Odds~N~Ends!

Hello everyone, I hope that everyone had a very nice holiday! Our Thanksgiving was great. We celebrated with family and friends and had some great food. I am an only child and my mother and father come to my house to have our meal. I made turkey, dressing, broccoli rice casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and my buttery butterhorns. My mom made, squash, and fruit salad. Oh, and we also had the obligatory cranberry sauce. Now for dessert we just go a little nuts. My daughter made a cream cheese pound cake that was just wonderful! I made pumpkin delight (a casserole type that I have been making for about 10 years). And I made a chocolate pie my husband requested. I am sad to say that is the only recipe I can blog about today. The last few days have been a blur. With all the cooking and preparation I just didn't think. I would love to share all these recipes but I had so many things going at once I just didn't get a chance to grab my camera! We also have a tradition of waking up early and going shopping with our best friends Priscilla and Ron. Yesterday we had alot of fun and just went all day!! We make it fun with a long lunch and a stop at Starbucks for one of their seasonal drinks. Any of you who know me know that I have a love affair with Starbucks. I could sit in there all day and just smell! We had alot of fun. We already look forward to next year. This year we ended the day with a movie. I finally saw Twilight. I have read all the books and the movie was very good. We also found time (before Thanksgiving) to put up our Christmas tree which is my favorite thing to do of all time. It is just magical and we love talking about each ornament and the story behind it. I am going to post a few pictures and then I will show you the best chocolate pie in the world!

Our Christmas Tree. I wish I could show you all the ornaments. It turned out beautiful!

My beautiful daughters, Lauren (in back), Sara, and Jena up front.

My kitchen tree! I am showing you unlit because with the lights on you cant see the "kitcheney" ornaments!

Now.....on to the cooking. Here is the best Chocolate pie ever!

Joans Chocolatey Pie

3 squares unsweetened chocolate
3 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tsp. butter

1 cup sugar

3 tbsp. flour

3 tbsp. cornstarch

3 egg yolks

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Deep dish pie shell, baked

Heat 2 cups of milk and chocolate on medium heat until it boils. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add egg yolks, vanilla and 1 cup of milk. Once milk-chocolate mixture boils, add other ingredients. Return to a boil and boil 1 minute. Pour into baked pie shell. Cool completely and top with Cool Whip and chocolate chips.

This is the ingredients you will need.

This is your milk and chocolate squares, just bring it on to a boil

Add the rest of the ingredients and cook til thickened.

Pour your filling into an unbaked pie shell.

TaDaaa! All you gotta do now is put your Cool Whip and choc chips or choc shavings and its done!

It is so good!

Easiest, Creamiest Tortilla Soup

A few years back I went to lunch with a girl that I worked with and I ordered this soup. Although I wasnt officially given the recipe, I went home and made the closest I could get to it. After a few tries I feel like I got pretty close. It is so yummy. It is a great cold night soup. Although it has corn tortillas chopped up in it I still like to have it with jalapeno cornbread! My kids and my husband have given it a thumbs up so I have added it to my recipes that I consider my family favorites. Soon to be a cookbook!



These are the ingredients you will need.



Brown your ground meat with the chopped onions.



Simmer meat, tomatoes, broth, cream of mushroom soup and water.
Add your seasonings at this point as well.



Add your corn, chopped tortillas and cheese, cubed.



This is your delicious soup! I have been told it looks like cheese dip but it doesn't taste like it!


Easiest, Creamiest Tortilla Soup
1 1/4 lb. ground meat
1 can chopped tomatoes, undrained
1 can beef broth
1 can whole kernel corn
1/3 large loaf of Velveeta
1 can cream of mushroom soup
7 corn tortillas chopped into pieces
1 table spoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon pepper
dash of salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic

Brown ground meat with onions, drain. Add beef broth, tomatoe, and 2 cans of water. Add your spices at his point. Simmer about 20 minutes. Add your cream of mushroom, tortillas, and velveeta, chopped into cubes. Simmer just until cheese is melted.
Enjoy!

Awards!! Yoo Hoo!!

Nicole over at Heart4myhome.blogspot.com sent me not one, but TWO awards and I just love them!! She must somehow know exactly what I love!! I love Marie Antoinette and Butterflies!!
Thank you so much Nicole, I am honored considering just how much I love your blog!!

Take a lookie:




I would like to send these on to:
Priscilla at Priscillas Baking Adventure
Tina at Mommys Kitchen
Kristy at Franceskas Journey Home
Lauren at Just another day being Lauren
Sara at Adventures of a smiling college girl

ALL of you inspire me in ways you will never know!

THIS JUST IN---Giveaway at Priscillas Baking Adventures!!!!

Please click on over the Priscillas Baking Adventures. She had the most awesome giveaway and I have to say I sure hope I win something!!! Its as simple as leaving a comment for her! Go, Go, Go......

Just a little sweet....

I am pretty sure that everyone has heard of these. Dont they look like turtles? They are just the easiest little candies in the world! Great for our upcoming holidays. All you do is place a rolo candy (chocolate covered caramel) on top of a pretzel knot, bake at 250 degrees for 4 minutes and then smush a pecan half over the top. Voila!! So easy for when you want just a little sweet....

Easy Sausage Strata renamed "Kirstens Breakfast Casserole"

My daughter Lauren has a sweet friend that she works with named Kirsten. She turned 21 last week so I made this casserole for Lauren to take to work. I think it would be a great casserole for Christmas morning or Thanksgiving morning because it is one you prepare the night before so it can sit in the fridge overnight. I used regular wheat bread but I think it would be great with day old croissants. I am all about how something smells when it is cooking and this smelled really good. My dream is for my house to smell like Williams-Sonoma. I like to just go in there and smell!! Strange, I know. I recently just bought a small crock pot and I have been putting oranges, lemons, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, a little ginger, and just about any spice I think would smell good with that. I even added some fruit juice. I had a couple packets of spiced cider mix and I threw that in. Ever since I was a little girl I can remember getting great comfort from good smells wether it was clean sheets, fresh mown grass or just my grandmas house. Talk about getting way off track! Back to the recipe. Try it and let me know what you think.


1 pound pork sausage
6 slices bread, cubed (or whatever you want, biscuits may be good too!)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used sharp and it was good)
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground dry mustard

Brown sausage, drain, and set aside. Layer bread cubes, sausage and cheddar cheese in a lightly greased 7 x 11 inch baking dish. In a bowl, beat together eggs, milk, salt, and mustard. Pour the egg mixture over the bread mixture. Cover this and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight. Remove casserole from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 45-50 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Spread the bread cubes over the bottom like this.

Layer the sausage and cheese.

Pour the milk mixture over everything and refrigerate.

This is the baked cheesy casserole. Smelled and looked delicious!

"Won Over Coffee Cake" and I am "Won Over"!!!!!

I know how everyone loves coffee cake (right?). I know I do. I would almost prefer a really good coffee cake over any kind of cake if I have a steaming cup of coffee. I love all kinds, but cinnamon is just the most heavenly smell when its cooking. This coffee cake is no different, as a matter of fact, I think its is probably the best coffee cake I have ever had. Thats a high compliment! This cake is moist, and VERY cinnamoney. Seriously, you have got to try this! I took this recipe from Priscilla at Priscillas Baking Adventure. See her blogsite on the right upper had corner. You must go over and see her blog. Keep this in mind-THIS GIRL IS ONLY 16!!!

"Won Over Coffee Cake"

1 box yellow cake mix (plus ingredients on the back of box)
2 sticks cold, salted butter
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
Powdered Sugar (for dusting)
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare cake mix in large bowl according to package directions. Spray a 9x13 pan with non stick spray. Pour batte into pan. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until center is just barely set. While cake is baking, prepare crumb topping. In a large bowl of electric mixer combine butter, flour, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla until all crumbly. (This takes a minute or two). IMMEDIATELY after cake is removed from oven, break crumb topping into marble sized pieces with your fingers, sprinkling it over the top. Put back in oven to bake an additional 15 minutes or so. Let cool fully and dust with powdered sugar using a sieve. Cut into squares and serve.

These are the ingredients only I didn't get the butter out because its supposed to be cold, yea right-I forgot!

This is the topping over the yellow cake, remember, the cake shouldnt be completely baked!

This is the finished cake. It is so delicious. The aroma coming out of my oven was wonderful.

Have a great evening everyone and thanks so much for reading!