Manicure Monday!!!

Good Monday Morning! I see that no one knew I posted last week - zero hits. <sigh> Well, I'll have to try to be more steady - but one thing about my life is that it's never dull. :D

So anyway. I really loved this one, although I'm looking forward to getting a few new brushes that will hopefully let me control those lines a bit better. I'm  SO bad with straight ANYTHING!!! This is my pin; if you click on that link, it will take you to 23 different tutorials, and I didn't want you to think you were in the wrong place. :)

What do you think?

OK, I'm outta here!!!! The next post will be in 2014. How surreal is that?!?! Thank you for reading! Be BLESSED today!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Just Another Manic(ure) Monday! :D

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! :D

I'm sorry I disappeared for so long; the open house totally dominated my time for a LONG time, and the two weeks after it were incredibly busy, too. As I write this, I'm waiting for family to arrive for Christmas! Do you have big plans for Christmas? I'd love to hear what you're up to! :)

So, I apologize for the difficulty in seeing this picture too well. I adapted the two tree nails from the first photo on this page; the other nails have a glitter cascade done. It's been so much fun doing nails for the season! My nails have been in rough shape from cooking and doing dishes - that's why they're so short - but I'm working on taking care of them. :)

Have a wonderful day, dear friend. Be blessed!

Chicken & Avocado Enchiladas

Welcome to another Monday. :D Did you have a good weekend? Did you try anything new?

I'll get to today's share quickly; with the open house less than three weeks away, time is PRECIOUS, people!! :D It's for Chicken & Avocado Enchiladas from Gimme Some Oven.

First, let me say that I find the name a little misleading. The avocados are in the SAUCE; even though there's a bit of sauce in the enchiladas, I think these are more chicken and pepper enchiladas with avocado and cilantro sauce.

With that being said, these got a YES, PLEASE! from Kenn and me. My mom despises cilantro, so she didn't like them at all. I was happily surprised at how little HEAT the peppers brought, and how much flavor. If you like heat, keep some of the ribs and seeds from the jalapenos in. Not for US, however. :D

I cooked the chicken the day before; when I poach chicken, I always try to give it extra flavor. I used dried minced onion, a bit of onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. It gave it a nice flavor without being too cumin-y. :D The recipe made a LOT of sauce. I doubled the whole recipe, because I took some to a friend's family who just had a baby. I gave them a jar of sauce AND had two more jars. I've got a full jar in my fridge; what to do with it?!? :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day!!!! Be BLESSED!!!

Apple Pudding Cake with Cinnamon Caramel Sauce

It's FRIDAY!!! :D Are you thrilled? Or are you BUSY? (Both works... :) )

Today's recipe is for Apple Pudding Cake with Cinnamon Caramel Sauce from Betty Crocker's website.

I made this dessert for my 2013 Hostess Appreciation Luncheon for my Stampin' Up! hostesses; it's a perk for ONLY my hostesses from the past year. We all get together, I make a homemade-everything lunch, and we do projects that I won't ever teach anywhere else. There are door prizes, and lots of fun, but it's USUALLY the food that wins the day. :D

This year wasn't any exception. This cake. OH, THIS CAKE. It's DEFINITELY a YES, PLEASE! It's easy, SUPER moist, decadent, and did I mention how GOOD it is? :D

Honestly, the cake was good on its own. The caramel sauce put it completely over the top; I felt guilty for even LOOKING at it. :D I did double the recipe and put it into a 13x9 pan. That's the only thing I did differently.

OK, I'm outta here, friends. Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Be BLESSED!

Spanish Rice

Happy Wednesday! Are you having a good week? Sorry about missing Monday; I am still fighting this cold, and I couldn't get enthused about talking about food. :D

So, today I'm sharing this Spanish Rice recipe from About.com.

It is an easy recipe; I'm not a HUGE Spanish rice fan, period - unless it's got lots of cheese sauce poured over it, and then it's something else entirely. :D BUT this is a good, simple recipe. I've ALWAYS had to cook it longer than it says, and it's still a bit crunchy, even then. It carries easily, so it's gone to two different homes as a side to Mexican dishes. It can warm in the oven with the entree and refried beans, so that works well. :)

Overall, it's a good recipe to have - so I am gonna call it a YES, PLEASE! :)

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day, my friends. Be BLESSED!!!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Acorns

Happy Friday! :) Where did the week go? Wow, the YEAR is almost gone!

Today's share is more of a how-to, to make these adorable little acorns, from Six in the Suburbs.

Yes. They are cute. :D They are a bit of a pain to assemble - the kiss kept wanting to stay in the melted chips. AND, if I were to do this again, I'd use melted MILK chocolate chips - I thought the semi-sweet was a bit bitter. However, my mom LOVED them - I ate one of them to say I tried it, and she ate the rest that I made. :D

I didn't make a huge amount, which was fun - a hanging packet of Kisses and a to-go cup of the Nutter Butters was all. In the blog post, they say, "If your child has a peanut allergy, substitute the NutterButter for a Ritz Bitz!" I could be wrong - I mean, I don't eat a lot of prepared snacks! - but I thought Ritz Bitz had peanut butter in the center...?? Oh, well, I don't have to worry about it. :D I don't have kids!

So, they're a YES, PLEASE, especially if you're having a get-together during the fall. These would be a great table favor for Thanksgiving!

OK, I'm outta here. :) Have a wonderful weekend! Try something new! :) BE BLESSED!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Icing

Welcome back - it's Wednesday! Are you trying anything new in your menus this week? Gotta tell you, there are SO many recipes out there, I could make something new every meal and not run out of ones I really want to try. :D

Today's recipe is from The Girl Who Ate Everything, for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Icing.

First, I hate to tell you, but I didn't do the caramel icing. Sorry. It was one more step in a too-busy day, so I used some regular buttercream I had left from some cookies. :) It LOOKED good, the icing recipe, but I was DONE. LOL! I made these for a hostess stamping club brunch get-together.

Everyone seemed to LOVE them! :)There was a taste I couldn't identify that I would work on discovering and "fixing" if I make these again - but they were VERY tender, and you could tell they were pumpkin - the dough was soft and pumpkin-colored. :D The recipe made EXACTLY a dozen rolls.

I think I'll give them a YES, PLEASE! With that being said, I'm not sure I'll make this particular recipe again. Maybe. Again, there are SO many recipes for pumpkin cinnamon rolls...!

OK, I'm outta here! :D Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!

Caprese Salad: re-designed

Happy Monday! Sorry, no Manicure Monday this week; my nails are always weak, and I went too long without polish on them last week, so they mostly broke. So, I've got polish on them now, hoping to grow them out again quickly. :D They're fun to play with!

I did this Caprese Salad: re-designed from The Party Dress for my hostess appreciation luncheon in October.

Caprese salad is one of my all-time favorite dishes. I love the fresh tastes, with the balsamic vinegar topping it all off. So when I saw this salad presentation, I knew I wanted to try it.

For presentation, this is DEFINITELY a YES, PLEASE. I wish there was a way to be able to keep the dressing more with the other ingredients, but the only way I can think that that would be possible is if they were served on individual plates.

I used a steak knife to cut the tomatoes; I like to cut them with a serrated blade of some type, so the skin doesn't cause an issue with tearing. The steak knife made it possible to control the depth of the cut pretty easily; cutting almost all the way through is not my easiest task! :D

I do recommend you try this. It was absolutely beautiful!

OK, I'm outta here. I'm trying to recover from a cold that's settling into my chest. UGH. Prayers appreciated! Have a wonderful day! be BLESSED!!!

Fluffy Ricota Pancakes

Happy Friday! How are you today? I've picked up a head cold somewhere that wants to stay - but it needs to LEAVE! Oh, well. It's a beautiful day, with sunshine after the storms all day long yesterday.

Today's review is these Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes from The Kitchn.

These were a YES, PLEASE. Since one batch made less than ten pancakes, I had some and put some in the freezer. I've already eaten the ones that were in the freezer; they froze beautifully! They are fluffy, and tasty. They were also pretty easy, thanks to my Kitchen Aid to beat the whites for me. :D

OK, I'm outta here. I hope you have a wonderful first weekend of November! Be BLESSED!

Caramel Apple Stuffed Biscuits

Welcome to Wednesday! Are you having a good week? I'm spending most of today with a dear friend, and I'm so looking forward to it! :)

Today's review is for another recipe; this one is for Caramel Apple Stuffed Biscuits from Cookies & Cups.

First, let me say I took the lazy way out; I used canned biscuit instead of mixing up the Bisquick. Mom had given us a 5-count can of Grands, and I wanted to use it before it went bad. Also, I haven't had a chance to put together a home version of Bisquick yet, and I don't want all the unhealthy stuff that is in it. (I know, like the Grands were any better...)

Anyway. That made this recipe super easy. :) And they were surprisingly yummy! Just enough glaze stuck to the tops - most of it ran off. :D The filling was tasty, and when they were warm, they perfumed the air with that wonder fall smell of cinnamon and apples. :)

If you're looking for a quick something to make, either for breakfast, dessert, or a quick snack, I think these fit the bill just fine - that's a YES, PLEASE! :) If you're cooking for someone who has to watch their carb intake, this is a NO, THANK  YOU. Whew!

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!

Manicure Monday!

Just another Manic(ure) Monday... :D

It's not so much about the polish today, dear friends, as it is about these fun jewels I got at DEALS!

It was, indeed, a great deal. :D There are multiple jewels colors in the package I found; I've managed to save most of the ones I used on this manicure (when I took it all off!), so I'll be able to reuse them. For a DOLLAR, I got enough jewels to do 5-6 manis like this, PLUS a (potent!) top coat to make sure they stay on. It was a lot of fun, and I couldn't stop running another finger over top of the jewels. :D Funky! LOL!

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!

Baked Apples

Welcome to Friday! I hope you've had a great week!

Today's review is this recipe from Skinny Chef for Baked Apples.

I was SO disappointed in this recipe. It's a NO, THANK YOU - even though it smelled heavenly. Yes, I overbaked the apples - I did it in the oven, because I had it on a low temp for banana bread - but that wasn't it at all. The filling was simply not good. So I might play with the METHOD, but not that combo of ingredients again.

I also bent one of Kenn's grapefruit spoons trying to use it to core my apples! :D I found that my melon-baller worked fantastically, as long as I didn't try to force it to do too much at once.

OK, I'm outta here! Another busy weekend coming up. :) Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Stephen's Slow Cooker BBQ Pork

Welcome to Wednesday! :D

Do you remember last December, when I went to Texas to take care of my niece for two weeks? Well, one of the things my brother-in-law made for dinner during my first few days there was his slow cooker BBQ pork. Oh, MY, was it good. It smelled wonderful almost all day, and was it ever tender!

I asked for his recipe earlier this year, but never got around to making it. Until last weekend.

Not only did I pig out that day (pun totally intended! :D ), but I froze it in ice-cream-scoop-sized mounds. That makes it easier to get out exactly how much I want/need for another meal, and means it defrosts quickly when I want. :)

I got permission last week to share this yummy, easy meal with you!

So, here is his recipe:
Boneless pork butt (picnic butt), available at Walmart*

Sprinkle liberally with BBQ seasoning. (They use the dry rub from THE PIG in Memphis; I used one from the grocery store. His is better. :D )

Add anywhere from 1/3 - 1/2 small bottle of liquid smoke.

Cook 10 hours in slow cooker on low. Drain; pull/shred pork, discarding fat. Return shredded meat to crockpot. Sprinkle layers of meat with more rub. Douse with one complete bottle of Bull's Eye Memphis BBQ Sauce. (I used my favorite.) Have more sauce on hand to serve, if desired.


*I got one that had the bone in, and just pulled out and discarded what needed to go when I shredded it.

That's it! It's super easy - although I will admit that I ate as much unsauced pork as I did sauced that first night.... :D

Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!!!

Easy Breakfast Casserole

Good Monday Morning!!!!!

Did you have a good weekend?? Man, was I BUSY. Phew! I got a LOT done, though. :)

So! Today's recipe - worry, I didn't get a picture of my last manicure, but it was gross - is for Easy Breakfast Casserole from Recipe.com.

I made this for my hostess club at the end of September; it was brunch time, so I wanted something a bit hearty, but that I wouldn't have to babysit. This sure fit the bill! :)

I wanted to use red pepper instead of green - the color would have been nice - but the only ones I could find were obviously made of red GOLD, so I went with the more inexpensive green. :)

Let's see. Did I change anything else? Hmmm... Yup. :D I used butter instead of the Country Crock, half-and-half for the 2% milk, and diced ham instead of the bacon.

This is a definite YES, PLEASE! It was easy, and very good - who knew I'd like broccoli for breakfast?!?!? :D I'm thinking I'd like to add some spinach, too - just about anything veggie-wise that you like would be simple enough. :)

OK, I'm outta here! As I write this, I have naked nails. I'm going to try and change that for you for next Monday. :) Have a wonderful day!! Be BLESSED!

Pumpkin Cheesecake French Toast

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!

Do you have lots of plans for your weekend? Have you had a good week?

This recipe is for pumpkin cheesecake French toast from Skinny Sometimes.

I have to admit: this was a huge let-down for me. Maybe I needed to use more stevia; I had the powdered form, not the liquid. I wanted this to be sweeter, for sure. I don't make French toast often, because it's messy and takes longer than I want it to. :D So, I'm going to say NO, THANKS - but don't let that stop you from trying it. It was purely my personal taste, again, that said I don't wanna keep this recipe.

SO. :D Have a wonderful weekend! Be BLESSED!!!

Bacon and Cream Cheese Sutffed Mushrooms

Welcome to Wednesday! :) Are you having a great week??? If all goes according to plan, today's the day we're coming home. Ahhhhh, rest. :)

So, today's recipe review is for these bacon and cream cheese stuffed mushrooms from Mountain Mama Cooks.

They don't really look like much, do they. :) But these little buttons are RICH. Full of yummy cream cheese and bacon, the mushrooms are relatively low in carbohydrate. Oh, MY. Again, these would be a great game-day food. Be warned, though: you could easily make yourself sick eating these. :) They're heavy-hitters, not for someone who's not out for full-on flavor. So I guess that makes these a YES, PLEASE! :D

OK, I'm gone. Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!

Manicure Monday Again! :D

Happy Monday Morning!

OK, so I don't have a picture of MY nails to show you today, but you can go to ICY NAILS' blog and see pretty closely what mine looked like. :D

I LOVED this manicure!! It was so easy, and so STINKIN' cute!!! I put glow-in-the-dark over the whites of the eyes, and showed all the kids at the show. :D I had to feed them with a flashlight to get them to glow, because I lived in the dark during the show, but did they ever glow. I would do them again in a heartbeat! :)

I know this is a short post, but seriously, try this one. I felt like I'd painted one of the opening sequences from SCOOBY DOO onto my nails - where they're hiding in the closet, and all of a sudden, there are more than two sets of eyes? :D

By the way, today is Kenn's birthday!!! If you have a way of doing so, please take a sec to wish him a happy one. :D

OK. I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!

Artichoke Bread

Happy Friday! Have you had a good week?? Got big plans for the weekend? We're out of town, hopefully getting some rest. :) (As I'm writing this, we're leaving in the morning, and I'm really excited! :D)

Today's review is this Artichoke Bread from Closet Cooking.

I won't make you wait. This is a YES, PLEASE! Ohhhhh, is it good. Like artichoke dip? You will enjoy this. So cheesy, and on bread - yum. We didn't have French bread, we had a baguette. But oh, MY. I took out the middle part of the bread, like the recipe says, to give the spread a place to live. If I hadn't been so hungry, I probably would have let this bake just a little longer, so the cheese would get a bit more browned and bubbly. Oh, I'm making myself hungry. LOL!

This would be wonderful for serving on game day. It is rich, so you don't need to cut huge pieces. I don't know how well it would heat up... Just sayin'. :D

Have a wonderful weekend!! Be BLESSED! And try something new - then tell me about it! :D

Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Happy Wednesday!!!

It's absolutely beautiful here in Middle Tennessee; I can't tell you how nice it's been the last couple of days. Ahhh, FALL. The trees are starting to show those tinges of color change, and there are leaf falls happening when the wind blows. :)

Today's post is a recipe review for Peanut Butter Cheesecake from Taste of Home.

This is good. It's VERY rich, decadent and creamy. But I just wasn't knocked out. If I'm going to burn these kinds of calories, I want it to be something that I will close my eyes and groan over. This didn't really do that for me. I think it might have been all the textures in it. I like my cheesecake mostly creamy, I think. This had chunks! :D

So, I'm going to say NO, THANKS - but it's all because of my personal taste. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Manicure Monday!

Good Monday Morning!

Sorry about last week. If you only knew...! :D

So, I promised to share the tuxedo manicure this week. Here it is! :D

It's kind of funny - I'm left-handed, but I seem to do better when working with my right on my left. Maybe it's because I'm being SO careful? I don't know. But these were fun. People loved them! :D

You can get a tutorial here. It was fun to show off, but a little difficult to do and care for. I might do it again, though. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Welcome to Friday! Do you have big plans? I do - I'll be cooking for tomorrow morning's Stampin' Up! party - two brunch dishes. :) I can't wait to try them!

But that's tomorrow. :D Today, I'm sharing this Cinnamon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake from Meili's Baked Goodness.

This is a good coffee cake. It's packed - it's a very heavy cake. :) I overbaked it a little, I think - the edges were SUPER dry. Of course, that's partly the whole wheat flour. But I followed the directions exactly.

I think I'm going to give this one a NO, THANKS. It's good, but there are a LOT of good coffee cake recipes out there still waiting to be tried. :) Let me know if you decide to try this, and what you decide about it. :)

Have a wonderful weekend! Be sure and try something new - and let me know what you think! Be blessed~!

Bread Machine Challah

Happy Wednesday! :) This is GOOD stuff, people - I'm telling you already it's a YES, PLEASE!!! You want to go make this now. Mom was sad Dad had gone gluten-free, because it would have made incredible French toast. :)

I didn't do anything differently to this. Be sure your yeast isn't too old, and you'll get a great rise out of it! I did butter the top when it came out of the oven, but that's all I did differently from the recipe from Dine & Dish.

OK, I'm outta here - I have SO much to do! :D The show may be over at the beginning of October, but the procrastinating from the last eight weeks is starting to catch up with me, and there's LOTS to do!! Christmas will be here soon! Ho, ho, ho! :D

Candy Corn Fingernails

Happy Monday! :)

Sorry about last week; I just got totally wiped out, and spent every spare moment - which weren't numerous! - resting. But now that the show's up and running, and I only have to be there Friday and Saturday, I should be doing MUCH better. :D

Today's post is from Julie Ann's Art, for candy corn fingernails. :)

Now, I haven't a clue why I'm into nail art all of a sudden - but I am. :D I did a fun one this weekend that I'm looking forward to sharing soon. This one I did last week - and got lots of comments on it. :)

I didn't find the tutorial until a few minutes ago - I was just working off a photo. SO, I painted my nails white, then did the orange, and finally the yellow. And looking at her tutorial, I'm not sure I'd go with the orange first - I'm thinking the yellow, to make sure I get great coats of it down. You can see through it on the photo! But I would definitely do this one again - it was really cute. :)

Do you do your own nails? I figure I save about $40 a mani - and getting it done in a salon usually means they completely peel off in 24 hours. Go, me! :D

OK, I'm outta here! Rest and work are the orders for this week. If you want more info on the show I'm doing, drop me an email! :) Or leave me a comment. Have a wonderful day! BE BLESSED!!!

Shrimp (or Crab) Louis

Hope you're having a great week! This is one of those recipe I'm not quite sure how to review, but here we go. :D

It's for Shrimp or Crab Louis from Food.com.

So. I will tell you right now that we didn't make the dressing. We didn't have everything, and my dad's not too adventurous when it comes to dressings. :D So we used thousand island on the side. We did do the rest of the recipe, however, using - as you can tell - shrimp.

This got a NO, THANKS from me. I just don't care too much for shrimp and tomato together. And I think I added more shrimp - we love shrimp around here. :D But since I used the recipe more for the method than the dressing, I won't do it this way again.

But it was beautiful. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Mighty Tasty Mini Lasagnas

Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? I did; although Kenn's been so busy he doesn't know if he's coming or going, we took Saturday night to go out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. We'd already planned to take Sunday off - we were going to go to Atlanta for the weekend, but he couldn't take all the time off to go. So, we woke up to the electricity off. That makes it difficult to get projects he needed done, OR get ready to go anywhere. So we took the day off, anyway. :) It felt REALLY odd, and I was REALLY tempted to go do what I was supposed to be doing, but I didn't. I hope I don't pay for that later....

Oh, well. Too late now. :D

Today's recipe is for Mighty Tasty Mini Lasagnas from Catching Fireflies.

Now, then. I used my mom's Pampered Chef brownie pan to make these in; the original did it in regular muffin tins, but I thought, since wonton wrappers are square, why not go more with the shape of them?

These are a YES, PLEASE! recipe. They were super easy to assembly-line make, easy ingredients - I tend to keep everything but the ricotta in my fridge, anyway - and pretty yummy. I do wish I'd had some ground beef to bulk these up a bit, but they were still good. I've got some in my freezer, too - I tend to be the only one who eats stuff like this, so I didn't make too many. :) That was another nice thing about the "recipe"; you really don't have to make a lot of them! I'm also going to tag them as frugal; they're not expensive to make, if you price it out per cup!

OK, I'm out of here. This is our last normal week of rehearsal for CINDERELLA, then into tech week and opening! :) Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Happy Friday! Well, until today, it felt like fall might be on its way - but we're back up into the 90s if the forecast holds correctly today. :::sigh::: :D Still, with canned pumpkin, we can make it taste like fall any time of the year!

Like with today's recipe for Pumpkin Spice Pancakes from Annie's Eats.

These were a definite YES, PLEASE! for me. Kenn swears up and down he doesn't like pumpkin, so this time, I didn't even offer him any pancakes. :D My mom wanted them to taste more like pumpkin pie, but they're PANCAKES, Mom. :D I loved them.

The good news is that they freeze beautifully! So I was able to eat pancakes whenever I didn't want to cook - I just popped them in the microwave to warm up to butter-melting temperature. :D Yum! I didn't change a thing in the recipe, either.

OK, I'm outta here! Tomorrow is our 17th anniversary. :) Have a wonderful day, and a blessed weekend!!!!

Baked Egg Boats

Happy Wednesday! :) I hope you're enjoying your "short work week" - although, if you work at or from home, you KNOW there's no such thing! :D

Today's recipe is for Baked Egg Boats from Spoon Fork Bacon.

This was a surprise for me! It definitely gets a YES, PLEASE! - although I didn't have QUITE what I needed as far as bread goes. I used a PIECE of a baguette, and hollowed it out. I spilled some of the egg, so I should have added another to the mix. I used ham cubes and Monterrey Jack cheese. (I don't really like gruyere.) The texture of the bread changed into this light, crispy, delicious little puff every time I took a bite. :) If you have company for breakfast or brunch, these are easy to whip up and serve; they don't take too much time in the oven at all.

Let me know what you think! Two breakfast recipes down, one more to share with you - THIS week, anyway. :D Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!

Cannoli French Toast

Happy Labor Day! Are you enjoying your long weekend?? :)

I think this is going to be a week of breakfast posts. All three this week will feature breakfast or brunch foods. How does that sound? :D

Today's is Cannoli Stuffed French Toast from Two Peas & Their Pod.

Do you remember when I posted these Easy Cannoli Cups? Yeah, I figured you didn't. Go ahead and link to the post. I'll wait for you to refresh your memory. :D

OK. So I had extra filling, and I popped it into the freezer to see how it would do. The answer is, meh. :D It might be fine if I thawed the whole container and then whipped it, but I didn't want to do that - what you see above is the only serving I wanted to make - I mean, I was the only one around to eat it! :)

However, the filling worked for this - and I didn't want to make up a whole lot more filling. But if you don't have cannoli filling in your freezer, by all means, today's recipe is a great one! :)

This is a YES, PLEASE! - although I would definitely save it for a special occasion. I mean, chocolate and cannoli filling between two pieces of French bread French toast?!? Yum. And DECADENT. :) Although it tastes very sweet, it doesn't have a load of sugar in it. But I would definitely suggest the confectioner's sugar dusting on top, and not syrup. :D

I hope you'll try it - and try to do it with someone special. It's more fun, I guarantee. :D Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

White Chicken Enchilada Casserole

HAPPY FRIDAY! Welcome to the end of August! Can you believe it?!? We're almost to September, the start of fall, the beginning of the snowball's roll to the end of the year! Time to start working on my Christmas open house... :D

But that's beside the point. :D

Today's review is for White Chicken Enchilada Casserole, from Six Sisters' Stuff.

(Hmmm. I can't decide how big to make the picture. This is probably too big, but the other way was too small!)

Anyway. (Can you tell I'm getting easily distracted today? :D ) This casserole got a YES, PLEASE! from everyone in my family - not an easy task for a recipe. Although I would have liked a little more kick - I thought about only using one of the two cans of green chiles, but I'm glad I didn't!

The filling was creamy, the chips on the bottom were crunchy, and the cheese was gooey. :D It turned out to be really pretty, too, I think. Wish I'd had some guacamole in the house... :D It was really easy to put together, and would make a really simple company dish, too.  Thinking about it, I don't know why you couldn't make up this casserole, perhaps without the cheese, and freeze it; your chips might get a little soggy, but I actually liked it better when that happened with the leftovers - its texture was more like an enchilada, rather than chips and dip. :D

OK, I'm outta here. Kenn and I are going to REST this weekend. I'm really looking forward to it! :) Have a wonderful weekend! Be BLESSED!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Tangy Yogurt Frosting

Welcome to Wednesday! :) How are you today? Are you having a good week?

This recipe is for Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Tangy Yogurt Frosting, a recipe from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

This one is a mixed one. I, personally, didn't like the cupcake. It was lacking SOMETHING, and to me, it smelled better than it tasted. The frosting was REALLY runny - I added an extra cup of confectioner's sugar, in an attempt to get it to spread better. Yeah, didn't work. By the time my husband ate it, it had pooled into the wrapper and dried mostly there.

Now, my mom liked the cupcake, not the frosting. My husband thought it was "really tasty", even though he swears he doesn't LIKE pumpkin. I just didn't tell him what kind it was. LOL

So, how to rate it. I'm going to give it a NO, THANK YOU; I might remember the icing as a glaze for something, but not as a true frosting. The cupcakes didn't last long before they started to grow mold - too moist? No clue, but YUCK.  If you decide to try them, I'd love to know what you think of them!

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!!!

Sour Cream Waffles

Hi! Sorry I was gone so long; I went up to Indiana on a whirlwind trip, and had to fit it in between rehearsals. I wore myself OUT, and have just been able to breathe again the last few days. Never fear, though! I've been cooking up a storm to bring you reviews! :D (You'll notice several are breakfast over the next few weeks. :) )

And today's is Sour Cream Waffles, from 52 Kitchen Adventures.

I don't have any white whole wheat flour, so I did half whole wheat, half unbleached AP flour. I also used fat free Greek yogurt instead of regular. But that's all I did differently, I promise! :)

As you can tell, we have a Belgian waffle maker versus the square waffles. It makes BIG waffles. :D

I like this recipe - which makes it a YES, PLEASE! I like the fact you don't have to beat the egg white and then add it in - my mom's comment was, "They're really fluffy!" For a waffle with whole wheat flour in it, that's pretty impressive.

There is nothing fancy about these waffles. I think the recipe made six; Kenn ate one, I ate one, and the rest are in my freezer for mornings when I don't want to have to think about what to eat! :D

OK, I'm outta here! Rehearsals are really starting to heat up; we have less than a month before opening now, and time will fly! :)

Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!!!

Hershey's Cookies & Cream Premium Cookie Mix

Happy Friday!!! :D It's the first Friday in August; many of you have kids who've already been in school this week. Do you have big plans to enjoy the weekend, or are you going to rest?!? :D

I get samples a lot online; I like to try new products, and I need to remember to review them more often for you. Sometimes things are wonderful, sometimes not so much.

This is a not so much. Don't worry about taking your time to make these, please. I don't know if I'm more of a "cookie snob" than I used to be, since I do make most of mine by scratch now. I still use cookie mixes to make easy "dump cakes" and toppings for baked goods. But this cookie mix, I wanted to try in the way it's advertised - as a premium cookie.

To me (and my mom), there's a real chemical after-taste. I don't know exactly what it came from, but it was definitely there. Yuck. I mean, if there are chemicals or man-made stuff in my cookie, don't let me TASTE it!!! :D

So, thank you, Betty Crocker, for sending me the free sample to try. But I won't be purchasing it. No, thank you.

Have a wonderful weekend, y'all!!!! Be BLESSED - and enjoy time with loved ones!

Doubletree Hotel Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Good morning! How are you today? I'm sorry it's Thursday, not Wednesday - the day just kind of ran away from me. :) (I had PILES of laundry to do!!!)

So I wanted to make Kenn some chocolate chip cookies. He's been working a LOT, and I like to have little treats for him when he comes home. He fell in love with my chocolate chip cookies before he fell for me, so I know I can make him happy with them. :) And I wanted to try a new recipe. So I tried these Doubletree Hotel Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies from Joyful Momma's Kitchen.

I've only stayed at a Doubletree once in the last few years; they don't tend to fit into our bargain-basement budget. :) I do remember the cookies, however - and these are definitely pretty darned close.

We gave them a YES, PLEASE! - I used my largest Pampered Chef cookie scoop, so the recipe made just over two dozen cookie balls. Because you chill them, I was able to only cook off a few - I don't need to be eating cookies, and I will if there are lots!!! - and froze the rest, to cook off as Kenn wants them.

Every bite has chocolate - if you look at the recipe, not only are there lots of regular chocolate chips, there are also mini chips. Yes, LOTS of chocolate. I might do this recipe with pecans next time, although they MIGHT make the cookie too rich.

OK, I'm outta here! It's flooding around us today; please pray for everyone's safety. Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!!

SISTERS OF LAZERUS: BEAUTY UNVEILED

Good Monday Morning!

How are you today? Did you have a good weekend? Oh, mine was BUSY!! But let me tell you about one of the best things about it: this book.

My friend, Paula K. Parker, and her husband are authors. I've reviewed one of her books before - it was a co-written book with G.P. Taylor. This one is a book that Paula has dreamed of writing for many years - and the story simply shines.

Here, watch the trailer:

That gives you a pretty good synopsis of the book, although the story of the three siblings is detailed much more, leading up to the event of Lazarus's illness and death and resurrection. (Which has always moved me, whether by tears or by goose bumps or by deep joy...)

This is a RICH book. From the beginning, Paula's descriptions and flow draw you into a world you might not be too familiar with - a traditional Biblical Jewish home. I've read many books and studied much of the Jewish history, and Paula's words immediately open the doors of the family home and draw me in. I could see, taste, hear, and feel the environment of this book.

Her characters, also, are rich and full. Empathy, sympathy, fondness, repulsion, irritation, joyfulness - all are emotions I felt toward the characters while reading yesterday.

Yes, that's right. :) I read it all in about three and a half hours. I couldn't put it down. The story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus is one I'm very familiar with. Paula's words brought them to life, and I couldn't wait to see where they went next. And you will find yourself identifying with these characters, probably all of them - their flaws, their dysfunction, and the love and acceptance they receive from Jesus.

Please, read this book. Get a copy for your girlfriends and your daughters. Don't skip the author's note at the end. Discuss it. Share it. READ IT. :D And allow its underlying message of love to sink in, deeply.

Buffet Pancake Dippers

Happy FRIDAY! Do you have a busy weekend planned? I swear, I think EVERY weekend is BUSY these days...!

Anyway. :D

The pancake recipe I reviewed already? Well, I used it to do these Buffet Pancake Dippers from Lady Behind the Curtain.

Don't you love my new serving dish? :D I put sugar-free syrup on one side, regular on the other - and we each had our own dipping cups!

I used turkey bacon. And I didn't like these much; I think turkey bacon has a strong flavor on its own, but the flavor did NOT come thru in these. I don't think it would have been any different if I'd used real bacon, either. So I'm saying, NO, THANKS! to these. It didn't save any time, didn't taste wonderful.

So, there you go! :D Have a wonderful day, and a wonderful weekend. Be BLESSED!

Brunch Puffs

Happy Wednesday!! Hope you're having a wonderful week! Today we bid adieu to July. Wow, so hard to believe!

ANYWAY. :D Waaaaay back in May, I had a dear friend - who's in Africa right now, on a missions trip - over for brunch. I wanted it to be peaceful and renewing for her; she's a very busy woman, and I wanted our time together to be a time for her to BREATHE. So, Mom helped me set the table...

And I made lots of new recipes for breakfast. Actually it was three, but two of them will be in a review together. :D I can't believe I haven't already reviewed them!

Today's recipe is for Brunch Puffs from Taste of Home.












I made the puffs the day before; they turned out really delicately. There's less flour in the recipe than I'm used to, but I followed the directions exactly. :) (I had extra puffs, because I didn't want to make ALL of them for just the two of us! I used them with fruit in them, and a bit of sugar-free cheesecake pudding. YUM.)

They were a bit messy to eat; the puffs collapsed easily when cut into. But they were very good. I would call this a delicate dish, overall - it sounds like it would be quite filling, but it really wasn't overly so. Quite yummy! :) I'm going to say YES, PLEASE! to these. :)

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!!

Southern Peach Cobbler

Good morning! It's MONDAY! And it's the last Monday of July. Where on EARTH did this year go?!?!? Soon, it'll be time to see pumpkins and changing leaves, then get ready for the open house, then Christmas! Augh! :D

My mom hates it when I do that to her. :D How are YOU feeling? LOL!

Anyway.

 

Today's recipe is for Southern Peach Cobbler, from allrecipes.com.

 This recipe is going to go into my "Good recipe to have" file. It truly is a classic Southern cobbler - but it's MUCH better straight out of the oven. Seriously. Eat it warm. Make a half-recipe - still enough for four people!!!! - and eat it all. That's Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream on top. Nice compliment. But I thought this was really, REALLY sweet. I would perhaps cut the sugar down that goes on the peaches. LOVED the cinnamon-sugar sprinkled on top - is there ever too much cinnamon??? :D

I also used white peaches, because they were better than the normal ones I had to choose from. But it's also, I think, part of the sweetness issue I had. White peaches are good, but I think they're sweeter to begin with.

OK, I'm outta here! :D Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!!!

Moist Chocolate Cake

Happy Friday! :D I decided we'd celebrate me doing a whole week again with CHOCOLATE CAKE! :D

Yes, this is Moist Chocolate Cake from Foodess.com.

And yes, it IS moist. It's also super easy, easy to divide in half so you don't have a bunch of this cake hanging around (your HIPS, cuz you'll want to eat it all by yourself!!!!!).

I guess I gave it away that this is a YES, PLEASE! recipe. :D I LOVE easy AND yummy, and this fits the bill. I'm also going to give you an extra review on what the recipe calls "Easy Chocolate Buttercream", but I'm not sure calling it that is correct. I mean, it's JUST chocolate chips and butter. Period. no confectioner's sugar! But again, SUPER easy, and RICH and YUMMY. :D

Have I convinced you to make this yet?!?! It's worth turning on your oven for! Seriously! :D Let me know if you try either of these. Oh, the sprinkles are some Valentine's ones that I have hanging around that I thought complimented the chocolate color. :D

Have a wonderful day! BE BLESSED!

Review: Private Selection Items

Hi! Surprise, I'm here a bit early! :D But I wanted to write a review of some things that I received coupons for - some for free, some for money off. And those are Private Selection products, available only at Kroger's.

I've done a smaller Buzz Campaign for Private Selection before, so I knew to expect good quality products. But I was very disappointed; my Kroger's doesn't have a lot of the things available that I received coupons for. The things it DID have, however, did not dissapoint!

First, the beef. Goodness, is it GOOD beef. Tender, juicy, and nicely portioned - we can't afford a lot of high-priced meat, so eating a half an excellent steak is plenty! All I do is use sea salt, freshly-ground pepper, and a hint of garlic powder. Yum!

The other things I was able to get were the Strawberry Preserves, the panko breadcrumbs, and the maple syrup. Kenn LOVES strawberry preserves, and these are very good. Not too sweet, nice strawberry flavor - a real treat.

I haven't used the panko yet, because we don't use breadcrumbs too often - but their texture is really promising. And because of my diabetes, I don't use maple syrup, so I gave this to Dad. (Kenn likes Mrs. Buttersworth. LOL!!) It's a beautiful syrup, amber and thick. Dad loves it. :)

I did pick up a couple of other things from the Private Selection line today that weren't covered in the coupons - they were on sale, and I really do enjoy trying new things. I do know I already like their flatbread pizza, so I got their Margherita pizza to try. Also, I got their butternut squash ravioli to try later. I'm thinking a simple browned butter sauce will be beautiful with them! :D

Overall, I definitely give Private Selection a YES, PLEASE! They are a bit more expensive than things I normally purchase, but they are more unusual and tasty than a lot of those others, too. :) I'd love to know if you try them!

Honey Oat Quick Bread

Happy Wednesday! :) Two days in a row - HURRAY! :D

Today's recipe is Honey Oat Quick Bread from Cooking.com.

OK. I did NOTHING to this bread recipe except follow it. :D Just so you know!

It's OK. It's nothing to drool over; it's a basic bread, and would be good with a stew or soup in the fall, if you need another basic bread recipe. It's pretty, too. :) But as someone who loves bread and shouldn't eat it, I won't have a difficult time passing this one up. :D (And my mom liked it, but they're on a gluten-free diet, and ANY bread is - well, like manna to her. :D )

It's got a great texture to it, don't get me wrong. But it needs some jazzing up - and there are so many bread recipes out there to try, I'm not gonna spend any time on this one. :D But if you try it, let me know what YOU think!

Outta here! Busy, busy - and rehearsals start Sunday for ROGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA! But I WILL be here Friday - I'm going to go set it up now. :D

Have a wonderful day! Try something new, and BE BLESSED!!!

Todd's Famous Blueberry Pancakes

HAPPY MONDAY!

Did you think I might never blog again?!? :D It really feels like I haven't gotten into my groove since we've been back. Phew! But here I am, and I do have things to share with you, so let's get started!

These are Todd's Famous Blueberry Pancakes from Allrecipes.com.

I put off making these for a long time, because the recipe says to let sit for an hour. I mean, when I decide I want to make breakfast, I don't want to have to let something sit there! :D But I did. We had these Saturday for breakfast. I actually got up with plenty of time to let it sit!

Let's see. I think the only tweak to the recipe I did was that the original calls for "frozen blueberries." Well, if you look at their photo, and you know ANYTHING about frozen blueberries, you know they didn't use them in that pancake pictured. Letting the batter sit for an hour after you add frozen blueberries will give you a purple batter!!! Since I wanted mine to be pretty, I used fresh blueberries. It IS fresh berry season, after all. :D

They were good. I don't think I'd call them fluffy, because they did have some weight to them, but they were good pancakes. The serving size on the recipe says "six"; I got exactly nine pancakes out of the recipe, using a 1/4-cup measure, so I'm not sure what a "serving" would constitute - a pancake and a half?!??! So that's a little misleading. But I do now have blueberry pancakes in the freezer for a day I'm craving a pancake and don't want to cook! (Which is most days, these days.... <sigh> :D )

So it's a THUMBS UP, but give yourself lots of time. If you have a blueberry pancake recipe, I'd love to try it!

OK, I'm outta here! Busy week! Have a wonderful day - do come back Wednesday for another review! - and BE BLESSED!!!!

Easy Cannoli Cups

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!! Today's my last day here at the blog for a bit; I fly out with the sunrise on Monday. I may try to get a few posts up for you for next week, but I simply can't promise anything - I'm gonna be BUSY. :D

Today's recipe is for Easy Cannoli Cups from gimme some oven.

I made these to take for that funeral meal I mentioned in the garlic French bread post; I figured they would be easy to transport and put on a buffet table. And they were! :)

I'm gonna give these a YES, PLEASE! If you don't like really sweet desserts, these fit the bill. There's not a lot of confectioner's sugar in the filling, and those are wanton wrappers. To be honest, I *might* bump the confectioner's sugar a bit the next time - but the mini chips on top are a must-have. They're the perfect tiny touch of chocolate! And, although I thought about doubling the recipe, one package of wonton wrappers made LOTS of cups, so I didn't need to double the thing at all - I have a half-batch of filling in the freezer for another time. :D And you can use those cups for LOTS of different fillings, too.

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL weekend! BE BLESSED!

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

Here we are at Wednesday! :) I hope you're having a fantastic week! I'm counting down the days until I go back to Oregon again - and then return again. :D Life stays interesting. Have you noticed that?!? :D

Anyway. :D

These are Greek Yogurt Pancakes from everyday belle.

OK. I will admit to putting a tiny bit of honey into these, because I used plain Greek yogurt. And I should have either added more, or a little stevia. I like a sweet pancake - vanilla extract would have been good, too, and cinnamon. :D

But this was an easy recipe. I did thin mine out a bit with a little milk, because I wanted to be able to spread the cake out a bit. It did take a while to cook - and be sure you don't have your skillet or griddle on too high of a temperature, because these seemed to brown very quickly. Overall, it's a YES, PLEASE - but not an exuberant one. :D HA! (I crack me UP!!)

OK, I'm outta here! Lots to do before I leave. Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

EASY Homemade French Bread

Good Monday Afternoon! :) Did you have a good weekend?

This recipe is for easy homemade French bread from Deals to Meals.

This one lives up to its name. I'm not sure it's accurate about only costing 25 cents a loaf anymore, but it's definitely inexpensive - and easily customizable. :D

I used garlic salt in place of the regular salt, and about a tablespoon extra of garlic powder in the dough. It made two HUGE loaves! The garlic flavor was much more subtle, which was part of what I wanted - it was for a meal for family members before a funeral service, and I didn't want them to feel like they needed a breath mint while talking to people!

The garlic is the only way I changed this recipe. It was easy, and the hot water in the oven worked a CHARM. This is definitely a YES, PLEASE! recipe - I think the next time I make it, I'll form four baguettes instead of the large loaves. And freeze half for future use, especially for taking meals to other people.

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day! BE BLESSED!

Gluten Free Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Good Wednesday Morning!

Are you having a good week? Have you tried anything new lately? I'm going to be making several new recipes in the next few days,so I'll have fun things to show you next week! :D

Today's recipe is for GF Blueberry Breakfast Cake from A Lazy Girl's Guide To Living Gluten Free.

Now, I'm not going GF; my parents are. It seems to be helping with my dad's asthma, which is a good thing! So I've been saving some GF recipes to pass on or try for them.

Mom made this one Friday, and made two cakes - one for right away, and one to take to a church group dinner Saturday night.  My mom follows recipes TO THE LETTER - unless she asks me how I'd modify it. :D So she didn't change a thing.

The first bite was kind of bland - but it was right out of the oven. :D The longer it cooled, the better the texture AND taste became. It was actually pretty good! I'm sure she'll make it for him again.

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day! BE BLESSED!!!!

Strawberry Almond Scones

Good Monday afternoon! :)

Friday, I got to stamp with my hostesses - well, all except Kathy, who had a preschool graduation to attend. :) I decided to make something sweet to share - and this is what we did!

These are strawberry almond scones from Love and Olive Oil.

Now, then. I didn't have whole wheat pastry flour, but I really wanted to try the flavor combination. So I used one cup of whole wheat flour, and 1/4 cup more unbleached AP flour. It wasn't enough. I really thought the WW would be more thirsty, but there simply wasn't enough flour in these to hold their shape. They turned out more like those muffin tops. :D Or a soft cookie. Which wasn't a BAD thing.... :D

These are a YES, PLEASE!; everyone seemed to enjoy them a lot. I sent most of them home with everyone else. :D

Next time, I will use the full amount of WW flour. And instead of slicing the strawberries, I will dice them; there was a lot of batter that didn't have a taste of strawberry in it.

I normally don't like almond-flavored anything, but I really did like this flavor combination. They were relatively easy to make, too - and they smelled so buttery while baking!

Let me know if you try making them, and if you modify the recipe. :) Ooooh, these would be good as blueberry-lemon, too.... :D Have a wonderful day! BE BLESSED!!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mug Cake

Happy FRIDAY!!! Did you have a good week? Do you have big plans for this weekend? I'm going to spend some time with some of my favorite ladies this weekend; I wish each and every one of them could be here! :)

Anyway. Sorry for the really blurry picture - not of Pooh, but the real subject of the picture. :D He's watercolored, so he's supposed to look like that. :) No, this is a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mug Cake, posted on Babble.

So. This was easy; I had all the ingredients on-hand. I even used Splenda's brown sugar blend! :) I didn't have mini chips, so I used regular.

It was another mixed thing. :) It was SO sweet, and SO rich, that I couldn't eat it all. Which is a good thing. :D But I would definitely use less brown sugar. And the texture's a lot different - coarser - than I thought it should be. However, it definitely filled the "sweet tooth" craving. And it was quick, not a lot of it sitting around to tempt me later, and easy.

So. I'm not sure if it's a YES, PLEASE! or not, but I'll probably keep the link around for emergencies. :D I can't imagine how sweet and too much this would have been if there's been ice cream on top! :)

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!

Oreo Cookie Pancakes

Good Wednesday Morning! How are you doing today? Have you had a good - oh, MONTH!?!? really?!?! - since I last posted? <sigh> I'm sorry. I DO have a few things from the last month to post, but they're on my laptop, and blogging on it is just - well, I hate it. :)

So! Here I am today, with this recipe for Oreo Cookie Pancakes from Minimalist Baker. And actually, they're VEGAN!

OK, so right off the top: reading the recipe, I KNEW these wouldn't taste like Oreos. I mean, they use coconut in the filling! :D But they still sounded interesting, so I Pinned them. I've been trying to figure out what I was going to blog about this week, so I decided, last night, to make them for my breakfast this morning.

I cut the recipe in half; my parents are doing no-wheat, and I wanted to make life simple for myself and just use unbleached AP flour. So, cutting it in half, I got EXACTLY the number of pancakes you see here. The filling made a little more.

I used Splenda in the pancake batter, and xylitol powdered sugar in the filling - I cut out as many carbs as I could. :) I did use unsweetened coconut flakes, and light coconut milk in both batter and filling.

They were good, especially for being vegan. :D They weren't overly sweet, but they were moist. I think I could have added a little more coconut milk to the filling to make it a bit easier to spread, and I did end up using more coconut milk in the batter to make it easier to work with.

I'm trying to decide about the filling. I processed the coconut flakes for probably 10 minutes, and never DID get a true "butter" from them. It was more of a lumpy paste. But it tasted OK. :D

I think I'll give this a YES, PLEASE!, especially if you're trying to go vegan. If you try them, let me know what you think! :)

Have a wonderful day! BE BLESSED!!!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Good Wednesday Evening! :) I'm so glad you haven't given up on me. :) I'm sorry things are a little flaky right now; we're really strapped for cash, so what I'm making for dinner is cheap and not very exciting. :/ This, however, was not only relatively inexpensive, but easy. :D

This is Chicken Pot Pie Soup from SkinnyTaste.

Let's see. After looking at it, there are only two things I did to modify the recipe. First, instead of using the water it calls for, I used the stock from poaching the chicken breasts. It gave just a bit more flavor. Second, we just used regular sliced white mushrooms instead of portabellas - they were cheaper and easier to come by.

And this got a YES, PLEASE! from everyone who ate it! (I had to find SOMETHING to serve with some more of those yummy garlic cheese biscuits! :D ) The soup had a great flavor, was hearty and filling but not heavy - if that makes any sense. :D We'll definitely do this one again!

OK. It's late here, and even later at home :D, but I wanted to get something up! Let me know if you try this! Also, I've heard from ONE of my Biscoff recipients - did you other two get yours?!?!? I sent them before I left in MARCH!!

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!!!