Vermicelli Salad

Hi ya'll. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. We are so not enjoying the time change! I will be screwed up for a solid week. The only think I like about this time change is the fact that I know that summer and the end of the school year will be here soon! Today I am bringing you another side dish because I was looking back on all my previous posts and realized I had no side dishes even though I have many to share with you. The one I am bringing today is great for this time of year because it is so light and everyone tends to BBQ and just generally like dishes that arent so heavy.Ingredients: Vermicelli, vegetable oil, season all, green onions, celery, black olives, mayo.

Prepare your vermicelli according to the package directions.
Drain and place in a large bowl. Add vegetable oil and season all and let sit in fridge overnight.

The next morning kind of seperate it with a fork and loosen it up.

Add black olives, onions, and celery and mix well with a fork.
When mixed well add two spoonfuls of mayo and mix well.

Delicious and creamy.


Vermicilli Salad

1 package vermicelli pasta, cooked

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon season all

Mix this together and refrigerate overnight.

Next day:

add 1 cup celery, chopped fine

3 green onions tops and all

2 big spoonfuls of mayo

1/2 of a small can chopped black olives.

Mix well and enjoy!

Who wants to play???

My friend Jennifer over at www.3sonsandadaughter.blogspot.com (yes, very similiar to mine, we have been friends for many years and recently discovered we had similiar named blogs!), is playing a game and I'm going to play. Here are the rules:It's open to everyone, in the United States, who reads my blog.The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something bought or made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I buy or make!

2- What I choose will be just for you.

3- It will be done this calendar year. (that's right, before December 31, 2009!)

4- You have no clue what it's going to be. A total surprise.

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. But I would never send something that I didn't like myself!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and make the same offer to the first 5 people who respond on your blog entry, thereby continuing the fun! The first 5 people to do so, and leave a comment telling me they did, will win a FAB-U-LOUS gift from me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play!

Okay, I know the game says "this calender year" but its only March. I am going to end this on Friday night and I will let you know who should be watching their mailbox and I will get my little "surprises" out by the end of March.

Remember! You gotta post on your blog to be eligible! Lets play!

Broccoli Cornbread Dressing

Hi All! With Easter right around the corner and spring springing up everywhere I cant help but start thinking about our Easter Dinner. Although my kids are too old to hunt eggs (we do it anyway) they are old enough to really understand the meaning of the season and that gives me joy on a different level of motherhood. My girls make me prouder and prouder everyday. We have a small family but they get alot of happiness out of just being together. This side dish is a must at Easter. It is a springier twist on our Thanksgiving dressing and it goes great with the peach glazed ham that we have. I will bring that recipe to my blog soon! This is so easy and it doesnt tie up alot of your time or your oven time.This is the very simple ingredients.
Melt your two stick of butter and saute onions just a little, til they become clear.

In a mixing bowl add your cornbread....

and the onion butter mixture together. Mix.

Add your thawed out, but not cooked broccoli.

Add 4 slightly beaten eggs. Mix.

Add your 1 cup of cottage cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I put this in a small roaster I have. No need to grease the pan.

Bake at 400 degrees.

Easy Easy Easy.

Crumb Cake

Every now and then I just crave a plain old crumbcake. With cinnamon, of course! Not that I dont like fancy desserts because I really do enjoy making and eating those. I like this dessert as a breakfast bread as well. Its especially good with your morning coffee.

This is what you will need for the cake part. Also, some vanilla, not pictured. sigh.

This is what you will need for the topping. There is no need to toast the coconut. It toasts as it cooks.


Start with your butter and sugar.

Add your eggs, one at a time. Beat after each egg.

Add sour cream and vanilla. Mix well.

Add dry ingredients and then mix in with wet ingredients.

Mix it up.

Spread half of this in a 9x13 pan. The odd thing is it will seem like the pan is too big. It cooks up big though.

Meanwhile, mix your topping ingredients up.

Sprinkle half the topping mix over first half of batter. Then top with remaining batter.

Sprinkle remaining topping mix on top. This will still seem like there is not enough batter in the pan but trust me, it is.

See? It turns out good.

Now would be a good time to have a little of that squirt whipped cream to put on top. Too bad we cant buy it because my kids squirt it in their mouths everytime they open the fridge.

Crumb Cake

Cake:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Add sour cream and vanilla, mix well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to cream mixture and mix well. Spread half of batter in 9x13 pan.

Topping:

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flaked coconut

1/4 cup nuts

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Combine topping ingredients. Sprinkle half of the mixture on the batter in the pan. Carefully spread the remaining batter on top. Sprinkle with remaining topping. Gently swirl the topping through the batter with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy.

The beauty of this cake is everyone usually has all these ingredients on hand. Happy Cooking!

Sayin' Grace...

I am constantly coming across little prayers that people say before their meals that I think to myself "I HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT!" I have decided to start keeping a list of them on here. I would so love to hear everyones traditions if you have one. Growing up we always said (and this includes all of my extended family too!) "Bless us O Lord for these thy gifts we are about to receive from your bounty O Lord. Amen." About 5 years ago we starting having my middle daughter Sara just say our prayer for us because she has the gift of saying what she has in her heart and it is usually what we have in our heart but we dont know how to say it. Love ya Sara.
This morning I found this. "Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, And may our meal by thee be blest."
Sweet, Simple, Lovely.

WHITE Texas Sheet Cake!

Hi ya'll. I think everyone I know in this area has had a chocolate sheet. If your southern you have probably seen a chocolate sheet cake at every family potluck or wedding and usually have all the ingredients to whip one up at all times. I know I do. I think every southern blog on here has a post about it. I know I do. In fact, its probably the first thing all of us think about when we see the words chocolate cake. I know I do. Okay, enough of that. I must say when I came across this recipe last week I was intrigued to say the least. It was late. Way too late to mess up the kitchen again. I had on my jammies. I couldn't resist. I went and messed up my kitchen anyway. This cake is really very moist, buttery, and tastes sinful (in a really good way). If your not a huge chocolate fan (what??!) you will enjoy this nice change from the traditional sheet cake. It is definately worth trying and worth all the butter!Here are your ingredients that you will need. Except the water.

Melt the butter in with the water and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and whisk in your dry ingredients...

Then your eggs, sour cream, and vanilla....

until smoothish.



Spread in your greased pan. You can already tell this cake is rich and buttery.

When its done, a pick will come out clean and it will look toasty.

While its cooling, brew some coffee and make frosting.
Peets coffee, Major Dickasons Blend is my new passion.

Melt butter in with milk, bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and vanilla. See that small brown dot?

Thats the vanilla.

After whipping that into a smoothness we only dream about. Add pecans.
Mix well.

Spread over your cake that has been cooling 20 minutes.

AAAHHH. I had mine with coffee. My daughter had the sparkling grape juice.

Sweetness!



White Texas Sheet Cake

1 c. butter

1 c. water

2 c. all purpose flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

2 c. sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

1 t. vanilla or almond extract

Frosting

Bring butter and water to a boil in a large saucepan. Remove from heat and whisk in flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, eggs, sour cream and vanilla or almond extract until smooth. Pour into a 15 x 10 inch greased baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-22 minutes or until a pick comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. Spread with frosting.

Frosting:

1/2 c. butter

1/4 c. milk

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 t. vanilla or almond extract

1 c. chopped nuts

Combine butter and milk in a saucepan, cook over low heat until butter melts. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add nuts.

Hope your enjoy!!

Must Try Recipes~~~~

TGIF!! I hope everyone had a great week but has an even better weekend. The weather here has been so great that I have really wanted to get out in the yard and start trying to make everything look better. We have had a pretty mild winter. I have been able to get in my kitchen and cook some. I have a huge stack of must try recipes from some of my favorite blogs. Although I do try to create some recipes of my own, I so so so enjoy making others as well. This first one comes from The Sunday Baker at www.thesundaybaker.blogspot.com. She has a great blog and some really easy yummy recipes. These caramel turtle brownies were excellent. You can get the recipe over at her blog!!

The layer of caramel in this just sent it over the edge!

This next one is called apple dumplings. It uses 2 cans of crescent rolls and is so easy! I guarantee you will not be able to quit eating these. I got this one from The Pioneer Woman Cooks! Go to www.thepioneerwoman.com for the easy peasy recipe.

These Apple Dumplings do have one odd ingredient. One small can of Mountain Dew! The sauce you will have in the bottom of the pan after baking is finger smacking good!