Holiday baking

And here's what I've been up to the day before Thanksgiving... along with 40 deviled eggs, stuffing, and spilling turkey broth formerly destined to become gravy tomorrow all over the bottom of my fridge. Grrr.... Oh well, at least the cats got a treat... >^..^<


Lemon Inside-Outside Cake

This is based on a pistachio inside-outside cake I first had at a friend's birthday gathering in WV several years ago. I de-sugared it to the best of my ability.

Cake Ingredients:
Pillsbury Reduced Sugar Yellow Cake Mix
1 box Jell-O sugar free lemon flavored pudding and pie filling
1 cup oil
1 cup club soda
3 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting Ingredients:
1 tub Sugar Free Cool-Whip
1 box Jell-O sugar free lemon flavored pudding & pie filling
1 cup 2% milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a bundt pan. Mix together all ingredients for the cake except the nuts. Beat at medium speed for two minutes. The batterw ill be quite thick. Add the nuts and mix well. Pour into bundt pan and spread out evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Cool in pan on wire rack for 1 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on the rack. When cake is completely cool, split into three layers.

To make frosting, mix together all frosting ingredients and blend at medium high speed until thick. Spread 1 cup or so between each of the cake layers, then spoon the remaining frosting into the center. Garnish with chopped walnuts.





No Sugar Added Apple-Pecan Streusel Pie

We saw an apple-pecan strueeel pie in the menu when we went out to eat awhile back. It looked really, really good, and really, really bad for us. Sooo, I scoured the internet and found a likely looking recipe on recipezaar.com. Then it was just a matter of substituting sugar-free stuff wherever possible.

Ingredients:
1 package Pillsbury ready made pie crusts
2 cans no-sugar added apple pie filling
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans
3 tbsp butter, softened (I used Smart Balance Butter Blend)
1 1/2 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Gently mix together apple pie filling, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, all ginger, & nutmeg. In a separate bowl, mix together remaining 1/2 tsp cinnamon, brown sugar blend, and pecans.

Lay one pie crust in a 9" deep dish pie pan. Spoon half of the apple pie filling into the pie crust. Spread all of the pecan mixture on top of the apple filling, then spoon the rest of the apple pie filling on top of it.

Unroll the other pie crust and cut into 1" strips. Vertically arrange every other strip over filling, then weave remaining strips horizontally. Adhere to bottom crust with some water, trim, and crimp. I trimed tails of the strips a little past the bottom crust, then tucked them under the edge of the bottom crust and gave them a pinch.

Beat egg with 1 tbsp water. Brush over lattice.

Bake the pie for 30 minutes, checking after 15 minutes to make sure the edges of the crust are not getting too brown. If they are, cover them with aluminum foil. Bake until pie reaches a nice, golden brown color.

Transfer pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 1-1/2 hours before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.




Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Popping out of the woodwork and wish everybody a very happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Things I'm thankful for:

My salvation
My husband
My family
My husband's family (Really! I like my in-laws!)
My children & grandchildren
My church
My home
My business
My job
My health
My friends
The tallents I've been blessed with


I have been asked to serve on the board of directors for a newly-forming non-profit organization. It is a faith based, non-denominational organization will provide counseling and shelter for abused women, along with life skills, job seeking skills, basic computer skills, and provide assistance to find permanant housing, health care, education, and job skills training, along with anything else that there is assistance for.

I used to work with the woman who is spearheading it. She is an excellent HR Manager, so she can give people good advice on what to do and not do when looking for jobs, and a professional accountant and lawyer have already volunteered their services. She also has a boarding house that she is going to convert for the shelter. There currently isn't one in our county, so there is nowhere local for somebody to go for protection from an abusive home. The building would also house a high-end thrift store that will help support it, and classrooms for training and counseling.

I'm considering the request very hard. I don't want to commit to something that I end up not being able to do. This is something our area needs, and I would hate to let people down in an area where help is badly needed. A friend of mine has scars on her belly where a man she was living with cut her during an arguement. If he'd cut her any deeper, it would have been really bad. If there had been somewhere safe that she could go at the time, she might have left him before it came to that. Domestic violence laws are getting tougher, but laws don't help people who are scared to death in a relationship like that.

It's a big thing. I don't want to screw it up.

Veteran's Day

Thank you, Veterans, for your service to our country.

Thank you to current service members, also.

Kayla Nicole

Meet Kayla Nicole:





Kayla is my granddaughter. We just found out that she was part of the family last week, and it's taken awhile for the shock to wear off. She lives in Ohio with her mother and maternal grandparents.

She has her daddy's eyes. Since this is the only picture of her that I have so far, and I haven't high-tailed it up to Ohio to meet her in person yet, this is all I know of her. I believe her birthday is sometime in May, but I'm not sure.

Danny is looking for a better job and a super cheap (yet reliable) vehicle so he can help provide for her and be a positive force in her life. He gets along with her mother, and Jack and I have encourage him to keep that relationship on a good note. It will make life much easier for all involved, and for Kayla.

Anywhooo.... that's my news for the day.

The Joys of Life After Election Day...

Ah, yes, the sweet sounds of television without political ads... Just in time for Top Chef to start it's new season next week. Yay!

And in the face of a new government which is probably not going to be very friendly to big business, the company where my husband works is in turmoil. It's already confirmed that the place will shut down for the week at Christmas (which *never* happens), and the rumors are flying that some of the workforce will not be back after Christmas. They're just rumors, but it makes for a pretty tense place to be working right now. I imagine lots of places are as companies and people just don't know what is going to happen and are anticipating the worst.

So, keep America's workforce and it's employers in your prayers. Change is often painful and never easy, no matter how much it might be needed.

How I spent election night...

While the election results were rolling in, I was piecing the first of several quilts for the campground beds:

Three guesses what I'll be doing most of the winter. We have 13 beds at the campground, with plans to put in 8 more. I'll need enough quilts to cover each bed and have some extras.

And, while I didn't finish this tonight, I did put together a quilt for an expectant couple at church last week:

This is for a baby that is supposed to be a boy. Now the last baby that was born in the church was predicted to be a boy, right up to an ultrasound done the morning the baby was born, bevore labor started. That couple's daughter celebrated her first birthday last month... So, armed with this knowledge, I figured neutral colors would be good.

I just love the little feet in the center of the 9-patch.

They were also at each yellow bar intersection.

And the finished product, ready to present to the new parents. You can't tell from this picture very well, but the ribbon has baby footprints on it, too.