A brand new day :)

Today is a brand new day, however, i did not sleep from the time my husband left for the gym (5:00AM), i laid there and kept thinking of what i had to accomplish for today, some emails i needed to send and what i was going to cook for supper tonight. We are having friends over, so that means no experiment night! I really don't like to try anything new for company, just in case it doesn't turn out. Now a dessert, i will try a new one every night. :) Am i the only wife who pretty much makes a dessert every night? Thats really bad! If i don't make a dessert I'm shoveling ice cream or chocolate chip cookies down my throat. Speaking of Choc chip cookies, my sister-in-law makes the yummiest, evenly rounded cookies you have ever seen in your life. They are all the same size and shape. I couldn't do that in a million years if i tried :) When my husband and I first got married he would always say, "bake them cookies that my sister makes", so i did, and he would say, "their good, but not like my sisters." So the closest thing i can get to hers is the store bought break apart Nestle Toll House ones...... Still not sure what to fix for supper tonight! Grrrr.....

Banana Nut Head..

You mostly likely have eaten it, its one of the easiest breads to make and sinfully wonderful!!

Banana Nut Bread Baby!! This is the easiest recipe ever, and there are no special ingredients - well other than the bananas. Go on..try it.. it's not fattening!

Here is what you need:

1/2 cup of shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 med bananas, mashed

2 cup flour

1 tsp soda

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and cream well. Sift flour and soda together. Fold flour and bananas into above mixture. Add 1/2 cup chopped nuts.

Divide mixture in half and put into two loaf pans. Bake in greased and floured loaf pan. Bake for 35 to 45 mins @ 350 (or until toothpick comes out clean) I put the whole batter in one loaf pan and it took a realllly long time to bake thru, so thats why i am suggesting dividing it. :)

See..how easy is that? In the time it took you to read the recipe you could have made it.. Now I'm eating it and your not :)... almost half is gone, how sad. Oh well.

Yesterday was a wonderful day for my 21 month old! Monkey Joe's just opened up in our city and so we took her. We met her favorite buddy's there - Jake and Cole.

They had so much fun! FYI don't wear your work clothes! I was drug threw these huge inflatable things, up and down the slides and thru the tunnels..how do these kids do this? All day E has been saying ,"I salide....jump...be nice...salide" the joys of motherhood are so rewarding. I took her to jump, and somehow I am now the greatest Mommy ever :) Please Elizabeth.... never grow up.

Baking with my favorite girl :)

I have this little girl who makes my heart smile, my head spin, my eyes sparkle, my life brighter.....

Let me introduce you again to the worlds most adorable baker. "E"

Kitchen etiquette?? What is that??

She can stir the batter, lick it and then stir it again!!!:) Mom is okay with that. We made a Mandarin Orange Cake. Of course we were the only ones who ate it! ... So thats why the scale went to the right this week?

Look at that chin?? I'll only have another one if you can promise me they'll be this cute!!

.. I love, love, love this girl!!!

Refreshing, Light & Yummy

E's Spoon Lickin-Mandarin Orange Cake

You will need:

1 Package butter golden cake mix

4 eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1(11 oz) can mandarin orange segments

1 (8oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple w/ juice

1 package instant vanilla pudding mix

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees - Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, oil and mandarin oranges with juice. Beat until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 t0 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Topping:

In a large bowl, beat together whipped topping, pineapple w/ juice and dry pudding mix until blended. Spread on cake. Chill cake in fridge, grab a plate, cut it and SPLURGE!!!!!

Its -4 degrees, snow up to your knees and all flights going into my home town are cancelled!! So this only means time to blog!!!!! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks.

I was able to fit a blog in :)

Thanksgiving flew by like lightening now Christmas is here! My FAVORITE time of the year :) Parties, baking, music, friends, baking, family, baking and the celebration of Jesus birth. I always wished December was longer, maybe like 8 weeks instead of 4, but people said thats what makes Christmas so special. I disagree. I'm the type of person who could celebrate it for 6 months. Its hard to believe you do so much work for such a short time. I have made boat loads of sweets already and i still have a week left. Why is it at Christmas time you love to give so much? Its always a blessing to give to those who don't have much. I remember as a kid my family and I every Christmas would go see Mr Otis (the old school black farmer down the road) and take him goodies and fruit. They never had much, but they were always so grateful. I mean we were giving them apples, oranges and some left over cookies we had around the house, and you would have thought we were giving them the world. We still carry the tradition on, and I'm sure next week will be there, and he'll still have that same thankful smile. Christmas is so special. The time you spend with your families, the memories you make with friends, the presents you get.. and you wonder, what in the name they were thinking when they bought that??.. its just best to smile and say thank you:) Oh boy did i ever get one of those one year! I best keep my mouth shut! :) Merry Christmas to all and to all a gross night.. love shrek

The Happenings.....

We just got back from the Mid-West, oh how i love it up there :) Not too cold yet, trees have already turned, started Christmas shopping, we cooked for about ten men while we were there. Couldn't try too many new recipes due to the fact that we would have to make about 3 pots of everything. Men sure do eat alot!! :) P.S. we did happen to have a UFC Fighter with us up there and he ate a whole pot himself... but thats another story.

I was able to take some pictures on the farm of my little, darling Princess.

Today is the day we put up Nana and Grandpa's Christmas tree, twenty minutes into hanging the ornaments Princess E broke her first one. :) I thought the one i gave her was plastic, boy it sure did fool me when it busted into one thousand pieces!!! I love this time of year, I just wish it was cooler and not in the seventy's today!!! ..but we have on our Christmas music, so that gets us in the mood. Have i ever mentioned that my mom CANNOT have just a normal tree with all the pretty little sentimental ornaments?? Instead she has this enormously, huge tree that is like twelve foot tall and spreads it seems like six foot around!!! It is absolutely gorgeous!! Nothing like Mom's Christmas tree! E has put three ornaments on the tree, she hangs them from the lights...thats where their suppose to go, HELLO DOES ANYONE NOT KNOW THIS?? That's what we've been doing wrong this whole time....

Speaking of time, I sure do miss my hubby, all i will say is its hunting season, so therefore i have no husband :(

The Best I've found....

This is in the top 3 for my most favorite breakfast meals! It is undeniable, without a doubt, the best french toast you will ever put in your mouth! It will make you fat and happy!

Baked French Toast

Ingredients

1 loaf French bread

8 large eggs

2 cups half-and-half

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Dash salt

Directions

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden.

Praline Topping

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend

well.