Thanks to Christan & Kathy for sending their addresses! Still need Jamie & Scarlett to email me, please! :O) Laura~ My grandma makes tunnel of fudge cake every year...it's AWESOME! Very old fashioned (her grandma used to make it!), but still great! Vina.....um, which is it? Fruit cake? or Fruit salad? LOL! Melissa/hazelnutbunny Becky/proudgm~~Sugar Cookies Heidi/hdiperna~~Pecan Pie Linda/lindaruzicka~~Pumpkin Pie Kathy/catrionaa~~Chocolate Fudge Christan/georgia_teacher~~Peach Cobbler Joan/ejmoore510~~Sweet Tater Pie Iris/rane_grow~~Banana Puddin' Laura/lilangel181~~Tunnel of Fudge cake Carol/veeja11~~Divinity Vina/flowergirl34 Kamil/kamiljablo~~Apple Pie Jamie/arroyogardener~~Truffles Annie/canyonwind~~Peanut Brittle Scarlett/scarlettseraph That leaves these choices~~ Dessert menu: 6. Fruit Cake Fruit Salad Angel Food Cake

Christan, I'm with you. Those tastykakes are might tasty, all of them! After Linda got to talking so much about them last spring, I ordered a box of them to try out, and I've been wishing there was an outlet here in Michigan ever since. Now, this is for all of you who knew me last year. Tomorrow, November 30th, is the 1st anniversary of the accident which took Paula away from me. It's been an extremely rough year, but you've all been a great help in getting me through it all. You've put up with a lot, encouraging me and providing some big shoulders to lean on the whole way. The Day started looming in my mind even more a little over a month ago, driving me to distraction and a lot of mood swings, as Linda can attest to. I was thinking that I'd be a complete basket-case by this time, but I'm doing okay. I've been listening to a lot of music today, wrapping Christmas gifts, making out cards for Kym's Secret Santa Seed Swap, and just generally quietly enjoying the day. Anyway, knowing all of you wonderful people and how much you care, I just wanted to let you know I'm okay. It's kind of funny, in an ironic sort of way, that the one song that's helped the most today is by Savage Garden. Savage Garden also did the song "Truly Madly Deeply", which was the theme song for Paula and myself. I guess it's kind of fitting that today I find myself turning to the same group, and their song "Crash and Burn". It says a lot about the friendships I've found here in the threads of the GW, and about the relationship I was lucky enough to have with Paula. here are the lyrics... "Crash And Burn" When you feel all alone And the world has turned its back on you Give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take anymore Let me be the one you call If you jump I'll break your fall Lift you up and fly away with you into the night If you need to fall apart I can mend a broken heart If you need to crash then crash and burn You're not alone When you feel all alone And a loyal friend is hard to find You're caught in a one way street With the monsters in your head When hopes and dreams are far away and You feel like you can't face the day Let me be the one you call If you jump I'll break your fall Lift you up and fly away with you into the night If you need to fall apart I can mend a broken heart If you need to crash then crash and burn You're not alone 'Cause there has always been heartache and pain And when it's over you'll breathe again You'll breath again When you feel all alone And the world has turned its back on you Give me a moment please To tame your wild wild heart Let me be the one you call If you jump I'll break your fall Lift you up and fly away with you into the night If you need to fall apart I can mend a broken heart If you need to crash then crash and burn You're not alone Everyone Have A Good Week Peace. -Dan

roselvr, do you make the Company Cheesecake from the BH&G cookbook? That's our "old reliable"... back when my dad was teaching he and I would bake twenty or so of them every Christmas for the other teachers and a very few other very lucky people. I much prefer their shortbready crust to the more common crumb crusts. I need a new copy of the OLD big book - the red plaid binder - mine's gone walkabout and they messed around with the recipes in the new version. (Did the same thing to Joy of Cooking. Irritating.) I broke the spine on the paperback in about six places ages back, it's held together with packing tape! Pie for breakfast was a staple at Grammie's when I was a little kid. No half and half though. Slab of apple pie with a hunk of "rat cheese" (very sharp cheddar) on the side - Gramp liked apple best for breakfast, other kinds were for dessert - with "Navy coffee" you could just about stand your spoon up in. (I once had a version where they tried to bake the cheese into the pie. It was vile.) She made terrible crust though. You could hurt someone with the "bone", the bit around the rim. Then she decided to go all "healthy" and the delicious breakfast pie disappeared in favor of a bowl of Wheaties. *mourn* golddust, I do so hate to disagree with you, but I've had enough people insist "oh, I just can't stand that store-bought pie crust", mumbling it around a mouthful of pie... made with that very product. *chuckle* About the third time it happened I decided not to waste precious energy on making piecrust anymore (when you have 4-6 usable hours in a day, you take your shortcuts as you can)... My mom makes kick-@$$ pie crust - perfect texture etc. - but she also smokes heavily so all her baked goods have a strong overtone of "ashtray" to the flavor. We usually give them away to friends who smoke who won't notice it. Oh! I forgot Oatmeal Pie. It's an old Amish/Mennonite recipe, IIRC. It makes a chewy-crisp top sort of like an oatmeal cookie and underneath that is a layer like the gooey part of a pecan pie. As I said above, many of our friends are allergic to nuts, so this is what I bring to a lot of wintertime potlucks as a "replacement" for pecan pie. 25 or so people will wipe out 2 or 3 10" pies and leave other desserts untouched. LOL I used to love making fancy desserts, but they are usually too time consuming for my limited time budget and our friends don't really appreciate them anyway. They'd rather have the simpler, homier stuff.

I'm thinking some kind of warm apples in a crockpot to spoon over cake and/or ice cream - I don't have a recipe but I'm sure someone would. Just a couple of other ideas - I haven't made the pumpkin trifle but I enjoyed it when my neighbor made it. Spiced Chocolate Budino Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis 3 boxes store bought chocolate pudding mix 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 small orange, zested 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes Candied Orange Peel, for garnish, recipe follows Make the pudding according to the package instructions. Add the cinnamon, orange zest, and red pepper flakes before chilling in a large trifle dish. Before serving, sprinkle the top with chopped Candied Orange Peel. Candied Orange Peel: 1 large navel orange 3/4 cup sugar Using a vegetable peeler, cut the orange part of the peel from the stem end of the orange down to the navel end, forming long 3/4 to 1-inch-wide strips. Bring a heavy small saucepan of water to a boil. Add the peels and cook for 1 minute. Drain and then rinse the peels under cold water. Repeat cooking the peels in the saucepan with fresh boiling water and rinsing under cold water 2 more times. Stir the sugar and 1/2 cup of fresh water in a heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil. Add the orange peels and simmer over medium-low heat until tender, about 15 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the peels to a sheet of parchment paper to dry slightly, about 1 hour. Yield: about 10 candied peels Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle (Recipe Courtesy Paula Deen) ===================================================== 2 (14-ounce) package gingerbread mix 1 (5.1-ounce) package cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix 1 (30-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping (or whipped cream - whipped cream is better!) 1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional . Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding. Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. Sprinkle of the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl. serves 15-20 My notes: 1. Cut ingred by half, this makes a large amt. (2004 to fit into my trifle bowl)