Cookie Forest Birthday Cake

I had a little trouble with the shape of my daughter's cake this year (read, I had to cut off the, um, crispy outer layer...). I was going to make a version of the Betty Crocker "Let's Party" Cake and the cupcakes turned out perfect. So, instead of a tower, I lined the cupcakes around the perimeter of the cake and added a tree cookie forest for height. Looks like I planned it this way, I think! The perfect December birthday cake!

Thanksgiving Menu

We get to have two Thanksgivings this year - one that we are hosting at our home on Thanksgiving for our Chicago relatives and one on Saturday at my sister's home for the Wisconsin relatives. The gathering at our house will be rather small - 6 adults and 4 children. Of that group, only 6 eat meat (my children and I are vegetarians). I do, however, prepare turkey on Thanksgiving for omnivorous loved ones. This year I'm preparing a bone-in turkey breast, rather than a whole bird. Our Chicago relatives often travel here by train and don't like to take leftovers. There is only so much leftover turkey meat my husband can eat on his own, so this year I decided to cook what they'll actually eat! The family prefers a more traditional feast, so here's our menu:

Appetizers:
Relish tray with olives and pickles
Carrots and dip
Snack mix

Main Dish:
Roasted Turkey Breast
Fresh Cranberry Sauce
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Biscuits
Savory Vegetable Stuffing
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Spinach Salad with Dried Cranberries, Almonds and Goat Cheese

Dessert:
Best Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Cream Pie

Some of these recipes will be new to me, some are old standbys. I like Thanksgiving dinner to be uncomplicated and fun with food everyone will like. I usually make the pies 2 nights ahead of time and the cranberry sauce one night before. Also, the night before I scrub the vegetables that need it and chop onions, mushrooms and carrots. This year's salad is very simple - virtually no prep except for mixing the dressing and that can only be done at the last minute. I like to do a salad rather than a hot vegetable to cut down on the oven jostling that occurs just before mealtime - one last thing to heat!

What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish or menu?

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins

Here's what was left on Tuesday of the dozen and a half of Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins I made on Sunday night. The family loved them. It's a recipe from Simply in Season, a cookbook I don't own yet (I'm borrowing the Milwaukee Central Library's copy). This cookbook will definitely go on my Christmas list - it's the cookbook I've been looking for my entire adult life! We are vegetarians and this book is not a vegetarian cookbook, but most of the recipes are vegetarian or easily made that way. It is divided up by season and offers healthy recipes for using produce that is in season. Such a simple concept! Also, I sometimes have trouble with "healthy" recipes not suiting the tastes of myself or my children, but I've tried five recipes already and they were all outstanding! Below is the recipe, as I made it - it is called Nutty Pumpkin Bread in the book (there are some other options for some of the ingredients in the book, too). I made it as muffins to appeal to the kids. I would like to make this with bananas, too.

Nutty Pumpkin Muffins

>1 1/2 cups flour
>1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
>1 cup wheat germ
>1 cup sugar
>1 cup brown sugar
>2 teaspoons salt
>2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
>1/2 teaspoon each ground ginger, nutmeg
Mix together in a large bowl and make a well.

>1 1/2 cups pumpkin (cooked and pureed - I used canned)
>4 eggs (lightly beaten)
>1/2 cup oil
>1/2 cup walnuts (chopped)
>1 cup dates (chopped)
Add into the well and mix just until all of the dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into muffin tins. Bake in preheated oven at 350F until toothpick inserted in center of loaves comes out clean, 40 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Chocolate Improv Cake

I decided to make a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for Papa's birthday. I went to the cupboard to look at my cake mix stash and - lo and behold - I have four boxes of yellow cake mix. Not surprising, because yellow cake is probably my least favorite cake flavor. So, plan B, make a chocolate cake from scratch. I find that chocolate cake is the easiest cake to make from scratch because the chocolate flavor can hide a lot of flaws. I used a cheat-sheet recipe from the angry chicken, or, I should say, I planned to use her recipe. I soon found out I was out of a lot of important ingredients. But, I had flour and eggs, so armed with "ingredient substitutions" this is what I made:

2 cups brown sugar (should be granulated sugar)
1-3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup mocha cocoa (should be cocoa)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil (should be vegetable)
2 teaspoons real maple syrup (should be vanilla)
1 cup boiling water
350 degrees, 30 minutes

#1 - I've never made a cake mix with boiling water before. The mix was really, really runny. The cake was really, really moist. I'm impressed!
#2 - Maple syrup can be used as a substitute for vanilla, but you can taste a hint of maple. In this case, it was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!
#3 - Brown sugar also changes the taste of a cake. It makes it taste, hmmm, strong... molasses-y.
#4 - This cake turned out great, all the substitutions worked really well together. It was moist, almost brownie-like (but not too dense) and that's how we like our chocolate cakes. The mocha, brown sugar and maple all worked together to make this a big, strong-flavored cake that's not to be messed with. One piece and you're satisfied for the night.

I also made chocolate frosting from the same cheat sheet, substituting mocha cocoa for regular cocoa, maple syrup for vanilla and omitting the espresso powder. YUM!