A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

Sounds  . . . interesting, doesn't it? Can there be such a thing as "orange" lemonade? Isn't what makes lemonade, lemonade, the lemons? We were at my mom's and she made this tasty drink to go along with our grilled burgers. Both were delicious! I think when I make this I'll double the recipe . .  .  . . .it's that good! What makes this so tasty is that it so citrus-y tasting -- not really able to identify either the lemonade or the orange juice.  It's just thirst-quenching! This was originally posted in "Country Woman" in September 2011. The original recipe says it serves 12 . . .I'm thinking they were either small children or  little drinkers!  Orange Lemonade 2 quarts water 1 cup sugar 1 can (12 ounces) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed 1 can (12 ounces) frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed In a large saucepan, heat water and sugar until sugar is dissolved, making a simple syrup.  Stirring the mix...

Coconut . . . an under-rated condiment. But coconut is fantastic . . . . it's even more fantastic when it's toasted! I remember my great grandmother making toasted coconut. There's really no recipe for toasted coconut, that I'm aware of. I remember my grandmother just adding butter and coconut. She toasted hers on top of the stove in a heavy pan. I toast mine in the oven. Either way, you can't go wrong! All you want is to get the coconut nice and "toasty."  Like in the picture above. Perfect! Toasted Coconut Butter Sweetened flaked coconut Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place desired amount of coconut in a bowl. Put in some butter.  Maybe a TBSP or so -- depends on how much coconut you have. Place bowl in the microwave and melt the butter. Then stir the coconut all around, keep stirring, . . .keep stirring, until all of the coconut is coated with the melted butter.  The trick -- you don't want a ton of melted butter...

Memorial Day is here and company is coming! This cake is so simple and so yummy, it's sure to please! I know I'm not so creative that I "invented" this recipe. I'm sure out there in "recipe world" this cake exist. I'm not claiming this as "mine" -- but what I am saying is I had an open can of sweetened condensed milk that I needed to use on something . . . so I used it on this. Now!  What I think would make this cake even gooder (yes, gooder . . . it's a word in my world!) is a layer of strawberries. Right there in between the cake and the cool whip. Just fresh, thinly sliced strawberries. I'm doing that next time. Heck, I might even try it with a piece tonight! Not adding it between the cake and cool whip, that'd be hard.  Just adding some sliced strawberries on top of the cool whip. I think I'll like it! Coconut Cake 1 box white cake mix and listed ingredients 1 can sweetened condensed milk ...

My boy cherub. 3 hours and 9 minutes and 24 seconds. That's how much time he has left until school is out for the Summer. He has had this clock counting down since Wednesday. This is my soon to be 8th grader. And my soon to be 5th grader. My boy cherub is so excited about today. My girl cherub has already cried this week  . . .and knows she'll cry today! This is how we kick off the last day of school . . . breakfast at Einstein's! This has been a fantastic year!

We love corn on the cob. Corn on the cob is one way you know Summer is here! There's nothing better than sweet, crisp, golden yellow (with a little white) corn! It's fantastic and it's yummy and it's quick! Growing up, I remember my dad saying, "Corn doesn't have to be cooked, it just has to be heated." He's right. He'd know, he was raised in the country. Country boys know things like that. When my dad would cook our corn, he would get out the green stew pan, heat the water and drop the shucked corn in for about 3 minutes. Just enough to heat the corn  . . . so that the butter would melt! I don't have the green stew pan and heating water takes a long time . . . when you consider the microwave! I still do my corn the way my dad taught me, I just do it a bit quicker! Corn on the Cob Fresh corn, shucked and cleaned of silks 1 paper towel for each ear of corn, wet and wrung out Take t...

Disclaimer:  We have not eaten this . . .yet! We live near a Central Market grocery store. We adore this grocery store. Seriously adore it! This grocery store makes grocery shopping fun. I'm not kidding! I can't even explain the admiration I have for the store! It's like a maze when you go in . . . you start in the produce area and weave around to the meat market, then the canned goods -- which I skip this area. Then . . ..da, da, da, da . . . the bulk food items! Everything from candies to dried fruits, to flours and grains, to fresh nut butters to one of our favorites, coffee! Leave there and meander through the dairy to the bakery . . . oh, the bakery! Through the cheese section to the open olive, pickles, a dips bar, and other glorious items. Finally, you end up in the cafe . . .which is so amazing too! Then, you whisk your basket through the floral department to the checkout line . . . and there you pay for your indulgences! One ...

Mother's Day 2012 They're the best! 

When the Mr. and I got married, my mom made me a cookbook of family favorites. Not just my family favorites, but the Mr.'s too. One of the recipes is for creamed tacos. I know. Doesn't have great sound appeal. But they're really good. Really! Last week, being short on time and even shorter on creativity, I thought, "creamed tacos sound good." But I didn't want to fool with it. I did have the stuff to make it though. But I still didn't want to fool with it. So, I thought to myself, "Self, why not make the creamed part and pour it over pasta?" After all, I had left-over cooked pasta in the frig.! "Self, you are amazing!" That's what I thought to myself! So, I did just what I thought. The Mr. loved it because he loves anything pasta. The girl cherub chowed down on it before we ran out the door to dance. The boy cherub wasn't so hip on it -- he was in a "I'm picky tonight and you ...

Notice my 4 layer dessert is only 3 layers . . . I didn't have enough cool whip to do a top layer! Oh well! When the word "Delight" is in the recipe title . . . .  . . . it's gotta be good. This is the Mr.'s favorite dessert. That is, his favorite dessert with 4 layers. Don't be confused by his favorite brownies. Or his favorite chocolate pie. Or his favorite hummingbird cake. Or his favorite blackberry cobbler. Or his favorite chocolate chip cookies. You see; we must distinguish between our favorite desserts -- putting them in their proper category! The other night, the Mr.'s brother was in town. It was a last-minute invite for dinner that worked out perfectly. Because time was short, I looked through the pantry to see what I could throw together for dessert. I had all the ingredients for this delish dish! My mom makes this dessert alot. It's an old recipe. Not because she makes it -- because she's not old. ...

6 days and counting . . . until we get out of school. Yes, that's a collective "we." As in "me and the kids." Sure, the Mr. too, but it's more "me." I'm the one who keeps it organized into controlled chaos. These last couple of weeks have been a beating. A real beating!  . . .and talk about beating, let me just mention the financial beating! It's a fund raiser here and a fund raiser there and money for this activity and money for that and nothing is cheap anymore. N.O.T.H.I.N.G!!!! Our Summer is already filling up and I already have a "Summer Slump" guide for my cherubs -- a little reading, a smidge of math, and a bit of keyboarding practice; but what I'm looking forward to is slowing down! No more lunches to pack, no more backpacks sitting by the back door. No more uniforms to wash and press, no more projects to complete. Just a few weeks of different! And different is good!

A while ago we tried another new veggie at our house. Butternut squash. Oh, I may have had butternut squash a long time ago. I don't remember. But this!  This, I remember! We all loved it! The Mr., the two cherubs and me! You know what I cant' stand? When I make a veggie that we all like and there isn't enough! That's what I hate! The most difficult thing about this vegetable is cutting the stinkin' squash. It's tough. If things like this frustrate you -- buy it already cut up. You can do that, you know. I don't. I can't bring myself to splurge that way. One of these days -- I'm going to! Just for the heck of it! I'll liberate myself that way! But until then, I'll deal with the tough peel. Is that what you call the outside of a squash? "Peel?" Roasted Butternut Squash 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed olive oil salt pepper Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl, place the c...

We had company the other night for dinner. Not just any company -- interns. That means: single boys  . . .ok, they're 20-something year-old men graduate students they miss their mamma's cooking they're hungry Trying to figure out what we were going to have -- I was giving the Mr. several options. His reply, "It doesn't matter, just make sure you have alot!" I made fajita grilled chicken topped with Monterrey jack cheese and green chilies, my friend's green chili rice (on the blog), quick charro beans (on the blog), homemade guacamole (on the blog), and chocolate chip cookie dough brownies (now going to be on the blog!) I had worked all day and had to run to the store to grab a few things!  Dinner had to be thrown together in a flash!  I thought of an easy dessert:  a box of brownies, cooked to perfection, topped with cookie dough. Yummy! I've made this basic dessert before -- but this is just a smidge different.  If you're ...

    It's kind of gone from beautiful Spring to hot Summer in just a matter of days. Regardless if you love the heat of the Summer or the perfect-ness of the Spring, you usually think G.R.I.L.L! We love to grill at our house. The Mr. is the master of the grill! I love that the whole meal can be cooked outside. When we grill, we cook a lot of chicken. That's because grilled chicken is one of my favorites. I try a lot of different marinades and this one is simple and good. It comes from a cookbook from my mom's work.  These kinds of cookbooks are some of my favorites -- they're tried and true recipes! With so many marinades on the market -- you may wonder why make your own? Because it's cheaper.   Simple. Marinades are a simple concoction of ingredients -- usually things you've already got in your kitchen pantry. Your investment of cost when you make it at home is so much cheaper than buying a bott...

This is what has started the cilantro/lime craze this week.  Our lunch from Sunday. Because we get home late from church on Sunday's, I try to have lunch in the crock pot or in the oven before we leave early Sunday mornings. But sometimes I fail. This was one of those days. Coming home with the cherubs in the car, I said, "I have grilled chicken already cooked at home.  Do y'all want chicken with rice or a grilled chicken sandwich?" Knowing their mutual disinterest with rice, I knew they'd vote for the sandwich. The rest of the way home, my creative juiced were flowing. The chicken had been marinated in a store-bought cilantro-lime marinade. The Mr. had grilled it the night before. With that flavor as the starting point, I went from there. Here's what we created: $10.00 Chicken Sandwich Grilled chicken breasts, sliced extremely thin, across the grain fabulous bread; I used a jalapeno cheddar from a local bakery mayonnaise m...

The other day I posted a cilantro lime dressing. Today, I'm posting just a plain 'ol lime dressing. Perhaps you think I'm stuck on lime things. I actually think it's just a fluke. The difference between this one and the other dressing: I have made this one. As in just the other day made it. I really liked it. My smallest cherub thought that it was "pungent." She used the word in the sentence correctly and everything. Then asked what "pungent" meant. I'm thinking she didn't really mean what she said about the dressing! I liked this on a salad with grilled chicken, chopped purple onion, and sliced mango. Then, last night, I made a "Mexican Chicken Pasta Salad" and I used this as the dressing. I liked that too. Lime Dressing 1/4 cup rice vinegar 2 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice 1 garlic clove, minced 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1/2 cup c...