Old Fashioned Molasses Cake

So Turkey Day is fast approaching and I know many of you have your menus done and you're desserts planned already but I can't help but share this delicious little cake with you now.

I love molasses. I love the smell of it and the taste of it. It instantly makes me think of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This is the perfect little cake to whip up on a whim. It's like the baby bear of cakes. Not too big, not too little, just right. All it requires is a few bowls and few minutes and you have a little cake to enjoy with a warm cuppa tea on a chilly afternoon. If you love gingerbread, you'll love this!

I've been watching my sugar, so I used Stevia in place of the sugar and sugar free whipped topping. It tasted plenty sweet to me!



Old Fashioned Molasses Cake
Recipe from Taste of Home
Printable recipe.
2 tablespoons reduced-fat butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup hot water
9 tablespoons fat-free or sugar free whipped topping

In a small bowl, beat butter and sugar until crumbly, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg. Beat in molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt; add to butter mixture alternately
with water, mixing well after each addition.

Transfer to a 9-in. square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into squares;
garnish with whipped topping. Yield: 9 servings.

Nutritional Information: (based on using sugar, not a sugar substitute) 1 piece with 1 tablespoon whipped topping equals 148 calories, 2 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 28 mg cholesterol, 205 mg sodium, 30 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 2 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 2 starch, 1/2 fat.

Creamy Veggie Casserole

I got some powerful Thanksgiving mojo going on lately. The internet is all abuzz with talk of turkeys and Thanksgiving sides. It's everywhere I tell ya.

I get excited about Thanksgiving. I love that it's a holiday where gifts are not involved. In my house it's all about food, football and naps.

I host Thanksgiving dinner every year. I love the weeks building up to Thanksgiving. I love planning my menu and making my shopping lists. I just love everything about it.

While I do stick to a few tried and true recipes....like my Roasted Parmesan Creamed Onions....just take a look at these beauties....



They are out of this world! You can get the recipe here.....I do venture out and try some new recipes. I found this recipe back in September and let me tell you, it's a winner.

I made this for a party we hosted when my in-laws were here from Ohio and everyone raved about it. I doubled the recipe and I'm glad I did cause it was a huge hit. It will now grace my Thanksgiving table.

I used a broccoli and cauliflower combination, but feel free to chose whatever veggies you like.


Creamy Veggie Casserole
adapted from a recipe at The Gunny Sack
Printable recipe
2 – 14oz bags of mixed veggies (broccoli/cauliflower/carrots or any combination of these work well)
¼ cup butter
2 tablespoons flour
Small diced onion
1 cup milk
4oz flavored cream cheese (garden veggie or chive work well)
4oz shredded cheddar cheese
Salt & pepper
½ cup French Fried Onions

Cook the veggies (the microwave works fine for this) and place them in a large bowl to cool a bit.  I squeeze any excess water out of them at this point too. Place butter and onion in pan and cook over medium high heat until slightly tender (about 3 minutes). Add in the flour and milk and whisk until thickened. Add in the cream cheese and stir until smooth. Pour the cream sauce over the veggies. Add in the shredded cheese and stir to combine. Pour into a greased deep dish pie pan and bake at 350 for 20 –25 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Sprinkle with French Fried onions and place back in the oven for 5 minutes.


* If doubling the recipe, place in a 9x13 inch pan and add about 5 - 10 extra minutes to the cooking time.

Apple Fritter Bread & the cookbook winners!

What is is with me and the whole apple fritter thing? Really. I'm just apple fritter crazy lately.

Just ask my family how many times I've said "fritter batter, fritter batter, fritter batter". Once I start I can't stop, lol. You know you just tried it!

I've been busy getting my Thanksgiving menu ready and my Apple Fritter Cake is on that menu. It was such a hugely popular cake that I decided to look for other "apple fritter" recipe. I turned to Pinterest as I do so many times and this beauty popped up.

It only uses 2 apples so you don't have to sit and peel and chop a while buncha apples. It came together really quickly. I even had my sous chef Mitchell to help me stir and mix this one. Thanks Mitchell!



We loved it. It produces a moist and tender cake. Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea if you're like me!

I'll be posting a few of my favorite Thanksgiving sides in the next week. I've got a fantastic Creamy Veggie Casserole coming your way. It makes frozen veggies taste amazing!



Apple Fritter Bread
recipe from The Baking Chocola Tess
Printable recipe
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
2 apples, peeled and chopped (any kind), mixed with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 - 3 tablespoons of milk or maple sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a 9x5-inch loaf pan and spray with non-stick spray or line with parchment and spray with non-stick spray for easy release.

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Set aside. In another medium-sized bowl, beat white sugar and butter together using an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, add in vanilla. Combine & whisk flour and baking powder together in another bowl and add into creamed butter mixture and stir until blended. Mix milk into batter until smooth. Pour half the batter into the prepared loaf pan; add half the apples and half the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. Lightly pat apple mixture into batter. Pour the remaining batter over apple layer and top with remaining apples and brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. Lightly pat apples into batter; swirl the top a little using knife or spoon. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, approximately 50-60 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before adding the glaze.

For the glaze
Add a half cup of confectioners sugar in a bowl. I like to add pure maple syrup to my sugar for a mapley flavor. You can also use milk. Just add enough to get it to the right consistency for drizzling.

Cookbook winners!

I have to tell you all, based on the comments, stuffing and mashed taters seem to be high on your lists of favorite sides!

And the winners of the autographed copies of Callie's Biscuits and Southern Traditions!

Lynda Herman who said

I love it all, but the green bean casserole might be my favorite!

Tracy McGinty who said

Oyster Dressing! 

Congratulations ladies. Please contact me with your mailing addresses!

Callie's Biscuits and Southern Traditions Cook Book(s) giveaway!

Have you ever fallen in love with a cook book as soon as you opened it? Like you're standing in the store and you start to thumb through it and you just start swooning page after page?

That's what happened to me with this book.

First of all it's a beautiful book and so well written. I don't like stuffy cookbooks. I like cookbooks that read like....well...a book. I like a little story, I like beautiful pictures, I like to see the photo and have it make me say "yes, I want to make that...NOW!".

This book did that for me. I want to make so many recipe from this book! Just the biscuit section alone had me and there is so, so much more than biscuits!

I had never heard of Callie's Biscuits before but I'm a biscuit lover from way back and this woman is a Southern biscuit baker so come on....how could you go wrong?? It's not just a book of biscuits, oh no. It's filled with amazing recipes.....here's a little about Carrie:

Carrie Morey started her company, Callie’s Charleston Biscuits, with a simple goal: She wanted to make her mother Callie’s delicious biscuits—unbelievably tender, buttery creations—accessible across the country. Carrie’s handmade biscuits combine unique, brilliant flavors—sharp cheddar with fresh chives, cracked black pepper with cream cheese and green onions, and cinnamon biscuits so buttery they melt in your mouth. The biscuits are an iconic Southern staple, but they are just the beginning.

Now Carrie Morey shares her modern approach to traditional Southern cooking in more than one hundred recipes that pair classic Lowcountry fare with surprising twists, for incredible results. Carrie guides you through the foundational techniques of Southern cooking to reveal how she developed her new takes on favorite heritage dishes and how to take the fuss and huge time investment out of traditional preparations. She shares skillet recipes passed down through generations, including Lemon Zest Cast-Iron Fried Shrimp, Macaroni Pie, and Cast-Iron Herb Lamb Chops. She gives roasting and slow-cooking techniques for Beef Stew with Herbed Sour Cream, Spicy Black-Eyed Pea Salad, and Roasted Pimento Cheese Chicken. Her DILLicious Cucumber Sandwiches, BBQ Chicken Salad Biscuits, Fiery Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs, and Summer Crab Salad will make any picnic or casual get-together a true Southern affair. And her desserts are to die for: Mama’s Sour Cream Banana Pudding, Alex’s Chocolate Chess Pie (so good that Carrie credits the pie for sparking her and her husband’s whirlwind romance), and Blueberry and Peach Cobbler finish your meal on the perfect sweet note.

Carrie also shares her family stories behind each recipe—growing up in Charleston, learning to cook from great Southern matriarchs, and founding and growing her business. Fill your kitchen with the comforting aroma of home-cooked goodness with Callie’s Biscuits and Southern Traditions.

This giveaway is a little thank you to all of you. I'm ever so grateful that you stop by and visit my little corner of the internet. I'm touched by every comment, every share, every kind word that passes my way. This is my way of showing how much you all mean to me. Without you guys writing and photographing and maintaining this blog really wouldn't be much fun, so thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.



I'm sure many of you are planning your Thanksgiving menu. This book will arrive in time for you to plan some delicious recipes!
I loved this book so much that I'm going to give away 2 copies to 2 lucky winners, and get this...they are autographed copies!!

We all need to get our biscuit on don't we?




How to enter:

I'm going to make this simple. You don't need to go visit me on Facebook (although if you're not already a fan I'd sure appreciate it!) You don't need to enter, or follow a bunch of different blogs, or click on some widgety thing, just leave me a comment, here or on Facebook answering the question:

What is your favorite Thanksgiving side?

Contest ends Wednesday, November 12th, 2014!
Good Luck Ya'll - see I was speaking Southern right there!