Apples Again!

September just seems like the month when I crave apples.  I love sweet apples - I'm a Gala, Red Delicious, or Golden Delicious fan!  I am not wild about Granny Smiths, because they are so tart, but my hubby would choose them over any other kind of apple. I guess that is what makes apples such a great fruit - there are so many different varieties and they all have slightly different tastes.  I just finished off a large quantity of Gala apples and this past weekend, I moved onto some big ole Golden Delicious - YUM!  I thought they would be perfect to bake with, so I found a Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars recipe from a cute blog: The Girl Who Ate Everything.  I am pretty sure it's her take on a Paula Deen recipe.  I decided that it would be perfect to make for our church's Homecoming Sunday celebration.
I love my church!  I go to New Mt. Tabor United Methodist Church.  It's a small church and I have attended this church since I was born (other than a few years when we were at college or lived out of town - then we attended other churches).  It's that quintessential small-town, country church, where everyone is your neighbor.  People who truly pray for you when they say "I'll pray for you" and people who love your children as if they were their own.  People who give you food from their garden or fresh baked goods from their oven, just because they care about you.  People who find a need in the community and then give everything they've got to fulfill that need.  I know some people say that church isn't about the people in it - it's about the Holy Spirit.  I agree.  But, isn't it awesome to go to a church where the Holy Spirit is alive and working in us PLUS you're surrounded by caring, friendly people?!  Sorry... I got off on a tangent!  I can't help praising God for my church family, once I start thinking of them.

Back to the apple recipe... I knew it'd be perfect for our Sunday lunch, after our Homecoming service today.  The only problem was that I'd never actually made or tasted this dessert.  Oh well, I could tell by the ingredients list that it would have to be yummy.

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
Here's what you'll need:
Crust --
2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 sticks (1 c.) butter, softened

Cheesecake Layer --
3 pks. (8 oz. each) cream cheese (I used 2 low-fat packs, and 1 regular pack)
3/4 c. sugar + 2 Tbsp sugar (keep these 2 amounts divided up - you'll use the 2 Tbsp for the next layer)
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Apple Layer --
3 large apples peeled, cored, and finely chopped
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Streusel Topping --
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. quick cooking oats
1 stick (1/2 c.) butter, softened
Caramel sauce or ice cream topping (Save this for after baking and you can use as little or as much as you'd like - I used about 1/2-2/3 cup.

Here's what you'll do to make it:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In medium bowl, combine ingredients for the crust, using a pastry blender or two forks to cut the butter into small bits, while mixing it well with the other ingredients.  Press evenly into a 9x13" dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray, or lined with foil. Bake 15 minutes until browned.
3. In another, large bowl, beat cream cheese with 3/4 cup of sugar until smooth, with an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition.  Add in vanilla and mix well once more.  Pour over warm crust.
4. In a small bowl, combine apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg for the apple layer.  Add to this mixture the remaining 2 Tbsp. of sugar.  Mix well, then spread evenly over the cheesecake layer.
5. Finally, combine the ingredients for the streusel topping in a separate bowl, except the caramel sauce.  Mix until crumbly.  Sprinkle over the top of the apple layer.  This covered almost the whole dish for me and when it baked, it spread out some, so the entire top was covered.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes, then drizzle with caramel sauce.
7.  Chill for 3-4 hours or overnight.
*I highly recommend running a knife around the edges before trying to serve this dessert, as the crust layer tended to stick in the corners, especially.

Yumm-O!  If you're a cheesecake fan and an apple fan, then this dish is for you.  This was one of my hubby's favorites.  He loves apple pies or apple jack pies and he loves cheesecake, so he has already requested that I make this one again soon.   Hope you enjoy!

I'm baaaack... with apples on my mind!

It's been a while, friends!  I thought that I would have more time during our summer break to do more posts on this blog, but we had a busy summer with baseball season lasting until mid-July, two nieces born this summer, a couple of summer teacher workshops and meetings to attend here and there, and a whole lot of "areas" in my house that desperately needed to be cleaned up and out before August arrived.  Anyway, summer came & went and then those hectic first few weeks have school have just passed by and I am **almost** settled back into a routine.

Last weekend, my boys had their first football games and the weather was great - just a hint of coolness in the air!  It made me very hopeful that Fall would arrive and stay for a while.  (I LOVE summer, but I am ready for a change.  Besides, our summer here was filled with rainy days this year!)  So, to celebrate the almost-arrival of Autumn, I made a delicious Fresh Apple Pound Cake with Caramel Glaze.  It was heavenly.  Surprisingly, my I-do-not-like-pound-cake husband has eaten quite a few slices this week and I am pretty sure that last Sunday his slice of cake was his dinner (I take Sunday dinners off!).  I've had a few friends ask for the recipe, so I thought it would be perfect to share here.  I got the recipe from our local newspaper a few years ago.  I still have the clipping, but it doesn't name a source or an author in the part I have saved.  Whoever came up with this recipe has my thanks.  It's a great Fall-Kickoff dessert recipe!

Fresh Apple Pound Cake:

3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 c. sugar
3 lg. eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. pecans, chopped medium-fine
2 c. apples, peeled, cored, & chopped finely (I used about 3 big apples)

1. Sift flour, soda, & salt into bowl.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat oil, sugar, eggs, & vanilla at medium speed for 3-4 minutes.  Gradually add in flour mixture and beat until smooth.
3.  Fold in pecans and apples.  Pour batter into a greased & floured bundt pan.
4.  Bake at 325 degrees F for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until done (see if a knife comes out clean).  Cool 20 minutes.

Caramel Glaze:

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. milk

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan, over low heat.  Once melted, whisk in brown sugar and milk.  Whisk until well-blended and has a texture similar to caramel sauce.  Drizzle over cake, once it has cooled for about 20-30 minutes.  *I drizzle 1/2 of this sauce over the cake after about 20 minutes of cooling.  Then I drizzle the remainder over it after it has cooled completely, so that some will stay on top, after some has already soaked into the cake. Yum!

Today, I woke up to temps in the upper 50s!  That means it'll be time to get NC Mountain apples any day now!  This recipe would be perfect for using up some of those delicious apples, straight from the orchard!  Hope you enjoy!

Squash it!

In my last post, I told you that there would be some squash recipes coming soon.  Well, here we are.  I've been teaching a class this week at the local community college, so I've neglected my garden until today.  Here is my squash harvest:

Well, this is actually minus the three squash I used to go with dinner tonight.  These all came from 4 squash plant in our garden!  There are about 10 additional squash out there that will be ready in another 24-48 hours too!  And, what is up with those conjoined squash???  Oh well...

I love squash.  Whenever I think of summer, I think of squash (and tomatoes, and corn, and okra...).  When I was a kid, my dad's schedule seemed super busy in the summer - I am sure it was super-busy during other seasons too, but I guess when I was out of school, I noticed just how busy he was.  He would get up to milk cows, hours before the sun rose, come in and try to sleep an hour (with my 3 sisters and I running around the house), and then return back to plant, fertilize, spray, or harvest the crops.  Plus, he had to go back to tend to the cows during the day, then milk the cows again mid-afternoon each day.  I remember he would come home to eat lunch, or we'd all eat lunch over at my Memaw's house, and there always seemed to be some fried squash available.  I always wanted the fried squash that had almost gotten burned - I liked them crispy.  :)

As an adult, when I fry squash, I am always taken back to those lunches around the table during summer time, when my Daddy would come home to eat.  Lunch was usually a hot dog, a bologna sandwich, or left overs, along with sides of whatever was available from the garden - and that almost always included squash!  I try to utilize the squash that we harvest from our garden.  I hate to see them go to waste, so now with plenty of squash coming out of our garden, most of our dinners include a side of squash!  I have to change it up, so that no one gets sick of squash.  Here is one variation on a squash side dish.  It's healthy too!

Steamed Squash & Onions

Here's What You'll Need:
3-4 squash, sliced (cut off both ends, then slice about 1/2" thick slices)
1/2 onion, cut into thin wedges
salt/pepper and Nature's Seasoning
1 Tbsp. butter (optional)
Non-stick spray
Foil

Here's What You'll Do:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Tear off a large sheet of aluminum foil (large enough to hold squash slices on one half of the sheet). Spray the foil with non-stick spray.
3. Place squash slices and onion onto one half of the foil.  Season with salt & paper and Nature's Seasoning.  Cut up the Tbsp. of butter and put dabs of the butter around on top of the squash & onions.

4.  Fold foil over and roll up the edges, so it forms a sealed packet.

5. Cook in the oven for about 25 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes.  Carefully open up the packet (the steam that will come out will be very hot!) and serve.

Quick & simple & yummy too.  Clean up just involves throwing away the foil!
Now I'll move on to figure out how to use the remaining 24 squash that came out of the garden tonight.  Maybe I'll take some over to my Mom & Dad's house, and fry them up tomorrow for lunch.  I bet I can even find stuff to make a bologna sandwich to go with them!
Happy Summer Y'all!!

Lettuce Celebrate Summer!

Summer is here!  Okay, well not officially - that doesn't happen until like June 21st, but I am a teacher and I have finished up my final teacher workdays, so MY summer has started and I am very thrilled!  Not that I wanted to leave my 58 precious fifth graders - it was a wonderful year and I loved each day, but everyone needs a mental break every once in a while.  (Just between you and me, I will be WAITING on July 5th to get here, because that is when big box stores begin putting out school supplies and by then, I will be very ready to start gearing back up for a new school year.)

My husband and I planted our little garden in late April.  Everything is coming right along, but the only thing that is ready and available to eat in our garden is the lettuce.  Boy do I have a lot of lettuce.  If you are afraid of gardening, or only have a small space (or a small window box even), then you should definitely plant some lettuce or spinach.  Both of these grow very easily, do not require deep soil, and replenish themselves, as you pick off leaves for your salads or sandwiches.  They grow quickly too!

With an abundance of lettuce growing in our garden, I decided to try to find something to prepare that would use up some of it.  I am also keeping in mind that my husband is trying to eat healthy and tries to avoid a lot of carbs (breads, rice, potatoes, etc.) in the evenings.  Plus, it's been like 93 degrees here or hotter the last few days and with that heat, we just want something light for dinner.  I found a great recipe here and of course, I modified it.  Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps are what's for dinner for our family tonight.

Here's What You Will Need:
Lettuce Leaves (depending on size - anywhere from 6-12 leaves)
2-3 Large chicken breasts
1 stalk celery
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1/4-1/2 cup Buffalo Wing Sauce (I like Frank's)
1/2 packet ranch dressing mix
1/4 cup sour cream

Here's What You'll Do:
1. In a crockpot, place chicken (mine were frozen), broth, celery, & onion.  Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
2. Remove chicken and 1/2 c. broth. (Discard remaining broth.) Shred chicken with forks (it will literally fall apart when you begin picking at it with a fork).
3. Put chicken, ranch mix, sour cream, wing sauce back into crockpot, mix well and heat through (on high, about 20-30 minutes).
4.  Once heated through (and cooled slightly), place a spoonful onto a lettuce leaf.  You can wrap it up and eat it like it is, or you can choose to add some toppings before you wrap it all up.  We added shredded carrots and cheese.  I added crumbled bacon to mine, as well (I highly recommend this, even though it lessens the healthy factor to a degree).

These were very yummy!  I served them with some watermelon and carrots with ranch dressing (my kids' favorite healthy snack).  It was a great, light supper - and pretty healthy too!  The lettuce tasted so good, maybe just because I know it came straight out of my garden!  I am sure I'll be using a lot of that lettuce in salads and on tomato sandwiches in the very near future.

My garden is growing well - very soon we'll have yellow summer squash and I've got lots of recipes for squash, so be on the look-out for those very soon!  Cucumbers and tomatoes are not far behind either.  I can't wait!!!

Mtn. Dew + Cake = One Happy Girl!

It's Memorial Day weekend and I want to start this post by saying THANK YOU to all of the men and women and their families who have sacrificed to provide freedom and liberty for me and my family.  I am proud to know many military families and I am proud to be a granddaughter of a WWII Veteran.  God bless each of you and watch over those who are currently serving in the armed forces!

My baby sister is in town, the weather is perfect, we're playing baseball games all weekend, so we decided to do a little cook-out at my parents' tonight.  I have really been thinking about a pound cake in the back of my mind for a few weeks now.  I haven't made one because my husband is not a fan of pound cake.  Just ask him... of course he has a story to go with it. :)  If I make a pound cake, I have to find people to help me eat it.  Otherwise I eat it all or throw half of a cake away.  So today, after baseball practice, football signups, and a baseball game, I decided that I am going to make that pound cake!

My sister Jenny has made a Sun-Drop Pound Cake before and it was so good!  I do not keep any "yellow" soft drinks in the house -- I'm a Pepsi-Max or Diet Cherry Pepsi kind-of gal, so I knew that Sun-Drop wasn't an option.  However, I found two Mtn. Dews in the basement fridge, from a family gathering a few weeks back.  I decided that Mtn. Dew would suffice.  I found a good recipe for a Sun-Drop Pound Cake here,  but I had to make a few adjustments.  Lemon flavoring?!??  Who really keeps that on hand... well, not me - I've got vanilla, rum, and almond extracts, but not lemon.  So, I modified things...  It turned out to be AMAZING - very light and moist!  My hubby hasn't gotten home yet, but I think even HE will like this version of pound cake.

Here's What You'll Need:
2 sticks of butter (soft/room temperature)
1/2 cup of Crisco (+extra to grease the cake pan)
3 cups of sugar
5 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 cups (minus 3 Tbsp) of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Mtn. Dew

Here's What You'll Do:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour a bundt or tube pan, then set it aside.
2. Mix the butter, Crisco, and sugar together well, until creamy, using a mixer.
3. Add the eggs one at a time.  Let it mix well in between each addition.
4. Add the vanilla, lemon zest & juice and mix well.
5. Add the flour and Mtn. Dew  - alternate flour, Mtn. Dew, flour, Mtn. Dew, etc., mixing well after each addition.
6. Pour the cake batter into the greased/floured pan and bake for 1 hour -1 hour & 15 minutes.  I check mine starting at 50 minutes and go from there.  When a butter knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, then it's ready!
7.  Make Mtn. Dew Drizzle to ice the cake and drizzle it onto the warm cake, after it has cooled about 10-15 minutes.

Here's the Drizzle Recipe:
1. Mix 2 cups of confectioner's sugar (10x sugar), 2 Tbs. softened butter, and 3-4 Tbsp. Mtn. Dew, using mixer. Add more Mtn. Dew if the "drizzle" is too thick. Don't add too much, because if it drips down the sides of the cake too much, it will all just be around the bottom of the cake.  You want it to adhere to the cake somewhat.

Bacon Goes Good With Everything!

I used to be a vegetarian.  Seriously!  I became a vegetarian on January 1st, 1997.  I wanted to see how long I could go without meat.  I didn't really LOVE meat beforehand anyway.  I typically only ate chicken & pork.  (What girl is raised on a farm and does not appreciate a good hamburger or steak?  This girl, that's who!)  I know it's weird for most people to comprehend.  I lasted over 6 years.  It all ended when I was pregnant with my first child.  It was a teacher workday and some of my colleagues and I were in training all day.  When we got a lunch break, we headed out to eat.  This was when I lived in Durham and I taught at a school on the other side of the city, so I just tagged along with my coworkers to a nearby BBQ joint.  No big deal - I can order a salad or some veggies at practically any restaurant.  But, when I walked in, I was overwhelmed by the most delicious smell of BBQ pork!  I knew right then and there that I had to have a BBQ sandwich.  For the remaining months of my pregnancy, I craved BBQ.  Now I will eat chicken in addition to pork and some seafood.  It took a while after my first BBQ craving to give bacon another try.  I forgot what I was missing out on!  What is it about bacon that makes it so darn tasty???  We make cheesy, bacon potatoes on the grill, bacon/egg/cheese sandwiches for breakfast, and grilled cheese & bacon sandwiches for supper some nights.  Bacon just goes good with almost everything... my sister's sister-in-law recently made a bacon-maple-buttercream cake.  It looked divine, but I am not so sure about bacon dessert yet.  Who knows, though.  I will have to give a try one day in the near future!

With bacon on the brain, I thought that tonight would be a good night to fix one of our family's favorites.  I have my sister Laura to thank for this one!  She found the recipe and passed it on to me.  My husband fell in love (with the bacon and chicken), and I agree that it's a phenomenal treat!!  It's usually prepared to serve as an appetizer, but we love them so much, that I sometimes just make this entree for our main dish at dinner.  It's a modified Paula Deen reicpe and you can find her recipe on the Food Network website here.  Here's my version:

Here's what you'll need:
12-15 chicken tenderloins (uncooked)
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 1b. pack of bacon slices (uncooked)

Here's what you'll do:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheet/jelly roll pan with foil & spray with non-stick spray.
2. Combine the brown sugar, chili powder, and garlic powder and mix well in a medium.
3. Cut bacon slices in half.  Roll one of the half-slices of bacon around a chicken tenderloin.  Then roll that in the brown sugar/chili/garlic mixture.  Place on foil-lined pan.  Repeat this step with remaining chicken tenders/bacon.
4.  Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until bacon is slightly crispy and the chicken is cooked through.

*I know that I need to get better quality photos, but I was in such a hurry so I could eat this chicken tender, that I totally did not care what the photo looked like! :)

These are sweet, yet savory at the same time.  TOTALLY delicious.  If you want to serve it as an appetizer, just cut each chicken tender into 1" portions and slice the bacon in thirds, instead of halves. Wrap one piece of chicken with one of the thirds of bacon slices, then roll in the mixture and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  ENJOY!

Is it really May??

     The calendar says that today is May 5th (Cinco de Mayo), but when I step outside my North Carolina home, I would swear that it's gotta be February.  Brrrr!  Cool, damp, breezy... where the heck is my springtime weather???  Spring is normally my favorite time of the year.  I love the flowers in bloom, the lawn that is lush and green, and the chance to wear flip-flops without freezing off my toes.  We have had very few days where I could stand to wear my flip-flops out of the house.  I am a summer-time girl.  Maybe that is because I am a teacher, and I look forward to a break where I can get things at home and school organized, and I can do lots of fun activities and trips with my boys, but I think I've always been a summer-time gal.  Summer always meant lots of swimming, lots of jumping on the trampoline, lots of climbing trees, and lots of games in the yard (wiffle ball, rolley-bat, freeze tag, etc.).  I am so ready for summer to be here!
     The only good thing about the weather being so chilly is that I have additional opportunities to make soup.  Normally, I only make soups during the fall, winter, and early spring.  I love a good, hearty soup.  I like that they usually can be made quickly or in a crock-pot.  When you have an entire meal in one pot, clean-up is a lot easier too!
So, on this dreary, chilly MAY day, I am making one of my favorite soups.  I remember my mom making this soup when it snowed and we were all home from school.  I also remember my Aunt Helen making this soup with her divine sourdough bread.  Mmmmm!  Okay, well I have no snow and no sourdough bread.  Bummer!  The soup won't be the same, but it will do! ;)
     I am tweaking this soup today, because I just don't have the exact ingredients on hand, and I am NOT going to the grocery store in the chilly, drizzling rain today.

Here's what you'll need:
4 c. cubed peeled potatoes
1 c. sliced fresh carrots (1/2" slices or smaller)
1/2 small onion, diced
32 oz. chicken broth + 2 c. more
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked & cubed OR 1 lb. ground beef, browned & seasoned w/ salt & pepper
1 1/2 c. frozen corn
1 1/2 c. frozen lima beans (or other bean - I am using green beans)
1 12 oz. can tomato paste

Here's what you'll do:
1. Cook potatoes, carrots, & onion in 32 oz. of broth for about 10 minutes on medium (low boil or simmer).  Meanwhile, prepare chicken or beef (or ground turkey).

This shows the veggies, just after adding frozen corn.

2. Add in frozen veggies and extra broth (as much as you feel like you need) and cook 3-5 minutes longer on low.
3. Add in meat and tomato paste.  Stir until well combined.  Add seasonings of choice and let simmer 1-2 minutes longer.

Finished and ready to serve.  It smells so good!!!

**Okay, I'm going to be real honest with you...I love this version with chicken the best.  I cook the chicken and save the "broth" it cooked in for my extra two cups.  If you don't cook your chicken or you use beef/turkey, you can just add two cups of water and add a bouillon cube or two.  Also, I didn't have any frozen beans today, so I used a can of green beans, drained.  I just waited and added them in with the meat and tomato paste.  Still worked just fine.  Just FYI!  Enjoy!

A "Berry" Nice Weekend!

It's officially here... strawberry season!!!  I love living 2 miles from a strawberry farm.  My kids and I love riding the 4wheeler over to the strawberry farm and eating, er, I mean picking a gallon of strawberries.  This past week the Cody Strawberry Farm opened up.  It's raining today, but the strawberry stands are still open, so I picked up a gallon of fresh berries.  After eating a cereal bowl full of sliced berries, I thought about what I wanted to make first, with this first batch of fresh berries.  I immediately thought of my Mom's strawberry custard pie!  I called my mom to get her recipe (which she knew by heart) and the recipe originally came from my Aunt Helen - do you remember her Blueberry Crunch recipe???  Well, thank you again, Aunt Helen for another yummy fruit dessert!

Turns out, I would need to make my own pie crust, because the one I had in my freezer was cracked in a million pieces.  This would be a test of my memory, because I learned how to make a pie crust wayyy back in 1997 in my Foods & Nutrition class in high school.  I had the most awesome teacher, by the way!  My Mom is not just an amazing cook, but she's an amazing teacher too! ;)

First of all, I made my pie crust dough... It's pretty simple, if you've never done it before.  Just know that is takes a little time and will make a little mess, but it's highly-rewarding, once you've accomplished this feat!  I highly recommend using a pastry blender, though.  It's a simple little tool that is very helpful when making pie crusts!  *If you want to use a unbaked pie crust, feel free to skip this part, and just make the custard
You will need:
PIE CRUST -
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 stick of butter, cut into small pieces
4-5 Tbsp. ice cold water

-Mix flour, salt, sugar.  Then put butter pieces in and blend with pastry blender or you can use two forks.  Basically, you'll mix it until the entire mixture is grainy, with small butter flecks no bigger than peas.  Yes, your hand may start to hurt by the time you're finished. :)

Then drizzle 4 Tbsp of cold water over the dough and mix.  I usually just use my clean hands for this, because it's just easier!  It should all combine into one ball of dough.  Use a little more water, if the dough is still too dry to all stick together.  Don't over-mix.  Shape into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap; then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

STRAWBERRY CUSTARD -
1 1/2 c. sliced berries
1 c. milk
1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring

-Meanwhile, cut up about 1 1/2 cups of berries (enough to cover the bottom of the pie plate you're using.  Blend 1 c. milk, 1/2 c. sugar, 1 heaping Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 tsp. vanilla flavoring, and 3 eggs until smooth.

-Once dough is chilled, roll out on a floured surface - make it about 3 inches larger in diameter than your pie plate, so it will come up the sides of the dish.   Lay over the dish carefully and then cut off an excess dough.  You can crimp the top to make it pretty - I am not very good with this, as you can see.

-Place berries in crust.  Pour custard liquid mixture on top of the berries.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes, until set.  You may have to cover edges of the crust with foil, if the crust starts to get too dark, before the custard sets.

*Please do not judge how messy I am in the kitchen! :)

If you've never had a custard pie before, think of a texture slightly firmer than pudding, but richer in taste.  It's the perfect light dessert! I hope you enjoy!  This will be a great way to end a nice weekend and a great kick-off to the next few weeks of strawberry season!

**Wish you could smell this!! Can't wait for it to cool, so I can dig in!!!**

Getaway Weekend

For Christmas, my hubby gave me a gift certificate to Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville, NC.  So, this weekend, we were able to getaway with my sister and brother-in-law for a relaxing weekend.  The boys played golf, while my sister and I did a little shopping and spent the afternoon in the spa.  If you ever want to truly treat yourself, this is the place to go!  The spa itself is just a magical place where worries vanish into thin air, as does a sense of time.  It has the most amazing pools, hot tubs, and theraputic waterfalls.  It was so nice to spend time with my sister and spend time with my hubby too.  (Thanks, babe!)

All good things must come to an end, so here I am on a Sunday night trying to prepare for the upcoming week.  This week we have 3 baseball practices, and 3 baseball games between our two boys. I am trying to make sure I have meals planned and all of the laundry done.  Okay, who am I kidding.  The laundry is NEVER done!  I can usually keep decently caught up on laundry - as far as washing and drying the clothes.  But, there are many mornings where we are pulling out socks or shorts from the baskets of clean clothes in the laundry room.  Folding and putting away the clothes just seems to get pushed further down my priority list as the day goes on.  Maybe I am the only person who gets like this when it comes to laundry.  Maybe my house is the only place where there seems to be an infinite number of dirty clothes waiting to be washed.  Maybe my kids and husband are just the filthiest people on the planet - this one is most likely true!

Speaking of laundry - I have seen many ideas of homemade laundry detergent over the last year, and I've had plans to give it a whirl for the last few months.  I feel like laundry detergent is SO expensive and I never seem to get the # of loads out of a bottle of detergent that it claims it is capable of doing.  So, I began pinning a few different laundry detergent recipes.  You can check them out HERE and HERE.  I put some of the ideas together and here's how I made my laundry detergent:

You will need:
1 (4lb. 12oz.) box Borax ($4.96)
1 (4lb.) box Baking Soda ($2.24)
1 (3lb. 7oz.) box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda ($3.24)
1 small container of Oxy Clean ($3.86)
2 bars of Zote or Fells Naptha soap (grated) ($0.97 each)
1 container of Downy Unstoppables ($6.97)
*I found all of these items on the laundry detergent aisle of my local Walmart.  My total cost was around $23.  It makes almost 2 gallons of laundry detergent and if it works for me, like it has worked for others on Pinterest, it should last me around 6 months!  I will let you know!

To make the detergent:
1.  Grate your bars of soap first.  In fact, I did this a few days before, when I had a little time.  I will tell you that Zote soap is much easier to grate than Fells Naptha.  I had part of a bar of Fells Naptha, so I grated what I had of it, plus 1 whole bar of Zote, plus another 2/3 of another bar of Zote.  I just used my regular kitchen grater.  (I washed my grater with a brush and then put it in my dishwasher to clean it afterwards, for anyone who is unsure of how to clean your grater after you've grated soap.)

2.  Put a large garbage bag in a 5 gallon bucket - this makes it easier to mix.  Pour part of each ingredient into the big bag in layers, then repeat, until you've used up all of each ingredient.  (By pouring a little of each item along the way, it makes the mixing easier.)

3.  Take the bag out of the bucket to mix the contents fully.  I did this outside, in case there happened to be any holes in the bag during this process.  Then pour the mixture into a large container.  There are lots of cute containers out there.  But, my Walmart only had one option that would hold all 2 gallons of this stuff, so I bought it.  For $5.88, it looked like it would be perfect for me!

4.  Use about 2 Tbsp. per load of laundry.  I am using the scoop that came in the Oxi-Clean.

*I have washed and dried one load of laundry using this detergent already tonight and it smells so good!  My children and husband seem to attract every particle of dirt and mud that is within a 10 yard radius of them, so I am sure I will find out very quickly, exactly how well this detergent does with stain and dirt removal.  This first load looks great.  I will update after I have had a chance to use it more.   I hope you'll give it a try.  I have a standard, top-loading washer, but other people have posted that they've used it in their high-efficiency front-loaders too.  Good luck!

Getting Back into the Groove...

Spring Break is coming to a close.  This may not mean much of anything to those of you who are not teachers or who do not have children in public schools. (My husband laughs at the idea of his spring break - spring is his busy season.)  For me and my boys, Spring Break was a much needed opportunity to just hang out!  The weather this week was pretty awesome, so we spent a lot of time throwing baseball, jumping on the trampoline, and riding bikes (Charlie just got a new bike for his birthday.)  It was so great to finally spend some quality time outside.  Thank you, Lord for temperatures above 50 degrees, finally!

With warmer weather, come thoughts of summer time.  It also bring thoughts about a garden.  My kids LOVE to go to the local hardware/home improvement store and look at EVERY single packet of seeds that they have to offer.  They always want to plant something crazy too!  Our typical garden includes lettuce, spinach, green peppers, banana peppers (I'm not sure why, because I have NO IDEA what to do with raw banana peppers, and I haven't ever had enough harvest to can.  Maybe 2013 will be THE YEAR I actually do something with our banana peppers), cucumbers, yellow squash, and a little bit of corn.  My parents always have a garden...sometimes two gardens.  I usually count on their garden for silverqueen corn, tomatoes, and anything else that just doesn't seem to grow well in our garden.  We are also lucky because we have friends in the community who always have a bigger harvest than they need, so usually someone will drop off a cantaloupe or some other fruit/veggie over the summer.  Excuse me for salivating while I dream about sweet summertime and those treasures straight from the garden.  I.Can't.Wait!

In the mean time, I have to settle on veggies and fruits from the grocery store.  If you like year-round produce, I HIGHLY suggest checking out your local Aldi's grocery store.  If you've never been to Aldi's before, give it a try!  I'll talk about Aldi's in another post later.

Once you grow your own or buy your veggies, give these salads in a jar a try. My Mom told me about this - and I am pretty sure a friend of hers read about it on Pinterest and passed it along to her.  I just LOVE this idea!  I make a bunch all in one day and they stay fresh all week long.  The jars are perfect for storage in my lunch tote as I take my lunch each day to work.  I just shake it up or dump it all out on a large plate - viola! Very easy, and incredibly yum-o-licious!  If you like salad, but hate making salads daily, I suggest you try this method.

Dressing goes on the bottom, followed by any veggies you like.  I put carrots, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, and celery in my jar on top of my favorite ranch dressing.  (Don't judge - I am eating a salad and I am fully aware that ranch dressing almost negates the healthiness of the salad, but I LOVEEEE ranch!)

Add protein of your choice. I have leftover grilled chicken (thank you, hubby!), hardboiled egg, and a sprinkle of sharp cheddar cheese.  You could also add in canned beans - I would just rinse/drain them  before adding them to the jar.

Finally add your greens.  I have spinach topped with an iceberg lettuce mixture that I had left in the fridge.  Fill it up to the top of the jar.  Then screw on the lid and store them in the fridge.  I have made up to 4 salads in a jar at one time and then eaten on them all week.  They will last at least 4 days.  The trick is to not let the dressing come in contact with the greens.  There are all kinds of other ideas for salad in a jar on the internet.  This may be the site where my Mom's friend got her idea from - Salad.  It has lots of other good ideas too.  This is just a convenient way for me to pack my lunch and ensure that I am eating some vegetables during the day.  Plus, I can do all of the prep at once and have a few lunches ready for the week.  Enjoy!

Salad in a Jar
1. Put dressing in bottom of jar.
2. Add hard veggies.
3. Add meats, cheeses, proteins, plus any other veggies.
4.  Fill with lettuce or other greens to the top of the jar.
5.  Cover tightly with a lid and store in the refrigerator.
6.  To eat, dump contents out into large bowl or eat straight from the jar.

Family Reunion

Today we had the pleasure of meeting up with some of our extended family members.  It was the day for the annual Brooks' Family Reunion.  My grandfather Spurgeon Brooks (Pawpaw) had 6 sisters and 1 brother.  Every year, the descendants of their parents all get together at our church for lunch.  Sunnybrook Farm is just down the road from the church and is the original homeplace of my great-grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. C.C. Brooks.  My grandfather is 91 years old and he is the only sibling still living.  I cherish my grandparents.  They have provided a rock-solid foundation for their 4 children, 9 grandchildren, and now 16 (almost 17) great-grandchildren.  It's always great to see cousins and extended family members!  Today, our gathering was small in number, but we got updates on a lot of families who were not able to be there.

Where families gather, there is always good food to eat!  I swear, I think I have gained 10 pounds this week - between my birthday, Easter, Charlie's birthday, the family reunion, and just having extra time to spend baking/cooking/going out to eat, I have had a little bit of everything this week.  It is definitely time to get back on the healthy & sensible eating plan - and it wouldn't hurt if I could find 30 minutes to walk or run each day too.

But, until that healthy plan kicks in, I wanted to share with you two recipes - these are the dishes I took to the family reunion today.  They are hand-me-down recipes from my Great-Aunt Helen and my Aunt Judy.  They are 2 of my faves!  Technically, they could fall under the guidelines for my sensible and healthy eating plan.  Afterall, they both contain a fruit! Ha!

Aunt Helen's Blueberry Crunch
2 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 can crushed pineapple
1/2 c. sugar
1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 c. sugar
chopped pecans, optional

1. Place blueberries in the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish.  Top with crushed pineapple (and its juice).
2.  Sprinkle 1/2 c. sugar over the top of the fruit.
3.  Pour cake mix evenly on top of the fruit and sugar.
4.  Then drizzle melted butter over the cake mix.
5.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 c. sugar and chopped pecans.
6.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until bubbling along edges or until golden.
*This is AWESOME with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream!!!!!

Aunt Judy's Chicken & Wild Rice Salad
1 box (6oz.) Uncle Ben's Long Grain & Wild Rice
2 c. cooked chicken, diced
1/4 c. mayonaise
1/2 c. light sour cream
1/2 c. celery, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. onion, finely chopped
1/2 c. dried cranberries*
1/2 c. cashews*
* - you can add more or less, depending on your taste.

1.  Cook rice according to directions on the box.  Let cool.
2. Mix mayo, sour cream, celery, and onion.  Add rice and chicken and mix well.
3.  Add cranberries and cashews to taste.  Season with salt/pepper, if necessary.
**This can be served warm or chilled.

These recipes always get rave reviews and I can thank my wonderful aunts for sharing these awesome recipes with me!  I am so thankful for my family - some of my best memories are filled with childhood adventures with my cousins, my aunts and uncles, and my grandparents.

Rotten Potatoes

Have you ever smelled rotten potatoes?  Well, I have smelled rotten potatoes before.  I've had a few potatoes go bad in the pantry before and boy do they stink!  That horrible, sickening smell always brings back one of my favorite childhood memories.  At the time of the event, I assure you it was NOT one of my favorite childhood experiences, but now, I think back on that day and laugh - usually out loud!

You see, growing up with a father who was a farmer, you never knew when he was going to show up at the house or call Mom up and tell her he needed all of us girls to come help with who-knows-what on the farm.  I always hated it.  If my sisters were here, they would testify with numerous detailed examples of how I tried to avoid work on the farm (or just work in general). Every spring, my Daddy would say those words I dreaded to hear - "We're going to pick up potatoes after lunch today."  This meant trekking through my grandparents' garden, racing to pick up potatoes out of the dirty, muddy soil after my grandfather plowed up the potato plants.  I think about this now and realize that it wasn't all that difficult of work and it could've been fun - "See how many potatoes you can pick up" or "Who can pick up the most the fastest", but instead all I thought about was dirt - under my fingernails (which I didn't really have much of because I was a nail-biter), in my tennis shoes, all over my knees and clothes.  Now mind you, I was not and am not a prissy girl.  I broke each of my arms as a child by climbing and falling out of a tree and then by falling off of a horse.  I wasn't one to care much about what clothes I wore or how I wore my hair, and I certainly wasn't a very neat kid.  So who knows why the whole dirt issue bothered me, but it did (kind of like how sand bothers me now at the beach... but I digress...).

One particular day when Daddy called to say it was time to pick up the potatoes, my sisters and I loaded up and headed to the garden between my grandparents' house and the farm's shop.  Pawpaw ran the plow through the ground and those potatoes began peeping out of the rich, damp earth.  My sisters and I reached to grab them and put them in five-gallon buckets.  Often instead of walking to a bucket, we would toss the potatoes to the person closest to the bucket, or just chunk them at the bucket when Daddy and Pawpaw weren't looking.  Well, I was grumpy and dirty, when my younger sister Amanda and I began arguing.  I am sure that I was bossing her around, like a good big sister should do. :)  After I said some unkind words to her (which I can't even remember), she chunked a potato at me.  That potato was ROTTEN, y'all!  Like an oozing, slimy, black kind of rotten!  That slimy, rotten, stinky potato hit me square in the face.  Stunned, I stood there analyzing what just happened to me and then scrambled to try to get my hands on her.  I don't think I ever caught her - the Lord knows that I am not the fastest runner in our family and after all, running required more effort than I was probably willing to put forth at that time. I had the rotten potato smell inside of my nose for a week after that!

So, tonight I am making oven-baked fries because I have some potatoes that I am afraid will rot before the next time I will be able to use them. Every time I wash and slice up a potato, I think back to all of the times we picked up potatoes as kids and who could ever forget getting a disgusting rotten potato smashed into their face?!?!

Here's how I make oven-baked fries...

You'll need:
2-3 potatoes (I usually use 2 large Russets for my family of 4)
Non-stick spray
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 -1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. ground pepper

-Wash and slice potatoes into wedges - try to make them not so thick and keep the thickness uniform, so they will cook evenly. Place on cookie sheet/pan.
-Mix spices together in a small bowl.
-Spray the potatoes with non-stick spray. Sprinkle with spice mixture.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. (Until golden brown and easily pierced through thickest slice with a toothpick.)

*Before baking*

These are one of our favorite side dishes and they are easy to make, plus they are a healthier version of the typical french fry.  I hope you enjoy them and may you never know the smell of rotten potatoes!!! :)

 

Spring Break...What Can We Get Into???

Today two of my nieces are hanging out at our house.  As a teacher, I always feel the need to provide some sort of "activity" for the kids to be involved in while they are at my house.  We do a lot of free play - legos, coloring, riding scooters/bikes, jumping on the trampoline, and just playing outside.  But, I know the moment will come when someone gets left out or someone gets bored, so I try to have a trick up my sleeve.  In the back of my mind, I knew that we could always do another egg hunt, since there are only 5623819 plastic eggs in baskets around my house, after this past weekend.  But more than likely, that would not interest the older 2 kiddos.  After the kids ate lunch, I could sense that the big kids were tired of entertaining the younger two.  The youngsters went downstairs to play and suddenly my nine year old shouts, "That's what I want, Mom!" and points to the television.  Trying to ignore him, I begin to clean up the kitchen, but I hear the commercial coming from the living room TV.  He wanted the container that is shaped like an ice cream cone that you put ingredients in and shake up for a while, and then magically ice cream appears when you open the lid.  LIGHT BULB! I knew it was time to show my son how he can make ice cream on his own, with a few ingredients and items that we usually have on hand.  Have you ever made ice cream with your kids or grandchildren?  If not, you should do it.  It literally took about 2 minutes of prep time and about 5 minutes of shaking time.  Here's how you can do it...

You will need:
1 quart or gallon ziploc bag*
1 sandwich ziploc bag*
1/2 c. milk or half & half
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
ice (about 2-3 cups)
salt (about 1/4-1/3 cup)
* - I highly recommend using the actual Ziploc or Hefty brand bags.  I have tried store-brand, and I have had a bad experience where the salty taste permeated the bag and the ice cream was inedible.

Put milk, sugar, and vanilla in small bag.  Seal tightly.  Then check the seal once more. :)
Put the ice and salt into the larger bag.  Then place the smaller bag inside of the bigger bag.  Seal the big bag.  Now check the seal once more. :)

Now ShAkE!  (I wrapped a hand towel around the bag, so that the kids' hands wouldn't freeze during this process.)

 *What is with the deer-in-the headlight look, son?  And, I guess I should've at least let you finish chewing that last bite of lunch before snapping a picture, huh?!

I put the timer on for 5 minutes, but you will be able to tell when it is ready.  The ice cream mixture will get thick and almost hardened.  The small bag will be tightly bunched up inside.

Remove the small bag and rinse off with fresh water and then dry off the outside of the bag.  There will most likely be some salt near the seal.  Just be mindful of this.  In fact, I try to push the ice cream away from the seal before I open the bag.  Salty ice cream is not pleasant, in my opinion!  I opened the bag and quickly turned it inside out, scraping the ice cream off and into a bowl/cup.  The kids helped with this and the ice cream literally stuck to the bag, so I didn't have to worry about it dripping much or falling out.  Then the kiddos added their favorite toppings - chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, sprinkles, and I think my wild child added peanut butter to his (good choice, son!).  It was certainly easy peasy and they loved it.  (I even got ThankYous without prompting!)

I am gathering other ideas for fun things to do over Spring Break with my boys.  So, if you're up to something good, let me know!  :)

Happy Easter!

Yesterday was Easter Sunday.  Wow!  What an awesome Easter it was for our brood!  It started with a sunrise service at church.  Y'all it was dim, dreary, and rainy when we left for church.  We had service, followed by breakfast, and then went to Sunday School.  In the smack-dab middle of Sunday School, the sun burst through the windows.  It was amazing - just an awesome reminder that Jesus died for us and when all hope seemed to be lost, He rose up out of that grave and made us a place in Heaven!  That little burst of sunlight was God's way of saying "He's Alive!" I hope everyone was able to take a moment to remember Jesus' sacrifice during this Easter season!
We enjoyed lunch with my in-laws - the hubby grilled burgers and hot dogs and we enjoyed Grandma's cherry cheesecake yum-yum and strawberry shortcakes for dessert.  I am one of those people who thinks dessert is the most important part of a meal!  Later on, we went to eat with my side of the family. Okay.  Let me paint the picture for you - My parents, my grandparents (the ones who began and live at Sunnybrook Farm), my Uncle Steve, my 3 sisters and their hubbies, 7 grandchildren (plus 1 on the way - YAY!), one cousin (his parents are out of town, so he's hanging with us), one cousin's husband (she was at home with their sleepy little one) and their other 2 daughters.  Of course we're all watching basketball - omyword, that Lousiville player that broke his leg - PRAYERS for that fella!!!  Geez!  Anyway, ALLLL of these folks gathered around a few big farm-style tables, kitchen counters covered with homemade goodies of all kinds, and kids running around everywhere.  Do all of the kids in your family seem to finish eating their food within like 7.8325 seconds of you fixing their plates???  We finished up the night with a glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt - lots of fun even though the eggs didn't really glow very well.  The kids loved it - my sister Laura thinks of everything and she is always great to organize fun stuff for the kids.  As we were cleaning up, we all got to watch the crucifixion scenes from The Bible mini-series on the History channel.  My favorite part of this wonderful day was when my 6-year old niece crawled up in my lap (y'all she never sits still) and watched this with me.  She asked a bazillion questions about it.  It was precious!!!  God is so great!  This was a perfect Easter in my book!

Another reason this was a perfect Easter is because I made cheesecake.  I told you dessert is the most important part of a meal for me!  I made a turtle cheesecake - which is probably my all-time favorite type of cheesecake.

You can find this AH-MAZ-ING turtle cheesecake recipe here.

One other thing... my youngest wild child is just like his Mama.  All he could think about was making dessert for his cousins.  Ain't he just the cutest thing??  (Don't be fooled - he is a MESS!!)  Love him!  Happy Easter everyone!!!