Marshmallow Fluff

It's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good morning! :D Have you got plans to try anything new this weekend? Bungee jumping? (You'll have to write your own review for that one; I can't handle even thinking about it! :D )

Anyway. :D Today's recipe is for marshmallow fluff from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice. 

I'm not too sure what I think about this recipe! If you've ever made divinity, and tried to do it on a humid day - that's how my fluff turned out. It TASTES good, but it's not really FLUFFY. It's kind of dense, actually. I've got a comment in at the website to see what she thinks I might have done wrong. Until I figure it out, I'm going to give it a MEH. Even though I can control the ingredients, I'm not sure the product I came up with is worth the time and money I put into it. I'm still thinking about that. :D

On the other hand, it worked BEAUTIFULLY for what I made it for: an ingredient for Monday's post! :D You have to store the fluff in the fridge, which makes it very unwieldy. But that made it easy to spoon into what I made. :D

Now you HAVE to come back Monday, to see what I was up to. :D

Have a WONDERFUL weekend. Enjoy your time - whether you're spending time with loved ones, or getting a chance for some down time, or doing something fun - or even if you've got to do something you didn't really want to do. :D And find a moment to try something new! BE BLESSED!

Dreamsicle Pudding

Good Wednesday Morning!
I don't know about you, but I'm loving this fall weather. :) And there's so much to do, not enough time to do it in. :D Less than three months until Christmas, and I can't wait! LOL

Anyway. Today's review is another recipe, from Jo and Sue for Creamsicle Pudding.

Let me tell you a little about this. First of all, it's more like a mousse. Second, I used sugar-free vanilla pudding, to save on more carbs. So this recipe only has the carbs from the Cool Whip and the oranges.

It's a YES, PLEASE! - even though I find it super sweet. I think, the next time I make it, I'll layer the extra Cool Whip and the mousse/pudding, to break up the sweetness a little. It's pretty, and refreshing, and the recipe is super-easy and makes seven FULL or eight big servings.

OK, I'm outta here! We're having our church picnic this evening, and I can't WAIT to hang out with my friends! :D Have a wonderful day! BE BLESSED!

Pear Butter

Good Monday Morning!

I'm sorry you didn't get a post on Friday, if you came looking for one. I just ran out of OOMPH. I'm weary; last week was a LONG week. But it's Monday, so we get to do it all over again! :D

Today's recipe for pear butter comes to you from About.com.

I'm not quite sure what to tell you about this recipe. :D Yes, it's pear butter. But I don't think I'd go out of my way to make it. Let me put it this way: if you have lots of extra pears, this is a good way to use them. I wouldn't recommend getting extra pears just to do this one.

We had two crockpots almost full of pear slices, and I think I got eight half-pint jars out of it all. The recipe does call for pureeing the pears before putting them into the cooker, but I used an immersion blender on them once they'd cooked down. It was much less messy, and less work.

The flavor is OK. Don't add extra cloves! :D I wish I would remember to get some English muffins; I'd like to try it on those. And I cut the sugar by 1/3; it definitely doesn't need more than that.

So, I guess it's a MEH. :D However, I'll continue to try to find SOME pear recipe that I like. But unless I get more pears this year, I'm out!

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!!

Pear Bread

Happy Wednesday! Are you having a good week?

My friend has lots of pears, and pneumonia. So I was gifted a big pail of pears. :D My sister asked that we bring some quick breads for the kids' breakfasts, so we decided to try pear bread!

This is a Taste of Home recipe. And it gets a MEH from me.

Now, don't get me wrong: as quick breads go, it's easy, makes two loaves, and has pretty common ingredients. But I have yet to find a pear bread recipe that tastes like pears. This one only tastes like pears when you bite into a piece of pear.

My dad liked it - I think its texture is more of a muffin than a bread. It will definitely do the job, and I've added even more fruit to the following batches, to give more pear to bite into. :) I'm sure it will be a hit with the lids! If I get gifted with pears again, I might try pureeing some pears to use in it, too, and see if that helps or changes the texture too much.

Let me know what you think - or if you have a pear quick bread recipe you like!

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

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Happy Monday Morning! How are you doing today? Did you have a good weekend? Did you try anything new?

Here's a recipe from SimplyDelicious for Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake. And I will tell you right now: this is a YES, PLEASE - so much so that I've made it several times since I tried it on the beach in February. So much so that I had to double-check to be sure I hadn't told you to make this already. :D It's WONDERFUL cake!

What I really love is that it's not too sweet. It looks like it might taste that way, but it doesn't. It's yummy, and addictive - my sister-in-law ate about half a sheet cake by herself. :D

I haven't made it into a layer cake; I have no reason for a layer cake, and more for sheet or 13x9 cakes. I made this cake for a pitch-in, and it was a huge hit. :) It even freezes FROSTED, if you have to do that - the photo above is a piece that's not only been frozen, but thawed and squished a little. :D It's a must-have recipe!

OK, I'm out of here. I'm in Missouri right now, so there's lots to do. :) Have a wonderful day, my friend. Be BLESSED!

Carrot Cake Waffles

 Good Friday Morning!

How has your week been? I hope FANTASTIC! :)

Today's review is another recipe. This one is brought to you from Willow Bird Baking, for carrot cake waffles.

First, you'll notice that my plate only has ONE of these waffles on it; the photo on the original blog? THREE. And I'm pretty sure they're the same size as my waffle.

This recipe is another YES, PLEASE! However, I won't be making them very often. My GOODNESS. I could only eat half of the one I'm showing you here! It was SO rich, with the cream cheese topping - and you KNOW I love my cream cheese! :D

First, again I had to thin the batter down. It wouldn't MOVE in the waffle iron, which was a problem. But I added probably another 1/3 cup milk, and it did fine. :)

I also used a new product, which I'll review next week, alongside the raisins.

The carrots made it really pretty, too; the waffle was very tasty. There's not a lot of sugar in here, so it's the maple syrup and the raisins that make it taste like the carrot cake we all know and love. The cream cheese spread doesn't hurt.... :D

Other than that, I didn't change anything - used my lower-carb milk, but that's it. I did do the spice bloom in the butter, because I had lots of time this morning. And this is a time-consuming recipe. Definitely another lazy-day breakfast. :)

Kenn's not a big breakfast person, but he does like it when I make him special things for breakfast. :) As you can see, he ate his whole waffle - and his bacon. Give the man bacon, and he'll give you a smile! :D I thought you'd like to know I'm not actually eating this stuff all by myself. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Please say a prayer for my family; we're having my nephew's memorial service Sunday. Kenn can't go, and I know I'll miss his emotional support. Thank you for praying! :)

Lemon Chicken

Good morning! How is your week going? I hope well. I know each day has its own ups and downs - I'm concentrating on the UPS today. :D

So, today's recipe comes from Annie's Eats, for Lemon Chicken.

Now, I have to admit: I love the way some herbs smell, but I haven't discovered a way that I really like eating them very often. For that reason alone, I'm giving this a YES, PLEASE! It allowed me to use some of the beautiful herbs Dad grows, and we all loved the result!

I think the biggest reason is that it doesn't over-do the herbs. And because they're in the marinade, not just on the chicken.

This is a really lemony dish. We love lemon around here; this savory application really was enjoyed by everyone, which is a little unusual. :D

I served this with basmati rice (one of my FAVORITE rices!!), which I cooked with lemon zest. When it was fully cooked, I added more lemon zest and some basil. That right there's worth the price of admission! :D With a tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad, it was a delightful meal.

I hope you'll try this! It didn't take long to put together the marinade at all. The reason my photo looks so different is that we didn't use chicken with skin. We don't do that around here much. ;) But you can see that the legs, which did have skin, did brown beautifully like the original photo. I enjoyed doing the platter presentation! I do love the smell of rosemary. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a BLESSED day, my friend! And let me know when you try something new!!!