with the incredible heat of the summer it has been a long time since I have been able to enjoy cooking.  So, with the onset of the cooler weather the stove can be fired up once again without the fear of overheating the kitchen and thus the house.  In fact any heat from the stove this week will be  welcome in the kitchen.  :)

Last weekend we had our family/friend annual Octoberfest tradition.  We usually have a chili cookoff and a desert contest.  My daughter usually purchases ribbons for first, second and third place winners.  Last year she just happened to have a ribbon for the "thanks for trying but you did not win ANYTHING" entry.  Which I was lucky enough to "win" with my (as my family called it) Pie Soup.  This year I was hoping to get at least 3rd place, but with no new dessert ideas as yet I decided to make marshmallows.  Yes, good idea.  Something everyone could snack on without being filled up and not able to eat the chili I brought.  :)

This year there were 10 entries for chili (wow) a record for us so far!  With 6 entries for dessert hey!, my chances of placing are looking promising.  I flavored my marshmallows with banana and strawberry flavorings.  Even with all my efforts, the poor marshmallows did not place even for the "booby" prize!  I believe it was due to a mix-up on the dessert table and who ever had the #3 place originally got the votes for the marshmallows and eventually won the contest.  That is OK though, next year Laura Beldon.... Look out!  :)