Home cookin'

I used to have huge family dinners about every other weekend.  During the holidays, I picked up the pace, cooking all the food that I loved when I was a kid.  
I had to quit doing that, because Cliff and I gain weight too easily these days.  And of course, if the food is here, we're going to eat it.  Oh sure, I send some stuff home with the kids, but that doesn't keep us from eating it while it's here.  
Somewhere during each Thanksgiving/Christmas season, I just have to let down my guard and cook, because there are things I love that I'll never get to eat if I don't cook it.  Oh, other people in the family cook; they just have their own traditions, which is as it should be.
Some of the things I crave this time of year:  home-made yeast rolls; made-from-scratch noodles; lots and lots of mashed potatoes.  Oh, and my mom's cranberry salad, which is really more like dessert than salad.  The recipe makes a huge batch, and I'm not sure anybody else loves it like I do.  I always end up eating most of it myself (burp). 
Something strange has happened to me in my old age.  I used to take every chance I could get to eat out; these days, most of the food doesn't taste nearly as good as what I'd make at home, and I could make it much cheaper.  For instance: biscuits and gravy, a dish that is pretty darned cheap to buy at a diner or restaurant, leaves me wishing I'd ordered a piece of toast.  The biscuits aren't quite right, they're never hot, and the gravy is made from a mix.  Please!  
I still love my Pizza Hut, though!      
A couple of weeks ago I bought a turkey and a half-ham.  We hardly ever buy ham, but once a year I splurge, costly as it is.  Tomorrow I've invited the kids and grandkids, and we're having ham and rolls and mashed potatoes and chicken-and-noodles.  The daughter is bringing broccoli-and-rice casserole.  I'm trying to think of a vegetable to throw in, just because it seems like the right thing to do.  Pea salad, maybe?  Creamed peas?  Creamed peas and carrots?  Glazed carrots?  (Obviously I have a lot of peas in the freezer, and carrots in the crisper.)  Cliff kept worrying that half-a-ham wouldn't be enough, so I got some arm roast out of the freezer (gotta love free beef) and I'll cook that, just in case.  I'm saving the turkey for another day.  
The desserts are made:  Oreo dessert, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, and lemon pound cake, which I haven't made in ages.  If you want an easy, tasty dessert, here it is.

LEMON POUND CAKE

I lemon cake mix

I lemon instant pudding mix

4 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1 cup sour cream

Mix together and pour into a bundt pan.  Bake at 350 for 55 minutes.   Make lemon glaze and pour over cake while it is still warm.

Lemon glaze

1 T butter

2 Tbs lemon juice

1-2 T milk

1 cup powdered sugar