Not sure about you guys but I am so glad the holidays are over with...of course in S Louisiana there seems to always be a holiday! No sooner is Christmas over with and here comes Mardi Gras! I used to be a huge fan of Mardi Gras but now I could take it...or leave it. Last year, I left it! In our "younger days" we used to make as many parades that we could...racing from one to another...even on a weeknight!!! I cannot imagine doing that again but it sure was fun back then!!
Here are just a few pictures from the HOLIDAY's..
My Family
Mike and Addie
Kristen - Jordan - Joshua
See my Joshua's picture in the background? : )
What a sweet face huh?
He got the hang of that remote control really quick!
Couldn't you just squeeze him?
Yes...he rules the roost!
Christmas breakfast compliments of Poppa
And the day ended with a little jig !
I have tons more, but I won't bore you with ALL of them!
And now we prepare for Mardi Gras....
Throw me something mister!
Easy Peasy King Cake
Make your own King Cake with this easy recipe
Ingredients
1 can of cinnamon rolls, with icing
3/4 cup of sugar, separated into 3 parts of 1/4 each food coloring
plastic baby (available at most party stores)
Directions:
The traditional King Cake is made from twisted strands
of cinnamon dough, topped with icing, and sprinkled with purple, green,
and gold colored sugar. Here is an quick and simple take on the
traditional recipe.
Separate the cinnamon rolls and roll them out by hand so that they
look like hot dogs. Then attached them by pinching the ends together
into one long roll and shape into an oval by closing the ends together
with another pinch. Place on a cookie sheet. Cook as directed.
While it is cooking, use food coloring to dye sugar. Make one part
purple using blue and red, one part green, and one part gold using
yellow.
When the cake is finished cooking, ice the top with the white
icing. Then sprinkle the different colors of sugars alternating as you
go around the oval. Enjoy!!
I could sit here and reminisce about days gone by, but that
would take too much time. Besides, I am not so sure I want to
rehash some of those days. So instead I will just thank God for
getting me through another year, fairly healthy, loved and blessed.
Now onto a new year...one that I pray will be filled with
love, happiness, good health and positive energy!
As I read back over that last statement, I realize that I am
responsible to make all of these things happen.
I am responsible for what will be written in my book.
I WILL make it a good one!
Wishing all of you a blessed New Year.
Banana-Brownie Pie
1/4 c. Butter
3 oz. Cream Cheese
1 1/2 c. Powdered Sugar, sifted
1/4 c. Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
3 Bananas, sliced
1 (6 oz.) can Pineapple Juice
4 Brownies
Cut into 1 in. pieces
1 Baked Pie Crust
1/2 c. Chocolate-Toffee Bits or Chopped Pecans
Whipped Cream, for garnish
Beat butter and cream cheese together until creamy; gradually add powdered sugar alternately with whipping cream. Stir in the vanilla. Set this filling aside.
Toss banana sliced in pineapple juice; drain. Pat sliced dry with paper towels.
Spoon half the filling into baked pie shell.
Arrange banana slices on filling.
Add the cut up brownies around on the bananas.
Top with remaining filling.
Top with fluffy whipped cream and add chocolate-toffee bits or pecans.
Good morning folks! It's a beautiful Sunday morning...beautiful blue skies with billowing white clouds, a nice breeze blowing, a nice hot cup of coffee, Christmas tree sparkling...and quiet! We are strange creatures aren't we? Sometimes I love just listening to the "quiet" and other times, I can sit back and bask in the noise of laughter and talking of loved ones! Well today is one of those "quiet" days. And I will enjoy it while I can.
The tree and mantle is decorated (thanks to Addie) and there are bunches of presents under the tree (thanks to me). I would love to decorate every room in the house but when it comes to taking it all down after the holidays, I am so glad we didn't decorate every room in the house! Might have to do the bathrooms tho....yep I think we will. I bought these adorable little birdies at KMart and wish I had gotten a couple more. Aren't they so cute?
I am definitely not the decorator in the family, my sisters have that talent. Thank goodness I have Addie who picked up some of that talent. It may be simple but it works for us!
What about you? Do you have a certain theme that you go with each year or do you change it up?
There are so many awesome recipes I want to share with all of you this month, so be on the lookout for a bunch of blogs!
A friend of mine sent me this recipe. I haven't made it yet but I plan to really soon. It looks SO good and so simple! She calls it Welfare Cookies but this blog called it Holycraptheseareamazing cookies! Call them whatever you want...I call them YUMMY!
Holycraptheseareamazing Cookies
Ingredients
(Makes about 3 dozen cookies)
1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 jar (18 oz ounce) peanut butter, crunchy or smooth (I like creamy.)
6 cups corn flakes
3 oz good quality chocolate of your choice
Directions
Combine sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and stir until the mixture comes to a full boil. Remove from heat and stir in the whole jar of peanut butter. Mix well.
Add corn
flakes to a large bowl. Pour peanut butter mixture over corn flakes and
mix well, taking care to coat all of the corn flakes.
With a
tablespoon or cookie scoop, scoop out and form into 1-2 inch balls,
depending on your preference, and place them on a cookie sheet lined
with parchment or wax paper.
Put the chocolate in a small bowl and melt in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir until smooth.
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies.
When cooled, eat these cookies with reckless abandon.
And it begins...Thanksgiving preparations closely followed by Christmas decorations, altho I have heard quite a few people who are doing the Christmas decor first. I was even thinking about beginning with the Christmas decorating this weekend...IF I can convince someone to bring it all down from the attic! Do I really want to go thru that? Am I really ready to hear grumbling about getting it all down, THEN the choice words because most of the lights won't light up? Heck yeah...afterall, that is what its all about right? Us women see it as ohhh and ahhhh look how pretty this will look....not our men, they see it as I am about to cut every damned light out of this tree and string new ones! Oh Joy !
I am totally looking forward to having an entire week off. I know it will just fly by but that's okay...I am still looking forward to it. The early part of the week will be spent preparing for Thanksgiving dinner here at our house with my little family. I am really looking forward to that...all the fixin's! Turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, green bean casserole, corn casserole, rolls and dessert! OH and let us not forget the wonderful gelled cranberry sauce (that only I eat). It will be a feast at the Hernandez house. Then the end of the week, we are trying to get away from it all for a couple of days...SO hoping that works out for us.
As most of you know or read today...Hostess Bakery is going bankrupt and shutting down ...no more Twinkies, DingDongs, HoHo's, Snoballs and O M G Donettes!!!!! Say it isn't so!!!What is this world coming to? I swear if Lil Debbie's ever shuts down, there will be mass rioting and it will not be nice (and that is just in MY family!) In all seriousness tho, it saddens me to see businesses shutting down after being around for so many years! This company will lay off 18,500 workers! That's just awful. I guess its a sign of things to come...God bless us all!
I will have a special overnight guest...bet you can't guess who it is! He has us wrapped around his little finger and has our hearts so full of joy! Cannot wait for him to get here!
Have a blessed weekend. I will leave you with a delicious recipe that you can make for Thanksgiving...everyone will love it...I promise!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, stir together the 2 cans of corn, corn muffin mix, sour cream, and melted butter. Pour into a greased 9 by 13-inch casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and top with cheddar cheese. Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let stand for at least 5 minutes and then serve warm.
November..how the heck did that happen? Seems like only last week it was January! I actually love November and Thanksgiving..it is such a humble month...the prelude to the excitement of Christmas and all it's glory. Sometimes I feel as though Thanksgiving gets pushed to the side. As I thought about that, I realized that I feel a lot like Thanksgiving...sometimes pushed to the side, forgotten, doesn't matter one way or the other. I know that's sad huh? Well I am happy to say that after last night I will not allow anyone to make me feel that way anymore...I will not allow myself to feel that way anymore. It wasn't a huge revelation, just a subtle reminder from a couple of special people in my life....you know who you are...thank you! So no more pity party, no more "hey what about me", no more "I feel so left out". The people in my life who truly loves me, knows my heart and that is what really matters. Will I stumble and falter again? Oh I am sure I will...but I will get right back up and move forward once again.
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up. Ecclesiastes 4:10
Don't forget to set your clocks back 1 hour when you go to bed tonight....
Since satsumas are abundant this time of year, here is a recipe for Satsuma Marmalade. Don't let it scare you..it seems rather simple. This recipe was adapted from here.
SATSUMA MARMALADE
Ingredients:
12 Satsumas
2 Lemons
7 cups Cold Water
Caster Sugar (see method for amount)
Method:
Wash and peel the satsumas. Slice the peel into thin matchsticks and the flesh into chunks.
Do the same with the lemons.Remove any large pieces of pith.
Place all the fruit and peels in a large saucepan.
Add the water. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and leave to cool for 8 hours or overnight.
When the mixture is cool and you're ready to move on, put a plate in the freezer.
"Why?" I hear you cry! Just do it. Martha says so.
Bring the mixture back to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes until the thickest piece of peel is tender.
Measure the mixture. Return it to the pan and for every cup of mixture add 3/4 cup of sugar. This is because all satsumas are different sizes, so a set amount of sugar cannot be given.
Bring the mixture to the boil and stir frequently for about 20 minutes. The marmalade is ready when you can drop the mixture onto the frozen plate and have it form a slight film when pushed with a finger (according to Martha). You can begin to tell when its done, it gets thicker and stickier and doesn't spread out straight away when put on the plate. Use your common sense here.
You're done! Refrigerate over night before serving.
It is an absolutely beautiful Sunday here...cool temps, sunshine and a slight breeze. Reminds me of my Daddy so much! And just as I was thinking about how much this weather reminds me of my Dad, I sign online to check facebook and lo and behold, there is a video that my sister made in honor of my Dad, that I have seen countless times. My mom commented on it today, so it made it show up in my newsfeed...so once again, I watched it...and O M G the tears just flowed. I miss him so so much...we all do. I know everyone says they have the best Dad in the world but I kid you not...we do! Sure he had his faults (don't we all). But he was just the best...he worked hard, played hard (ha) and loved hard. We are all products of his love and a little bit like him in each our own way. I hope he is looking down on us and is proud of the adults we have all become. I know I am so proud to be called his daughter.
This is a family picture from 1982 - a western Halloween party at my sister's house...ha, this just cracks me up!
Family traditions are so special and so important....make sure you don't forget the little things that one day will be looked back on as the big things!
This is a Paula Deen recipe....easy to make and sinfully delicious!
Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes
Ingredients
Cake:
1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric
mixer.
Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch
baking pan.
To make the filling:
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and
pumpkin until smooth.
Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat
together.
Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well.
Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.
Check on them after about 35 minutes so you make sure not to overbake
them.
The center should be a little gooey.
Let the pan cool completely
before you cut the squares.
Dust them with powdered sugar to make them extra pretty
before serving them.
I cannot believe it's 2 weeks since I have blogged! Time does get away from us doesn't it? The weeks just seem to pass by so quickly! Last weekend, Rene' and I spent the weekend away from it all...just he and I! I know...can you believe that? We talked about it and realized that was the 1st time we have done that in over 20 years! That is just terrible! But we made a promise to each other, to spend more time together and try to reconnect. You would think after 37 years, you would be really connected...but we weren't. Life happened. We have been through so much in the last 20 years. We became 2 different people after Joshua died...it was a gradual thing, but we really became 2 different people. After the death of a child, your whole world is turned upside down and you each deal with it differently. Statistics show that the majority of parents who lose a child, end up in divorce. I won't lie, it came so close to that so many times. But we stuck it out "for the kids". THAT is also not always the right reason to stay together. I often times questioned that. I only saw that Rene' had become so distant and unhappy and never fully dealt with his grief. After really thinking about it, he probably thought the same things about me. So we just dealt with what was and pushed it aside, thinking maybe if we didn't acknowledge it, it would just go away. Well, it didn't just go away. It festered, like a horrible disease. What a disservice to both of us...to our children. You know the old saying, if I could go back....well IF I could, things would be handled so differently. Anyway, we had a wonderful weekend...just US...we talked, we laughed, we cried and we reconnected. I am not saying it was a miracle and all is wonderful...but I saw the man that I fell in love with 38 years ago resurface...and I know why we made it through those hard times. I couldn't be happier....and I am pretty sure he feels the same way. So much time wasted...but still so much time ahead of us to enjoy our lives. And that is exactly what we plan on doing!
Life is good....grab every moment you can!
Look at that good looking couple wow!
Pumpkin Crunch Cake
15 oz can pumpkin; or 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree
1-12 oz can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 box cake mix ( spice cake,yellow, butter or white)
1 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Mix the pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, eggs, and cinnamon.
Spread mixture evenly in a lightly greased 9 x 13 baking pan.
Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle the nuts
over the top of the cake mix. Pour the melted butter evenly over the top
of everything. Do not stir.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes or until top is browned.
Let cool before serving.
Refrigerate leftovers.
Recipe borrowed from
http://thecuttingedgeofordinary.blogspot.com
