10,000 calories later

Maybe not 10,000 calories, but we'll round up to be safe. Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. We got to my parents house around 245pm and it was non-stop eating. We had to have dessert first to make sure everything was in tip-top order. All in all there was a 20 lb. turkey, a 25 lb. bone-in rib roast (maybe 30 .lb???), 10 .lb of chinese fat pork, oodles of desserts, salads, breads, gravies and sauces...I can go on.

My brother's girlfriend, Sakeneh -- she made this really great upside-down apple cake, very delicious. Jody made some burnt-butter spoon and jam cookies...there were pumpkin and pecan pies, my Aunt Jeannie brought some shortbread-layered-with-cool whip-and-pudding dessert, and then the red velvet cakes and lemon squares. Let's conduct the sticks of butter countdown, shall we?

Apple cake = 1 stick
Burnt-butter cookies = 2 sticks
Pumpkin pie = 1/2 stick
Pecan pie = 1 stick
Shortbread dessert = 2 sticks
Red Velvet cake = 1 stick
Lemon Squares = 2 sticks (1 per tray)
Grand Total = 9 1/2 sticks of butter -- and this was for desserts only...

My Uncle George is my only white relative and he is from Arkansas -- he really enjoyed the red velvet cake, so much so he had two pieces (if he goes into a diabetic coma because of the cake he said he wouldn't blame me); my mom enjoyed it, as did my cousin Tiana who apparently has tried to make red velvet from scratch. I confessed that I used a cake mix -- everyone was surprised because they said it was "so good". "So good" because they may have never had it before? "So good" because of the frosting? All the same, I gave credit to where it was due and perhaps I'll have Andrew supply me with more cake mix because I think my family will want to eat it at every holiday gathering now.

And before I receive an email from those of you out there that want to know my frosting recipe for the red velvet cake, here it is:

Cream Cheese Frosting - for Red Velvet Cake

2 - 8 .oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick of butter, room temperature
2 cups (approximate) of powdered sugar -- you can add to your liking
1 cup of sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup of pecans, chopped

Mix everything together with a hand blender until no more chunks of butter or cream cheese are visible -- and sugar has mixed completely. Frost cool cakes immediately; add decorative coconut and pecans on top of frosted cakes if desired.

Notice how I omit any form of marshmallow fluff or melted marshmallow products from the frosting...there are a number of reasons I omit. Why? First there is enough sugar in the thing already, why kill myself even that much quicker? Second I believe that the marshmallow product would cause the frosting itself to set up and possible become too stiff. And lastly marshmallow fluff is nasty. Enough said.

I hope everyone had as much fun on their Thanksgiving as I did!