Sorry, for those of you who were waiting patiently on me to update you on the remainder of my trip to Alabama. I got sidetracked by work and about 100 other things, so now it's clear that it's simply not going to happen. Most of the people who read this blog were there anyway, so y'all all know what happened.
Moving on...
01 December 2010
Thanksgiving!
Lucky me, I spent Thanksgiving with The Lambs, one of my favorite families. Mark is a police officer at Salt River, and Janel does my hair. Janel and I always talk cooking while my color is...coloring, or whatever, so I was really excited to have Thanksgiving at her house! She is Superwoman: five kids, and she somehow finds the time to sew adorable aprons (like the one I used at home during Christmas last year) and lots of other cuteness, make gourmet popcorn, work at her dad's business, do hair, and make GORGEOUS cakes, plus tons of other stuff that I'm sure I'm leaving out.
Needless to say, we had a blast! I arrived in time to watch some of the last of the cooking, and then we had lunch. Afterwards, Janel and I messed around with Mark's new camera. It's fancy and has loads of different settings, and it makes really great pictures. We even brought out the tripod and the detachable flash, and then we really got creative!
For Thanksgiving dinner, there was turkey, spiral ham, stuffing and dressing, two kinds of sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, jello salad, and homemade rolls (Mark's sister grinds her own wheat...my, oh my):
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| I didn't think people decorated with plates anywhere except the South. Imagine how happy I was to see Janel's Thanksgiving tablescape and the matching plates! |
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| Janel made the table runner...out of BURLAP and CORN HUSKS. Told y'all she was talented. |
For Thanksgiving dinner, there was turkey, spiral ham, stuffing and dressing, two kinds of sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, jello salad, and homemade rolls (Mark's sister grinds her own wheat...my, oh my):
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| Janel's spiral ham |
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| Janel's dressing |
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| And the cranberry sauce (yuu-uum!) |
I was in charge of desserts, so I made Italian Cream Cake, Mrs. Nina's lemon squares, and a chocolate chess pie. The pie wasn't feeling photogenic, but...
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| the Lemon Squares were... |
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| as was the Italian Cream Cake (recipe is in the previous post, if you're interested) |
After cleaning up, we sat down to watch the Saints game. Y'all know that I'm not much into pro football (Bama and LSU monopolize my football-watching time), but because the Lambs were cheering for the Saints, so was I. We were all happy when they pulled off a win in the last seconds of the game!
I hope y'all had as great a Thanksgiving as I did!
26 November 2010
Italian Cream Cake
I spent Thanksgiving with some sweet friends, and much to my own amusement, was placed in charge of desserts. I'll post about Thanksgiving as a whole separately, but I wanted to include the recipe for Italian Cream Cake on its own. I keep promising to share the recipe, so here we go:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
½ cup Crisco
2 cups sugar
5 eggs, separated
2 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small can of coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
Sift the flour and baking soda together in a medium bowl. Cream the shortening, sugar, and butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Add the flour/soda mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the buttermilk until both are incorporated. Add the vanilla extract. Using a spatula, fold in the coconut and the pecans. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff. Fold them into the batter mixture.
Generously butter and flour three 8-inch cake pans OR one 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes for the 8-inch pans, or 45-60 minutes for the 13x9 pan.
Allow to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese icing.
NOTE: If you make three 8-inch layers, you will need two recipes of the frosting. You only need one recipe if you make the 13x9 sheet cake.
CREAM CHEESE ICING
8 ounces cream cheese
½ stick butter
1 box confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Mix butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar. Add vanilla extract. Fold in pecans.
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
½ cup Crisco
2 cups sugar
5 eggs, separated
2 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small can of coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
Sift the flour and baking soda together in a medium bowl. Cream the shortening, sugar, and butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Add the flour/soda mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the buttermilk until both are incorporated. Add the vanilla extract. Using a spatula, fold in the coconut and the pecans. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff. Fold them into the batter mixture.
Generously butter and flour three 8-inch cake pans OR one 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes for the 8-inch pans, or 45-60 minutes for the 13x9 pan.
Allow to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese icing.
NOTE: If you make three 8-inch layers, you will need two recipes of the frosting. You only need one recipe if you make the 13x9 sheet cake.
CREAM CHEESE ICING
8 ounces cream cheese
½ stick butter
1 box confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Mix butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar. Add vanilla extract. Fold in pecans.
14 August 2010
Texas
I just returned yesterday from a last-minute trip to Texas. Last week, I was in my supervisor's office, and he asked if I wanted to go to Texas. I said, "To live? Yes, please." He explained that there was a Crimes Against Children conference happening in Dallas, and that another person who had planned to go now couldn't, leaving a spot open for me...but that I would, sadly, have to return to Phoenix the following Thursday.
Needless to say, I immediately began readying myself for the trip.
I had a wonderful time. The conference was informative and often entertaining, in as much as a crimes against children conference can be entertaining. I miss being in school, so I soaked up all the knowledge I could in four short days, and I now have aspirations of prosecuting cyber crimes. We'll see where that goes.
Hopefully, it will take me to Texas, because I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Texas really is like a whole other country, y'all, and that's definitely a good thing. Good manners, good food, hats and boots wherever you look, and lots of smiling faces. Work has been keeping me feeling pretty burned-out, so I'm happy to report that I'm home, feeling refreshed and energized for a new week.
Needless to say, I immediately began readying myself for the trip.
I had a wonderful time. The conference was informative and often entertaining, in as much as a crimes against children conference can be entertaining. I miss being in school, so I soaked up all the knowledge I could in four short days, and I now have aspirations of prosecuting cyber crimes. We'll see where that goes.
Hopefully, it will take me to Texas, because I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Texas really is like a whole other country, y'all, and that's definitely a good thing. Good manners, good food, hats and boots wherever you look, and lots of smiling faces. Work has been keeping me feeling pretty burned-out, so I'm happy to report that I'm home, feeling refreshed and energized for a new week.
05 July 2010
Banana Pudding
2 small packages Jello instant vanilla pudding
1 can sweetened condensed milk
4 cups milk
12-16 ounces Cool Whip
3 bananas, sliced
1 box Nilla Wafers (please don’t buy the store brand; it really does make a difference)
Mix together the pudding, the milk, and the condensed milk. Fold in the Cool Whip. In a trifle bowl, layer as follows: Nilla wafers, bananas, pudding. Repeat until you’ve used up all the ingredients. Refrigerate. Easiest pudding ever, but so good. My supervisor at work requests that I make it at least once a month. He’d eat it a lot more often if I’d make it, actually.
1 can sweetened condensed milk
4 cups milk
12-16 ounces Cool Whip
3 bananas, sliced
1 box Nilla Wafers (please don’t buy the store brand; it really does make a difference)
Mix together the pudding, the milk, and the condensed milk. Fold in the Cool Whip. In a trifle bowl, layer as follows: Nilla wafers, bananas, pudding. Repeat until you’ve used up all the ingredients. Refrigerate. Easiest pudding ever, but so good. My supervisor at work requests that I make it at least once a month. He’d eat it a lot more often if I’d make it, actually.
Pasta Salad
SCM: Yes, this is the pasta salad you gave me the recipe for ages ago. I make it all the time. It’s so easy, and flexible…one of those great salads you can make out of whatever happens to be in your cupboard.
- 1 pound pasta (whatever kind you want to use; I use whole wheat spirals).
- 2-3 bell peppers, chopped (doesn’t matter what color)
- 1 cucumber, sliced and seeded
- 3-4 green onions, chopped (you can substitute some different sort of onion if you don’t share my love of green onions, or leave it out altogether)
- one bottle Kraft Greek Vinaigrette dressing
- pepper (to taste)
- 1 package Feta cheese, crumbled
- fresh cilantro (to taste)
Mix everything together, and if it still looks dry, add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Add the Feta last, and just sprinkle it over the top. Cilantro wasn’t in the original recipe, but since I add cilantro to everything, I figured, why not? You can also bake chicken breasts and then chop them up and mix them in. I’ve also added in mushrooms and olives at different times, and both were good. Told ya: can’t mess this up (unless you try to use a different salad dressing; that’s the one ingredient that must remain constant!).
- 1 pound pasta (whatever kind you want to use; I use whole wheat spirals).
- 2-3 bell peppers, chopped (doesn’t matter what color)
- 1 cucumber, sliced and seeded
- 3-4 green onions, chopped (you can substitute some different sort of onion if you don’t share my love of green onions, or leave it out altogether)
- one bottle Kraft Greek Vinaigrette dressing
- pepper (to taste)
- 1 package Feta cheese, crumbled
- fresh cilantro (to taste)
Mix everything together, and if it still looks dry, add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Add the Feta last, and just sprinkle it over the top. Cilantro wasn’t in the original recipe, but since I add cilantro to everything, I figured, why not? You can also bake chicken breasts and then chop them up and mix them in. I’ve also added in mushrooms and olives at different times, and both were good. Told ya: can’t mess this up (unless you try to use a different salad dressing; that’s the one ingredient that must remain constant!).
Alabama: Monday and Tuesday
Wedding festivities begin!
But not quite yet. The whole family was coming for dinner on Tuesday, but before that Mama had to teach a CPR class in Meridian. I decided to go with her, seeing as how I’d been meaning to get CPR certified for ages, but just never signed up for the class. But, even before that, I woke up and baked a cake. I know. Please, please acknowledge the amount of discipline it took to get me out of bed and conscious enough to bake, and then still get myself showered and dressed in time to leave Butler at 10:00 a.m.
What kind of cake? Italian Cream. My favorite. Ostensibly for dinner the next night, but really because I’d been craving one for ages.
I can report that I passed the test (which was a relief. How embarrassing would it be for the instructor’s daughter to fail?) and am now officially CPR certified (though I still don’t have my card yet).
Up next, a trip to Walmart (UGH) to buy all the groceries for dinner, followed up by a trip to Sam’s (I forget what necessitated this trip, but I think it might have been grapes for the grape salad). My sweet Mama bought me a surprise: the Alice in Wonderland DVD I’d been wanting.
Then, home to get all the tables set up and dressed, and of course, to cook. Tuesday night’s dinner was fantastic! I’ll post the recipes for pasta salad and grape salad. Along with that: Low Country Boil (shrimp, potatoes, corn, sausage), steaks, banana pudding (the best recipe ever, which I’ll also post), 7-layer salad (which I don’t like, and therefore will not post the recipe for) and I can’t even remember what else. OH! The cake!
I’m not sure what everybody talked about after dinner because Malak and I went back to Mama’s room for some peace and quiet. The Hopper was tuckered out, apparently, because he made it through about 20 minutes of Wonder Pets before drifting off to sleep while playing with my hair. Goodness gracious, I love that little boy.
But not quite yet. The whole family was coming for dinner on Tuesday, but before that Mama had to teach a CPR class in Meridian. I decided to go with her, seeing as how I’d been meaning to get CPR certified for ages, but just never signed up for the class. But, even before that, I woke up and baked a cake. I know. Please, please acknowledge the amount of discipline it took to get me out of bed and conscious enough to bake, and then still get myself showered and dressed in time to leave Butler at 10:00 a.m.
What kind of cake? Italian Cream. My favorite. Ostensibly for dinner the next night, but really because I’d been craving one for ages.
I can report that I passed the test (which was a relief. How embarrassing would it be for the instructor’s daughter to fail?) and am now officially CPR certified (though I still don’t have my card yet).
Up next, a trip to Walmart (UGH) to buy all the groceries for dinner, followed up by a trip to Sam’s (I forget what necessitated this trip, but I think it might have been grapes for the grape salad). My sweet Mama bought me a surprise: the Alice in Wonderland DVD I’d been wanting.
Then, home to get all the tables set up and dressed, and of course, to cook. Tuesday night’s dinner was fantastic! I’ll post the recipes for pasta salad and grape salad. Along with that: Low Country Boil (shrimp, potatoes, corn, sausage), steaks, banana pudding (the best recipe ever, which I’ll also post), 7-layer salad (which I don’t like, and therefore will not post the recipe for) and I can’t even remember what else. OH! The cake!
I’m not sure what everybody talked about after dinner because Malak and I went back to Mama’s room for some peace and quiet. The Hopper was tuckered out, apparently, because he made it through about 20 minutes of Wonder Pets before drifting off to sleep while playing with my hair. Goodness gracious, I love that little boy.
30 June 2010
Givenchy
Photo'Perfexion Fluid Foundation
Alright, I admit it: I’m capricious when it comes to my makeup. I’ll use something for a day or two, decide that I love it, and then rave about it, only to be proven wrong after about a week and a half. Such is the case, recently, with my foundation. I was using philosophy’s the supernatural makeup, which initially attracted me because it's a hybrid liquid/mineral makeup. After three months with it, I can say that I’ve made the informed decision to dislike it. It’s too thick and just unattractive, not to mention that the only shade that came close to matching my skin tone was WAY yellow. I felt bad about not using it once I’d bought it, though, so I used it all up ‘til it was gone. Such a good girl.
Enter, Givenchy. Yes, I’ve only used it for a day, so yes, you’re likely to be reading about my disdain for it in a month or so, but… Right now, I really like it. The texture is silky and smooth, not so thick that it won’t spread evenly, but not so thin that it doesn’t cover adequately. The coverage, actually, is pretty remarkable, especially given that it doesn’t look mask-like. It’s now 3:50 p.m., and it hasn’t worn off at all since I put it on this morning. The color is a MUCH better match for me, too.
The best part, though, is really unexpected: it smells SO good! I’ve never really noticed what my foundation smelled like before, but this just smells really fresh and…pretty (for lack of a better word).
Alright, I admit it: I’m capricious when it comes to my makeup. I’ll use something for a day or two, decide that I love it, and then rave about it, only to be proven wrong after about a week and a half. Such is the case, recently, with my foundation. I was using philosophy’s the supernatural makeup, which initially attracted me because it's a hybrid liquid/mineral makeup. After three months with it, I can say that I’ve made the informed decision to dislike it. It’s too thick and just unattractive, not to mention that the only shade that came close to matching my skin tone was WAY yellow. I felt bad about not using it once I’d bought it, though, so I used it all up ‘til it was gone. Such a good girl.
Enter, Givenchy. Yes, I’ve only used it for a day, so yes, you’re likely to be reading about my disdain for it in a month or so, but… Right now, I really like it. The texture is silky and smooth, not so thick that it won’t spread evenly, but not so thin that it doesn’t cover adequately. The coverage, actually, is pretty remarkable, especially given that it doesn’t look mask-like. It’s now 3:50 p.m., and it hasn’t worn off at all since I put it on this morning. The color is a MUCH better match for me, too.
The best part, though, is really unexpected: it smells SO good! I’ve never really noticed what my foundation smelled like before, but this just smells really fresh and…pretty (for lack of a better word).
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