A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

I had a great afternoon of having ladies over for lunch. I called it "Lunch and Laughter!" My goal was to relax just a smidge before the cherubs got out of school for the Summer! Goal accomplished! I made it super easy by serving Cathedral Chicken Salad  (recipe link here:  http://karen-proverbs31.blogspot.com/2012/01/cathedral-chicken-salad.html ) My favorite Spinach Salad (recipe link here:  http://karen-proverbs31.blogspot.com/2011/03/another-salad-dressing.html ) Deli Pasta Salad Creamy Limeade Cake (recipe link here:  http://karen-proverbs31.blogspot.com/2012/09/creamy-limade-pound-cake.html ) I really liked this pasta salad.  It was a new recipe that I tried. I am all the time trying pasta salad recipes. I want to make good pasta salad. But I honestly don't have the knack! Seriously! It can't be hard, but for me . . . it is! But, I finally think I've succeeded! You try it and see what you think! Deli Pasta Salad 1 ...

Next week, my oldest cherub finishes his last day of Middle school and my girl cherub finishes her first year of Middle school. I think back; when we moved to Texas, my oldest cherub was the age my girl cherub is now. I adore the time of life we are in. I can't imagine anything different! Those who have already launched your children; your wisdom tells me to enjoy it because time will fly! Those who have just started out; you can't imagine how quickly the day will come when you'll be counting down the end of the school days and talking about colleges and SAT preparation with your little one. I think back to the elementary days of the end of school and the hub-bub of teacher gifts! What do we get? When do we give it? Do we get each teacher something different or their own "personalized" gift? Oh, the quandary! In Middle school -- those teachers kind of get the shaft! They, too, work long hours. They, too, teach creatively. They, to...

These are baseball cookies and bats that were ordered for a baby shower. I know I've said it before; I just L.O.V.E. decorated sugar cookies. I'm not sure that there's anything better! This is one of my favorite sugar cookie recipes because it's so stinking easy! I was going to post a link to the blog where you could find the recipe . . . then discovered that I had never posted the recipe! That's unbelievable! Whether you make a plain cookie and frost it with store bought frosting, or you whip up some royal icing and make a masterpiece, you won't be disappointed with this cookie! Vanilla Sugar Cookies 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 cup butter, chilled, cut into small pieces 1 cup powdered sugar 2 egg yolks 2 tsp. vanilla Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the flour in a food processor and add the butter.  Pulse the mixture until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Add the sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla and process until you have a...

Image from Kraft This is so easy. This is an old recipe. Those two statements have nothing in common. It's beginning to turn "Sprummer" around here. It's during "Sprummer" that I start thinking about new and different recipes. Maybe even a recipe that I haven't made in awhile. Last night, I opened some cool whip and used about 2 TBSP. Now, I have an entire container of cool whip. That bugs me. What am I going to do with all that cool whip? I have no plan. Well, I didn't have a plan. Now I do. Actually, I've executed my plan. That's why I'm posting this recipe. This is low fat, easy, cool, and no-bake. What can better than that? I'll tell you! If someone else makes it for you! And cleans up after you! And tells you you're pretty. But in case that isn't happening today around your house, you're not alone!  It's not happening here either! Chocolate Éclair Cake 1  box g...

Last summer, while on vacation, the Mr. insisted I buy a perfume. My only request is that it be something that I love and that I could get when we got "back home." As small as the world is these days, the second to that demand wasn't hard to accomplish. While we meandered our way through our trip, we stopped and sniffed and sprayed and tested until I couldn't remember what I had sprayed last! But finally, on a shopping day, we stopped by the counter of "Jo Malone." I had only heard of Jo Malone, but didn't have any idea about the fragrances. The sweet young girl sprayed and suggested and mixed until she was blue in the face. Finally, the very last sample was "it!" Nectarine Blossom and Honey ! I love it! I deluged myself in it one final time before I left the store with the iconic "Jo Malone Bag." I was happy! Since then,  I have the Mr. has purchased for me:  English Pear and Freesia , Red Currant and Cr...

This was my Mother's Day lunch. I say " my " because we each had different stuff. It was like being at a restaurant but it was at home. It was so fun! On Saturday, we went to one of our favorite grocery stores . . . yes, we have a "favorite" grocery store! We decided to have corn on the cob, a salad, and gluten-free cornbread. Then, we headed to the meat market and we all picked out whatever kind of meat/fish/chicken we wanted to grill. I picked a filet. I never pick a filet. Ever . But it just looked good! It's amazing that fresh, red, uncooked meat can look good! I asked for the smallest cut, because I'm not a steak eater. At lunch, I was so sad I hadn't asked for a bigger steak. It was perfection! Pure perfection! Matter of fact, it was the hit of the lunch table. The Mr. and the cherubs were so envious of my creation! I love being a mother! Coffee-Crusted Steak 1 favorite cut of steak Sea Salt Fresh ...

Allergy season is hitting hard at our house these days. With that, comes the need for my girl cherub to have a gluten free diet. Again. We've done gluten free before, but she's been able to tolerate gluten back in her diet. Since she's suffering so bad with seasonal allergies, her immune system is sensitive and gluten is being bad . . .very bad to her right now! Shame on gluten! It took us about two meals to figure out that we needed to remove the culprit. It may be for a short time,  or it may be more long-term . . .we'll just listen to her body and go with what's best for her. With that said, it's Mother's Day tomorrow and our lunch dessert got changed to accommodate my cherub. Wow!  What a mom I am! Isn't that just the life of a mom! I made these tonight (ummm, yes, you read that right!  I made my own dessert for Mother's Day!)  The Mr. and I shared a cookie and he said, "This tastes just like a brownie cookie!...

Image from All Recipes See these cookies? They're delish! Our neighbor was being neighborly and brought them to us as a "thank you!" All we did was ask if everything was ok . . .   . . .when their alarm went off at 3:00 in the morning. We checked on them right away! I thought that was neighborly. But she repaid us with these treats. I think I'll be more neighborly, more often! Do you think she'll notice? After one little bite, we all agreed: "GET THE RECIPE !" I sent her a quick request and she sent me the quick recipe! We have a great relationship, don't you think? The only problem with the cookies:  I had to share! Lemon Cookies 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix                                  ...

Image from Southern Living Remember my girl cherub wanted a cookbook from her school's book fair? It was all about using rotisserie chicken. Yep, makes a momma proud! Let's cut to the chase! This weekend, I roasted 2 whole chickens and a turkey breast so that meals this week would throw together in a snap. Today, I ran home, used some of the already-cooked-chicken to throw together this recipe from my her new cookbook. We all really liked it and it was great to have something out of the ordinary for dinner! Now!  I did make a wee little change! I didn't have time to mess with making "nachos."  I didn't want to roast the peppers, nor did I want to mess with serving the "nachos," although the idea is very cute! Instead, I just made stuffed peppers with the chicken concoction and we were happy! Pepper and Chicken Nachos 4 garlic cloves, pressed 1/4 cup ...

It's another night at the ball field. Thank goodness I only have one boy cherub to lug around! I'm not sure that I could do this if I had 2 or 8 more boys! At least I have a balance of ballet and baseball! Because on game nights, it can be a little hectic, and because it would be so much easier to grab dinner and run to the field, I really try to make quick, easy, and tasty food! I call it "homemade fast food!" Isn't that ultra-creative? Truly, what you spend at the fast food stop, you can have dinner that is so much tastier, more healthy, and usually have left overs for lunch the next day. I called this "pizza roll ups," because that what it is and I'm not really creative when I name food! Homemade Pizza Rolls 1 Rhodes bread loaf, thawed Deli sliced pepperoni or Canadian Bacon, chopped Chopped onion, optional Parmesan cheese, grated Black Olives, optional Pizza sauce Thaw the frozen bread loaf.  This comes in ...