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Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Weekend Warriors

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imageThis past weekend, I intended to cook all weekend but found myself being tied to a dog leash. Our daughter and son-in-law had us puppy sit from Fri afternoon to Sunday afternoon so they could take the kids to a resort. So while they were lounging around the pool, I was taking their dog out EVERY HOUR and trying to keep Myah (AKA Jezebel) and Oliver, who is our sweet precious little Morkie from killing each other. They are the same age, about 3 months. So we spent (when I say we, I mean ME) the entire time taking toys away from one dog to give to the other. Honestly, they were worse than two year olds. They didn’t want a toy unless the other one got it. I would give them bones and they only wanted the one that the other had. They ate each others food, they slept in each others beds. When they weren’t fighting over food, water or toys, they tore at each other with such determination that I feared that one of them would end up at the Vets after loosing an ear.  Randy kept telling me that they were just playing but because I’m an only child, I couldn’t imagine that biting and growling were just “playing”.  I felt like I had kept 4 grandkids for a week, by the time Sunday afternoon arrived. When I wasn’t breaking up doggie fights, I kept telling myself that as soon as things settled down I was going to bake. That never happened. Note to self: do not, under any circumstances, keep two puppies who are not yet potty trained. I was exhausted. They woke me up at 4:30 Saturday morning, but  were so sweet to let me sleep in until 5 Sunday morning.

Both Randy and I discovered that if ever we even thought about getting a second dog, all we had to do was remember this past weekend and that “desire to get a puppy to keep Oliver company” would immediately disappear.

I told Randy, just like with little babies, we could just ride around in the car with one dog in my lap and one in his to get some rest, but he said “no” we should be able to be more in control, they are only dogs, we just needed to show them who was boss. I guess they were, as I did anything they wanted just to be able to sit for a few minutes. That was so easy for him to say as he wasn’t the one picking up the poop, being woke up early and playing with them trying to keep them from fighting and growling so they wouldn’t wake up Randy or Jaden. Oh, I forgot, we also were keeping our 14 year old.  At least he is potty trained and can fix a bowl of soup. We even considered checking in to Doggie Day Care on Saturday, but we didn’t have proof of Myahs shots so that idea went out the window. It brought back so many memories of being able to drop off my 3rd child to Mothers Day Out on Tues and Thurs for a few hours. I would just get back in the car and sit, trying to decide what I wanted to do with all the precious hours of having no children with me. But truth be told, I ended up going home and taking a nap. It was just like that this past weekend. When I finally got both dogs to nap at the same time, I slept right along with them. Randy kept telling me all weekend, “that is why it is good for old folks to get a dog, because it keeps them active, having to take them outside and for walks and picking up after them so you don’t trip on the toys that are all over the house.  Blah Blah Blah, easy for Mr. Being Able to Sleep in until 7 a.m. Each Morning On The Weekend to say. Do not get me wrong, I have fallen in love with Oliver. He was suppose to be Randy’s dog, but because Randy still has use of only one arm, he is unable to pick him up or carry him anywhere so guess who Oliver bonded to….yep…the person who really isn’t a pet person. But just like being able to teach old dog new tricks, I guess this old person is learning the new trick of falling in love with their new family member.

 

 

Beef · Breads · Cakes · Casseroles · Chicken · Chocolate · Cookies · Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Uncategorized

Princess On The Porch

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I just got a notification that Princess on the Porch is in Itunes Store for $3.99. This will let you have recipes and stories on your computer that will be so easy to keep instead of searching for recipes on the blog, chocolate castles.com.

 

Cakes · Desserts · Fruit · Uncategorized

Fresh Strawberry Cake

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Probably a lot of you have made or indulged this scrumptious cake. Because of this wonderful Arizona heat, the only desserts right now that sound good are cold ones. When  I this ran across  this on FaceBook the other day, I remembered that it was such a good cake and that I hadn’t made it in years, so thought I would post it. Since it starts with a cake mix, it is quick and easy to make. Top it with Cream Cheese frosting and you have a delicious dessert that will cool you off, no matter the time of day.

1 (18.25) oz white cake mix

1 (3 oz) box strawberry-flavored instant gelatin

1 (15 oz) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed

4 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup water

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick (1/4 cup) softened butter

1 (8oz) softened cream cheese

1 (10 oz) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed

1/2 teas strawberry extract (I will use vanilla)

7 cups powdered sugar

Fresh sliced strawberries for garnish

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, gelatin. Add pureed strawberries, (the 15 oz) eggs, oil and water. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into greased and floured pans and bake for 20 minutes or until cake test done.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

 

To make frosting:

In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium until smooth and creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup of the strawberry (from the 10 oz package)puree and the extract. The rest of the puree is leftover but can be used in smoothies or over ice cream. Beat in powdered sugar a cup at a time until all lumps are gone. If you need to add a little more of the strawberry puree, add 1 tables at a time, until frosting is spreading consistency.

P.S. One time I made this cake and divided each cake layer into 2, giving 4 layers. I used the strawberry frosting in-between the layers then frosted the entire outside of the cake with fresh whipped cream…If you do this, you will need to whip up the whipping cream sweetened  with powdered sugar, instead of granulated sugar. The powdered sugar has corn starch in it allowing the whipping cream to stay “whole” longer and not  get runny after the first day.

Also covering the cake in airtight container which you put in fridge will keep the cake fresh for 3-4 days.

 

 

Desserts · Fruit · Uncategorized

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

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A friend of mine ask me if I had a good recipe for strawberry ice cream. This ice cream is so easy and so creamy…

This is actually a very old recipe from Southern Living.

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk

2 tables sugar

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 (16 oz) container fresh strawberries or 1 (16 oz) package thawed frozen strawberries (unsweetened)

2 tables lemon juice

1/4 teas salt

Whisk first 4 ingredients in a 2 quart pitcher or large bowl until blended. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Process strawberries, lemon juice and salt in a blender or food processor until smooth. Stir into milk mixture.

Pour milk mixture into freezer container of a 1 quart electric ice cream maker an freeze according to directions.

Remove container with ice cream from ice cream maker and place in freezer for 15 minutes. Then transfer to an airtight container; freeze until firm if not eating immediately.

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Life With a 3 Month Old (Or Childbirth Was Easier Than This)

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image
We told ourselves on the way to pick Oliver up 2 weeks ago that this time around we would be smarter. He would not sleep with us, and we would be in control. We would be the strict parents that we should have been to our kids.
Oliver sleeps with us and has us all figured out. Because I have tried so hard to sit and be patient by the fake grass pad, I constantly say, “Oliver, come over to the potty pad and go potty.” Then I praise him if he goes and give him a treat. Today I realized that he is playing us. He has begun to walk over to the potty pad and stands there for a second and comes over to me expecting his treat. Because it had not dawned on me that a dog can’t pee in 2 seconds, I had been giving him treats each time he “looked” like he was peeing.’
For the first week both Randy and I took turns getting ready. We wanted to be sure that someone was constantly right there in case Oliver needed to go potty. After a week of that, I told Randy that we have got to get our life back. So we ordered a doggie play pen. Oh my gosh, if I had known how wonderful these things are, I might have even used them with my kids. I just never realized that you can put a dog in them and go take a shower, make a cake, do laundry. All these can be accomplished without a little doggie constantly sniffing around the house, making you crazy because you forgot to write down the last time he peed and you run around trying to grab him to take him to the fake grass. After my firstborn, I gave away the play pen. I just was not one to be able to walk by a crying child and ignore his pleadings to “get me out of this thing.” Oh but now…I have no trouble walking by Oliver in his pen, with a smile on my face, just because I can. Of course, that is after I have made sure I have all his toys from around the house and put them in. The thought of him getting bored breaks my heart. I have learned to ignore that cute little whimpering for at least 5 minutes before feeling sorry for him.
A few days ago, Randy gave Oliver an old tennis shoe to chew on. I told him I thought that was a bad idea but he insisted that Oliver would be happy with that and not try to chew on his new tennis shoes. We found that Oliver likes new shoes more than old ones.
Our daughter, Jodi got a new puppy the same weekend as we did. Hers is a female Lhasa Apso named, Myah. When these two puppies get together, they are absolutely adorable, but Myah seems to be the more aggressive one. We come home from letting them play and find that it has wiped Oliver out. So he sleeps for hours. Until it is time to go to bed. When we turn the lights out about 10:30, Oliver is wide awake. We are just too old for this. We thought our nights of having to stay up with little ones was over. I have always got so bored with people talking nonstop about their pets. I’m really not a dog or cat person, but Randy has wanted a dog for quite some time. Since He broke his shoulder about 6 weeks ago, I gave in thinking how great it would be for him to have a dog to just sit with him on his lap and keep him company while he recoups from the accident. Oliver only likes to sit on my lap. So I have slowly become a dog person. Randy thinks maybe a little to much of a dog person. I found a pet photographer coupon on Groupon. We are headed to Pets Mart to pick out the perfect little outfit for his pictures. No, I’m going ga ga over him, but we are having wallet sized photos of Oliver made for family and friends for Christmas. We had to take some of the pictures of our grandkids out of our wallets to make room for Oliver’s pictures. After all, the grandkids don’t even sit in our laps anymore. Yes, he sleeps like that!

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Hearts In Tune

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There is a gospel group called Hearts in Tune, which is a favorite of mine. This morning upon hearing more of the tragedy that is going on not only in Dallas, but over the world, those words just kept coming to me, “Hearts in Tune.” It is so very sad to me to listen to commentator after commentator in the media discussing the events taking place. Most of them continue to stress more gun control, more laws and more government programs, thinking that will solve the problem that is taking place in our world.
Never before has our country had such “freedoms”, so many policies and so many programs, all aimed at making America great. In spite of all of the above, America has continued to decline, morally, spiritual and economically. Our families institutions are being destroyed, along with our children, who will be growing up in a world where anything goes. We have continued to push God out of our lives, our families, government and out of some of our churches. We push for more gun control, yet we continue to kill innocent babies. We march for equal rights, when all the time, more rights just bring more confusion and more turmoil.
When will our leaders realize that no matter the policies, programs and laws, until our country falls on its knees in acknowledgment that we need God, hearts will never be “in tune”. What our country needs is a heart that follows after God and his laws. He has promised us that if we follow His plan and His commands, our land will be blessed. What is it going to take to turn us back to Him? I think we are seeing what it will take, more violence, more sin and more “freedoms” which really don’t make us free at all. Our freedom must be in God and God alone, then and only then will we be free to live the lives that He intended.

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Mesa Musings

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We have been living here now for 2 months and have had much to learn and think about. This is not Texas, nor is it California. Arizona has a personality all it’s own. Somedays, when we get CBS alerts every hour, declaring that someone has been shot or stabbed, we feel that we are living in the Wild Wild West.
Other days, when we are out, and people constantly strike up a conversation with us just waiting in line or sitting waiting for our car’s to be cleaned, we feel that we live in the South, the home of hospitality. Then there are times, when our neighbors come over and just walk in and hug us and are excited that a Christian has moved in next door, we feel that we are living in the Bible Belt.
Yes, we have found that folks out here ask us if we are Christians. It is certainly a place which has such a diversity of people, all of which combine to make this a place that has already warmed our hearts (except for the shootings, which so far, has kept to a different part of Phoenix)
This past Tuesday, we attended the Bible Study here at the clubhouse where we live and then went to a potluck dinner, which is held the first Tues of the month here at Las Palmas Grand. I felt like I was in the fellowship hall at First Bapt church again. It has been so many years since I have been to a potluck dinner. After a opening prayer blessing, we all got up to feast on all the food that had been brought. There was meatloaf, Jello Salads, Pasta salads, ribs, roast, you name it, we had it. I took Randy’s request, my cream cheese pound cake with strawberry sauce. We met new people and even signed up to bowl on Thurs evenings and I signed up for art class. Randy’s arm is still keeping him from doing to much, so he said he would go and watch me make a fool of myself…I mean bowl! We also discovered that in order for us to fit in with this Pot Luck group, we should have brought our own divided trays, you know the kind; like the kind that we use to use in school. They are plastic and have a place for your utensils, a place for your cup and then a couple of places for different foods. Not me, missy, we brought the biggest plates we had in order to fit more food. We are Southern Baptist and grew up on Pot luck dinners, we know that some little divided tray that fits maybe two different kinds of food was not going to cut it with his couple. Our plates allowed us to get more foods at one time, thus avoiding so many trips back to the tables, which in all honesty, is always so embarrassing as I think people must think, “how much food can that girl eat, hasn’t she been up there 3 or 4 times already. Our plates only require a couple of trips. Personally the others should learn from us and bring undivided large plates. Less trips; more food! One of the first things you learn at church dinners.
We sat at a table that had two of the sweetest couples. This is the part of the story that I’m not sure I should share, but it just is such a part of what we are having to get use to. One of the couples who sat with us was a little older than we are. How do I know this, well…a couple of reasons. For starters, when we began to talk and share that we were new, they began to tell us about the Mesa Senior Citizen Center. I glanced at Randy and he just smiled at me, like “don’t be rude, you will be there in a few years.” But it was when they invited us to go to lunch with them that I just felt like I was 80 years old. They raved about how good the lunches were at this Senior Center and they went every day and ate for $3.50 which included their milk, coffee & water. Now, I am not saying that there is anything wrong with going to the Senior Center, but for lunch ever day? Do they not know that there is a Sonic down the street where you can get a hamburger with fries and a cherry coke for almost the same price? It was at this point that I told Randy, that until we were to old to drive or our stomachs couldn’t take grease anymore, he had to promise me that we would not do that. Even if the food there is the greatest since sliced bread, we would still drive through In & Out, Whataburger or Sonic. I’m just not ready to hit the Senior Centers quite yet.
Hopefully for a few years, do not go looking for us at any Senior Center, unless of course they are serving Tex-Mex or Hamburgers & Fries!
Seniors We Might Be, But Sonic is the Perfect Place for ME!

Cakes · Desserts · Uncategorized

Monsoons, Meatloaf & Munchkin

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I’m back…..finally! Between caring for a hubby with one arm right now and trying to train a little new Munchkin we are calling Oliver Leopold, I feel like I am in a house with a new baby. The only difference between a new puppy and a baby is the baby at least poo poos in a diaper instead of the floor. This past week we experienced our first monsoon, which after hearing from folks out here, we truly expected a little more excitement. After living in California with earthquakes and in Texas where lightning and heavy rains are as common as nachos, we found ourselves sitting there watching the heavy rains discussing what we would have for dinner with Randy looked at me and said, “don’t you think we should have meatloaf during the monsoon?” So that is exactly what we had. He reminded me that I had not fixed meatloaf since leaving Dallas the first of March. Randy fell the night before our things arrived to move in and fractured his shoulder in two places and dislocated it also. So we call him the one armed bandit now. Being today is his birthday, we didn’t get to do to much as he says that he feels like either a little kid or a really old man because I have to cut up his food, (but he loves the fact that I have to do his hair, he is getting very spoiled)
Today a recipe showed up on FB and it sounded delicious. It is an Italian Lemon Cake and I have to make it. But today I had to make German Chocolate Cake, which is a tradition for his special day. But this week, as soon as the last crumb is gone from the GCC, this lemon cake will be in the oven. I have to tell you that when I looked up different recipes for the frosting for the GCC, I came across one that used light brown sugar instead of regular granulated sugar. It is really good. In fact, both of us think we like it a little better than the normal frosting that you see on the package of Bakers German Chocolate. So live a little the next time you make one and try using the brown sugar instead of the white. Just gives it a little more caramel flavor. So back to the recipe for the Italian Lemon cake and Happy Fourth of July!

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teas baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
4 tablespoons lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons (about 2 tables)
1 teas vanilla
Preheat oven to 300 Grease and flour baking pan
Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in the sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla and lemon zest.
Mix half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Mix in the buttermilk and then add in the remaining flour mixture. Mix just until the flour disappears. Pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan.
Bake for 60-70 min or until cake tests done. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 min. Turn cake over onto cake platter.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar, or frost with cream cheese frosting.

Soups · Uncategorized

Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight

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Even though this is the title to an old song it describes our weather here in Phoenix today and all this week. Since today is father’s Day and we are having a pretty heavy meal of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy and hot rolls for dinner,I wanted it to and on the cool note so I made the frozen strawberry pie with whipped cream for our dessert. After the dinner fiasco last Wednesday night I have actually made myself get back in the kitchen, get my recipes out and began to cook again. Friday night I made an Italian spaghetti soup that ended up delicious with olive bread toasted and then last night we had pineapple cheeseburgers for dinner. Since the heat is forcing us to stay inside more I figured that The best thing I could do was cook and bake. The strawberry pie recipe is under Valentines Strawberry Pie recipe from February, 2015 posts. Here is the recipe for the soup:
Italian Spaghetti Soup
3 links of mild sweet Italian Sausage (take out of the casing)
1 small onion, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
3 ribs of celery, chopped
1 16 oz can of chopped tomatoes
2 cups of chicken broth
1 zucchini cut into 4 vertical pieces then cut into small bite size pieces
2 carrots
1/3 cup of chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup of butternut squash,cubed very small or can of white navy beans, drained
1 teas Italian Seasoning
3 garlic cloves, chopped

Spray a Dutch oven with Pam. Sauté and crumble the sausage as it cooks until no longer pink. Add the onion and rest of ingredients to pan. Stir until well combined. Add lid and bake in 300 degree oven for 4 to 5 hours or until veggies are tender. When soup is done, remove from oven and cook, according to directions, about4 oz of thin spaghetti, breaking noodles as you add to the boiling water. When spaghetti is done, drain almost all of water, leaving a little to add with the spaghetti to the soup mixture. Salt and pepper soup as desired. Serve with toasted garlic kalamata olive bread and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of soup.

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Adjusting to Arizona

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

We have been here since April 19th and in our new house since May 11th. Maybe it’s because we are old and not as easy to adjust to new surroundings, but my goodness, how young would we need to be to adjust to the heat, and yards adorned with nothing but rocks and cacti? Also, we have never seen so many electric scooters, tattoos and folks wearing black socks with white tennis shoes. Apparently they have never been visited by the fashion police.
In spite of the afore mentioned observations, we have to say that we really do feel at home here and are enjoying the casualness and friendliness of our community. This past Wednesday evening we invited a new friend to dinner. She was the lady who we met through Airbnb when we leased her casita behind her house until we could get moved in to our house. We owe so much to Diana. She is the lady who owned her own construction company and sent out her employees to our new place to do most of the work on our house. So I wanted to show her how much we both appreciated her kindness to us. Because I have not really cooked or baked but about 3 times since the first of March when we moved out of our house in Dallas, I guess that my cooking skills took a nosedive (to say the least, more like hit rock bottom). Because I had not cooked in a while or had company over for dinner, I decided to make an old standby, the one pot spaghetti with garlic bread, capresse and baked Parmesan zucchini sticks.
How hard can that be? Diana arrived at 6 and I put out olive tapenade with homemade garlic toast. Since we stil have boxes which we had taken to storage on Saturday, just to get them out of ou sight for a couple of months, things are still missing from my kitchen, like bowls to eat spaghetti from. So Wednesday afternoon, after deciding to make something “safe”, I headed out the door to stores around our neighborhood to see if I could find some bowls. I could not find any of the large flat bowls, other than just round soup bowls. But At Walmart I found a beautiful little turquoise cut glass bowl and matching plate, made by Pioneer women. So deciding to just use my China bowls that evening, I headed home. I washed my new purchases and went on with my cooking. Following the recipe exactly, I began to cook, feeling very prideful that Diana was in for a great evening of Italian food and would probably walk away thinking, “wow, boy can that Texas girl cook!” Well, the spaghetti was in the pot, waiting to be turned on, the bread was buttered with garlic and herbs just waiting to be put in the oven and the capresse was in the fridge. Diana arrives and we visit and show her around the house that her employees had helped us transform. All of us had stood around snacking on the olive tapenade and garlic toasts and visited. It old Diana and Randy to go ahead and sit and I would serve the meal. When I lifted the lid to the spaghetti, it was a pot of mush. I panicked and tried to pick out the noodles which had not turned to mush, but just could not find enough for her, much less all 3 of us. Quickly I apologized and told her that I don’t know what I did, but we just could not eat the pot of mush. Well, at least we had good garlic bread in the oven, but when I went to take it out, it was hard as a rock. What is happening? I grabbed the plate of tapenade and put it on the table and said that we would just have a dinner of capresse and tapenade. The zucchini sticks were also mush and I instantly just threw them out. I have never, in 40 years cooked a meal like that. And for guest, I just was such an embarrassment. Lucky for me, she loves strawberries and I had made fresh strawberry pie with whipped cream. Trying to be fancy, I had saved some of the larger strawberries and dipped them n chocolate to top off each piece of pie. Pulse the strawberries were really tart. She was kind enough to say that she thought it was the end of strawberry season and that was probably why they did not taste very good. I didn’t see the chocolate covered strawberries in the fridge until I was cleaning up after she went home. At least had they been on top, the dessert would have looked pretty. The grandkids ended up eating them the next day. Then tonight, two days later, I got out my new acquired Pioneer woman plate which I had used Wednesday night. I carried it to the table where I had made more garlice bread for our dinner tonight. During the meal, I saw Rany peeling something off that plate. When I looked over, he was removing the Pioneer sticker off of the front of it. WHAT????Had I washed that and used it Wednesday evening with the sticker still on the front of it? I have not been in this town for 2 months and I have already done enough to earn a reputation as being the worst cook from Texas to settle here. It scares me to think what she was really thinking on her way home, “please Lord, don’t even make me go back and eat at their house again.” We may have to move again. I just don’t think I can take the stares of folks that might have talked to Diana that next day. If she ever does come back, I think we will just take her out to eat. It will be much safer for my reputation as a cooking blog contributor.