Friday Food Fun ~ Fall Treats

After our Pumpkin Bar Math Lab, I knew I had a few recipes stacking up I wanted to try out to see if I would add them to our Holiday Baking Frenzy in December.

So on the Monday before Thanksgiving, I got busy.

Perhaps 3 recipes in one evening is too much but I really do like to bake in batches.

I probably could have made the meatloaf and the mozzarella-stuffed meatballs (two separate meals!) on a different day but why make a giant mess two days in a row?

Granny was here to help and all this cooking obviously did not help change our minds about our decision to not cook on Thanksgiving.

Granny and I made:

Mini caramel apple bundt cakes
Cranberry eggnog muffins
Carrot muffins with white chocolate cream cheese frosting

This was a “Leigh Anne medley” of three recipes she had recently posted.

Granny and I agreed that our favorite recipe was the cranberry muffins. Loved them! I told no one about the eggnog.

We referred to the carrot muffins as “spice” cupcakes with pineapple because you know how my family feels about vegetables. Such babies.

And I don’t think frosting a muffin is legally acceptable but Scary Baby loves to add frosting to anything.

Side note: She’s taken to wearing her new favorite hat that Granny bought her in the house and not just outside.

The caramel apple cakes were also delicious but I wouldn’t do the mini thing again. Too much extra work even though they were cute.

The missing cake was removed by Granny for taste-testing purposes. I saw her eating the caramel with a spoon.

I thought all this baking was perfect justification for our not-going-to-cook-on-Thanksgiving decision.

Thanksgiving Day

After our gourmet meal at Cracker Barrel, we arrived home to take a nap. Or so I thought.

PhilBillPaul said he was going to make his pumpkin pie for tomorrow when The Grunter could join us for his belated Thanksgiving meal because he had worked a double shift.

Pie Pressure

I was planning to make Wizzy’s favorite apple pie since she doesn’t like pumpkin. But I thought taking a nap after the meal was an important tradition I didn’t want to break. Nor did Wizzy who was sprawled out on the couch with me.

But Granny and her darling son had other ideas and asked when I was going to make the pie.

“Not now.”

Then we heard them plotting to cut the apples.

And get things ready to help with the pie.

I encouraged Wizzy to get up and learn how to make her favorite pie with her dad and Granny.

She wouldn’t budge.

As they talked quietly about peeling and slicing apples and how to keep them from browning, I generously suggested that they just go ahead and make the pie themselves.

How sweet of Scary Baby to take pictures of them baking together.

Thank goodness PhilBillPaul was there to assist and check Granny’s work with his final pie pat.

Both pies were delicious.

We had Honeybaked Ham and I also made strawberry pretzel salad and baked beans and the Friday-after-Thanksgiving-meal felt like Easter with pumpkin pie.

Weird but we all enjoyed it.

I also whipped up a double batch of Cajun chex mix before we went to Cracker Barrel. It’s another favorite holiday snack especially when we are playing euchre.

20+ years of making chex mix and this is the first year I can tell you with some authority that you do not want to broil your chex mix.

The top layer turns black very, very quickly and makes your kitchen stink.

Someone Scary Baby mentioned it was a blogworthy cooking photo op but PhilBillPaul had already thrown the blackened cereal into the backyard for the birds.

Fun times. Holiday Baking Frenzy begins this weekend!