Ode to Thanksgiving - Part 2

Well dear readers (Mom & Dad), I just finished making the ugliest batch of cakeballs ever. Red velvet cake with white chocolate is not a very forgiving combination, so once the cakeballs start to crumble a bit in the chocolate, it all becomes a pink mess. I started out dipping them in almond bark, which was a new ingredient to me. Did you know that if you add a little milk to almond bark to try and thin the product it completely ruins the whole batch? Yeah, it says so right there on the packaging if you actually read it. I didn't. Dumped that part down the sink. Next, I was able to gather up some pieces of leftover white chocolate that I had in my baking cabinet. Still thick, but wiser this time, I added shortening as directed. That worked alright, but it wasn't enough, so I finished off with some semi-sweet chocolate. They'll probably be gross. So much for my husband's birthday request. I'm a cakeball virgin, so tell me, are they normally this ugly and difficult?

Next, I did a little night-before pre-prep for the Confetti Omelette Casserole I'm making in the morning. Just cooking the sausage and chopping some onion. If I was smart, I would always have some chopped onion in my fridge. It would save me a lot of prep time for all those times when my sous chef has the night off. If I was lazy, I'd buy frozen chopped onion. Probably not gonna happen.

So, Confetti Omelette Casserole is a favorite in the Rose household. You use Egg Beaters and add bacon or sausage, cheese, pimentos, onion and parsley (for color). It's very pretty and festive for the holidays, but as egg casseroles go, it takes awhile to cook, so it's good to do some stuff ahead of time when you can. As an extra bonus, it keeps well, so you can have it for breakfast for a couple days. Oh, and a word of warning, do not add any salt as directed in the recipe. Bacon and sausage are both such salty meats that any added salt is just over the top. And to give credit where credit is due, this is yet another Southern Living recipe...shocker.

I've got plenty more cooking ahead of me tomorrow, so I need to get some rest, but this leads me to the one thing I don't like about this time of year...my husband's job. As a .com buyer for a big retailer, Thanksgiving Day is the equivalent of Black Friday and because in the online world there aren't store associates to handle any glitches that come up, he has to handle it. His conference calls start at midnight tonight and pick up again around 6 am. He'll have another at 6 pm tomorrow (yes, right in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner) and more of the same on Friday. Oh, and to add to that Friday is his birthday. Happy freakin' birthday--now get back to work. Poor guy.

To the rest of you who don't have to work tomorrow, Happy freakin' Thanksgiving. I mean, Happy Thanksgiving!