Miss Kay's Duck Commander Kitchen (32 page)

This eggnog is best eaten with a spoon. We have it only twice a year—Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It’s definitely on everyone’s wish list.

Jessica’s Banana Liqueur Cake

Makes 1 Bundt cake • Bundt pan (10 to 12 cups) • Electric mixer • Medium saucepan Nonstick cooking spray and flour, for the pan

Cake

1 box (16.5 ounces) yellow cake mix

¹
/
₂
cup vegetable oil

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/
₂
cup water

¹
/
₂
cup crème de banana liqueur

4 large eggs

1 box (3.4 ounces) French vanilla pudding mix

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Topping

¹
/
₂
cup crème de banana liqueur

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/
₄
cup water

1 cup sugar

1 stick (
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/
₄
pound) butter

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/
₄
cup finely chopped pecans

1. Heat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour the Bundt pan.

2. Make the cake: In a large bowl, with the electric mixer, beat the cake mix, oil, water, liqueur, eggs, and pudding together until well combined.

3. Pour the nuts into the bottom of the Bundt pan. Pour the cake batter over the nuts.

4. Bake until the cake starts to pull away at the sides and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven, but leave the cake in the pan.

5. When the cake is almost done baking, make the topping: In a medium saucepan, bring the liqueur, water, sugar, and butter to a boil over high heat. Boil three minutes.

6. Stir in the pecans and quickly pour the mixture over the hot cake in the pan.

7. Let stand for 25 minutes, then invert onto a cake plate.

A Note from Miss Kay

Time to brag on my daughters-in-law. This is Jessica’s contribution to our Christmas dinner, and it is de-li-cious! If you want to impress your in-laws with your cooking, make this cake!

10.

Wild Game Cooking

He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.

—Socrates

The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.

—Proverbs 12:27, NIV

Wild Game Recipes

Wild Turkey Tenders

Swamp-Seasoned Fried Duck

Boiled Squirrel & Dumplings

Phil’s Duck Gumbo

Fried Deer Steak

Fabulous Frog Legs

Squirrel with Soup Gravy

Duck & Dressing

Willie’s Armadillo Eggs

Wild Hog for Supper

As the story goes, Phil killed his first—actually two—ducks at eleven years of age. At the time, he had no retriever or boat to bring in his bounty, so he took off his clothes and waded through the ice-cold water. This is just one of the stories told about my “backwoods” boyfriend when we started dating.

By the time we married, I was aware of Phil’s hunting philosophy: if it flew, grew wild, swam, or lived in a tree, it belonged to whoever could catch it. So I shouldn’t have been surprised when a wild hog appeared for supper. We had bought a huge black pot at a garage sale, and Phil was determined to boil that wild hog into a tasty treat. But it was a boar hog and the longer Phil boiled it, the worse the smell got in our little apartment. I’m convinced that even our own Duck Commander spices wouldn’t have covered up the smell of that boar hog!

Phil had just started teaching and coaching at Ouachita Christian School when he caught this bobcat. No, we
did not
eat it!

Hours went by, with Phil adding more water to the boiling pot of stinky pig. Then I started to get sick. That was it, as far as I was concerned. Even if Phil had managed to get the meat a little easier to chew, I wasn’t going to eat it. After some newly-married-type pleading, I persuaded Phil not only to throw out that boar but to throw out the pot as well!

Well, not all things in life can be, or are worth being saved. There have been many things in our life together that we have had to let go. Some of them have been easy for me and not for Phil, some of them the other way around. Some have involved friendships, family members, our business, and long-held church beliefs. But through prayers and God’s guidance, we have helped each other work through every situation, and when it’s time to “throw out the pot,” we do it together.

The boys decided to build the world’s largest duck call for our fortieth-anniversary party. I think Phil was proud of it.

In every marriage, there will be things worth holding on to for all they’re worth, and there will be things that need, as Phil says it, to be culled. After over forty years, we have worked through so many of those things. If you are newly married, don’t be so quick to cull what is worth saving. Be wise. Ask God for guidance. Seek wise counsel. And always know there is hope!

Wild Turkey Tenders

Makes 8 to 10 servings • Deep-fryer

8 to 10 turkey tenders (the number can vary according to your family needs)

Salt and black pepper

3 cups all-purpose flour