Woody...I love the idea of your pudding, but my kids are really looking forward to the Chocolate Trifle this year. So I will have to try your recipe next year. :-) It's been a long time since we've made Chocolate Trifle. This is what we are making for Thanksgiving but possibly will make it again at Christmas. It is a great recipe for a Christmas dessert. It's not really a 'written down' recipe. The ingredients are all just layered in the Trifle Bowl in whatever amounts fit. It is simply chocolate cake, unfrosted, chocolate pudding [not instant], whipped cream, crushed Heath Bars. That's it! It is really delicious and very rich. We like to make our own pudding and cake and whipped cream, but if you were in a hurry, you could always buy the cake and whipped cream. It also is a very pretty dessert if you have it in a large straight sided glass bowl. Great to bring to a gathering too. Not sure what other baking we will do this year for Christmas. Sometimes we make cookies for gifts. I'll have to come back as Christmas starts to get closer to see what we are doing. Looking forward to lots of recipes here. :-) pm2

The starter recipe I used is very simple: 1 cup flour 1 cup sugar 1 cup milk 2 1/4 t. dry instant yeast or 1 package of regular active yeast In a glass or crockery container (never use a metal bowl!) stir all together with a wooden or plastic spoon. Beat well until smooth and to incorporate air into the starter. Cover with a clean cloth or kitchen tea towel and let sit out on the kitchen counter. This is Day 1. Day 2-5 Stir the starter once a day and recover with cloth. Day 6 Feed the starter with equal parts of flour, sugar, and milk. If you want to share the starter, use 1 1/2 cups of each, flour, sugar, and milk. If you want to keep less starter on hand and do not plan to share it, feed the starter with 1/4 to 1/2 cup each flour, sugar and milk. (I used the lesser amount.) Day 7-9 Stir the starter once each day. Day 10 Make a recipe using the starter; then give a cup full in a glass jar to some friends along with the instructions and a recipe for bread or cake. If you plan not to give away any of the starter, you can take out a cup to make the bread or cake, then feed the starter with equal amounts of the flour, sugar, and milk. Just be sure to feed the starter every 5 days and stir it each day between feedings, that's basically what you do to maintain the starter. I have read that you can freeze the starter in 1 cup amounts if you wish. Don't refrigerate the starter though. Remember, there is sweetness in the starter, that is why I use less sugar in the bread recipe. As with any sourdough starter, I do not overwhelm a small amount of starter with large amounts of the feed. Here is the recipe for the Apple Cranberry Pecan/Walnut bread: oven set to 325 degrees F one large 9x5 loaf pan or 4-5 mini loaf pans sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar Apple Cranberry Pecan Friendship Bread 1 cup of the Friendship Bread starter 1/2 cup applesauce 1/2 cup vegetable oil 3 eggs, beaten 1/2 t salt 1 t vanilla 1 t cinnamon (use 1 1/2 t for a stronger cinnamon flavor) 2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar (recipe calls for 1 cup sugar) 2 cup regular all-purpose flour 1 1/4 t baking powder 1/2 t baking soda 1/2 cup chopped or halved fresh cranberries 1/2 to 3/4 cup finely diced fresh apple 1/2 to 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans (or walnuts) I mixed all in order in my mixer, stirring in the cranberries, apples, and pecans lastly just briefly to mix in well. Put in the pan(s) you are using. I used 4 non-stick mini loaf pans to make a nice size for gift giving. Bake the large loaf at 325 for 1 hour. Bake the mini loaves at 325 for about 35 minutes, checking them at 30 minutes. When the loaves look dry-ish on the top and a toothpick inserted comes out with no wet batter on it, the loaves are done. Cool in pan about 5-10 minutes, then turn out on a rack to cool completely. I really like the tartness of the fresh cranberries mixed into the sweet (but not too sweet) bread batter. When completely cooled and wrapped in plastic wrap, I will put a label on each mini loaf, freeze them, then put several loaves in a heavy zip bag. The mini loaf is a good size for just about anyone, or you could give a trio of mini loaves of different breads to a larger family. These breads would be great to have in the morning with breakfast, as a snack with a cup of tea or coffee, or put out on a holiday open house or brunch buffet. There are lots of recipes on the web using this type of Friendship Starter. I will include a link with lots of variations. I plan to try a variation using the instant pudding that is part of so many recipes, but IMO it is just added expense and sweetness which may not be necessary. I think the use of less oil and added applesauce makes the bread nicely moist - with less fat. Here is a link that might be useful: Friendship Bread Kitchen

With my family, there are six siblings (all with SO, except one. ME!), three parents, and a boatload of grandchildren! There are always multiple trips and meals. At my mom's we usually have a potluck with more traditional American food. At my dad's, we have a mixture of traditional American food and Filipino (which means pansit, steamed rice, lumpia, etc.). At our own houses, we have leftovers. Lots of leftovers! They always pile it on when you're headed home. I guess, with so many kids, there is always a lot left. Don't even get me started on the birthday brunch bash. We have to have that since the youngest is born on Christmas. So there's brunch to kick it all off. UGH! I need to lose 30 pounds before next week.

FOAS, if people are comfortable with take out food, I don't see why they wouldn't be even more comfortable with your homemade stuff, at least they KNOW who is handling it! Colleen, congratulations on your continued employment! See what a few good cookies can do? The power of sugar and butter, LOL. Jack, I've been known to put petrified brown sugar in the microwave. It'll harden right back up, but stays soft enough to make quick batch of candy or cookies. Toffee sounds good, yum. Ricky, I'm sure your cookie recipients are going to be very happy with those, and they look very festive! Carol, I know what you mean about your Mom, mine is 85 and very stubborn and has "slight" dementia, which mostly means that even when she's clearly wrong, she's going to dig her heels in. (sigh) I made her peanut butter fudge, though, her favorite. At least it used to be her favorite yesterday, I don't know if it still is today, she's very.....changeable. sleevendog, it's pretty obvious I don't make a lot of bagels, or I'd know how to keep those holes in the middle! More practice, maybe? Your crackers look much better than anything available commercially, so nice and crisp. Chloe, not all that impressive. They are not difficult, just time consuming, and it gave me the opportunity to experiment a bit. One recipe called for an overnight starter, one wanted a poolish then an overnight rise and one wanted the bagels formed and then refrigerated overnight. Good thing it's cold here, the garage became my "second refrigerator" for all those bowls and sheet pans, LOL. Annie