My mother wasn't much of a cook. In fact I was raised on a dish my brother and I referred to as "We should have ordered pizza". It consisted of hamburger, various types of canned soup, a vegetable and some sort of pasta. However I had friends who would talk about there mothers cooking and how good it was. I wanted to be that mother. I wanted my kids to grow up thinking that nothing can compare to mom's cooking... My problem... I married a man who doesn't get all that excited about food. So experimenting at home on my legally bound Guinea pig doesn't really tell me how good the dishes I make are. Needless to say I love when my church has pot lucks. I judge my success by wither or not I have any to take home. Above anything else I love to bake. Cakes, Breads, Cookies, Puddings…all of it! The only real tradition I remember is my Grandmothers Rice Pudding. Grandma didn’t make pies or cakes for dessert on Thanksgiving and Christmas. She made rice pudding. She had a small dine in kitchen so we would all have our holiday dinner spread out around the house. Once we were all done we would have to wait an hour before she would let us touch dessert. I remember begging her to let us have it sooner but she never relented. Once the hour was up my cousins and I would heap up our bowls and savor each bite. I wanted to try my hand at tea cakes for a potluck. I mistakenly bought almond pie filling instead of almond paste. I didn’t realize till I opened the can. Not wanting to waist, I improvised and pulled out a boxed vanilla cake mix I had, made it according to the directions and added the can of almond pie filling. I used an old cast iron skillet, buttered and dusted it with sugar, coated the bottom with the almond slices and poured in the batter. As soon as it was done and the toothpick came out clean I immediately flipped it over so the sugar wouldn’t make it stick to the pan. The cake cracked down the middle and because time was short I didn’t have time to let it cool and make a frosting for it. It looked kind of rustic so I decided to go with it. I dusted it with powdered sugar and headed out the door. It was a huge hit. The sugar and almonds gave it a wonderfully crunchy crust and the almond pie filling made the cake so moist!!! My cooking tragedies all involve one simple word... "souffle" I finally did get to where I could make one if I followed someone elses recipe but I will never, ever attempt to get creative with a souffle!!!