Category: Uncategorized

Breads · Cakes · Uncategorized

Little Lemon Drops

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imageThis morning I had some family over to introduce a line of clothing that our DIL, Mandy is now selling, called LouLaRoe!  It has opened up a new world of comfortable clothing to me!  I can still wear my earrings and pearls but not have to be dressed up!  I can bend, pack boxes, do laundry or bake and still look cutsie but comfortable!  Anyhow I wanted to have a few goodies for them while they looked over the leggings and tips so made these wonderful little lemon gems!  So easy and they make 3 mini cupcake pans   The date but bread on top  is already on the blog under….you guessed it, Date Nut Bread!

1 box of lemon cake mix

1 small package vanilla instant pudding

4 large eggs at room temp

1 1/4 cups sour cream

1/2 cup milk

preheat oven to 350  coat mini muffin pan tins with cooking spray

combine all ingredients in large bowl and beat with mixer for 2-3 min and all are combined.

fill each muffin hole about 1/2 full   I used a small cookie scoop for this!

bake about 13 min or until they tests done.

cool pan on wire rack for about 3 min then invert and place them upside down on wire rack over waxed paper.

drizzle glaze over each one!

Glaze

mix 2 cups of powdered sugar with enough milk to form a thin frosting. About 1/3 to 1/2 cup

add some lemon zest and about 1 teas vanilla   Stir until no more links remain and frosting is able to be drizzled over mini cupcakes!

 

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

A Blonde Moment

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This post is being done out of duress. When Randy and I were grocery shopping today the sweet little lady checking us out began putting one item in each bag. With each item being put into a bag before swirling the little bag holder around to put another item in another bag, I became more and more frustrated. Why don’t they teach the checkers to fill the bags? Before you fuss at me for not having my own bags that should be always in the trunk of our car so we don’t need to even had plastic bags, we do have an excuse this time. Our trunk was full of items which we were taking to Goodwill. On most trips to the store, we have been remembering to take our own bags.

But today, we were at the mercy of the grocery store. As I picked up the bags and would try to fill them before the checker would start with another bag, I just kept thinking about all the waste. But we checked out and began walking out to the car with all of our groceries, I told Randy, “it just makes me so mad that they use so many bags. Imagine how many trees must have been cut down to make all these bags.” He just looked at me and stopped loading the car. He shook his head and said, “well, I really don’t think that too many trees were cut down to make these plastic bags, so you don’t need to worry. Unless there are plastic bag trees.” When I realized what I had just said, we started laughing and I told him that he couldn’t tell anyone what I had just said. His response, “after all the things you blog about me, you can be sure that if you don’t post your blonde moment, I will start my own blog tonight and write about you.” So I really didn’t have a choice but to admit defeat and post my blonde moment. Now I just need to go back and buy a blonde kit so I have an excuse for saying that.

Uncategorized

Fudge Pie

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Some of our kids came to eat chile rellenos tonight which turned out so good and will post the recipe tomorrow! But the fudge pie was one I  just found on the Internet and it was delicious! Sorry I cut a piece before taking the picture. I had bought a can of chocolate Eagle Brand condensed milk and was wanting to use it but just didn’t know what to do with it. Well now I do! This pie was just so fudgy and creamy.  Very easy and used a Keebler chocolate cookie crust  topped it with whipped cream and nuts!

1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter

2 tables milk

1 (14oz) can chocolate flavored or regular Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 teas vanilla

1 chocolate cookie crust

chopped pecans *optional

whipped cream

in a  Glass bowl melt the chocolate chips butter and milk in the microwave for one minute stir until butter and chocolate chips are melted. Microwave 30 seconds more if chips are not all melted. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Add the beaten eggs. Pour the pie filling into the cookie crust and sprinkle pecans on top if desired. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for about 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold top with whip cream if desired refrigerate leftovers

 

 

 

appetizers · Dips · Super Bowl Recipes · Uncategorized

Texas Trash Warm Bean Dip

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

It is exciting to sit and begin to look for recipes for Super Bowl parties. Can’t wait to serve it with homemade chips at the party. Taken from Todd Yancey & Susie Pierce

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 cup sour cream

2 cans (16 oz each) refried beans

1 packet Taco Seasoning

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

2 cups Monterey jack cheese, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together cream cheese and sour cream in a large bowl. Mix in refried beans until combined. Stir in taco seasoning.

Spray a 9×13 baking pan with Pam. Spread mixture evenly into bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle the top with both cheeses.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and beginning to lightly brown. Serve with chips. When we were short on chips one night, I cup up flour tortillas and started frying them. Now, that is all our kid want is the homemade fried flour tortillas, sprinkled with a little garlic salt and a little cumin!

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Little Debbie Intervention

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OK, I admit, I am now addicted to Little Debbie Snowballs, Peanut Butter Creams, Gingerbread Cookies & last, because I just haven’t had the chance to try any of the others, the Oatmeal Cream Sandwiches Cookies. Honestly, you would think that any lady who always keeps a minimum of 6 lbs of butter in the fridge just in case she wakes up with a goal to bake  chocolate chip cookies before 8 a.m., would have a little higher standards than to pop open a box of cellophane wrapped baked goods that have enough preservatives in them to keep them fresh for 3 months. But no, I am totally addicted to the Peanut Butter Creams and the Gingerbread cookies. Since the gingerbread cookies aren’t available again until next Christmas I am resorting to making my own. Two days ago, I woke up determined to bake some gingerbread cookies to have with my morning Dr Pepper. When I went to the fridge to take out butter to allow it to soften to room temperature, I just stood there in totally disbelief. There was no butter in the house. I ran to the fridge in the garage, thinking that surely I just had not brought in another lb of the butter I had just bough at Costco. After all, could I have really gone through 8 lbs of butter in the last month? But as I opened the garage, my heart sank. It too, was void of any cholesterol laden butter that flows through our veins.

When Randy woke up that same morning and walked through the kitchen, with his hand held out for his morning cup of melted butter (just to be sure he gets his daily quota), I had to tell him that he was just going to have to get dressed and head to the store because our home was in a state of crisis. No butter anywhere to be found. It is now clear to me how coffee drinkers feel when they wake up and discover that there is no coffee in the house. Just to calm our nerves we both went to the pantry and grabbed the first box of Little Debbie cookies we could get our hands on.

Randy just informed me that since we now have butter in the house, I have to go back to cooking dinner as he is finally getting tired of having Snowballs for dinner. So if the dinner I cook tonight turns out half as good as a LD, I will post my recipe for it tomorrow, in between bites of Peanut Butter Creams!

Little Debbie cookies are the best that can be found, our pantry is loaded with them from the ceiling to the ground.

The variety is amazing and the cream filled are so grand, it seems that every few hours, we have one in our hand.

So grab a box and get your coffee brewing, you’ll be addicted before you know what your doing! So start your day with a cream filled delight, but be oh so careful to save some for watching tv at night.

I’m a writer, not a poet!

 

Cookies · Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Uncategorized

Little Debbie & Little Trudy

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

2016 is starting off with a bang! We have discovered some very important facts:

  1. We are now the old people that we use to laugh at. This morning while making Randy some toast, my phone binged with a text. I went to respond and Randy ask me who was texting me so early in the morning. I told him that it was Mandy (our daughter-in-law) and she ask me to take her to Costco so she could get a few things. He looked at me kind of funny and I ask him why. He said (and I quote) “why are you taking Mandy to the hospital?” My response was, (and I quote, in a very loud voice) “you old geezer,  I’m not taking her to the hospital, I’m taking her to COSTCO!” We both just died laughing, realizing that we were now the people that we use to laugh about when we would see a cartoon about 2 old people who totally misunderstood the conversation. Hospital-Costco, not really seeing how those two words are even remotely mistaken for the other. His excuse was that he wasn’t able to fall asleep until about 4 a.m. and that he was not deaf, just tired. Yeah, sure….that’s why the TV volume is turned up to 45.
  2. Now to the second new years finding. I am hooked on Little Debbie anything. At 65 years of age, I had never tried any of the  Little Debbie cookies or baked items. I always just thought all those cookies, brownies and little miniature cakes were for folks who never baked or just had them around the house to throw in their kids lunch boxes. Well, during Christmas, Frosty went shopping and brought home a box of Little Debbie Gingerbread cookies. We went through about 5 boxes. Admitting that we even went as far as him dropping me off at a couple of stores for me to run in to see if they had any boxes of them left, we savored the few we had and hid them from the grandkids so they we wouldn’t have to share the few we had left. Are we just the best grandparents or what?
Well, today, we are out running from store to store to buy items for gift bags for a ladies tea on Sunday. We walked down the Little Debbie cookie aisle and Randy begins to tell me how good the oatmeal cream filled cookies are. He reminds me that our friend Gary (to keep your reputation safe, Gary I won’t say your last name as anyone who comes into your courtroom might make fun of you for being in love with Little Debbie Oatmeal Creams) was also talking at dinner the other night about how good those little gems were, so Randy isn’t the only one our age that was in love with Little Debbie. So we put 8 boxes in the basket (we only needed 7 for the gift baskets, but he wanted to be sure we had some for us as it makes watching re-runs on TV not so bad.)  When I told him I had homemade chocolate chip cookies and homemade ginger cookies in the freezer that we could take out, he replied, “oh let’s save those for company and just eat these tonight.” I’m keeping the other 7 boxes in the trunk to keep them safe from us.
So my new found fact is that it’s impossible to stay a little size and eat Little Debbie cookies. Just not possible! How can something that comes in a box with an expiration date of February 2016 wrapped in cellophane be so good?  My cookies taste stale after 3 days. I hope one day to meet Little Debbie and ask her how she does it.
Would people buy them if they were called, BIG FAT Debbie Oatmeal Creams? Maybe that’s why we only see Little Debbie’s face, who knows what the bottom half looks like?
Soups · Uncategorized

Happy New Year Stew

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

Happiest of New Year’s to all! We are in anti-shopping mode for a few days after the last 2 weeks of shopping for gifts, then taking back a few items and then spending some of the gift cards we received. So the thought of going even grocery shopping just has me wanting to do cook anything that is left in the frigid to avoid going grocery shopping. This morning I thought about how long had it been since we really had just plain ole (when you live in the south, you can use that term, “plain ole”) veggie soup. So after going through every drawer in the (oh my gosh, I almost said, “ice box) fridge, I found enough veggies to actually make vegetable soup. No meat, just veggies. To add some extra flavor I added a can of mild green chile sauce and chicken base granules. Lots of garlic to ward off any winter colds and WA-la, you have a great soup. Since I had some fresh black eyed peas which I was going to cook today for good luck, I threw those in also.

Ingredients

1 cup of frozen chopped onion, celery & green bell pepper (I buy those little bags of the creole frozen combination at Kroger for about $1.27)

1 tables olive oil

1 zucchini, diced

1 cup chopped carrots

2 peeled and diced potatoes

2 cups chopped cabbage

1/2 cup fresh black eyed peas

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can of mild green chile sauce

2 tables chicken granules

12 cup frozen Lima beans (I know, I know, you can omit these if you don’t like them, like so many don’)

Sauté the onion, celery-pepper mix in the heated olive oil. Add garlic to your liking and stir until onion is tender. Add all the rest of the ingredients and bake in a 300 preheated oven for about 2-3 hours, or until vegetables are tender.

Serve with corn bread muffins. Ours is in the oven while we are off to the movies. Have a glorious and blessed New Years! image

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Christmas Clocks & Car Decor

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

To everyone who has read Chocolate Castles in 2021 I just want to thank you. The Annual Report from Word press arrived today and it was exciting to see that over 18,000 people from over 90 countries read my blog this past year. So just wanted to thank each of you who have stopped by at one time or another to check out recipes or stories. Chocolate Castles began in 2009 as a result of friends calling to ask me a recipe. When Jason, my son was with me one day and I received a couple of phone calls requesting a certain recipe, he suggested that I start a blog. When I told him I didn’t have a clue what a blog was, he sat down and showed me. From that point on, I was hooked. It is so exciting to see comments or hear from friends that they found a recipe which was a hit with their family or a story had made them laugh.
Which brings me to what happened as Randy and I were driving home today from buying black eyed peas for tomorrow. . We were stopped at a red light and a young man in a pick up pulled up beside us. I glanced over and saw something that made me perk right up. There hanging in his windows were Christmas lights strung all across the back window of his pick up. When I began to grab Randy’s arm to get him to look over at them, he was already for me. I turned with a huge grin to say, “OH my gosh, look what we can do next year! We can line the dashboard of our car with garland and put those little battery operated Christmas lights all over it” when he gave me the most glaring look and said, “you have got to be kidding me. No lights will be inside or outside our car.” Visions of going to see if I could find another Christmas clock that plays Christmas carols at Walgreens (yes that is where I have found them in years past) which play a different carol on the hour was already going through my mind for next year. I could just see our new Christmas clock sitting proudly on the dashboard right in the middle of the lit garland. We would be the first Friscoians I bet to display our Christmas spirit this way. Just this year I was finally able to talk him into buying the reindeer antlers for the car, but never got him to actually put them on the car. Maybe Christmas 2022 will be the year that I can talk him into driving around with antlers and the red nose on the front of our car. AND…install my new garland with lights!
But next year, the day after Thanksgiving, if you see a little white car with lit garland inside their car, please take the time to wave at us. Maybe you will get to stop at a red light beside us and we will display our holiday spirit by rolling down our car window so you can enjoy the sounds of our new Christmas Clock in the car. Am headed to Walgreens now to see if they still have any before all their Christmas stuff is put away for the year.
So here is to 2022and the continuing of sharing a few of my passions, cooking and writing. Happy New Year to one and all!

Uncategorized

Holiday Stew

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This is a great stew to have for dinner on these cool December nights.

Chocolate Castles's avatarChocolate Castles

This one is a winner, all you little elfs out there. It was served at a friends progressive dinner the other night and everyone had a fit over it.

1 1/2 lb pork cut into cubes

2 cups chopped onion

16 oz Kielbasa or Polish sausage cut in to 1/2 in slices

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 carrots, pealed and sliced

6 red potatoes pealed and sliced

15 oz chicken broth

2 cans cannelline beans, rinsed and drained

1 can tomato paste

1 teas dried thyme, crushed

1/2 teas ground black pepper

1/2 cup coarsely chopped tomates (you can used canned)

Combine ingredients in slow cooker, except for the tomatoes. Cook on low heat for 8 to 10 hours or high heat for4-5 hours. Add tomatoes and cook 10 more minutes. (You can add the tomates with the rest of the ingredients if using canned). Garnish with any toppings you…

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Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

A Different Type of Christmas Carol

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It’s the dream of every (well almost every) grandmother to have a houseful of family over Christmas, and I am no exception. When our kids from Phoenix decided to come here for Christmas week, we were elated. Oh I could just imagine the sights and sounds we would get to have all around us. The grandkids are now 14, 6 and 3. Our 2 adult kids that live here have one child each, one 18 months, the other family 11 years. We have a granddaughter, 5 which lives in Orlando but was not blessed to see them this Christmas so one less to bake for.  So we have quite a span in ages. About a week ago, I began making cookie dough to put in the freezer so that all I had to do was unthaw and bake.  I made sure that I knew how to find the Christmas music stations on the TV so the house would be filled with “Ring The Bells, Joy to the World and Silent Night while we snacked on homemade cookies, made just for the precious angels that would be running in and out all week. Making sure to have just everyone’s favorite cookie made, I had my checklist all checked twice and made sure that everyone’s favorite was made and on the platter the minute they walked in the house. Isn’t it amazing how we conjure up what we feel like would be the perfect way to begin Christmas. Visions of a pretty platter of peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip and sugar cookies sitting out, while listening to It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas playing in the background. The little ones would bring us the book,  Twas The Night Before Christmas while wiping sleepies from their eyes the first morning here. We would have the fireplace going with Frosty The Snowman movie on the TV while they cuddled on our laps. IS THERE A FAMILY THAT GETS TO ACTUALLY PLAY THIS SCENE OUT? If there is, please send me to them so I can see what that is really like!

So far, the visit has gone like this:

The 14 year old arrives, gives us a hug, disappeared to the bedroom and worked on his hair for 30 minutes. Then left to go spend the night with his cousin. Haven’t seen or heard from him since. But we still have the 6 and 3 year old right?

Well, after having the 6 year old in our bedroom on a makeshift bed, he awoke this morning asking every 10 minutes, “can I open a present”! Literally, when we finally had to tell him that every time he ask that, we would take one of the presents out from under the tree and give it to someone else. So he rephrased the question to, “can I NOT open a present” telling us that he wasn’t asking “can I open a present now”, so it didin’t count so we couldn’t take any of his presents away since he wasn’t asking that question. After we got that settled and thought, “ok, we won that battle” he begins to stomp around the house singing,  “What do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor, so early in the morning?”

I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know what I would like to do with a little 6 year old that sings that song over and over 15 times.

Maybe if I offer them some homemade goodies, they will be more in the Christmas spirit. So I bring out all the homemade cookies, that are sure to put a sparkle in their eye. They look at them and say, “Nana, do you have any of those Little Debbie Christmas trees you gave us when you came to visit us?” What? They are choosing Little Debbie over Nana?

Everyone is gone for a couple of hours, even Frosty left (probably is sitting in the car at a park someplace to get some peace and quiet) so I am sitting here, listening to Christmas Bells Are Ringing. At least I can have visions in my head of what some magical family out there is experiencing with family. And I wonder why our kids gave us a CD of Christmas Vacation with Clark Griswald. Maybe because our family much more resembles that family that the families inside the pages of Southern Living.

Do we really think it was an accident that Grandma stepped in front of the reindeer? Hum….maybe she just couldn’t take listening to “what do you do with a drunken sailor” one more time!

Merry Christmas to one and all! May you and your family make some precious memories this year as you celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord! Because of Him, we can have life eternal, peace on Earth and Joy….we give Him thanks for the laughter and joy that fills our home this Christmas!