TMTT: POM Wonderful!!

My Tempt My Tummy Tuesday isn't the normal recipe tonight.     I have been under the weather fighting the same crazy problem I have been fighting since February.       I am trying to drink more water and eat healthy to keep my immune system up and I have fallen in love with this...

When I am struggling with nausea, I splash some POM into my ginger ale to give it some flavor and to give me a little exra nutrition.     

You can add it to all types of drinks (lemonade, tea, or soft drinks) or add it to your fruit smoothies.    That is another great way to enjoy POM wonderful.... fruit smoothies.

The POM Wonderful site includes recipes for beverages, salads, snacks, veggies, meats, etc....   

Have you ever tried POM Wonderful?     How do you enjoy it?


For GREAT recipes join me at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.   

Simple Sugar Cookies

Note:   Are you going to make sugar cookies for Easter?    I plan to try to make some with the boys in the next little while.    There are a ton of sugar cookie recipes out there.   I have lots and fluctuate between which one I like the best.     This one is very simple and makes big, fluffy cookies which is what we want for the flowers we will be cutting out.

Simple Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 C. Sugar
1 C Melted Butter
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 C. Sour Cream

5 C. Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder

Directions

In one bowl, beat sugar and butter until creamy.   Add vanilla and eggs (one at a time).   Then add sour cream and mix until creamy.      In a separate bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients.     Add dry ingredients gradually to the wet ingredients.     

Form your dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap.    Put into the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Make a mixture of 2 parts flour and 1 part sugar.      Dust your surface with this mixture and then roll your cookie dough out on it.     Don't roll to thin!

Cut out with cookie cutters and place on parchment paper (my newest LOVE!) or on greased cookie sheets.

 Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.     You don't want them to get brown.    Just firm to the touch.   Always remember that cookies continue to bake on the cookie sheet after you remove them from the oven.     

Eat plain or frost!

TMTT: Deviled Eggs

Note:    Deviled eggs just seem to be one of those things that you have to have at Easter.      Probably because so many people are dying them and they don't know what else to do but make salads and such so they won't go to waste!   ha!     I grew up eating deviled eggs, but I didn't really love deviled eggs until I started making them this way. 

Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

5 eggs

1/2 cup Mayo

1 Tbsp. Mustard

1 Tbsp. Vinegar

Tabasco, to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste

4 slices bacon, fried crispy and crumbled

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

paprika

Directions

Boil your eggs.   Don't be intimidated... just place those eggs in cold water, pop them on the stove and turn on the eye.    After about 15 minutes, turn off the stove, cover the pan and let them sit while you make your filling!      Mix together your mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, tobasco, salt and pepper.    Rinse your eggs under cool water, peel them and slice in half lengthwise.     Remove the yolk and place in a small bowl and put the whites on a plate.   Dump one of the "white" halves in with your yolks.    Mash up the yolk mixture.      Mix your mayo mixture in with your mashed eggs.     Mix well.     Fold in bacon and shredded cheese.    Spoon into the egg whites.     No deviled egg is complete without a sprinkle of paprika on top!      Refrigerate until ready to serve.      What am I talking about?    Why wait... just eat those delicious babies!

I need some recipe inspiration.   I am headed over to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!    Come on, let's go!!

Every Cupcake Needs A Carrier

And THIS is the carrier for me!

Isn't is beautiful?     

It carries 36 cupcakes safely and comes in four pretty colors:  sky blue, lemongrass, petal pink and saffron yellow.     

It also does double duty because you can take out the inserts and transform it into a double decker cake carrier too.

I don't have one, but it is definitely going on my "wish" list!    You can find these beauties at Amazon.

Sunday Dinner Crockpot Pork Tenderloin

Note:  I like coming home after church and having dinner as a family.    I just do not like going out to eat on Sundays.     Of course, when we get home from church the boys are usually "starving" so I need to have our lunch already partially started.      This tenderloin is a double duty dish.   We can eat it for Sunday dinner with some saffron rice and salad, but then slice it up for au ju sandwiches on Monday before going to baseball practice.

Sunday Dinner Crockpot Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients
pork tenderloin (about 2 pounds)
1 envelope dry onion mix
1 cup water
1 cup leftover cold coffee
3 Tablespoons minced garlic
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
freshly ground pepper

Directions
Stir together onion mix, water, coffee, and soy sauce.   Place pork tenderloin in the crock pot.   Pour liquid mixture over the tenderloin making sure it is covered well with the liquid.     Sprinkle minced garlic over the top of the pork tenderloin.    Sprinkle with pepper.     Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.  

TMTT: Porches' Lemonade Green Beans

Note:    In Wesson, Mississippi, sits a little restaurant called Porches who considers themselves southern hospitality from an era gone by.     They have signature dishes that people keep returning for over and over and lemonade green beans is one of them.      This is a wonderful make ahead dish for Sunday dinner!

Porches' Lemonade Green Beans

Ingredients
2 (16 oz) cans green beans
1/2 stick margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 oz lemonade concentrate
1 small onion, thinly sliced

Directions
Combine all the ingredients and add water to cover.   Bring to a boil and mix well.   Simmer on medium for 10 minutes.    Cool and refrigerate overnight.     Warm before serving.


Are you like me and planning for your Easter dinner?   Join me over at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday for more recipe ideas!

Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

Note:   Are you planning on celebrating St. Patrick's Day?    Then you need some corned beef and cabbage soup, don't you!    

Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

Ingredients
8 cups water
3 Tbsp beef base
5 medium potatoes
1/2 head cabbage, shredded
1 can corned beef

Directions
Bring water and beef base to a boil.   Add potatoes.   Simmer for about 15-20 minutes until potatoes are tender.  Add cabbage and cook for another 5 minutes until it is tender.   Cut up corned beef and add to soup.    Bring to boil.   Remove from heat and serve.

Cookbook: The Science Chef

The Science Chef

Joan D'Amico and Karen Eich Drummong

Note:   Why does popcorn pop?    Why do onions make you cry?   Why does toast brown?   What makes an apple turn brown?        This is all KITCHEN SCIENCE!!    This has been a fun book for the boys to do on rainy days.     I think this would be a really fun summer science camp!



With the Science Chef you'll learn loads of basic science by doing fun, easy-to-perform cooking projects. The best part is you get to eat your results! You'll discover the answers to such scientific questions such as, why do onions make you cry? How does yeast make bread rise? What makes popcorn pop, whipped cream frothy, and angel food cake fluffy? These are kid-tested recipes for everything from cinnamon toast and baked potatoes to stromboli pizzoli and monkey bread.

Lemon Icebox Pie (No Bake)

Note:    My Aunt Wilma makes a ton of lemon icebox pies.    She makes them because her boys loves them.   Isn't that why all moms cook?    I don't have her recipe, but I love a good lemon icebox pie too.   I am sure that mine are not as good as hers, but every time I make one I think of her.


Lemon Icebox Pie

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest

Directions
Cream all ingredients together and pour into prepared graham cracker crust.      Refrigerate overnight.   

Try This: TownHouse Bistro Cornbread

 

We had some family coming over to watch Little Guy watch basketball a few weekends ago.   I decided to make up several different salads to put in the refrigerator so that everyone could come to the house and have lunch.      I always like to have a variety of crackers and I picked up a box of these TownHouse Bistro cornbread crackers.

They were a HIT!     Hubs and I really loved them.   In fact, we have bought two boxes since then to eat with soup as well as with the rest of the salad.    

The downside is that there are not many crackers in the box and unless you catch them on sale they can be on the pricey side.

Have you tried these?   What did you think?

TMTT: Chocolate Rolo Cookies

Note:   We have been doing a lot of baking for sick friends lately.      Lots of friends hurting and going through so much right now.      It is tough when it feels like the only thing you can do is make a plate of cookies.    Well, that is not the only thing.    We are praying and that is no small thing.     In God's hands it will be much.

Chocolate Rolo Cookies

Ingredients
1 pkg devils food cake mix
1 egg
1/4 cup water
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
Rolo candies, unwrapped
pecans, finely chopped

Directions
In a bowl, mix cake mix, egg, water and vegetable.    Scoop mix by teaspoonful and roll into balls.    Press one Rolo into the center of a cake ball and reshape the ball around the Rolo.    Press top of ball into pecan pieces.   Place uncoated side down on cookie sheet.    Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.


For more ideas and recipes to share with your friends and neighbors, join me over at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!

Cookbook: The Math Chef

The Math Chef

Joan D'Amico and Karen Eich Drummond

 John Wiley & Sons / 1997 / Paperback

Note:    I knew mixing Little Guy's math lessons with his natural love of cooking would be a home run.     This cookbook includes a little bit of it all:  measuring, multiplying, dividing, fractions, percents, geometry, and more!     Plus, good grief this math tastes good!!

Here is a sample lesson:    

 

 

 

 

Recipe Swap with Simply Modern Mom

Simply Modern Mom is trying to collect 365 recipes as part of her "Over-Used Recipe Swap".   What is an over-used recipe?   Something you just keep making over and over again in your kitchen.

Here are the recipes that I linked up to her recipe swap:

Easy Praline Cake 

Jiffy Corn 

Crockpot Tortilla Chicken

What recipes will you link up?

Easy Praline Pecan Cake

Note:     The hardest part about this cake is waiting the time it takes for it to bake.    That is why I try to keep the ingredients on hand so I can bake one when I need one for a new neighbor, someone in the hospital or a potluck.      I would think these freeze well, but to be honest I have never kept one to know.  

Easy Praline Pecan Cake

Ingredients
1 package butter pecan cake mix
1 container coconut pecan frosting
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Prepare a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.     Combine the cake mix with frosting (no, I am not kidding!), eggs, oil, and water.     Mix well until combined.    Mix in half of the pecans.     Pour half of the cake mixture in the bundt pan.    Sprinkle the rest of the pecans over the cake mix and top with the remaining cake mix.      Bake for about 50 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

Still No "Ace"

Little Guy and I finished our cake decorating class.    We had a blast despite the pounds of icing that I had to make in that  month long period.       Decorating the cakes was nothing compared to trying to keep up with making all the types of icing we had to have for each class.     For that reason alone I am kind of glad that we are finished.

We had to make a cake for our "final".     Little Guy and I were allowed to make our cake together.     We had to make a cake that was two layers, iced in the middle.   Flat on the top (some people really struggled with this).      It had to have at least four icing colors and use at least four techniques.      

Our cake looks simple, but it took us almost two hours to complete.    Both Little Guy and I loved our bumble bee and hated our butterfly.    Live and learn.    

For now we are celebrating the end of our class.... with CAKE!

Skor Cake

Note:     I made this for the final night of basketball.    Get it?   Skor --- Score.     I know.    It is a stretch, but I didn't want to make basketball cookies again.    *smile*   Anyway, chocolate is always a winner whether Mom is being corny or not!

Skor Cake

Ingredients
chocolate cake mix
sweetened condensed milk
1 large Cool Whip
2 Skor bars

Directions
Prepare the chocolate cake according to the box directions.      Let your cake cool completely.     Take the end of a wooden spoon and poke rows of holes along the cake about 1 inch apart from each other.     Pour the entire can of sweetened condensed milk over the cake.      Cover with foil and let sit for 2 hours.

When ready to serve, top with Cool Whip and crushed Skor bars.

Store in the refrigerator.