Lemonade Pie

After seeing the recipe for lemonade pie, I just had to try it! 

 First blend a softened block of cream cheese until it is smooth.  Next, add a can of condensened milk, and mix until the two are well blended.  Add a defrosted can of frozen lemonade, and then lastly fold in a container of cool-whip. 

Pour the mixture into the graham cracker pie crust.  (This mixture is enough to make pies.)  Let the pie set in the fridge (it takes maybe 2 hours or so.)  If you want, add some sliced strawberries on top.  Enjoy this sweet and tangy pie any day, or maybe even to celebrate the 4th this weekend!

Lemon Cookies

Some of my favorite cookies are the easiest to make.  They are so good, you just have to make some on your own!




First you mix one box of lemon flavored cake mix with a tub of kool-whip.  This will make the mixture dough like.  Add two to three drops of lemon juice for some added flavor.








Roll the dough into small balls and then roll in powdered sugar to coat them.  Place them on a greased cookie sheet 1-2 inches apart and place in the oven at 350 degrees.  Cook for 10-15 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are starting to brown.

Eat and enjoy!

Monkey Bread

It had been ages since I had eaten monkey bread, and one night I found myself thinking how good it sounded.  However, I had never made it before, so I didn't know how hard it would be.  It's a breeze!

First you cut biscuits (from a can) into quarters.  Roll the pieces into ball shapes. 

Next roll the dough into a mixture of 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon.  Place them in a greased pan.  (I put foil on the bottom of my pan to help with clean up.  Also, the a round cake pan is the best to use. )

To make the topping, boil together 1/2 stick of oleo, 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and one tbs of white syrup.  (I didn't have the syrup so it's ok to not use.  It's helpful in keeping the topping sticking to the dough.)

 

When the topping is all melted and mixed together, pour over the balls of dough.

Lastly, cook the monkey bread at 400 degrees F, until the dough is cooked through.  Enjoy!

Christmas Candy

With Christmas only a week away, I'm excited to share my favorite recipe for Christmas candies.  Give my a slab of almond bark, and my mind begins wondering what all I could dip in the melted goodness.  Cookies, cereals, chocolate balls, all of the above are only bettered by a bit of candy coating.  My favorite candies to make, however, are to cover cereal in the almond bark. 

First, melt the almond bark according to the instructions on the package. Secondly, pour in some chex cereal, cheerios, or whatever other kind of cereal you wan in there.  Sometimes I've put rice krispies, asian noodles, and pretzels.  Mix the almond bark and the mixture together until everything is coated nicely.

Then pour the mixture out onto some wax paper, spreading it out so that it will dry.

This year I added a festive touch and sprinkled red and green sprinkles on top, before the almond bark hardened.

When the candy is dry, break it up into chunks, and store it in an airtight container.  Eat and enjoy!

  

Tis the Season...

When you need a quick and easy Christmas candy to take to a party, or to serve guests, just grab some pretzels, Hershey's Hugs, and some Christmas M&M's.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Place the pretzels on a cookie sheet, covered with foil.  Then place a hug on top of the pretzel, like so.

It looks delicious already.  My mom uses Hershey's Kisses too, but I prefer to look of the stripes.  Carefully place the pan into the oven, so the hugs don't fall off of the pretzels.  Leave them in the oven for about 5 minutes or so, until the hugs are still in their shape, but are melting.

Remove them from the oven and place a single M&M on each hug, pushing down the chocolate.

 

Let the treats cool until the hugs become hard again.

There you have it, a Christmas themed snack.  Enjoy!

Glammed Up Grapes

Even though I'm not a big fan of fruits, although a college roommate did help me to see their value, I have always loved grapes.  From the time I was about four or five and ate the grapes off of my Grandparents' grape vines, to my Grandma Smith having them on hand for us so often, to even now, my love for grapes has not diminished.  This year, my grandma mentioned that she was bringing grape salad for Thanksgiving.  "What's this?" I wondered.  I vaguely remembered the dish, and what I remembered was that I loved it, but it had been a year since I had eaten it. 

Grandma brought the dish, and my memories were proved correct.  It was great!  I would tell you how much of it I ate, but you probably wouldn't believe me.  The great thing is that, it's so easy to make!

Blend together a package of cream cheese, a container of cool whip, a 1/4 cup of sugar and a smidge of vanilla.  Blend until the mixture is completely smooth.  This may take a little bit, but you don't want any chunkies in your salad.

When everything is blended nicely, fold in the washed grapes.

 

 

Make sure that they are well covered.  Eat it then, or stick it in the fridge to chill. Either way, enjoy!

Christmas Time Is Here...

November has come and gone, and that means several things.

1.  The end of the year is upon us!

2. My NANOWRIMO competition is over!

3. Christmas time is here!

Christmas is my favorite time of the year, as it is for many.  I love the decorations, the music, the family time, and the food!

Over the next couple of weeks be watching for some delicious holiday treats that are great to share with family and friends.  I love making Christmas candy and treats, don't you?

Even in the midst of writing a novel, I spent a little bit of time cooking.  I said a little, mind you.  As my husband and I strolled down the grocery aisles one day, we discovered something.  Pudding is pretty cheap!  I'm not usually a sweets person, but the holiday season does allow me to enjoy some more of the sweet treats.  We grabbed about four different flavors of pudding, but what were we to do with them then?  One of the flavors was cheesecake.  (It sounded good at the time.)  So, I decided to try to make a pie out of it.

Using some of my graham crackers, I made a crust, just like I had for my cheesecake cookies.  You take one cup of smashed graham crackers, 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and one stick of butter (melted).  Mix them together and then spread the crust in the bottom of the pan.

Next, mix the pudding, but make sure to use the pie instructions on the box, not the pudding instructions.

 

Add the pudding to the pie crust and chill, as the directions instruct.

Finally, slice, add cool whip, and enjoy!

 

Cream Cheese Rolls

Trying to use up the rest of my cream cheese the other day, I decided to make a yummy dessert.

I took a package of the crescent rolls and unrolled them.  Then I spread the cream cheese on top.  (Mine was strawberry flavored.) 

Then I rolled them up and put them in the oven, cooking them according to the directions on the package.  It was another quick, easy, and yummy treat!

Autumn Promise

Fall starts today!  I'm so excited that it is finally here.  This Fall will be different for me than any other.  Having grown  up in the country, I've been able to see the ushering in of Fall through the trees and fields.  Here, I have to get in the car and drive for awhile to find fields.  Trees are a little closer, but I still have to leave "the city."  In the meantime, I enjoy the promise of cooler weather (it's still in the 80's a lot), and my favorite Fall foods.  You will soon be able to see some of my favorite soup, casserole, and other fall recipes.

In the spirit of the new season, last Saturday I conquered some new culinary feats.  Well, conquered might be too strong of a word.  One of them is a new dessert!

I was watching Paula Dean on television and she made a delicious looking cheesecake cookie.  A cheesecake cookie?  I had never heard of such a thing, but she made it look so easy.  The next day, I was still thinking about the recipe, and my husband graciously went to the store to grab the needed ingredients.  It's so easy, you have to try it!

First, mix 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of crushed graham crackers, and 1 stick of melted butter.

This is going to be your crust.  Paula made it with pecans instead of graham crackers, but I hate nuts, and I wanted to see if I could make a graham cracker crust.

When it is all mixed together, pour the mixture into a 13x9 inch pan.  Press the mixture down into the pan, covering the bottom.  Cook the crust at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

While the crust is cooking, mix together two 8 oz packages of cream cheese, 1 cup of sugar, 3 eggs, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.  Beat everything together with a hand mixture until everything it is creamy.   

Pour the mixture onto the cooked crust, and place it all in the oven for 20 minutes.  When it is finished, remove and let cool completely.  Add toppings.  I left my cheesecake cookies plain, so that I could add different flavors after I cut each piece to serve.  We've had it topped with grape jam, blueberry pie filling, and chocolate chips!

Secret Cinnamon Rolls

One could question whether the cinnamon roll is a breakfast dish or a dessert.  I guess my dad would have to say that there really just for anytime. 

It seems that in every Baptist church there is one lady that makes the best cinnamon rolls.  As a young child, I remembered the treat of receiving a batch of rolls from Martha.  They were delightful.  When we had to move, we weren't disappointed.  There was someone in our new church who had the same talent.  Pete (yes, a lady, and if I told you her real name, she'd kill me.) made the best cinnamon rolls.  Honestly, I'm more of a meat and potatoes girl, but when a batch of those rolls showed up at church, I had to have one. 

Unfortunately, I have not now, nor will I probably ever, master the art of making homemade cinnamon rolls, especially now that I've been taught to cheat the system.  My husband's grandmother told me the secret, and I'm sharing it with you.  Now, they can in no way compare to Martha or Pete's masterpieces, but they sure are easy to make.

Unroll a can of crescents and spread butter over each piece.

 

Next, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of them.   (I use a special Pampered Chef blend, but any cinnamon and sugar would work.)

 

 

Roll the crescents up like normal, and cook them according to the instructions on the can.  When they are done, ta-da! instant cinnamon rolls. 

 

Don't you just love easy recipes?