Eatables

With the holidays just around the corner you’re probably thinking of delicious food and entertaining family. This year I’m having my in-laws for Thanksgiving and I’m writing up what will hopefully be a delicious menu.The most important part of the meal is the entree, right? Should we go with the traditional turkey? Or maybe a ham? You could even do something a little more out there and serve a holiday roast. If you have vegetarian eaters you could make some delicious manicotti. This year, though, I think I’ll stick to with the tranditional roasted turkey.Currently this is what I’m planning:

• Spicy spinach cheese dip with veggies and crackers
• Roasted turkey with gravy
• Sausage, apple, and cranberry stuffing
• Homemade mashed potatoes
• Homemade dinner rolls
• Sour cream and raisin pie
• Cinnamon apple crisp

Now this sounds like a lot of food for only four people, but hey, it’s Thanksgiving! And I’m sure the leftovers will be just as good. Expect to see recipes on what to do with your leftover turkey.What is your favourite family recipes? What about new ones you want to try out? What do you do with your Thanksgiving leftovers? Let us know in the comments.

So this Fourth of July we celebrated it with some friends and family. I made this festive Jello cake which everyone enjoyed. It was fun and easy to make, and of course, nice look at! Happy 4th everyone!

Prep: 20 minutes
Chill: 4 hours
Makes: 20 servings

Ingredients

• 1 quart strawberries
• 2 pkg. (4-serving size each) strawberry flavoured gelatin
• Ice cubes
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 pkg. (10.75 oz.) pound cake or angel food cake, cut into small slices
• 1-1/3 cups blueberries
• 1 tub (8 oz.) whipped cream

Steps

1. Slice approximately one cup of strawberries and halve the remaining three cups.
2. Boil one and half cups of water, and stir into dry gelatin mix in large bowl for at least two minutes or until completely dissolved. Add enough ice to cold water to measure two cups. Add to gelatin and stir until ice is completely melted.
3. Refrigerate for five minutes or until gelatin is slightly thickened. Meanwhile, place cake slices 13 x 9 inch dish. Add sliced strawberries and one cup of blueberries to gelatin, and spoon over cake slices.
4. Refrigerate for four hours or until set.
5. Spread whipped cream over gelatin. Arrange strawberry and blueberries on whipped cream.

Change it up! To make this dish extra special, you can make a cream cheese topping by whisking two 8 oz. packages of softened cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sugar, and the whipped cream.

These soft cookies are always a fun, sugary hit! I whipped up a batch while some of our friends were over. Not only are they tasty, but also fun to decorate and pretty to look at. Enjoy :)

Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 8-10 minutes
Makes: 2-3 dozen

Ingredients
Cookie Dough

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• Food colouring (optional)
• Sprinkles (optional)

Steps
Cookie Dough

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and almost extract.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; gradually add to creamed mixture.
4. Roll into two inch balls and put unto lightly greased baking sheets.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light brown.

Frosting

1. In medium mixing bowl, combine the butter, confectioners’ sugar, almond extract and enough water to achieve desired consistency.
2. I put about four drops of red food colouring in the frosting mix. I also added some festive red coloured sugar on top. You could mix and match colours; have fun with it!

Credit! This recipe is adapted from The Taste of Home Cookbook.

When I was a kid my mom used to make this absolutely to-die-for rum cake. It was so moist and rich, and I had to finish off every last crumb! Unfortunately, her recipe got lost in a move so the following recipe is  different. Though not as good as Mom’s, this recipe is pretty tasty.

This cake quite moist and flavourful. It’s an extremely rich and luxurious dessert, which is perfect for holiday parties or special occasions. You can probably have only one slice before being full, but this cake doesn’t last too long around the house. Absolutely delicious!

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 1 hour

Ingredients
Cake mix

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon rum flavored extract

Rum butter blaze

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup rum

Steps
To make the cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bunt pan.
2. Cream 1 cup of the butter and 2 cups of the white sugar together. Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each one. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together and add alternately with the buttermilk to the egg mixture. Stir in the vanilla and rum extracts.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour.
4. Remove cake from oven and pour all of the rum butter glaze over cake while still warm.

To make butter rum glaze

1. Melt the remaining 1 cup of the butter and 1 cup of white sugar over low heat.
2. Remove from heat and stir in rum. Use immediately to glaze cake.

Credit! This recipe is composed of several different ones I found on All Recipes.