A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

The other day, while reading my friends blog, I saw her recipe for "apple nachos."  It sounded so yummy and so easy.  Since it's Fall, officially, I knew that I would "need" to make them . . .and it is ultra convenient that I already had all the ingredients at home!  Tonight, since the kids were home and Greg was gone, I whipped this up.  Now, it wasn't in lieu of dinner, but it should have been!  I only made 1/4 of the recipe and I cheated on some of the ingredients only for convenience sake!  I'll share that at the end, but for now, here's the real deal, ala, Trudy! Apple Nachos 36 caramels 1 TBSP water 30 large marshmallows 1/3 cup butter, cubed 4 medium tart apples, peeled and cut into 1/4″ slices 1/3 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts 1/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips 3 TBSP Halloween sprinkles In a microwave safe bowl, melt caramels with the water; stir until smooth. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt marshmall...

 This is how a 12 year old puts candles on his cake! Jackson turned 12 just a couple of weeks ago and it's a big deal at our house to have your favorite "birthday dinner."  Whatever you want you get!  This year, Jackson asked for my very favorite meal!  He requested chicken 'n dumplin's, green beans, fruit salad, and banana cake!  I was happy to make him happy! This recipe is from Falls Creek -- when Jackson was a little bitty boy, he and I would go to Falls Creek during the Summer to work in Children's Park.  Mr. Don, who is responsible for food service at the camp, would send Jackson an extra piece of cake to take with him for later.   Before we left camp one year, we asked for the recipe. Falls Creek Banana Cake 2 cups sugar 1 cup crisco 4 eggs 4 ripe bananas 2 cups flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. vanilla Cream sugar and crisco -- add remaining ingredients.  Pour into a greased 9 X 13 pan or 3 ro...

On our recent Disney trip, Jackson experienced a Reuben sandwich . . .and he was hooked!  The next day, when he ordered his own and his sister took a bite . . .she was hooked!  The third day, they shared a sandwich.  This only could mean one thing; I would make Reuben sandwiches for dinner when we got home! I want to share with you our recipe, complete with homemade 1,000 Island dressing.  I don't really care for 1,000 Island dressing so if I'm going to eat it, I at least want it to be worth eating and the store bought stuff isn't really "it" for me. 1,000 Island Dressing 1 cup mayo 1/4 - 1/2 cup ketchup 1/4 cup dill relish 2 TBSP finely chopped onion 1 hard boiled egg, chopped (I prefer it small chop) Couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce Mix well and refrigerate. Reuben Sandwiches  Gooey, yummy Swiss cheese! Dark Rye bread Butter 1,000 Island Dressing Pastrami (I used turkey pastrami) Swiss Cheese, grated Sauerkraut, WE...

For most of us, the thought of a WHOLE chicken is a little overwhelming!  We've become spoiled to boneless/skinless chicken breasts!  I want to encourage you to try a whole chicken!  You may be wondering what you're going to do with the WHOLE thing!  Well, you're going to use it!  Personally, I prefer roasting over boiling.  There are several reasons why: It's more moist It's more flavorful It's easier When I roast chicken I always do at least 2 at a time and if I'm really ambitious, I'll do 4.  The recipe is simple. Oven Roasted Chicken 2 whole chicken, thawed olive oil salt pepper This is at the most basic.  Thaw the chickens in the refrigerator.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Before removing chickens from the refrigerator line a large cookie sheet with foil; make sure the pan has a lip on it, otherwise you're going to have a mess!  Place a cookie cooling rack on top of the foil.  Now, remove the...

I have been cleaning out my spiral scratch pad -- all those little things that are necessary but not meant to be kept forever!  I found 3 recipes that my family likes and I want to pass them along so that I can throw these papers away! You'll be sad to see there are no pictures of these delicious dishes.  But trust me!  They're yummy! Santa Fe Chicken 1 onion, chopped 3 cloves minced garlic 1 TBSP olive oil 1 lb. chopped cooked chicken 2, 15-oz cans black beans, drained 24 oz jar thick salsa 1 cup taco sauce 8 corn tortillas 1 cup sour cream 2 cups shredded cojack cheese Cook onions and garlic in oil.  Add the cooked chicken, salsa and stir well.  (I call this the "chicken mix")  In a 9 X 9 pan, layer taco sauce, 4 corn tortillas, and 1/2 of the chicken mix.  Dollop with some sour cream and 1/2 the cheese.   Repeat the layers, ending with cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees until hot.  If freezing, defrost first bef...

I absolutely love tea . . . just about any type of tea, except for herbal teas.  I know, I know -- I don't know why -- that's just the way I am!  I have several teas that I just love but this one, called Fruit Tea, is my all-time absolute favorite!  Matter of fact, I have devoured the entire gallon of tea, by myself, in one day!  Honest!  Does it count that I was pregnant?  Maybe, but regardless --it's delicious! Fruit Tea 7 regular sized tea bags or 4 of the "giant" ones 1 qt. water 1 cup sugar 12 oz frozen lemonade, thawed 6 oz frozen orange juice, thawed 9 cups water Boil 1 qt. water and steep tea bags.  Add the sugar to the hot water too so that the sugar dissolves well.  Add the juice and lemonade and the remaining water.  Stir well before serving over ice. Another yummy tea is one that Brenda E. makes, called Amareta Tea.  She made it for my brother and sister-in-law's wedding.  Amareta Tea 3 TBSP instant t...

I can't remember which happened first; if Jack and Marsha brought back this incredible vanilla or if I asked them to bring me back a bottle of vanilla.  Either way, I ended up with this giant bottle of clear vanilla and it didn't take long that when I knew they were headed to Mexico I always asked them to stock me up!  Now that my supplier and I don't live close to one another, I've had to try to find it myself!  The quest has been long and disappointing!  I've looked in more Mexican markets than I care to realize, I've looked in up-scale kitchen stores, and I've asked friends!  WHOA!  I finally found Amy; she knew exactly what I was talking about -- it was her favorite too!  The Danncy Clear Mexican Vanilla is perfect -- not only is the vanilla great, but it also has just a smidge of  a cinnamon undertone and it is wonderful in everything you can think of!  Even during the heat of summer I like to put a teensy, teensy dro...

Go!  Go right now and make sure you've got all the ingredients to make this.  I'm serious -- get up, go check, because after you read this, you're going to want to make this, and you're going to say, "Ummm!  This is GOOD!" (just like my Madison Grace did!). Peanut Butter Brownies with Reese's Frosting 3/4 cup peanut butter 1/3 cup butter, softened 1/3 cup sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 2 tsp. vanilla 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. salt 1 cup flour Frosting: 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used 1 cup) 1/3 cup peanut butter Cream the peanut butter, butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla together.  Mix in baking powder and soda, salt and flour until well blended but do not over mix. Pour into a 9 X 9 greased pan.  Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes or until done. Let cool a bit.  While cooling, make the frosting.  Melt the chocolate chips, stir in the peanut butter until smooth and pour over brow...

A few years ago, my friend Sheri Babb asked me to work at Falls Creek in Children's Park.  For dinner, different churches would "adopt" us and feed us our evening meal.  The "city" churches would feed us things like hot dogs, chicken fingers and Sam's brownies.  The "country" churches would feed us homegrown cantelopes, grandma's chicken spaghetti and homemade ice cream! This ice cream was from one of those "country" church dinners!  It was so very hot this particular week and First Baptist Church, Hammon, OK treated us like family!  There were several flavors of ice cream AND cobbler to choose that night, but I went with the "Frozen Passion!"  Maybe I was really missing Greg or maybe it was just the flavor that hit the spot.  Either way, this ice cream has always been so tasty to me!  It's easy and low-fat! Frozen Passion 2 cans Eagle Brand Milk 1 medium sized can crushed pineapple 1 2-liter orange soda pop ...