Tango with a Turkey and Tablescapes

                I’m late, I’m late and it’s last minute before we all go about our Holiday Productions but I believe I made it in time to give you some tips before you traipse into family frolicking.  So before you Tango with that Turkey on your dining room table, I want to give you some tips for decorating that Thanksgiving Table.  Thanksgiving is the time when we gather to celebrate the joy of family and friends and to commemorate the true meaning of home.   I believe home is where our purest of heart is always on display and on special occasions such as these, it allows others to peak into the playhouse of our lives.  It is where we laugh, we cry, we rejoice and where we make our most memories.  It defines who we are as individuals and as a family.  As we turn the corner to begin our celebrations for this holiday season, I want to encourage you to branch out.  Show more of yourself.  Don’t be afraid to have a formal dining table with place settings.  Although, some of you have families quite like my own family, where it is often too large to be strictly formal but there are ways to make buffets inviting and interesting.  I believe going “All Out” shows others you care enough to make something beautiful for them and to entertain them as you welcome them into your home.  So with that said, I do hope you enjoy the examples I have for your viewing pleasure and last I do hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy spending precious time with those you love.

Doctor It Up Cakes!

Being raised by Southern Women I came to fondly love the term “Doctor It Up”!  It is a term my grandmother used when she referred to her cooking.  She would add a little of this, or a little of that to give something an extra kick!   I have the habit of “Doctoring Up” things myself.  It just makes food have more flavor and that’s what good cooking is all about.  FLAVOR!  So with that said and Thanksgiving just around the corner here’s another recipe I’d like to share.  This is a great way to add more flavor to that boxed cake mix.

Amaretto Cake

1 - Box of your favorite Vanilla Flavored Cake Mix

1/3  - Cup of Amaretto Liqueur

1 - Cup Sugar

Directions:

Follow instructions on the box and add ingredients and mix well in mixer.  Add 1/3 Cup of Amaretto and 1 cup of sugar to blended ingredients.  Mix for an additional 1 minute.  Pour into pans and bake according to instructions but add an additional 8 to 10 minutes to baking time.  Cool completely. 

Frosting the Cake

Frosting:

2 - Containers of Cream Cheese Frosting

1 - Box of Powdered Sugar

½ - Cup of Amaretto Liqueur

In a large bowl, mix all above ingredients and blend well.   Cover with a wet paper towel.  Keep frosting covered with a wet paper towel at all times to prevent drying out.

Step 1:  Do a crumb coat frost first.   Frost cake as you would normally but don’t necessarily try too hard to make it look perfect.  Use the frosting sparingly.  This is a crumb coat.  Once cake is frosted put in freezer for an hour or up to 24 hours.

Step 2:  Do not defrost the cake.  Remove from freezer and allow it to set out for about 10 minutes.  By doing a “Crumb Coat”, this prevents crumbs from floating into your frosting onto the next layer of frosting.  Frost the cake again with the rest of the frosting.  Make peaks and swirls and decorate top with white chocolate shavings.  This is the best cake you will ever eat.  I promise! 

Recipes!!!

Ok, I have noticed that  everyone is "blogging" recipes. I guess it's to prepare for Thanksgiving, so I'm jumping on the band wagon too!  Here is an easy one.

Easy Peach Cobbler

Preheat oven to 375.

1 - Stick Blue Bonnet Margarine

1 - Cup of Milk

1 - Cup of “SELF RISING” Flour

1 - Cup of Sugar

1 - Can of sliced Peaches in Heavy Syrup

Melt one stick of margarine in a 9 x 13 glass dish, set aside.

Mix all dry ingredients first, flour & sugar. 

Add milk and mix well. 

Pour contents into the glass dish. 

Then add peaches by placing each sliced peach sporadically over casserole dish.  You may want to  cut them in half to make sure they are evenly spread throughout the dish. 

Add the syrup that’s left in the can by pouring over the batter.  Do NOT Stir!

Bake for 30 minutes or until top is bubbly and light brown.

One of my babies..  Sweet Coco!

Am I truly ready for the Holidays?

With the Holidays just around the corner, I feel bittersweet about it.  The sweetness I feel is because I love being with my children and watching their enjoyment during the Holidays.  Their delight in the foods I prepare and just the theatrics of Thanksgiving and Christmas makes me smile.  The bitter part for me is there are those family members who are no longer with me and I miss them.  I seem to be missing them more this year.  My father for one and I’ve had fourteen Holiday’s without him and my children never knew him.  My grandmother too, she was the matriarch of our family; the bible wheeling granny.  I miss the arguments, the way she used to tell me how to run my life.  I miss her laugh and her cooking and even though she lectured you, you always knew she loved you.  I just read an article today about missing your relatives around the holidays and what to do to get yourself out of the “Blue Holiday Mood”. 

There are always those who give advice.  Those concerned family members, friends, acquaintances, millions of self-help gurus and articles on “How to Survive the Holidays” but the truth is do we really want it, do we care about it, and will we really follow it.  Answer:  No.  Getting through, just means that.  Getting through.  It’s personal, it’s an individual’s experience which no amount of advice regardless of how much empathy is given along with it, will help.  Only time.  And as I’ve said it’s been several years since I’ve had family members who have moved on.  But it’s the fear that my mother now is older and I’m wondering how many more holiday’s I will have with her.   I truly hate this getting old business.  It scares me and I guess the next biggest thing is I know somewhere down the road I’m next in line.  Geez!

I guess this is not the type of Holiday post that infuses people with that good feeling to spur them into shopping frenzies and I do apologize.  I do have another post that is immersed with wonderful emotions and I will post that at a later date.  This is just something that was one my heart today and I felt the need to write about.  One can’t be chipper every day can they?  Well, maybe, ah I just need to let out one big sigh and move on.   On a brighter note, it is going to a beautiful fall day and the day ahead for me at least is going to very busy.  And last but not least, I think I’m going to call my mother!

Oak Mountain State Park, Alabama.... Beautiful. Just in time for Sweet November.