Jennifer (Mini Me) Makes Dessert

My mini me, Jennifer has become quite a cook since she was married last year.  She doesn't get to cook every night for dinner due to her work schedule.  She works 13 hour days as a pharmacist - 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.  Long days!!  She does have a couple of days off in the week and this is when she gets a chance to try a recipe.  She has shared some great recipes with me that I have enjoyed cooking and eating!  She becomes more like her mother everyday!! :) 

She made this for us recently and it was yummy!

Chocolate Chip Strawberry Bars

Roll of cookie dough
1- 8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup powder sugar
2 squares of white choc or vanilla almond bark
2 Tbsp of milk
1 cup Cool Whip
Strawberries
1 square of chocolate almond bark

Bake cookie dough in 9x13 pan, let cool. Mix together cream cheese and powdered sugar. Melt 2 squares of white choc or vanilla almond bark in 2 Tbsp of milk....about 40 sec in microwave. Stir it well so all bar is melted. Slowly add to cream cheese mixture while mixing on low speed. Add Cool Whip and stir together well. Spread onto cooled cookie dough. Add sliced fruit to top and then drizzle with the melted chocolate almond bark.

This is really delicious!

I love the saying ... "Mirror mirror on the wall I have become my mother after all". 

I gave Jennifer a pillow one time with this saying and she hid it!  It is so true now!

Now if I could only get her to sew :)

Thanks for visiting!

Donna

 

Living in Alabama

I saw this posted on Facebook from friends here in Alabama and it suits me to a tee!

I was raised in Alabama where summer starts in April, we don't have fireflies, we have lightnin' bugs, rice and beans are vegetables, pecan pie, sweet potato pie & banana puddin is mandatory, y'all is a proper noun, chicken is always fried, biscuits come with gravy, sweet tea is the house wine, & someone is always getting their heart blessed.

It is so true ... I am always blessing someone's heart!  I catch myself saying it all the time with my Southern drawl! LOL 

We do drink sweet tea around here by the gallons. We have it with every meal.

As far as fireflies go I grew up calling them lightning bugs!  We would catch them in a jar with holes punched in the lid and release them when it was time to get a bath for bed.  It was just a sort of entertainment! 

I used to fry all my chicken but in the last 10 years I mostly bake or grill our chicken.  But gracious it is so good fried!!!  I only changed to baking or grilling for health reasons.

We don't just have pecan pies during the holidays ... I make them all the time ...actually 2 weeks ago!  And it was GOOD!   Today I made banana pudding from scratch and it was so yummy!

And yes I do say Y'all all the time!  It is just a southern thing!

I do know one thing you can take the girl out of the South but you can't take the South out of the girl!

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend.  Yesterday we worked in our veggie garden, flower garden and spreading bags of mulch in flower beds!   It is May and our Alabama summer began in April. LOL

Thanks for visiting and God Bless!
Hugs,
Donna

Almond Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I wanted something sweet last week so I went searching for a recipe that was quick and easy.  I reached for the Cake Mix Doctor cookbook and decided to make this simple cake.  I ate a piece of it warm from the oven.  It would be great served with fruit and whipped cream.

Ingredients:

• 1 (18 ounce) box butter recipe cake mix
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temp
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Bring cream cheese to room temperature.  Place all ingredients in large mixing bowl.  Mix with electric mixer on low for one minute until all combined.  Mix at medium for two minutes.  Bake in a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan at 350°F for about 45 minutes or until cake springs back when touched.


I will definitely make this cake again.  It was light tasting, super easy and quick!

Thank you for visiting!
Hugs,
Donna

Biltmore in the Spring

We visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC last week for a couple of days.  We had toured the house before so we did not take the tour again.  We went to the Festival of Flowers.  The tulips had bloomed but there were flowers galore.  The rhododendrons were blooming and they were purple.  I took so many pics but only chose a few to share.

Iris blooming in all colors.

I think they have every rose imaginable and so fragrant!

We were taking a walk and came across this waterfall spilling over the spillway.  It was so high my hands were sweating crossing it!  I don't like heights!

In the Conservatory this old suitcase ws filled with greenery and flowers.  I am on a search for an old suitcase!

Small sunflowers ...

Birdcage overflowing with ivy.

Hydrangeas in every color.  I really liked this purple one ...

On the pedestal the cosmetic case is filled with greenery.  Loved this also!  Creative ways to use old luggage.

The Biltmore Inn is perched on a hill overlooking the mountains and countryside.  A wonderful place to stay and everyone is so friendly.

Leaving the Biltmore Estate on Saturday morning.  It is a wonderful place to visit.  I can't imagine living in such an enormous house with grounds that extend for miles.

Oh well ... I came home to my house and although it is not a mansion with flowers galore it is filled with so many memories and lots of love!

Thanks for visiting!

Donna

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers. 

My husband and I have been away a couple of days on a getaway.  We arrived back home a few hours ago.  Where we went had so many beautiful flowers and this rose was among them. 

Thanks for visiting ... Donna

Buttons, Buttons, Buttons

I love buttons especially old ones.  I was so surprised when a friend of mine Mary Ann came by yesterday and said she had something from her son Will.  Will was Amber's best friend from high school.  She had lots of friends but Will was the best!  He was the only boy that we would ever let Amber go anywhere with.  He has a special sister and he knew how he it was for Amber and her disability.  I have always thought of Will like a son and like a brother to Amber and Jennifer.  He comes and visits us often.

This is what he sent me.  Buttons galore!!  The large jar is huge!  There are all shapes and sizes of buttons.  Baby ones to large ones that are at least two inches.  His mother said he saw them in an antique shop and he thought of me. 

Needless to say I spent last night looking at buttons!  I will use these in all kinds of projects for sure.

You know it's the little things in life that just make me happy!

Thanks for visiting!

Donna

*Thank you all for your comments and emails about the tornadoes here in Alabama.

Tornado Devastation ...

The devastation from the tornadoes last week is just heartbreaking.  I have seen some of the destruction myself and it is so sad.  I always have my camera in my purse but I could not bring myself to take pictures of such horrible scenes.  I have never seen anything like it in my life.  In the past I've seen where tornadoes had hit homes but nothing like the damage the monster tornadoes did last week. 

I've found receipts, newspapers, magazine covers with addresses in our yard from Tuscaloosa an hour and a half away.  Pieces of window blinds, insulation and roof material in our yard.

Just miles from my house lives are forever changed.  People lost or still missing.  Near my cousin's home a little 6 year old boy was found passed away in a tree.  He lived 30 miles away.  Friends are fortunate to be alive with trees down all around their house with minor damage to their home.  They were in the bathtub as the tornado passed through.

Near the river there is even more devastation.  Nothing left ... people missing.  A family of five has yet to be found.  Story after story ... such sadness.

Seeing people at our local Walmart buying necessities to get by for a few days at a time makes what  I needed to purchase so insignificant. 

Again story after story.  People picking up the pieces and looking for just a picture of the past ...

Please keep the people of Alabama and surrounding states in your thoughts and prayers.

I hope to have more upbeat posts this week!

Thanks for visiting!
Donna