It really is time I made my menu for Thanksgiving. Even though I am making a menu, it doesn't mean I can't made adjustments. It also is good for assigning dishes for others to bring. You can just look at the list and assign something from the list.

Sometimes I get ideas from magazines, but I will admit, my family doesn't really like it when I change things too much or experiment with this meal. I would love to have all new recipes, but they would really hate that.

This year, I will also try to incorporate things from the garden. This is just a start. I haven't decided about appetizers yet.

Grilled Turkey
Grilled Ham
Cornbread Dressing and Oyster Dressing with gravy
Green beans
Collards
Sweet potato casserole
Butter beans
Creamed corn
Pear and walnut salad
Broccoli casserole
Deviled eggs
Slaw
Cranberry sauce
Dilled pickles, Pickled hot peppers, Chow chow
Pumpkin yeast rolls
Tea and coffee
Carrot cake
Italian cream cake
Pumpkin pie
Mini cranberry tarts

This incorporates most of my family's favorites and all the traditional items.

Slim pickings

Yesterday I went to the garden, and though I didn't have much to put in my basket, I still have quite a few things left for later. There are not too many peppers left but I did find a few. I found some Italian parsley, a few pods of okra and it is hard to see, but I have some chives in the basket. I am thinking some of these things would be good in a soup and some would be really great to freeze for my Thanksgiving meal.

I am being forced to think about my Thanksgiving menu this week because I've already had some people asking what I want them to bring for our big dinner on the 26th. My answer was, "I'll let you know," but that was my cue to get on the ball and plan my menu.

I really want to include some things from my garden. Vegetables I have frozen -- like green beans, some canned items -- like pickles, hot peppers and chow-chow, and I really want to include my collard greens, above, that are growing day by day and should be really nice on Thanksgiving. They are definitely going on my menu. More on the menu later.

Butternut birthday

Yesterday was my sister's birthday and she requested a butternut squash cake. She said she had read that sometimes when you buy canned pumpkin, it is often either butternut squash or a mixture of butternut squash and pumpkin. I can see why because butternut squash is very good in pies.

I used my carrot cake recipe (as she suggested) and swapped butternut squash. It was very moist and very good. I had tried a fresh pumpkin cake in the past and I thought this one had a superior flavor.

The best thing -- the butternut squash was from our garden! It was organic and very tasty.

I had some leftover decorator's frosting from an earlier cake in my refrigerator. so I used it to write the name and draw little butternut squashes on the cake. Everyone really enjoyed it.

You can substitute carrots or pumpkin for the squash. I always prepare my vegetable in the blender. Of course there are no trans fats in this cake.

Butternut Squash Cake

To prepare butternut squash, wash, peel with a vegetable peeler, chop into small pieces and place in a blender. Cover squash with water and blend on high until it is well-chopped (it won't be a fine as carrots), then drain in a colander. When following the recipe, scoop squash into a measuring cup and mash squash down to extract water before adding to cake batter.

2 cups plain flour
1-1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and blended until chopped in blender and drained (see above)
2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Cooking spray

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Prepare three nine inch cake pans. Spray with cooking spray and line bottoms with parchment paper. Combine vegetable oil, sugar and mix well. Add eggs and mix. Add drained squash, flour, soda, salt, flavoring and cinnamon. Blend until well mixed. The batter will be pretty runny. Divide batter between three pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting -- the recipe is below.

I always double the frosting recipe below because my family loves for me to spread it on heavy. It would be fine for me to use one or 1-1/2 recipes, but I do what my family loves.


Cream Cheese Frosting

1 eight ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
1 lb. box of Confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring
1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped

Mix cream cheese, butter and flavoring until creamy. Add Confectioners' sugar and mix on high until creamy. Add chopped walnuts. Frost cake. This creamy frosting will not harden.

Our family birthdays are done for awhile. We don't have another until the day after Christmas. I don't think I will cook another cake until Thanksgiving!

Unexpected masterpiece

To a child, a carved pumpkin is a masterpiece when it's finished. Today, four-year-old Eli and I set out to carve his Halloween pumpkin. Even though I felt there could could have been a few changes -- Eli felt it was absolutely perfect.

We decided on our design by looking thorough magazines and then gathered our tools (a sharpie and a large knife) and started the project. I drew on the design and when I turned my back, Eli drew some extra figures on the face with magic marker. Of course I thought it probably added to the overall design.

Cutting out the face make me a little nervous but Eli was very careful not to touch the knife -- only my arm that was holding the knife, so he was a big help.

The carrot nose was added and even though I thought it was the proper length, Eli decided it needed to be shortened so he bit off the end and had it for an afternoon snack. It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned, but again, Eli liked it.

Later we had to "practice" blowing out the candle over and over until I decided he had practiced enough and it was time to put the candle away for the night.

It didn't look exactly like the photos from the magazine but we both thought it was a wonderful experience. Tomorrow I wouldn't be surprised if we added some extra decorations to the pumpkin -- maybe even a new, longer nose that doesn't have a bite out of it.

Our fall garden

I must admit that our fall garden is really growing. It's not perfect, but it is producing a number of things, especially the peas in the photo above. We planted green peas and pea pods. We are so excited about our peas and even though I haven't seen a pod yet, there are blooms. That is a great start. I expect the peas to follow as soon as we have several days of sun.

The jalepenos are beginning to turn. A sure sign the weather is getting cooler (not to mention the temperature!).

We have lettuce! This nice buttercrunch variety will be sweet and tasty.

The cayennes are turning red very quickly, now.

The carrots are looking good. I have read that the carrot's size is determined by the tops that are above ground.
And then there are the greens. This kale above just keeps growing. We are cutting it with scissors and letting the underneath part grow large before we cut the next batch. It is one of our favorites.

For fall -- "Mum's the word!"

There is not a flower that exemplifies a season like the mum for fall. This year they are everywhere and I must admit I really love them. Just set out a pot and you instantly have a fall celebration. Add other fall decorations and you have something really special. Decorating doesn't have to be complicated or even expensive. Just a pot of fall mums.

Another October birthday

We have two birthday girls in our family with October birthdays. Yesterday you saw my granddaughter's cake and today we celebrated my Mother's eighty second birthday.

I tried something new, a chocolate, chocolate cake. I must admit it was yummy.

I got the recipe from my friend Angela who recently made cupcakes from this recipes for a wedding and posted the recipe on her blog. My husband and I tasted one of her cupcake creations and I knew I could make good use of her recipe.

The original cake recipe is from the Hershey's website and the frosting, I adapted from the back of the Hershey's tin. I like to use whipping cream, rather than just butter alone, when decorating a cake because it is lighter than butter and makes a firm frosting.

The cake is very much like a devil's food cake but I think it is much better than the boxed version. This one is moist, very rich and delicious.

I would have used the original recipe but I realized I was out of baking powder so I had to adapt the recipe for self-rising flour. This is what I came up with.

Chocolate (cocoa) cake

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups self-rising flour
3/4 cup cocoa (I used Hershey's)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line two 9" cake pans with parchment or waxed paper. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add all wet ingredients and beat on medium-high speed of mixer 2 minutes (batter will be thin). Divide between cake pans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool and remove from pans. Frost with chocolate frosting.

Chocolate Cream Frosting

2 sticks butter
2 lbs. confectioners' sugar
1-1/3 cups cocoa
2/3 cups whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Milk to thin

Beat butter in medium bowl. Stir in vanilla flavoring. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with cream, use milk a tablespoon at a time until frosting is easy to spread.