This Little Light of Mine and Strawberries!

OH how I love Friday's! Especially the Friday's when I am off...even if it's for 1/2 day! It's a nice prelude to the weekend, especially when the weather is as gorgeous as it has been this week! I wish I could just get in my car and drive....I don't mean just drive around here..I mean D.R.I.V.E. like all over our beautiful country! I know for sure I would head to each coast...because I LOVE the beach, and the water...not so much the sand. OH and I love lighthouses...they simply amaze me.....

 GREECE

ADDIE TOOK THIS PICTURE IN BILOXI

Aren't they all so beautiful? I am not sure what it is about them that intrigues me.

LIGHTHOUSE - JAMES TAYLOR

What intrigues you?

Since strawberries will be in abundance soon...here is a super simple and
sweet recipe!

Angel Food French Toast

 

Yield: serves 4-6
Total Time: 30 minutes or less

Ingredients:

1 angel food cake, sliced into 12 pieces
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2-3 tablespoons butter
for topping:
whipped cream
strawberries
blueberries
maple syrup
fresh mint

Directions:

In a measuring cup, whisk flour into a few tablespoons of milk until it's totally dissolved to create a bit of a slurry. Add back to the rest of the milk.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon. Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium to medium-low heat. Gently dip each piece of angel food cake into the egg mixture, fully submerging it and covering all the sides. Make sure to let most of the egg drip off. Place a bit of butter in the skillet/griddle, then place cake on it and cook until golden, about 2-3 minutes per side. The only additional step here is you want to fry each side, then turn it on it's "back" and get that thick third end of the cake. Repeat with remaining slices, adding a bit of butter each time.
Serve with syrup, berries, whipped cream and fresh mint!
Borrowed from.....

How Sweet It Is Blog

2ND BIRTHDAYS AND WARM WINTER LEMON CAKE

My sister emailed me the other night and asked "What? No more blogging?" I didn't realize it had been over a month since I posted a blog entry! I just have not been inspired to blog...I never intended for this blog to be filled with unhappy or sad thoughts. I want it to be positive and uplifting. But life isn't always positive and uplifting, so maybe I should blog whether I am feeling happy or sad?  Yep, that is what I will do...but I promise to always leave you with a happy thought!

This weekend my happy place (thought) is my sweet sweet grandson, who turns 2 years old today! O M G I cannot believe it has been 2 years since I first laid eyes on that precious child! He has filled such a void in our lives and in our hearts. I cannot even begin to explain it...just trust me...he has! 

The day he was born

Yesterday for his party!

Cutie Pie huh?

He had a blast for his Toy Story birthday party and made the cutest

Woody ever!

Poppa and YaYa loves you so much Joshua!

Happy Birthday lil man!

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. This weather is yukky...good stay inside

in your jammies, reading kind of day! And I think that is exactly what I will do!
Here is a yummy warm recipe for you...perfect for this weather.

WARM WINTER LEMON CAKE

 
1 pkg.  (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
2 pkg.  (3.4 oz.  each) JELL-O Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups cold milk
1-1/4 cups water
2 Tbsp.  powdered sugar


HEAT oven to 350ºF.

PREPARE cake batter as directed on package;
pour into 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

BEAT dry pudding mixes, granulated sugar, milk and water with whisk 2 min.;
 pour over batter in dish.
  Place baking dish on baking sheet.
  (Baking sheet will catch any sauce that might bubble over sides of dish as dessert bakes.)

BAKE 55 min.  to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
 Cool 20 min.  (Sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.)
Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
 Serve warm.
Refrigerate leftovers.

KRAFT- WARM WINTER LEMON CAKE

HOLIDAYS .. DONE....NEXT...MARDI GRAS !

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!!

2013-A CLEAN SLATE!

 

2012 - Where has it gone?

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.

Refrigerate until serving.

Sunday Morning and Cornflake Blobs

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Put the chocolate in a small bowl and melt in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir until smooth.
5. Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies.
6. When cooled, eat these cookies with reckless abandon.

LET THE PREPARATION BEGIN....

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!

CORN CASSEROLE

Ingredients

• 1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1 (8-ounce) package corn muffin mix (recommended: Jiffy)
• 1 cup sour cream 
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar

Directions

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 and Satsumas

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.

Be proud, you made marmalade!