PW Red Velvet Cake

I did it!  I made a Red Velvet cake from scratch.   It's not like it was on my recipe bucket list since Red Velvet cake is not my first choice at the dessert table.  But boy do some people love it and just go on and on about it!    I was just curious so I did it just to say I did it, plus I needed a dessert for Christmas Day.

The recipe is simple enough to put together.  I'm not one to gather all the ingredients together on the countertop then measure them out.  I get one ingredient out, measure, get the next one out measure.  Probably not the most efficient way so it seemed to take me forever just to get this stirred together and into the oven.  

I was surprised at how much red food coloring and how little cocoa goes into this cake.  Finally, after leaving things out at room temp, stirring, baking, cooling, cooling some more, stirring some more and icing it was finished.

We ate it on Christmas Day after our traditional red beans and rice dinner.  It's the buttermilk that makes it so yummy and moist.  Oh, and the cream cheese icing is good too!

PW Italian Chicken Soup

Got to catch up on the Sweet As Pie Cooking Club posts for December selections so I can get on with the yummy January selections!  

Italian Chicken Soup was my selection this time round.  I seriously doubt if this is an authentic Italian recipe but maybe a couple of my Italian friends will let me know.   Does adding oregano and olive oil make a dish Italian?   Even if it doesn't, this soup is still very good and it makes enough to feed an army.

Lots, and I do mean, lots of bell pepper, onion and some jalepeno.  The jalepeno is optional, we like it so for us, it's just not right to leave it out.

I had never heard of "ditalini" pasta.  Publix didn't have it or anything like it.  But I found a ditalini look alike at Piggly Wiggly in a box called salad macaroni.  Sometimes the small town grocery stores save the recipe.

Even with all the peppers and seasonings, this soup is mild, tasty and very filling.   It's even better the next day.  Crusty bread and Ricatoni's italian herbs and olive oil are the only side needed.

Perfect on a cold night!  Just be ready to feed an army or make half a recipe.  Mine made about 6 quarts.

Happy New Year and God knows my heart

I enjoy the holidays, ALL of them, all year long.  Because it is usually an opportunity for us to gather with family and friends or just rest and relax on a day off.  In early December, I told the Bassman that this Christmas is different, yet I couldn't describe how.  No words for it.  I told myself I wasn't going to stress, yet I did.  And I got a nasty fever blister to show for it!  Ugh.

So I had to remind myself what Christmas is all about, Fear not!

We played our traditional fun greedy Christmas game on Christmas Eve.

Me and my mother

We had a Hawaiian Christmas complete with a Left Right game with a Hawaiian theme.  Here are those that dared to wear their aloha wear.

So looking back into 2012, our family has grown and so have I.  I still wonder what I'm doing leading 20-year-olds in a Sunday School class!

I didn't see my stepdaughter over the holidays, she didn't come around at all.  So I'm praying for her and my stepson.  For healing and moving forward.

I saw first hand how job situations are affecting people.  My daughter's friend, whose family couldn't afford a plane ticket home, stayed with us over Christmas break.   I am thankful that my husband has a job and can provide for the family...more than we need.

I saw a close friend experience a cancer diagnosis and treatment for her husband.  I pray for healing for him and support for my friend for whatever she needs.

Another friend told me that she didn't attend church during Christmas because the songs remind her that her son passed away during this time of year.  But I'll be back this Sunday, "He knows my heart!", she said.

He knows my heart.  God  KNOWS my heart.  And I like that.

Welcome 2013!

Fear Not!

If you've made it to this Christmas Eve and you're still not done with the shopping, decorating, baking, wrapping and you've passed one too many irate shoppers...AND holiday overload has completely set in...

"Fear not", as the angel said to the shepherd, "for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."  Luke 2:10-11

That's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.

Merry Christmas!

Santa Squirrel visits T-town

It's final exam week for my daughters at college.  I am looking forward to them being home for Christmas for a couple of weeks!

But not before Santa Squirrel makes a visit to T-town!   Final exam week is stressful, I can hear it in their voices when I talk to them.  So to give them and a few of their friends a little encouragement Santa Squirrel pays a visit.

This year he is delivering acorns.  Cute adorable acorns, if I must say so myself, hee hee!

(No, I still haven't decorated my tree yet!)

This fall when I saw this post about making acorn coasters,  I knew Santa Squirrel would deliver acorn coasters in Alpha Gam colors, of course.  I hope they like them, they should arrive soon and hopefully not lost in the mail!

Strings Orchestra Christmas Concert

Uh, my tree is still not decorated.   I just gotta have some Christmas music first!!!

My nephew plays violin in the Florence City Schools Strings Orchestra.   This is such a good program and I enjoy going to their concerts.  (Just overlook the awful photos as I was playing with my camera, should have left it on Auto!)

They display their talents and what they've learned in guitar ensembles, beginner, middle school, and high school string orchestra.  They add in piano and even electric guitar for some presentations.  You can't play Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas Eve/Sarajevo without an electric guitar, now can you?

Christmas Strings

Middle school strings orchestra

High School strings orchestra

 I think I forgot to breathe and you could have heard a pin drop when they played Mannheim Steamroller's version of Silent Night.

Partridge in a Pear Tree

And I laughed out loud as they acted out the 12 Days of Christmas!

Winter white lap afghan

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree....  Oh, the Christmas tree!!!  Decorating the tree has definitely taken the backseat to other more fun things this holiday season.  If I don't get the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving, then it just gets attention off and on until I decide it's done.  It makes a difference when the kids aren't around to enjoy it too!

So instead of decorating the tree, my attention has been among other things on this prayer shawl.  It's more like a small afghan.

This is one of 2 stitches I have learned.  I can do this and talk to the Bassman while we're watching TV at the same time.  

If you're interested the stitch instructions are here.