Halloween Weekend!

I had not planned to wake up on Halloween morning and feel the urge to cook but that was exactly what happened. Mom had given me a ham the night before because she had cleaned out her freezer and sized down. What to do ..what to do.. I thought. Finally I remembered the bag of northern beans she had given me as well and decided perfect and it is just the kind of day to have that sort of meal.

Patton started "Ghost Adventurers" and I sat down to looking over many ham recipes and decided what parts I liked of them all and did my own blend. I wanted sweet but brisk ham, and that was exactly what I got. The beans I wanted them the way my grandmother use to cook then and that took me back to when I was a little girl standing at her side watching her prepare Thanksgiving dinner. I always went down there and spent the night before because I wanted to cook like her and she was more than willing to teach me. I never got any precise recipes from my grandmother because she and my mother are the sort of cooks that say, "Just keep putting in the milk until it looks right". What I did get was advice and technique that I find myself doing today in my own kitchen. I remembered the bacon or fat back she put in. I remember the onion and the way she laughed when she was crying from the strong aroma of that fresh onion. So I did exactly how I remembered her doing and eventually I had a pot of northern beans. Patton called it bean soup, I called it yummy memories.

Then I decided that a pan of cornbread would make it pretty much perfect and finally for the first time since I started cooking cornbread I wrote down the recipe. Yes, I thank my mother for this recipe, I find it perfected by Dave's helpful advice. Seriously. Keep putting in the buttermilk until it looks right, Cornbread believe it or not is best when it flows into the skillet.

Last, I decided I was going to make cupcake's the old fashion way as well, searched through different books and web pages and came up with this recipe, perfected by the cream cheese icing these cupcakes are rich, like the ones you get from an old fashion bakery. Thick, moist and filling. Not those airy box made cake mix brownies... there really is a difference. All recipies can be found here!

My family was happy, then Savannah and I went and saw a scary movie. One I want to never see again and don't want to remember. That's a whole other story. Overall, my kids are much bigger than once upon a time but I had fun with them this Halloween and I would not trade the memories for anything at all!