Cherry Dump Cake

I want to hate this, because it's so, so unhealthy. But it's so, so, SO good.

I had originally rethought my plan and was going to make a crisp with a topping from scratch, but after celebrating Bean's birthday today I just didn't have the energy. And yet . . . I still had the craving!

Back to the initial plan of a dump cake, and - one hour and 2 STICKS (yes, 2 sticks) of butter later - I'm in heaven.

Our friend Nate gave us a butter slicer. It may be the best food gift ever, especially for projects like this!

Cherry Dump Cake (Source: Cooking with Carrie)
-2 cans cherry pie filling (I did a little taste test between store brands from my local grocery stores, and, while they both tasted about the same, one had about twice as many cherries in it!)
-1 yellow cake mix
-2 sticks butter

-Preheat oven to 350
-Grease a 13x9 pan and spread pie filling across bottom of pan
-Sprinkle cake mix evenly over top
-Slice butter and lay it evenly over cake mix
-Bake 50 minutes until golden, crispy, and bubbly
-Enjoy with ice cream or cool whip

I Fought the Freezer and the Freezer Won: Apple Cherry Crisp

The lower freezer drawer and I had a little brawl. It won. My lovely friend Zay has been sending me chest freezer links from Craigslist. And I am VERY tempted given our space constraints in the current freezer and my desire to meal-prep pre-babe.

Anyway, the freezer drama resulted in me throwing out (uuuugh . . . money down the drain!!) a whole set of packs of old frozen meat, and finding several other things that I needed to use, stat. Like a half bag of frozen cherries, which I used for this crisp.

I usually eyeball topping ingredients, but this version is adapted from a real recipe. So I measured! Like a real baker!

The one thing I always do with crisps is to only sweeten and spice the topping. I love that the fruit still retains its taste but is sweetened by the topping ingredients. Also, if I just use apples, I always add nuts to the topping.

Apple Cherry Crisp (topping adapted from Tried-and-True Cooking with Heidi)
-3 apples (I used Pink Lady, which are much better for eating than cooking but were all that I had on hand
-1/2 lb frozen sweet dark cherries
-1 cup flour
-1 cup brown sugar
-1 cup oats
-1 stick melted butter
-Sprinkling of cinnamon

-Preheat overn to 350
Chop apples (I use a hand chopper and don't bother to peel) and mix with cherries in a 2 quart casserole.
-In a medium bowl, mix topping ingredients
-Sprinkle evenly over fruit
-Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, until golden and bubbly

Note: the original topping recipe called for baking soda and baking powder. I haven't made a crisp with any rising ingredients in the topping, but I'm interested to try to see if it makes a difference

Make Ahead Thanksgiving

What better way to show gratitude than with food?

We shared a Thanksgiving potluck with some special people in our lives and while the food was yummy, the company was the sweetest part.

(sending love to the folks who weren't able to join us, and wishing you guys much nourishment in the days ahead.)

The Menu
The post-turkey tryptophan-induced coma has made me too lazy to copy over the recipes from these fabulous links. Besides, you should visit all these sites anyway - there are way more goodies where these came from.

With the exception of the green beans and mashed potatoes, everything was made ahead and reheated. It made for a mess-free, stress-free morning.

If only we'd used that time to figure out where everybody was going to sit . . . :)

The Bird:
-Turkey (Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade - Put the tablescapes aside in your mind, her turkey suggestions are awesome.)


Sides:
-Spiced Cranberry Sauce (Eating Well - This is a doctored up version of canned cranberry sauce. It makes it taste like something new altogether. I'd highly recommend making it a day ahead for full-on flavor melding to occur)
-Mashed potatoes
-Pan gravy
-Savory Bread Pudding with Mushrooms and Parmesan Cheese (Epicurious - Bon Appetit November 2006 - this can be fully cooked the day before or stopped right before cooking and refrigerated overnight before cooking the following day)
-Maple Glazed Yams with Pecan Topping (Simply Recipes - I think this gets better every time it's reheated. It is sweet, but in a baked, nutty way rather than some of the candied recipes I've had. We made it with regular sweet potatoes.)
-Green Bean Salad with Walnuts (Serious Eats - originally from New Classic Family Dinners - skipped the walnuts and forget to tell people about the dressing, but I enjoyed it!)
-Scandinavian Slaw ("Moosewood Restaurant New Classics" cookbook- This is the only recipe I wouldn't make again. I've never been steered wrong by Moosewood - I have tons of their cookbooks and use them all the time - but I think the fact that I found a container of carraway seeds in the pantry made me think I liked them. Wrong - and they were a pretty key ingredient in this recipe.)
-Guests brought - baked sweet potatoes and spinach salad with sharp cheese, apples, and craisins . . . yumm!


Desserts:
-Devil's Food Pound Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting (Vintage Victuals - DO. NOT. PASS. GO. MAKE. THIS. NOW! We had a little challenge with the frosting - when I heated it, it sort of separated into melted butter and the other stuff - kind of the texture of peanut butter cup filling swimming in butter. I was ready to throw it out and start again, but Mishke made a total husband save with the addition of some milk. So glad he did. I can't stop eating it.)
-Guests brought - Tiramisu, pumpkin cheesecake, apple crumb pie from Petsi Pies . . . all amazing!!

Ambrosia (is not a salad)

I mean, it's just not.

I don't know who has managed to convince themselves that whipped topping is a salad ingredient, but I think that state is called denial.

That being said - God bless whoever invented Ambrosia. I don't care what part of a meal it falls under, I love it and I love it some more. Especially when pregnant.

There's some irony to this. I just drove a 1.5 hour round trip today to get my hair colored at a salon that uses all natural products to try to avoid exposing our unborn to unnecessary chemicals. And yet I'm readily contemplating an evening cuddled up with a serving bowl of whipped topping-infused salad, a spoon (heck, I'll take a ladle) and Glee.

Polysorbate 60, anyone? On second thoughts, no. I'm not sharing . . .

Ambrosia
Source: Mishmosh of different versions

-8ozs container low fat whipped topping
-2.5 cups dessicated coconut
-1 can each mandarins, fruit cocktail, pineapple chunks
-3 cups mini marshmallows
-1 jar maraschino cherries, drained

-Mix it all up, refrigerate if you can handle the wait, and consume in mass quantities.

No picture. This is just ugly food.