OK, I have to admit it, this is one of my most favorite nights. I love it when people call and you ask them to drop in, and they do. It reminds me of “days gone by”. When people took the time to visit, unplanned, and sit and have a piece of pie with you and just visit. This is a treat. Some friends of ours air conditioning is broken and I called them to tell them that I had made a chocolate cream pie with whipped cream that I wanted to bring over. Instead, we decided to ask them over here to eat the pie, since we do (thank you Lord) have air conditioning again (after it was broke last month for a couple of weeks). What a nice surprise to just have them come over, and we will have a great evening. It is the unplanned nights sometimes that end up the best, gotta go and slice the pie, they are driving up……we will save you a piece! Drop on over, we would love to have you.
Having a Baby at a Baby Shower?
This is just too cute not to share. We were having a gathering of relatives to celebrate our daughter, Christi, being pg and due in September. Our grandson, Sevy who is 6 was present and coming and going into the room where we were opening presents. Unbeknownst to him, one of the guest, Leslie, had just had a baby girl a couple of months ago. The baby had fallen asleep on the floor. Sevy, had not seen the baby and when he came back into the room, he looked at the baby on the floor and then at Christi and said, “oh my gosh, when did the baby come out?” We all just lost it. He thought that since this was a baby shower and when he left the room for a few minutes and came back in, Christi had had the baby. It was just the cutest thing. He quickly learned that it was not Christi’s baby and he laughed at himself when he realized the baby belonged to Leslie.
Will be puitting the shower on a Smilebox for everyone to enjoy!
Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake
1 Duncan Hines Devils food cake mix, prepared and baked according to directions on box (making 2 layers)
Glaze
4 squares Baker’s Semi-Sweet Baking chocolate
1/4 cup butter, cut up
Filling
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups thawed cool whip Whipped topping
12 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich cookies, coarsely crushed
Cool cake layers after baking.
For glaze: melt chocolate in small microwave bowl for 1 to 2 min or until chocolate is melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Blend in butter. Set aside to slighly thicken (about 5 min)
Filling:
Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Gently stir in Cool Whip and crushed cookies. Place 1 layer of the cake on a serving plate. Spread top of cake layer with the cream cheese mixture. Place remaining cake layer on top. Spoon glaze to cover the top of cake. Makes 16 servings. Store in fridge, covered, if not serving immediately.
Citrus Crunch Chicken
1 medium each: lemon, lime and orange
1 pouch Shake and Bake Original Seasoning
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
Preheat oven to 500. Grate peel from half of each of the fruits. Combine with the contents of the coating mix. Cover chicken evenly with the mixture following directions on package.
Cut fruit into thin slices. Arrange with slices slightly overlapping on bottom of foil-lined 13 x 9 baking pan which you have greased. Top with chicken.
Bake for 30 min or until chicken is done. Serve with the fruit slices with rice and fresh green beans.
*You can also microwave about 1/2 orange marmelade and sprinkle contents over chicken before serving over rice.
Sizzling Sunday
It is just so hot outside, 103 degrees and just standing outside getting groceries out of the trunk made me feel like my feet were getting sunburn. So am staying indoors and cooking. We are having a little baby shower and luncheon for Christi on Tues, which gives me an opportunity to bake and cook and have people over, which is a favorite pasttime. The menu of the day will be spinach salad, chicken salad sandwiches and fruit salad, with cucumber sandwiches, dark chocolate truffles and of course the precious centerpiece of the baby shower cake. It is just so exciting to plan these little get togethers and see how the young moms react to the gifts which they receive. Christi and Tim, we are thrilled for you both to be the recipients of God’s greatest treasure and blessing to your lives. It will be exciting to see the precious little girl grow up and Iwant you both to know that your dad and I will commit to praying for this child, each and every day, as we do our other grandchildren. It will be awesome to see what God is going to do in her life. Begin today to pray for the Godly man that she will marry. Enjoy each moment, every day will be a lesson, every day will be different, but every day will be a memory, so laugh at your mistakes, laugh at her mistakes and use each opportunity to teach her about her Heavenly Father who will be directing her life. Our love goes with you when you go back to Florida next week. We cannot wait to lay our eyes on this precious new baby. We will be so honored to be called, Honey Nonnie and Pops and we will be praying that we will always be the grandparents that God intends. We love you both and cannot wait for the moment that this baby comes into the world……..it will be a moment which you will never forget.
Parmesan Garlic Bread
1 loaf French bread
4 tbsp butter, softened
2 cloves garlic, chopped or 2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup shreded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350. Cut bread in half lengthwise. Place, cut sides up, in shallow baking pan. Mix butter and garlic until well blended. Spread evenly onto bread halves. sprinkle with cheese.
Bake 15 min or until cheese is melted. Cut each bread half crosswise into 6 slices. Serve warm.
Lemon Pudding Cake
Talk about scrumptious! This is just awesome and so easy.
1 pkg yellow cake mix (2 layer Duncan Hines)
2 cups cold milk
1 1/4 cups water
2 pkg (4-serving size each) Jello Lemon Flavor instant Pudding & PIe filling
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tables powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare cake mix as directed on package. Pour batter into greased 13×9 baking dish.
Pour Milk and water into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes and granulated sugar. Beat with wire whisk 2 min or until well blended. Pour over cake batter in dish. Place baking dish on baking sheet to catch drippins, as mixture does bubble.
Bake 55 min to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 20 min. Mixture will thicken slightly as it cools. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Spoon onto serving dishes. Serve warm; garnish with raspberries if desired and whipping cream.
There’s no need to reheat leftovers. This cake is also delicious as a cold treat. The lemon filling transforms from sauce and gooey to thick and custard-like. Yum….
Shrimp Salad and Baked Aspargus
For a light summer luncheon, try the following, it will not disappoint.
2 lb fresh asparagus
1/3 cup sour cream
3 tables melted butter
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teas crumbled basil leaves (or dried basil)
1/2 teas paprika
1/2 teas salt
Cook asparagus in small amount of salted water. Place in single layer in a 12x9x2 pan. Spread with sour cream. Combine butter, bread crumbs, basil, salt and paprika and sprinkle over asparagus. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 min or until bread crumbs are lightly browned. Yields 6 servings.
Shrimp Salad (This is one of my favs)
3 cups cooked shrimp, chopping each one in half
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 teas garlic salt
1/4 teas cayenne pepper
1/2 teas dill
1 cup mayo
Blend dill with mayo and then add rest of ingredients. Let this chill together for a few hours. May be served on top of spinach leaves with cut quarters of tomatoes. I sprinkle chopped parsley over the top before serving.
New Car Fever
It appears that everybody around me is getting or has gotten a new car in the last 2 weeks. Randy and I have been looking for a month, but have just not made up our minds on the type, style and color we really want. If we find the style and make, we cannot find the right color, and if we find the right color, it is the wrong model. So we continue to search car lots, computer and basically anyting that has the word “new car” attached to it. Our daughter and her husband came by on Saturday with a new car. They have entered the world of “minivans” since they seem to have several children always at their house, besides their own. They were so excited to show us all the bells, whistles and how the doors opened and closed with the touch of a button, how you can lay down the seats to create more floor space and all 17 drink holders which will be used for trash, I’m sure, as I have had these same kids in our car and am always having to dig bent straws, chewing gum, old M&M’s, show tickets, price tags off toys that they couldn’t wait to open. Well, you get the idea. So now they will just have more spaces to hid “kid trash”. But they are so excited, rubbing their hands over the new clean smooth seats and vowing never to let the kids eat in the car. We have bets on how long this rule will actually last, one week, one weekend? Will keep you updated on that. Anyway, as they were showing us the “upholstery” we quickly remembered when we lived in California and Jodi was in the market for a car. She was gainfully employed and asked Randy if he would go with her to look at cars. She had her budget and knew pretty much what kind of car she wanted. So one Saturday, off they went. I kept Jaden with me at home, just knowing that they would come home with a new car for her and Jaden.
When they walked in the door, I could see that their mission had been accomplished. But……..there was a story to be told. As they had gone for a test drive in one of the cars, Jodi commented how well she liked that car to Randy and begain to ask about the resale value and questions in general. When they were sitting in the car, waiting for the salesman to go ask his manager about the “best deal” he could give them, Randy begain to show Jodi some of the details of the car, one that she hadn’t noticed. “Randy, this is really nice gray color upholstery in this car, isn’t it?” “Yes, it is, in fact, Jodi, this is actually the upscale mouse fur that is shaved very close and the reason this car costs a little more is how many mice they had to use to create all the interior of this car. See the nice smooth texture and the color is all the same.” Jodi then proceeds to ask him, “how many mice do you think it took to cover all the seats and door sides?” Well, we can ask the salesman when he comes back, maybe he will know. So when the salesman came back to the car, she proceeded to ask him if he knew how many mice it took to cover the inside of the car? You can imagine the look on his face. Randy just could not hold it any longer. He begain to laugh until he cried.
So from that point on, we always ask, when buying a car, “I wonder how many mice it took to cover all the seats and doors?” before we buy. After all, we want to be sure to get the “royal mouse fur”, nut just any common mouse fur for us! No siree! Will keep you posted if we join the ranks of the new car owners. Until then, every day, something else breaks on my car, today, the sun roof wouldn’t close, the other day, the back door will not open at all. So I guess the positive is, when you are on the right side of the car and wanting in, since the door won’t work, just climb in through the sun roof. At least, that will be Randy’s thought.
Chicken Fried Steak
Buy cubed steak (this is much more tender than just buying round steak and having to pound it tender)
Mix 1 egg with 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour mixed with 3 teas garlic powder, 1 teas dried parsley, salt and pper
Cut steak into small pieces, as this makes it easier to work with. I cut each piece into the size of 3 to 4 bite sizes. Dip each piece into egg mixture and then into flour mixture, being sure that each piece is covered well with flour. Do this until you have coated each piece of steak and layed it out to dry while finishing the entire package.
When finised coating the steak, bring about 1 cup of oil in a large skillet to sizzling. With a fork, lay pieces of steak, not touching another piece into skillet. Brown well on each side and lay out on a plate, which you have covered in paper towels. Continue till all steak pieces are browned on both sides.
In the remaining oil, lower heat to low and slice 1/2 onion into pan drippings. Stir continually so it won’t burn. Add about 1/3 cup flour, sprinkling it over the onion/drippings mixture. Sprinkle more salt and pepper to taste and add 1 can of beef broth and stir until thicken. I usually add 1/2 can of French Onion soup mixture also. If this mixture is not think enough, add cornstarch mixture of 1/2 cup water which you have stirred in 1 tables cornstarch, to the broth mixture stirring constantly (use a whip if needed).
Layer steak into a greased dutch oven and pour broth mixture over meat. Bake in 350 preheated oven for 45 min. Serve with mashed potatoes or rice and fried okra, green beans and sliced tomatoes.
