Recently, I did a “Best Thing I Ate at Thanksgiving” post and shared several recipes, but they were in the comments and got a little lost. I’ll repost those below as well.

SWEET POTATO DELIGHT

Ingredients:  3 C. sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled, mashed (about 3-4 medium)
1 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 T Vanilla
2/3 C butter
1/2 C. milk

Topping: 1/3 C. flour
1/3 C butter
1 C brown sugar
1 C chopped pecans

Mix sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs vanilla, milk & 2/3 C. butter. Pour in greased casserole dish.

Mix in small bowl:  brown sugar, flour, 1/3 c butter, & nuts.  Pour over sweet potato mixture.  Do not mix in.

Bake at 350º F. for 30 min.   Top will be crunchy.  Stir crunchy crust into the soft potatoes and serve.  (Add marshmallows to top and brown for 5 min. if desired.)

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Karo Syrup’s original Pecan Pie recipe is here: http://www.karosyrup.com/recipe_details.asp?id=485

My Granny’s version: Southern Pecan Pie

3 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 C. Dark Karo syrup
3/4 C. clear Karo syrup
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/8 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp flour
1-1/2 C. whole pecans
1 unbaked 8″ pie shell
Combine eggs, molasses, syrups, melted butter, salt and vanilla in mixing bowl. In a small bowl, make a paste of a small amount of the liquid mixture and flour; stir into remaining mixture. Add pecans. Stir. Turn into unbaked pastry shell. Bake at 325º F for 1 hour or until firm.

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My chocolate version comes from the recipes included with Baker’s German Sweet Chocolate bars. I can’t find a link to the one I have. This one adds coconut, but the one I use doesn’t.

The one I use doesn’t.

CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE

1 pkg (4 oz) BAKER’S® GERMAN’S® Sweet Chocolate
2 Tbsp butter
1 C. corn syrup (I use Karo)
1/3 C sugar
3 eggs 1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 C pecan halves
1 unbaked 9″ pie shell Whipped topping (optional)

Heat oven to 350º F Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwavable bowl at HIGH 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Mix in corn syrup, sugar, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie shell. Bake 55 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Garnish with whipped topping and additional pecan halves, if desired. 8 servings.

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If anyone is in the mood to make cookies, like Samantha Storm was, check out the link to her name and you’ll find the recipes for Pumpkin Whoopie Pies Cookies, and Cooky Cookies. Also in the comments, were links for
PEPPERMINT MELTAWAY COOKIES (via me)
an Australian favourite – ANZAC biscuits (from a regular, Mary Preston)
Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies (via C.E. Hart)
Fruitcake Cookies (via Pam Asberry)

Pumpkin Cookies (from Sandra Elzie)
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 ¼ cup sugar (1/2 brown, ½ white)
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 1/2 cups fours
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg & ginger
¾ cup raisins or nuts….optional

1) Mix everything together and bake 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes. 2)Frost or glaze with just conf sugar and milk  (depending how sweet you like your cookies)

When cooled, they can be frozen in zip-lock bags.  They thaw to taste like you just baked them.  (I usually double the recipe…some for now & some to freeze)

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Marilyn Baron also posted a recipe for Sinfully Sweet Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies that sound…well, sinful!

Maxine Davis shared her recipe for Buttermilk Pie and my, is it as tasty as it is EASY!

Bryonna Nobles shared her Nana’s recipes for Broccoli-Rice Casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole, Cold Oven Pound Cake and Banana Pudding. Now if that’s not a bunch of yummy, I don’t know what is.

But that’s not all.

Kimberly Brock shared her recipe for Damascus’ Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake
and Linsey Lanier shared her recipe’s for Hubby’s Guilt-Induced Make Up Appetizer and French Onion Dip made with Greek yogurt.

Since we’re talking food and recipes, I would be remiss if I didn’t let everyone know that we PFHT ladies have a cookbook available which can be seen on our books page near the bottom. If you’re interested in purchasing one, e-mail us using the CONTACT form in our menu header.

In addition, Marilyn Baron has a terrific recipe for  Pasta Passionata Alla Carbonara  in Passionate Cooks: Free Recipes From Today’s Hottest Romance Authors. Follow the link to download the book for FREE!

For me, keeping the magic of Christmas is important.  Its a warm time of the year, not a time to be at war with one another.  It can bring out the best and the worst in people.  I hope to always remain at my best.

I wanted to share with all of you, a few ways to keep wonder alive for the kids and loved ones in your life.  There you have my Christmas tree along with my nieces who helped me decorate it.

As we decorated, I read them The Polar Express.  They loved it.  Its the perfect story for tree decorating too because.  Nice long, lyrical paragraphs that paint a magical journey to the North Pole, large pictures that they can look at just once and be satisfied and get back to tree trimming.

When we got to the part of the story where our hero is chos

en by Santa to receive the first gift of Christmas, I asked them what each of them would ask Santa.  They, of course, never hearing this story before, recited their Christmas list.  I just smiled and we went on to talk of the magical silver bell which they instantly wanted.

Now, if you look closely at my tree, you’ll notice tiny stockings hanging on it.   They are just these simple 98 cent stockings I picked up at Walmart and used a bit of glitter puff paint to put each of my nieces and nephews names who will be in Georgia this year on them.

What the girls don’t know is that after they left, I slipped large silver bells with small pieces of leather lopped through them into each stalking.  When they come over later this month for our little Holiday get together, they’ll be receiving their own copy of The Polar Express and then I’ll send them to get what they think are empty stalkings from my tree.

Magic and the most expensive part was buying the book.

Another fabulous gift idea that was given to me by my other mother is take a burlap sack or something else seasonal but fun.  Put a new pair of pajamas for each child inside, a hot coco kit with their own special mug, a bag of their favorite popcorn or movie snack, and one of your favorite holiday movies that you’ve always wanted to share with them.

Close up the bag or box and write “Do not open until Christmas Eve!”  When Christmas Eve arrives, you have a new holiday tradition.  Cuddling up on the couch and watching a favorite movie with your kids.  Have too many movies?  Get a book!  There are so many great holiday books out there and you’re still creating a warm, fond memory that they’ll take on with them, recreating for their own kids.

What’s even better, if you’re using a burlap sack, not only does it make a fun decoration under your tree, you can fold it up and pack it away with your decorations and use it again for the next year.  You won’t have to go looking for another one time and time again.

And never forget Cookies for Santa.  If you have time to bake with your kids, do it!  You get delicious cookies and again, there’s that all important quality time.

Its easy to get lost in the shopping of the season.  I’ve actually heard a woman tell a couple once, “So you’re getting me two things right since I’m buying for both of you?”  People get into fist fights over things their kids will break in a few months.

I love giving gifts and finding that perfect thing they never even realized they wanted.  But, I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember very many of the gifts I got growing up.  I remember the excitement and the “I wants” of course, but what I remember most of all is my family.  Laying underneath the Christmas tree and looking up at the lights through the branches and thinking I’d stumbled upon a magical world of fairies.

I remember baking with my Nana, taking ornaments and dropping them through the branches like it was a game.  So I’m not saying don’t do that shopping, I’m just saying remember to take the time and rekindle the memories your children and loved ones will truly take away from the season.  You can keep the Magic without busting the bank.  I promise.

Nana & Papa

So the holidays are upon us.  Always a busy time of the year.  I won’t say especially for me but I have a lot of family to shop for and cook for plus my writing and stuff for Georgia Romance Writers and getting ready for a whole new year.

Thanksgiving is a particularly emotional time for me.  You see, a couple of years ago, she died very unexpectedly on November 16, 2010.   One week before Thanksgiving of that year.  The thing is, what made it even harder, was that Thanksgiving was her favorite holiday.

Every year, our family would rent a Church hall and all of Nana’s brothers and sisters and all their kids and grandkids would come and we’d have this huge Thanksgiving potluck.  All together.  We’d have like three hams, five turkeys and more deviled eggs then you’ve ever seen under one roof.

My brother-in-law often jokes that he loves our Thanksgiving because he feels all these old Southern women are having a deviled egg competition, seeing which of us can make them better.  He very much enjoys going around and sampling them all.

When she died, I felt cold.  I was very close to my Nana, she was the very last grandparent I had.  I didn’t want to go to Thanksgiving dinner that year, knowing her brother would mention her death, knowing I’d look on that table and see none of her dishes.  It was going to be too hard and the very thought made it so I couldn’t breath.

It was my sister who told me I had to go.  This was Nana’s favorite holiday and she’d be so disappointed in me if I stayed home.

Nana’s recipe box went to me when she died.  No one argued, I don’t think it occurred to them to.  She taught me how to cook.  In everyone’s mind, the recipe box was mine.

I dug through that box of yellowed, handwritten index cards and I pulled out every single one that she cooked to take to Thanksgiving dinner.  I called my sister and I told her “I need you to come over Wednesday.  I need you to help me make Thanksgiving dinner.  I can’t do this by myself.”

Now my sister did not grow up cooking like I did.  Its a fairly recent development but she does a good job.  While the idea of cooking Thanksgiving dinner terrified her, she did make the 40 minute drive down to do just that.

We made all of Nana’s recipes right there in Nana’s kitchen.  My sister brought her girls and I taught them how to crack eggs in a bowl just like Nana had taught me.  That helped some.  Passing on the knowledge Nana gave me to the next generation, knowing that one day I’d teach my kids and my grandkids as she taught me.

I won’t say it wasn’t a completely stress-free event.  There were tears and yelling (honestly, can a bunch of women try and cook Thanksgiving dinner and not yell?  Come on now, you know better).

When we carried Nana’s casseroles into that church hall on Thanksgiving day, it was a hard.  But surrounded by family on Nana’s favorite holiday, breathing became a little easier.  I can’t tell you how many cousins came by to say they never thought they’d see her Broccoli-Cheese Casserole again.

Holidays are important.  We not only celebrate that holiday but the memories it has created within us over the years and we remember the people who are no longer here.

Nana when she was younger

So in honor of Nana, I’d like to give you the recipes she cooked every single Thanksgiving.  I hope you’ll let them grace your table. While I do not promise that they’ll be good for you, they’re definitely delicious and a tradition in my family.  It would not be Thanksgiving without them

I will also share with you two of her most famous deserts and some stories behind them.  I hope you’ll enjoy.  And please, come back and leave comments if you try even one of these recipes.  Let me know what you think, how your family liked them.  Thanksgiving is still hard to face without her but I do so with her recipe box in hand.  And so it would mean the world to me if you share your experiences with her recipes as well.

Broccoli-Cheese Casserole

1 large box frozen broccoli
1 bag Boil-in-Bag rice  (either brown or white)
2 eggs
1 large jar Cheese Whiz
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup -or- Broccoli Cheese Soup

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.  In a large pot, bring water with a dash of salt to boil.  Add broccoli and cook according to package directions.  While broccoli is boiling, mix all other ingredients except rice in a large bowl.  Pour drained broccoli into mixture reserving broccoli liquid to cook rice.  Bring liquid to a boil and add rice.  Boil rice for fifteen minutes.  Add rice to mixture.  (That hot broccoli and rice will melt the Cheese Whiz).  Pour into greased casserole dish and bake for 30-45 minutes until firm.  Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Casserole

2 eggs, well-beaten
1 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1 cup coconut

For Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup coconut

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients for casserole well.  Nana mixed hers with a mixer.  Pour into a large baking dish sprayed with cooking spray (easier to clean).  Mix together the ingredients for topping before spooning it over the sweet potatoes and spreading evenly.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.

We also made Dressing, of course, but that has no recipe.  We just sort of throw things together.  But those are two things we always make for Thanksgiving.  We even leave a small portion of the Sweet Potato Casserole without topping because my Uncle Steven doesn’t like nuts.

Now, for those dessert recipes I promised you.

Cold Oven Pound Cake

Nana & Papa

This was probably one of Nana’s favorite recipes.  She always had the ingredients to make one of her ‘cold oven’ pound cakes on hand.  She would often add different flavors to the cake such as chocolate chips, coconut and other things.  The recipe has been used so often that the card is distorted by drops and splashes of this and that, causing the ink to smear though one can still read it.

One of my favorite stories is one that she and mom told me often.  I was two years old and it was Christmas Eve.  I got to open one gift on Christmas Eve and mom tells me I had opened up some dolls and was playing with them.  As I played, Papa, who was not a very ceremonial man, got up out of his recliner and said “So we’re giving gifts?  Alright.”

Papa then proceeded to go downstairs to his office in the basement and bring back out a large box in a K-Mart bag – the box wasn’t even wrapped – and sat it in front of Nana.  I looked up from my dolls and said, “Oh Nana, you got a mixer! Let’s go bake a cake.”  I dropped my dolls and toddled off into the kitchen, Nana at my heels and we did, indeed, bake that impromptu cake with her new Sunbeam mixer.  Her Cold Oven Pound Cake.

3 cups sugar
1 cup Crisco
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons Self-Rising Flour
6 large eggs
1/2 pint (1 cup) whipped cream
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

Sift flour 3 times.  Mix sugar and Crisco together.  Mix eggs one at a time into mixture.  Alternate flour and whipped cream.  Add vanilla.  Cook at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes in tube pan.  Do not preheat oven.

Old Fashion Banana Pudding

This Banana pudding recipe is very special to Nana.  It was taught to her by her sister, Coriene.  Aunt Riene told me the day of Nana’s funeral that when Nana was younger, whenever Aunt Riene would come to visit, Nana would go out and buy all the things Aunt Riene would need to make this pudding until one day Aunt Riene said “Paula, I’m going to teach you how to make this so that you don’t have to wait for me every time you want it.” 

Aunt Riene laughed and told me that Nana’s reply was “Oh no!  I can’t separate eggs.”  But Aunt Riene was true to her word.  She sat there in the kitchen and just instructed Nana on how to make this banana pudding.  In the end, Nana told Aunt Riene that “If you ever have kids, you’ll have them cooking by the time they’re two!”  Well, Aunt Riene wasn’t the only one, Nana.  I was two when we were cooking those Cold Oven Pound Cakes.

3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsps flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
Nilla Wafers
6 very ripe bananas, sliced

Mix together all ingredients but vanilla wafers.  Cook on stove top until pudding thickens.  About 5 minutes.  Take vanilla wafers and line the bottom and sides of baking dish.  Pour in pudding mixture.  Float more wafers in pudding if desired.  Top with meringue.

Preheat oven at 425 and bake about 5 minutes.

(Please Note that while Nana wrote 5 minutes, it took more like 10 to 15 minutes in each place.  So you just need to watch it.)

Meringue for Banana Pudding

3 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar

Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.  Add ¼ cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.  Bake at 425 degrees about 5 minutes.

In Loving Memory of
Paula Ray Cox
“Nana”
August 13, 1944 – November 16, 2010

Paula Cox was a loving wife, mother and grandmother.  She was married to William Toby “Papa” Cox (May 17, 1937 – January 13, 2000), whom she reunited with again November 16, 2010.  This post and these recipes are dedicated to her loving memory.  For she may be gone from our sights but she will always be there in our hearts.

Today is my baby’s birthday.  I use the term “baby” loosely.  He married the love of his life last year.  So, now it’s her turn to make his birthday breakfast.  None the less, I found myself pulling out the Happy Birthday sign that we’ve used every year, for each of our birthdays since the kids were born, and hanging in its usual place of honor were the family gathers in the kitchen.  Gone are the days of bedtime stories, forts in the backyard, and pancakes shaped like animals….at least until the next generation.  <g>

Which had me thinking about traditions – and perhaps more specifically, how they evolve as our lives evolve.  Holiday traditions are a given.  When we first were married, Christmas always involved a large family gathering at my husband’s grandmother’s place – a beautiful brick home that her father had built and that reigned supreme for four generations.  Since her passing, the family has taken to celebrating Christmas Day at our house.  The location might have changed, but the spirit remains the same;  a big dinner, a roaring fire, Christmas carols on the stereo, pecan pie, stacks of presents under the tree, our favorite uncle playing Santa, decorations tucked into every nook and cranny.

Then there are those annual family gatherings on the Tennessee River; fishing, swimming, cruising, eating, fishing, playing in the water, eating, fishing…..you get the idea.  <g>

But it’s the “other” traditions I’m thinking of today, like the almost right-of-passage camping trips to the “trout streams” our men take, or the annual target practice Thanksgiving weekend (and you thought Black Friday was a big deal <g>)… and the Scrabble tournaments.  Don’t forget the Scrabble!  As our family grows and changes I wonder how many of these familiar, family-defining traditions will remain.

Will my future granddaughter wear the opera pearls on her wedding day that her mother, grandmother, and several great-grandmothers wore before her?  Will my future grandson love the wild outdoors with the same passion as his father, grandfather and great-grandfathers did?  I hope so.  But I also look forward to the unique and special traditions those future generations will bring.

Did you know that today, the 15th of November is always America Recycles Day, National Bundt Pan Day (I know. Weird, right?) and believe it or not… it’s also I Love to Write Day!

How serendipitous is that?

When I learned of this obscure celebration, it was and it wasn’t so serendipitous. On one hand, it was great, seeing how I’m a writer looking for today’s subject. But I wasn’t feeling the joy because this year has been the worst yet for me in terms of feeling the urge to write, the need to get words on paper and finding inspiration. Many of you here know what an emotionally devastating year 2010 was for me. Multiple family members with health issues, three deaths, etc. But I’d also sold a book to Red Sage and had to keep pushing myself to finish rounds of edits and publisher info sheets for cover art and such. I had a contract, therefore no choice but to meet my obligations. Having something else to concentrate on was both a blessing and a curse.

During the first part of this year, I concentrated on getting Insight and Phantoms & Fantasies self/Indie published. Then Bittersweet Obsessions released on June 1st and I could relax a little.

Promotions were a different animal from the creative writing. Sure, I had to write guest posts and such, but I didn’t have to dig for character motivations and build a plot. Everything in me shied away from the creativity of fiction writing. I’m an empathetic person during the best of times, eyes prickling hot at Hallmark commercials and such, but suddenly I was crying over even small kindnesses portrayed on gritty police procedural shows.

Digging into a character’s emotional state was beyond my tolerance. You see, my empathy extends to my writing, my characters. If they’re sad, I’m sad and crying with them. If they’re cracking a joke, I’m chuckling along too. Digging into their emotions meant dealing with my own, and I still felt too fragile. Readers of Bittersweet Obsessions wanted to know if Klaus’s story would be next, so I started it, but couldn’t get past the first chapter and a little planning.

I gave myself a stern talking to several times, not that it helped. Others have encouraged me, and I appreciated their support, but the words still didn’t come. Gradually, though, I began to yearn for the feel of creating new characters, exploring their lives, helping them find their happily-ever-after’s. The anniversaries of the trio of deaths came and went. I survived and felt somewhat stronger. I re-read notes I’d made for new stories, but didn’t feel inspired to write them. Nothing spoke to me.

Every morning, I’d awaken, wishing a new story idea would be there like a gift waiting to be opened. Today it was there. It was there!

I eased from the bedroom quietly, went to my computer and began to make notes on the three strong, independent women clamoring to tell me their stories. They’re friends with uniquely personal sorrows and triumphs to share with me. They have hurts to heal and better days ahead, much like me.

For me, today is definitely I Love To Write Day!

Have you ever hit a writing slump that it didn’t feel like you’d ever get out of? Or do the ideas come to fast for you to get them all down? I’d love to hear your experiences too.

With the holidays right around the corner, I thought I’d share one of my sister-in-law’s family traditions. As a new resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, my nephew doesn’t get to come home very often to celebrate holidays with his family. As a result, he misses out on a lot. So my sister-in-law compensates when her children do come home by making up for lost time and lost holidays.

Recently, her son flew home for a long weekend and the first night of his visit she cooked a turkey with all the trimmings so he’d have a chance to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday he spent working with patients in Boston. It wasn’t November. The next night they had Passover, months after the actual holiday.

I think it’s nice that his mother goes to all that trouble for him.

One of my friends goes all out on Thanksgiving, serving a traditional meal that is literally pumpkin soup to roast chestnuts. The table settings and decorations would do Martha Stewart proud. I’d swear we were on the Mayflower.

Around our house, things are less formal. I make my famous poppy seed and cheese biscuits, my sister Sharon makes the best stuffing in the world and the best turkey too. My mother is famous for her split pea soup. My sister Elaine makes the world’s best key lime pie. My sister-in-law Judy makes her famous brownies. And Judy and my brother Paul always host the celebration. The food is great, and there are always crowds of cousins, relatives and friends. We used to host Thanksgiving in Atlanta, but most of my family lives in from Florida, so it’s easier to fly south for the holiday.

Hanukkah is usually right after Thanksgiving, so we traditionally celebrate both holidays at the same time since we’re all together. Our holiday is held on my brother’s patio overlooking the pool and the lake. In Atlanta, we’d have a roaring fire going.

In my family, the tradition has always been that my father gets one of the turkey drumsticks and I get the other. Now that he’s no longer alive, I’m not sure what we’ll do with that second drumstick this year. Maybe we’ll reserve a seat for him at the head of the table and place the drumstick on a plate at his empty place like the missing man formation.

What are some of your family’s favorite holiday traditions?

As an exercise in fun, I thought I’d put together Christmas titles of holiday songs to make a story. Have any to add?

It’s Christmas?, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Over The River and Through the Woods, Sleigh Ride, in a Winter Wonderland, Baby, It’s Cold Outside, All I Want for Christmas Is You, We Need A Little Christmas, Deck the Halls, with The Holly and the Ivy, It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, Welcome Christmas, Twas the Night Before Christmas, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Up On The Rooftop, Do You Hear What I Hear?, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and Here Comes Santa Claus, have A Holly Jolly Christmas, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve

How about you? Any important or memorable Christmas or Hanukah Songs? Or if you’d rather, see how many holiday songs you can string together. I’m giving away a Mikasa crystal candy dish filled with chocolate to one Merry Music Maker who comments.

Wishing each of you and your family a blessed and joyous Holiday Season filled with love and laughter. And a new year full of health and happiness.