Welcome To My Holiday Table

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.

-Oprah Winfrey

Happy Holidays Everyone! I don't know about you but I'm super excited, for all the holiday festivities coming up. Christmas time is my favorite time of year. Being able to come together as a family and celebrate, while enjoying a good meal together. What more could you ask for? What makes the holidays special for you?

Everyone knows the holidays wouldn't be complete without some delicious food and desserts. And anyone who knows me, knows, that I absolutely love to cook! So, today is a special day because, I'll be sharing some of my favorite holiday dishes with you.

Is tradition important to your family? Tradition to my family means everything. And having the perfect menu is at the top of the list. Our menu always includes turkey, ham, stuffing, mac and cheese, candy yam casserole, rice, green beans, collard greens, rolls, and we can't forget the good ole gravy. Of course, I haven't forgotten the dessert but we will get to that in a minute. But for now, lets talk about our main course. My Aunt and I have gotten this menu down to a science. So, lets get started shall we.

Disclaimer: I'll be sharing my own recipes throughout this post.

The Ham

The first dish I am going to share with you is my Brown Paper Bag Ham. Which is to die for, so delicious, and it falls right off the bone. The only downfall to this dish is, it's and all-night process. But, believe me, its worth it!

So the first thing you'll need is a brown paper bag and of course a ham. (side note: please make sure that the brown paper bag is oven safe. I wouldn't' want any houses burning down on my watch.)

Preheat your oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the ham in the bag and place it in the oven. I do not add any additional seasoning to the ham. This is where I let the brown paper bag do its job.

So normally I put my ham on at 8 o'clock at night. That's around the time my house is starts to calm down and I finally get some alone time. I normally cook the ham for 12 hours or more. But, the cooking time is super flexible. That's why I love this recipe you can make it work for you. Once the ham is done cooking I transfer the ham into a roaster. At this point the meat is falling off the bone. This ham will always be a crowd pleaser because its so tender and juicy. Reheat upon serving if necessary.

While I'm letting, my ham slowly cook to perfection. This is where I take the time to get started on some prep- work. So, I start to cut up my cheese, and vegetables if needed.

Candy Yams Casserole

Recipe:

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of butter (cut in pieces)

1/2 cup of Karo syrup

1/2 teaspoon of Honey

1/4 cup of Molasses

1 cup of Brown Sugar

1 cup of Sugar

1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon

Bag of Marshmallows

Tip: Lay the Marshmallows all over the top, covering the potatoes completely.

Then it's time to get started on the candy yams casserole. What is candy yam casserole you ask? It's just candy yams topped with marshmallows all baked together. Nothing fancy. I also like to get started on this dish the night before as well.

So to get started I bake the yams or sweet potatoes, whatever you wanna call them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until tender. Make sure to oil or grease the potatoes beforehand, if you forget this step the potato could explode. I personally like to use the crisco baking butter, but you can use whatever you like. You could also boil the potatoes as well, but I never done that before so I'm sticking to what I know.

So, first things first I'll start off by making my syrup. Which contains brown sugar, sugar, honey, molasses, and a little karo syrup (recipe can be seen above). If you can't tell I like them sweet. Oh, I also add a little bit of cinnamon to balance everything out. After the syrup is made, I add the potatoes to it. Letting the potatoes marinate in the syrup overnight. Will do wonders, they will be seasoned to perfection.

I don't add on the marshmallows until the following morning. Bake together at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, until the marshmallows are golden brown (like in the picture).

Grandma's Collard Greens

Recipe

Cook Time: 2 hrs 20 min

Ingredients:

1/2 pound Smoked Meat (ham hocks, smoked turkey wings, or smoked neck bones)

Quarter of a Onion (diced)

1 tablespoon of Salt

1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Peppers

1/2 teaspoon of White Vinegar

Tip: Season to taste. Feel free to add or remove ingredients as you see fit.

So, let's get started with the collard greens. My best advice when it comes to to cooking a lot of greens is getting the pre-packaged ones. They're a lifesaver! These greens are already washed and pre-cut just awaiting to cooked and seasoned. But, myself personally, I still soak and rinse them off again just to be safe. If your wondering where you could buy these from, try your local Walmart.

In a large pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil add the smoked meat of your choosing. I choose a ham hock. Cook the ham hock until its tender before I adding any other seasoning to the water. Once the meat is tender or falling apart thats when I add all the collard greens and seasoning into the pot. I stir everything together to combined all the seasonings.

Remember, while cooking collard greens it's important to bring the greens up, from the bottom of the pot to the top just to make sure everything cooks evenly. Cook for 60 minutes or more, stirring occasionally. When done, taste and season accordingly.

No worries, If you couldn't find the pre-packaged collard greens. I'm going to tell you how to clean and cut the regular ones as well. The most important step is to wash your collard greens throughly. In order to remove the stems that run down the center of the leaf. Is ,you simply, hold the leaf in your left hand and strip the leaf down with your right. The tender young greens in the heart of the greens doesn't need to be stripped. Stack 6 or 8 on top of one another roll up, and slice into 1/2 to 1-inch thick slices. Place the greens in pot with the meat, and add all the seasonings. Cook for 45 to 60 minutes, and stir occasionally. When done, taste and season accordingly.

The Dessert's

It's finally time, to talk about some of my all-time favorite desserts. My aunt's famous Coconut Cake and Banana Pudding. The only reason I'm able to share this with you is that, I was lucky enough to get these recipes passed down to me. These dessert's brings back so many good memories about my childhood. And finally being able to pass this recipes down to my daughter is such a blessing. And I'm even more excited to share them with you guys today. So you can try them out with your family this holiday season. So, let's get started with the coconut cake!

Coconut Cake

Recipe

Prep-Time: 25 mins

Cook Time: 25 mins

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

For the Cake:

1 box of White Cake Mix

3 large Eggs

1/2 cup Butter (melted, 1 stick)

1 cup Milk (instead of water as called for on the cake box)

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/8 teaspoon Almond Extract

For the Coconut Frosting:

6 tablespoons Coconut Milk

1 cup Butter (softened, 2 sticks)

4 cups Powered Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Coconut Extract

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Tip: Feel free to make the recipe your own.

This cake is absolutely delicious it just melts right in your mouth. To start off preheat your oven to 350 degrees (follow the cake box directions). Coat two 9 inch cake pans with cooking spray and flour.

Now its time to make the cake. Beat together the cake mix, eggs, melted butter, milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract over medium speed for 2 minutes (according to the package directions). Pour the cake mix evenly into the two prep pans. Tap the pans against the counter to release any air bubbles.

The cakes bake for 20-25 minutes ( double check the box directions). Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cakes for 10-15 minutes in the pans. Then run a knife around the edges of the pans. Then transfer the cakes onto a cooling rack. Make sure the cakes are completely cool, if needed you could also put the cakes into the fridge for a rapid cooling process.

After the cakes are cooled completely, it's time to make the frosting. Add the coconut milk into a small sauce pan on low heat. Cook for about 5 minutes until the mixture has reduced to about half, about 3 TBS. Cream the butter for about 1 minute until its smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and beat together. Also, add in the vanilla extract, coconut extract, salt, and the coconut milk. Mix together until the batter becomes a frosting like consistency, and then assemble the cake accordingly.

Aunt's Famous Banana Pudding

Okay, I'll just be sharing one more dessert with you. And thats my aunt's famous banana pudding! Can I be honest with y'all, am I the only one who truly just loves just the vanilla wafers and pudding mixture but, could live without the actual bananas? If I am that's fine, I'll just continue to pick out the actual banana's. But this desserts is one of my all time favorite's. So, lets get started.

Recipe

Prep Time: 30 min

Total Time: 3 hr 30 min

Ingredients:

1 (14 ounce) can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 (5 ounce) package instant Vanilla Pudding mix or Banana Pudding mix

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Pinch of Salt

3 tablespoons all-purpose Flour

3 large Eggs

30 to 40 Vanilla Wafers

4 Bananas, Sliced

So, first things first. Lets separate the yolks from the whites, from the 3 eggs, set aside the whites. Add the remaining whole egg with the yolks.

In a saucepan, whisk together 1/2 cup of sugar, the flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir in the whole egg and 3 yolks, and then stir in the milk. Cook uncovered, stirring often until the mixture thickens, it takes about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread a thin layers of the pudding in a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Arrange a layers of vanilla wafers on top of the pudding. Thinly slice the bananas crosswise, about 1/8 inch thick, and arrange a layers of banana slices over the wafers. Spread one-third of the remaining pudding over the bananas and continue layering the wafers, bananas and pudding, ending with the pudding.

My absolute favorite part is making the meringue for the top of the banana pudding. To make the meringue you'll beat the remaining egg whites with a pinch of salt until there stiff. Gradually add in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and continue beating until the whites will not slide out of the mixing boil when tilted. Add the meringue to the top of the pudding with a spatula, making a few decorative peaks on top and bake until the peaks are lightly golden brown (5 to 15 minutes).

The End

This is where my story ends. I hope you enjoyed yourself as we walked through my kitchen. If anyone ends up making any of these dishes, please leave your thoughts in the comment section below. I would love to hear about your experience. Also, if there are any other recipes you would like me to try out or share before the holidays please leave me a comment below.

I hope y'all enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Make sure to "SUBSCRIBE", so you never miss an update of post. Oh, and don't forget to follow me on Instagram @lifefeaturingaliya to enjoy my day to day life.

Anyways, I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my family to yours. I'll talk to y'all soon.