I’m kind of sad to be coming to the end of the posts on Patterson’s birthday party. It was such a fun time for her and for us that I hate to be moving on. But, alas, we have homeschool questions to discuss and next week is Thanksgiving, which brings on a whole new set of posts.

This recipe was given to me by my friend Joelle. She brought it to our Halloween party, and she had made it from orange chocolates and used orange and brown sprinkles on top. I changed the colors a bit to use for Pitter Patter’s party, so that it would be more little girly.

White Chocolate Brickle

1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup small marshmallows
1/2 cup pretzels
1/2 cup crushed Oreos
1 package almond bark or white baker’s chocolate (I used the kind that is colored orange)
Sprinkles

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Spread the peanuts, marshmallows, pretzels, and Oreos on wax paper. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolates/almond bark on high for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir well, and heat for 30 seconds more. When fully melted, spread over wax paper. Cover with sprinkles. Cool in refrigerator. When fully cooled, break into pieces.

Mary Anneliese decided she wanted to make the cupcakes for Patterson’s birthday party this year. I thought it was a sweet offer that I didn’t want to refuse. I took her to the grocery to choose her ingredients, and she did most of the work herself. I only intervened for putting them into the oven and taking them out. She did a great job, and they were a big hit at the party.

Mary Anneliese’s Birthday Party Cupcakes

1 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1 small box french vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 pkg. strawberry cake mix
8 oz. sour cream
1 can Funfetti frosting
Cupcake papers

Mix all ingredients until well blended. (Well, you know, not the frosting or the cupcake papers.) Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers, and fill 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-ish minutes. (Don’t you hate recipes that aren’t more precise than that? What can I say? I’m a very imprecise cook. Maybe that’s one of my problems.) When completely cooled, frost with Funfetti icing. We added extra pink sprinkles because… well… we like pink stuff.

Some of our most fun memories involve cooking together. Mary Anneliese is beginning to enjoy looking through cookbooks to find interesting recipes. I think she might have a little of her mama in her!

The Thanksgiving and Christmas season is the time of year most-packed with holiday traditions. I so love this time of year and I love a good family tradition, and our family has lots of them that we enjoy every year. I love the consistency and stability that tradition brings. It’s always a subtle reminder of the consistency and stability that comes from a lifetime of walking with God. I pray that my girls will one day make that same connection in their own minds and hearts.

Our Thanksgiving tradition, of course, revolves around being with our extended family and eating a feast. It is one of the few days of the year that we throw calorie caution to the wind and stuff ourselves sick on the richest, most fat-laden food we can find. We usually gather with my family at the beach or at Jonathan’s parents’ house in Meridian. Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving unless we eat turkey, Grandmaw Hill’s or CC’s dressing, cranberry sauce (hold the berries, please), spinach madeleine, corn and peas from Papaw Hill’s garden, sweet potato casserole, pineapple casserole, and a sampler platter of desserts. And Sister Shubert usually makes an appearance, as well. Yes, most of our Thanksgiving centers around food. That’s because…well, we like to eat.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is the way we decorate our Christmas tree. We decorate early because we love Christmas so much. We either choose a tree from the local tree lot or use our huge fake tree that we used in Fishes & Loaves. We put on the Christmas music, pull out the Oreo delight, and get busy. The little girls put ornaments on the lower branches, Jonathan puts the ones on the high branches, and I am chief hole-filler and general overseer. Our ornaments are an eclectic mixture of new and old, small and large, nativity and Santa Claus, colorful and plain. We use colored light and white ones. For many years our tree topper was the bow from our ribbon-cutting at Fishes & Loaves. When Patterson was born, we retired that one and used the big pink bow that was on the door of my hospital room when she was born. This year, we will decide on a new topper.

Our family is sentimental around that holidays, perhaps that’s why we love these long-held traditions so much. What traditions do your family enjoy?

Oreo Delight

1 lb, Oreo cookies, crushed
2 small boxes instant French vanilla pudding
2 3/4 cups milk
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese

Crush Oreos and spread over bottom of 9″X12″ Pyrex dish. (I always put it in my Vicki Carroll Christmas dish. Those dishes were one of the best decisions I made when registering for wedding gifts. We ADORE using them!) Reserve a few Oreos to sprinkle on top. Mix milk and pudding mix. Mix margarine and cream cheese. Add powdered sugar to cream cheese mixture. Add pudding to cream cheese mixture, a little at a time. When mixed well, spread over Oreo crumbs. Top with Cool Whip and sprinkle crumbs over top. Keep refrigerated.

The weather here in Birmingham turned chilly this weekend. Since fall has arrived, it’s time for some delicious pumpkin recipes. One of our favorites is this one:

Pumpkin Dip and Ginger Snaps
1 can pumpkin
2-8 oz pkgs cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Mix together sugar and cream cheese. Add pumpkin and spices. Mix until thoroughly blended. Serve in a cute Halloween dish with ginger snaps. Yummo!

What is your favorite pumpkin recipe?

I have been so excited about this! I cannot wait to try all of your tasty recipes for soup! I love soup, and have given you a couple of our favorites before. (Click here for Crawfish Stew and here for Navy Bean Chicken Chili?) To get us started, I’ll post one of our favorites. You can leave your recipes in the comments section.

Corn Chowder:
6 slices bacon, fried and crumbled
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups diced peeled potatoes
20 oz frozen whole kernal corn
16 oz can cream style corn
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup water
1 can cream of chicken soup

In skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Remove bacon. To bacon grease, add onion and potatoes and saute for about 5 minutes; drain well. Combine crumbled bacon, onions, potatoes, and all other ingredients in crock pot. Cover and cookon low for 4 hours.

My bloggy friend BooMama is showing her Bulldog spirit today. She has had one of her best ideas yet! Over on her fabulously funny (seriously, you have got to read this) blog, she is hosting DipTacular 2009, a recipe swapping party for you your favorite ballgame/tailgating dips. You know I’m all over that one! And why stop at just one recipe when there are so many to share? I’ll give you four of my favorites. ‘Cause I like to over-achieve like that.

Creamy Ham Dip
1 loaf french bread
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 block of cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup green onions
1/3 cup green chiles
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded ham
dash of Worcestershire sauce

Mix all ingredients together (except french bread loaf, because really, how would you do that?)Cut off top of french bread and hollow out the middle. Put dip in bread and replace top. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Serve with Fritos Scoops or Wheat Thins.

Caribbean Fruit Salsa
1 jar fresh sliced mango, drained
1 can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 small red onion
3 tablespoons cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
Peel and dice all ingredients (except don’t waste your morning trying to peel those bell peppers. CC has already called me out on that one.) Mix together. Chill at least 2 hours. Serve with Fritos Scoops or tortilla chips. This recipe is also great served with grilled fish.

Hot Onion Dip
1 large sweet onion, diced
1 block of cream cheese, softened
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
Blend all ingredients well. Add more mayonnaise if it’s too thick. Transfer to well-greased casserole dish. Bake on 375 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with Fritos Scoops or Wheat Thins.

Cheesy Corn Dip
1 8-oz container sour cream
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3 11-oz cans mexicorn
2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 7-oz can diced green chiles
2/3 cup sliced green onions
Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, and cumin in bowl. Stir in mexicorn, cheese, green chilis and onions. Serve with tortillas or Fritos Scoops.

And just in case you missed it, remember Lulu’s caviar? That’s a good one, too! Y’all enjoy!

If you don’t know about LuLu’s, you must not have been to Gulf Shores in the last 10 years. It is a hot spot, and with good reason. Lucy Buffett, sister of Jimmy, has created a restaurant that is more than just a place to eat. You can almost stay the afternoon at that place! Besides the excellent food, you can hear live music, play beach volleyball or shop at the LuLu’s gift shop. When I came across the recipe for LuLu’s Lower Alabama Caviar in my recipe box, I knew I had to share it with you. It is so yummy! But beware… It makes a TON. If you are just feeding a family of four, unless those four are strapping young men with huge appetites, you might want to half the recipe. I serve this with tortilla chips or Frito’s Scoops.

Dressing:
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients. Cover tightly, and shake vigorously to dissolve sugar. Set aside.

Dip:
4 15oz cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped red onion
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 cup chopped fresh parsley

Rinse and drain peas well. Mix all ingredients and pour dressing over. Toss well. Put in plastic container, cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

There are several holidays during the year that seem to revolve around food for our family. Memorial Day is one of them. We really don’t have traditions for what we do on those days, but we do have our favorite menu. And today was no exception.

Jonathan smoked chicken breasts on his electric smoker. He brushed them with lemon butter and coated them with a generous amount of Bad Byron’s Butt Rub (go to buttrub.com to see where you can purchase it). He left them on the smoker for about 4 1/2 hours, and they came out perfect! I dipped mine in Sticky Fingers’ Carolina Sweet barbecue sauce.

For our side item, we had barbecue baked beans. I like my baked beans a little sweet and a little smokey, so I added hamburger meat, maple syrup, honey, barbecue sauce, and a chopped vidalia onion. If I’d had a green bell pepper and some bacon, I would have added those too.

We eat salad at almost every meal, but our holiday salad is different than what I usually make. I don;t know why it has to be different, but we just have our tradition and like to stick to it. We start with iceberg lettuce and add mushrooms and green onions. For the dressing, I mix mayonnaise and sour cream and add in some garlic salt. Well, okay, a lot of garlic salt. The more garlic-ey the better. Put that on the salad. Sprinkle it all with parmesan cheese.

Serve all that with garlic butter barbecue bread, and you’re set! It was so good that I might have it again for dinner.

This little jar has made many a meal in the Hill Hangout. It’s super easy and delicious. We serve the pasta with a salad, and voila! dinner is done. Here’s the recipe…

Whole grain pasta, prepared
Chicken breasts, Sprinkled with Italian seasoning and grilled
Your favorite veggies – Ours are red bell pepper, baby carrots, fresh sliced mushrooms, broccoli, squash, zucchini

Boil the pasta, grill the chicken, saute the veggies in a pan with little olive oil, heat the sauce in the microwave or in the veggie pan after the veggies have sauteed. Add planty of salt to all. Mix it all together, and you know you have the best of both world. Wait, that’s a song. Mix it all together and enjoy!

I have had many, many squash casseroles over the years. I am Baptist, after all, and Baptists like to bring squash casserole (and lots of other casseroles) to their famous potluck dinners. Mmmm, one of my favorite meals of all times is a good ole church potluck dinner. Just thinking about it brings back some good memories.

Anyhoo, back to squash casserole. Since the summer vegetables will be hitting the stores soon, I thought you might be able to use a yummy good squash casserole recipe. My favorite is one I found years ago in the Alabama Power Company retirees cookbook. It was submitted by a lady named Wilma Duke. I never met Wilma, but I know she must be one heck of a good cook, because I love her squash recipe. Here goes…

2 1/2 lbs squash, sliced
2 medium onions, chopped
1 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 stick butter, melted
1 can cream of celery soup
Small jar pimiento
1 can dices water chestnuts
1/2 cup Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix **

**This will be used for the topping. If you are like me and don’t keep stuffing mix on hand (Because what God-fearing, proper Southern cook would admit to using stuffing mix? I mean, it should not even be called “stuffing” anyway! You don’t stuff anything with it. Any true Southern cook who’s worth her weight in salt knows it’s called “dressing”, and it’s baked in a separate pan from the turkey!! I digress.), you can use whatever casserole topping you like best. French fried onions are good.

Cook squash and onions until done. (See, I told you Wilma was a real Southern cook. I love recipes that say things like “cook until done”. If you are a true cook, you know when it’s done.) Drain the squash and onion. Add cheese, sour cream, butter, pimiento, and salt. Mix remaining ingredients (except for topping) and pour into casserole dish. Top with whatever you’re gonna top it with. Bake 40 minutes at 325-350 degrees. (If you are using french fried onions, wait until the last 5 minutes to put them on. They burn quickly.)

I hope you love this recipe as much as our family does. Thank you, Wilma! And we forgive you for that little “stuffing” faux pas.