Sunday, June 26, 2011

Craving...satisfied!


I have been craving this coffee cake for a month! My oldest boy was kind enough to make me some today. You can use any flavor of pie filling you fancy. Just be sure not to overcook it. This was blueberry pie filling. Deliriously delicious!

Coffee Cake

Cream together:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract

Stir in:
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 cups flour
Spread 2/3 of the batter in a greased 15 1/2 X 10 1/2 X 1" jelly roll pan.
Spread 1 can fruit pie filling over the batter.
Drop remaining batter by spoonfuls over pie filling.
Bake 350* for 35-40 minutes.
Drizzle with powdered sugar glaze.


Christmas in June???












I LOVE camping! Retreating to the mountains with my children is the BEST summer activity! We spent four days camping this past week. My daughter called our camp spot her "summer home". She referred to the river as our own swimming pool. Lazing in the hammock reading a book together, enjoying the cool mountain breeze is far preferable to shopping at the mall....in fact, if you ask me, ANYTHING is preferable to shopping at the mall! We carved animals out of driftwood, had dart gun blowing contests, played in the river, explored and enjoyed each evening by firelight. I generally take a sewing project along so that it can sit untouched until I return, but this time, I brought something simple that had been collecting dust for far too long. I began this Christmas tree skirt ages ago but, alas, it joined the fate of countless unfinished sewing projects forgotten in my craft room. It beckoned me to take it and I threw it in, thinking that perhaps I would find the time to finish it. I did! I know it is a bit early to be thinking of Christmas...that or a bit late, but regardless, I am finally done! Yeah! Now to box it up to wait for December to come around once more. :)

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Butterscotch Pudding Cookies




These are one of my personal favorites! I love making these with different kinds of puddings and chips or nuts. I love using white chocolate pudding and white chocolate chips with macadamia nuts.
Pudding Cookies

2 C. butter
1&1/2 C. sugar
1&1/2 C. brown sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla
5&1/4 C. flour
1&1/2 tsp. baking soda
1&1/2 tsp. salt
1 small box instant pudding (I used butterscotch)
1 pkg. chips (I used butterscotch)

Cream butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients. Stir in chips.
Bake at 350* for 13 minutes.


Tuesday, June 7, 2011

My Treasures!!!
















I wanted to write a little bit about each of my children and why they make me so proud. My oldest son's name is Trulan. He is twenty years old. He is six foot five. He has an affinity to cars from the seventies. He is an outstanding unpublished author. He has written a series of fictional books that keep me on the edge of my seat! He began writing when he was about 15 years of age. He was extremely bored in school and would spend his time writing. Every day, he would come home and share a new chapter with me. I could hardly wait for the next day to see what would happen in his story. I hope he decides to get published. Tru is a computer genius and loves to build or repair computers. He is currently trying to find employment with all the other unemployed out there. He has a scholarship to USU for this Fall. He has an extreme aversion to dogs! He is my taxi driver and I am going to miss him when he decides to move out.

Cabren is my 18 year old boy. He just graduated from High School. He is six foot four. He is in Alaska learning to be an auto mechanic. He is apprenticing under my favorite brother (sorry all my other brothers but we were tight growing up!). Cabe is very kind and concerned about others. He has an excellent sense of humor. He makes me laugh every single day! I am missing him right now. He likes to fish and once when he was little he told me he wanted to grow up to be a red neck! Cabren is very smart and has a lot of common sense. He has one of those personalities where you know he is going to go far. He is a really good person. On another occasion when I was asking what he might want to be, he said that all he really wanted to be was a good dad. He is going to make some very lucky girl happy one day.

I grow them tall! My 14 year old boy is five foot ten and growing. His name is Holden. He has always (for as long as I can remember anyway) been called Moochie. He hasn't ever had a problem with asking anyone for anything despite all I could do to teach him about politeness and self control. He has always had an excellent sense of rhythm. He would do well at playing an instrument but I can't talk him into it. He does sing and has an excellent voice. He likes to draw and paint as well and is an excellent artist. He doesn't like loud noises or distractions. He isn't very fond of change. He is getting ready to go into the ninth grade. He is a little hard to build a fire under but once he is out, he has a good time. Holden loves to ride motorcycles and is getting good at it. He likes to tease but not be teased.

Kambrie is my one and only daughter. I have posted about her before. She doesn't mind when I talk about her on here....but when I ask the boys if I can talk about the honor roll or some other achievement they have been awarded, they threaten me with my life. Two of them have been awarded the Presidential award in academics. I won't say which two and therefore, my life will be spared. Two of them are also Eagle Scouts, and the third one is so close.

On to Kambrie. She is 10 years old and is a sweetheart! She loves animals and would adopt every stray she could....if I would let her. She is very smart and loves to read. She is fun loving and likes to do most anything. She loves to play basketball. She tried soccer this year and did well but said she likes basketball better. Good thing she is going to be tall. Not one of my boys plays sports. Kambrie claims she is a tomboy. I keep trying to tell her that it is okay to be a girl! She wants to grow up to be a number of things but a Librarian is at the top of her list. Kambrie likes to go fast on the back of my motorcycle. She has loved riding with me since she was just tiny. I bought her a little 50 she did well on it but had a bit of a spill last year and would rather have a four wheeler now.

Here are pictures of me with each of my children whom I treasure more than anything on the face of the entire planet!



Sunday, June 5, 2011

Everyone's Favorite!


I love making cookies and have been collecting good cookie recipes for over twenty years. This is my all time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. They are a bit on the sweet side but you can use semi-sweet chocolate chips rather than milk if that suits your fancy.

Chocolate chip cookies
1 pound of butter (yes, I said an entire pound of butter...not margarine!)
1 and 1/4 C. sugar
2 C. brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
6 C. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 and 1/2 tsp. soda
3 C. chocolate chips

Cream the soft butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the sifted dry ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips ( I use closer to 4 cups of the chocolate chips).
Form into balls and bake them at 375* for about ten minutes.
Devour them while they are still warm!