Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!  We are spending the weekend at the lake again this year.  I thought I would share a simple red, white & blue trifle recipe.  This is more of a matter of assembling than cooking for sure.

What you need:

1 angel food cake

1 large package instant vanilla pudding (and ingredients to prepare - 3 C milk) 

1 pkg strawberries

1 pkg blueberries

1 container cool whip

First cut up angel food cake into 1-2 inch squares. I used a store bought cake for simplicity sake but you could make your own.  You could also substitute a pound cake here.  Place cake cubes in the bottom of your trifle bowl until you have a decent sized layer.

Next half strawberries and layer over angel food cake.  

Next layer in prepared instant vanilla pudding.

Top with a layer of blueberries.

Add the final layer of cool whip.

Finish by sprinkling a few strawberries and blueberries on top.

The trifle is best if made the night before so as to allow time for it to really meld together. 

Enjoy!!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 1/4 C vegetable oil

2 C sugar

2 C flour

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon 

1// tsp salt

3 C match stick carrots (or shredded)

Icing

1 stick butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese, softened 

4 C powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients - eggs through salt - together in mixer until well mixed.

Add carrots and stir together until well mixed.

Place in a 9x13 pan or two 9in round pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

To make icing, mix all ingredients together with mixer.

Spread over cake when cool, if using round cake spread between layers as well.

Happy Easter Y'all

Happy Easter to all our friends and family near and far!!  We are having lunch at our house in a few hours,  I will be back later this week to share some recipes.

Aunt Florence's Plain Cookies for Decorating

This is my great aunt Florence's recipe for sugar cookies.  The copy of the recipe that I have actually calls them Aunt Florence's Plain Cookies for Decorating.  I have always thought that was funny and so I like to call them that for fun.  These cookies are delicious and taste different than any other sugar cookies I've ever had.  I think it's the nutmeg.  I made a batch of dough up last night then rolled them out, cut them, baked and decorated them today.  This takes quite some time and is definitely not a quick little baking project.  However, they are really good and I hadn't made them in close to two years.

Ingredients:

3 eggs

2 C sugar

1 C crisco

3 T milk

5 C flour

1 T baking powder

1 tsp nutmeg

First mix together eggs, sugar and crisco until smooth.  Have you ever used the Crisco bars instead of the big tub?  I did it for the first time last night and it was soooo much cleaner.  I hate dipping into that big ol' tub of Crisco.  1 stick = 1 Cup which was perfect for this recipe.

Add milk and mix.

Add half of the flour, baking powder and nutmeg and mix well.

Slowly add the rest of the flour and mix together.  This dough is super thick and so is almost impossible to make without an electric mixer.  

Roll dough into a ball and chill.  I refrigerated it over night.

Roll out dough and cut into desired shapes.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.

 These cookies are intended to be decorated (hence the name) and you can do so however you choose.

I mix confectioner's sugar, a little milk and a little vanilla or almond extract plus food coloring to the desired consistency and often add sprinkles.  I am not great in the decorating category so my cookies always get decorated with solid colors.  You can only see Christmas trees in the picture but I also did snowmen, snowflakes, candy canes and gingerbread houses.

DIY Glitter Christmas Lights

My friend Kitty and I made these Christmas lights a couple years ago for Christmas.  They were simple to make and look nice in a bowl or could be strung onto a garland.

What you need:
Large Christmas lights
Modge podge
Glitter

Place glitter in bowls.  Coat light bulb with modge podge.   Roll in glitter of your choice.  Allow to dry on a cookie cooling rack.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

This is the third and final edition of My Favorite Things.  This post features gifts under $100.

See the past two editions here...my Christmas List and Stocking Stuffers.

This is the hardest one for me to compile because I love stocking stuffers and I don't buy a lot of expensive gifts.

FOR THE LADIES IN YOUR LIFE...

I actually already bought this bracelet for myself on Small Business Saturday but it would make a great gift for a friend, a sister or another lady in your life.  If you live near me you can find this bracelet at the Green Nest downtown.  This bracelet comes in at $58.

Alex & Ani Quill Feather Wrap

This scarf is also something I already own but of every scarf I own it is BY FAR my favorite.  It is so light and soft.  I have the navy and white striped one but I would love another.  There are tons of colors to choose from.  And again if you are local they carry this and other Yala products at the Green Nest.  This is $26 at the website linked below.

Yala Bamboo Infinity Scarf

FOR THE MEN IN YOUR LIFE...

My husband's favorite drink is an Old Fashioned and this print is so cute.  He would love to have that hanging by his bar.  Framed for $68.

Call Me Old Fashioned Print

A growler of beer from your favorite local brewery.  This one is from Beer Hound Brewery in Culpeper.  The growler itself is $15 and then can be filled for an additional fee, depending on what you fill it with.

Beer Hound Brewery Growler

FOR A NEW HOMEOWNER OR A HOSTESS GIFT...

This would be a great gift for someone with a new home and costs $44.

Magnolia Tree

A HOMEMADE GIFT...

These are two recipes of mine that I gift frequently.  I love that they are simple to make and well received by friends and family.  You can always deck out the jar with a pretty Christmas ribbon or bow.  I don't know exactly how much it costs me to make these but you can make a whole whole lot of them for less than $100 for sure.

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly

Candied Jalapenos

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I am thankful for so many things this year - my husband, my dog Layla Jane, our first year in our home, my family, our friends who are like family, a new job that I love and having the day off this year!

We are headed to Richmond today to celebrate!  Safe travels everyone!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things, Stocking Stuffers

This is part two of a three part series I am participating in.  You can find part one which is my holiday wish list here.  Check back next Tuesday for the third and final part of the series.

We have three stockings at our house - mine, my husband's and last but not least one for Layla Jane.  You may think we are crazy but we don't have any kids and Layla always gets a few (or more than a few) Christmas presents in her stocking.  This year she is getting a fenced in yard so she will likely not have an overflowing stocking but she will get a few new things nonetheless.

FOR THE DOG IN YOUR LIFE...

Nylabone DuraChew

A New Collar

A Bark Box Subscription

This is a monthly subscription service of a box full of treats and toys for your dog.

FOR YOUR HUSBAND...

Eric's interests can pretty easily be summed up into: golf, guitar, fishing, & BBQ so that's the theme of the majority of the gifts he gets...

 

Golf Balls

The first time I ever bought Eric these golf balls he got all excited and said no one has ever bought me nice golf balls before...if only I had known...haha!

Multi-purpose fishing tool

BBQ Rub

Personalized Guitar Pick

THINGS I WOULD LOVE TO FIND IN MY STOCKING...

These bracelets

VA State Necklace

New planner pens

Thanksgiving Favorites

I thought I would go back through the archives and share some of my favorite Thanksgiving appropriate dishes.  There are several side dishes and also my gramma's pecan pie recipe listed below with links to the original recipe posts.  I hope you try some and enjoy!

Pecan Pie

Sweet Potato Casserole

Macaroni & Cheese

Oven Roasted Butternut Squash

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

 

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things, Part 1

I am linking up with April and friends for this three part series.  This week features gifts I would love to receive.   Check back next week for my post on stocking stuffers and the following for friends & family gifts under $100.

Stella & Dot Earrings / Target Gift Card / Stella & Dot Bracelet / Red Rockers / Cards Against Humanity

I think any of these things would make fun gifts for the ladies in your life.  I don't know any ladies who don't love a target shopping spree or some fun new jewelry.  A board game is always something fun to add to our collection.  And I would love some rocking chairs to grace our empty front porch.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

I found a couple Halloween snacks on other blogs I read that I wanted to share.  I hope you check out these recipes and the blogs they are from!

Carolina Charm's Pumpkin Spice Muddy Buddies

Jennifer's Halloween Monster Mix

 

Christmas brunch

We hosted brunch at our house Christmas morning for both our families and a few friends. We had 9 people to serve. I wish I could show you pretty table pictures but I can't. We don't even have matching plates or silverware enough for 9.  These items will definitely be finding their way onto our wedding registry. Ha! We used this floral arrangement that some friends sent us as a centerpiece though.

The menu was simple.  I made shrimp & grits and sausage balls. Eric's mom made French toast casserole and fruit salad and my parents brought stuff for mimosas.  We also had 3 kinds of cheesecake! 

You can find the recipes here:

Sausage balls

Shrimp and Grits

Everything was really good and it was so nice to all get together and not have to rush around to several places.  Maybe we will have to make this a tradition. 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our little family to yours!        

Fudge!

This is the simplest recipe in the world for fudge...2 or 3 ingredients.  I forgot to take a picture but I promise it's good.   Ingredients 18 oz chocolate chips (can also use peanut butter, butterscotch or a combo) 1 can sweetened condensed milk Optional: 1 C pecan or walnut pieces   Place chocolate chips and condensed milk in glass bowl. Microwave 5 minutes or so and stir together til well mixed. If using nuts, add now. Pour into a sprayed pan. Cool in fridge, cut into pieces and serve!   I made this twice this week. I did a milk chocolate and pecan variety and a chocolate peanut butter type.  I love the chocolate peanut butter variety.  

Pretzel Candies

Y'all these are so good and really simple! It only takes 3 ingredients & about 10 minutes to make.

Ingredients
Mini pretzels
Hershey kisses - any type (these are candy cane)
M&Ms

Heat oven to 175 degrees.
Place a hershey kiss on top of each pretzel.
Cook for 3 minutes or so.
Press M&M into top of each kiss.
Cool in refrigerator.

Heath Bars

My friends Megan & Ryanne posted this recipe on their blog Home Grown Hand-Me-Down last year. It's a simple holiday cookie/candy idea and it is really good...just don't think about all the butter!

Ingredients

Saltine crackers

2 sticks butter

1 C sugar

1 large bag chocolate chips 

Line baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Line with saltine crackers.

In small pot melt butter.

Add sugar and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Cook a few minutes until it starts to turn white & frothy.

Pour mixture over crackers and spread evenly.

Bake on 350 for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and spread chocolate chips over top. Continue smearing around until totally melted.

Refrigerate until solid (or place in freezer) then cut to pieces and serve.

Simple Christmas Keepsake Ornament

This might be the easiest idea ever and I am sure there are many variations of it that would make it even cuter.  I made this ornament a few years ago when we were celebrating our first first Christmas in our rental home together.  It is the key to the place I lived when we started dating where we spent tons of time the first 2.5 years of our relationship.  I am about to make another one for our rental home and maybe one from our new home as well.    

  This was as simple as taking an ornament hook, putting the key on it, typing the address on a piece of cardstock, putting it on the hook and tying a ribbon around it.  I'm thinking of glittering the key to make it a little prettier but this is how it has been for the last 2 years.