Mmmmmm.... Pie.

Over 3 years ago I said that I would share a recipe for the greatest pie EVER and never did! I am not a big pie fan but this one is delicious. It tastes like cookie dough/chocolate chip cookie. Mmmm. The first time I had it, I was in LOVE. I asked my friend for the recipe and he was kind enough to share it. I have made it 3 times since then (3 times in 3 years... there is something serwiously wrong with that) but for some reason it doesn't taste AS amazing as it did the first time. Maybe he is like the lady on my mission that would leave out an ingredient whenever she shared a recipe with someone so that theirs would never work out and hers would always be the best. Funny. But mean.

So anyways- it is really yummy. And I will just have to keep making it until it is as delightful as the original.

*Note: okay... so I did some research looking up other pictures and recipes online and it is indeed supposed to be gooey in the middle (like I remember). I am not sure why mine always turns out more like a cookie. I will do some experimenting and get back to you. But in the meantime- give this a try. It is still mighty tasty.




Kentucky Derby Pie


1 pie shell
2 eggs- beaten
1/2 cup butter- melted & cooled
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 cup pecans- chopped
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix eggs & cooled butter.
Add sugar & flour, then vanilla , nuts and chocolate chips.

Bake at 375° for 40 to 45 minutes.
(watch the crust & cover with foil if getting too dark)




I made little tart size for our family's monthly birthday celebration. What says Happy Birthday more than a sparkler in a tart?
Not much.
Not much.

J-E-L-L-O

I love Jell-O. I don't know if it is necessarily the taste of it. Or more of what you can do with it. (especially with the fabulous molds/jell-o cutters out there).

It is almost always a side dish for our Sunday family dinners. Some like it with fruit. Some like it without. So we have to have 2 different kinds to please everyone. The kids tend to eat more jell-0 than the "normal" food. But who can blame them?

Not me.

For our today's Sunday dinner I made everyone's name in Jell-O.

It was a special Sunday for 2 reasons.

1) It is Father's Day. (Hi Dad! I love you!!)

2) It is the second last time my family will be all together for 18 months. (my parents leave in 8 days for the Philippines -via the MTC of course!)

9 batches (or 18 boxes) of Jell-O later we were blessed with this:

plus one more table that I didn't get a photo of.

And me. I was actually short an S so I had to steal one from my sister Kristi for this photo.

Until I ate the evidence I was known as Helley.

(Please ignore the nasty hair and makeup. I was in a rush this morning- hence the waves and I bought new powder that apparently makes me look like more of a freak!)

To make jell-o Jigglers you need:

4 boxes of jell-o (the normal 4 serving size)

2 1/2 cups boiling water.

Mix and pour into 9x13 pan.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes (the longer you refrigerate, the more solid it gets)

In my adventures of making 9 batches of jell-0 I learned a few things.

*halve the batch when making lots of different colors (so 2 boxes & 1 1/4 cups boiling water in a square pan)

*mixing the power and water in a separate bowl (or liquid measuring cup) and then pouring in your pan creates better jell-o. Not too sure why- but it does.

*the recipe says to place the bottom of pan in warm water for 15 seconds to aid in getting the goods out. I found the greasing the pan with a little cooking spray works much bigger wonders.

IFHRTCB Bars

I saw this recipe on the cooking blog- Sweet Sista' and knew right away that I HAD to make them.

She called them Pink Slip Bars because she made them for co-workers after finding out they were all being laid off.

I made these 2 months ago. But if I made them today I could name them:

I Just Got a REAL Job Bars.

Or I Forgot How Rude Teenagers Can Be Bars.

Or I Filled Up With Gas Before the Price Went Up Bars.

I the last one hasn't happened yet but hopefully it will tomorrow and then I may just have to celebrate with these bars.

They are perfect for any "celebration" in your life!

1 cup butter- softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla

5 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add vanilla & mix well. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt & soda & stir with a whisk to combine. Add to wet mixture and mix just until combined. Spread on a greased baking sheet (I used a 10x 15, but maybe 13 x 18 would be better).

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 min, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter- softened

1/2 cup shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

4 cups powdered sugar

5 tablespoons milk

food coloring (if desired)

Frosting: Combine butter and shortening until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and salt. Add powdered sugar in 1-2 cup increments until combined. Then add milk and food coloring mix until smooth and spreading consistency. I like to beat frosting for at least 5 minutes so it's light and fluffy.

I was told by a friend that this is the most amazing frosting she has ever had. She couldn't eat the bars but asked for a container of frosting instead!!

They are so delicious.

This is what the pan looked like the next morning. Pretty sure the rest were devoured shortly after this picture was taken.

I apologize for the large clump of words. I have tried several times to put spaces throughout but they disappear when I post. Can anybody help me?

Peanut Butter & Chocolate

I received my latest copy of Kraft's What Cooking and immediately had to check out the tasty recipes. This one caught my eye. Peanut Butter & Chocolate. A delightful combination. Usually.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie Babies

1 package (450 g) brownie mix
3/4 of 250-g (8 ounces) Brick Cream Cheese- softened
1/4 cup smooth Peanut Butter
2 Tablespoon sugar
1 cup thawed Cool Whip
12 maraschino cherries

Heat oven to 350ºF. Prepare brownie batter as directed on package. Spoon into 12 paper-lined muffin cups.
Beat cream cheese, peanut butter and sugar with mixer until blended. Spoon 1 rounded Tablespoon into centre of batter in each cup, pressing down slightly into batter.
Bake 25 minutes or until centres are set. Cool.

Serve topped with Cool Whip and cherries.

The ones I made look nothing like their picture- of course. Even without the toppings. Why is that?

So this wasn't my favorite recipe. But there could be several reasons for that.
like:
1) I used light cream cheese. Which doesn't usually make a difference but I tasted a little of the mixture and it wasn't very tasty.
2) I forgot to put sugar in the peanut butter mixture. So I just sprinkled some on top before baking. Could be why the mixture wasn't tasty.
3) The brownie mix I used was smaller than what the recipe called for... so it only made 9.
It was also a generic mix. Which I normally don't like. But my Mom had previously bought some. I guess you have to lower your standards a little when you live with your parents. Ha!
4) I also didn't do the whipped cream and cherry on top. But we did eat them with ice cream which makes anything taste better!

So if you give this recipe a try, let me know. I am sure yours will be tastier!

A happy, happy birthday to you from me!

Today we are celebrating the February birthdays in my family.

My fabulous sister/hairstylist Andrea.

And my super cute niece, Lydia.

So as promised- I made a lip cake. Mmmm. Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. With a few cupcakes on the side in case the cake doesn't feed all of the 26 people in our family. I was so excited to use these cute heart sprinkles. I almost forgot that I had them. I found them at my local Grocery store in Virginia- Harris Teeter. I had shopped there for 3 years before I discovered them. They were on a stand in the bakery section where they sold giant chocolate cookies, tubs of icing and sprinkles (for you to decorate yourself at home). They had other cute selections too. And reasonably priced. (it's a big tub) Much better than what you get at some craft stores. So check out your local grocery store and see what they have to offer. And let me know so I can buy some too!!

Two Lips

A couple weeks ago I found a lip shaped cake pan at a local thrift store for only $3.99. I was soo excited. And couldn't wait to use it.

My niece and nephew were having a cake walk at their school so I agreed to bake some cakes for it. And being the day before Valentine's Day, I knew exactly what I was going to make.

Two Lips!

The first one was a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. I just realized that the dividing line is totally wrong- that it should go down in the middle. ha!

Second one was a strawberry cake with chocolate frosting.

I thought brown lips might look a little weird- so I covered it with a gazillion pink sugar sprinkles. It was hard to give them away.

I just hope they tasted as delightful as I imagined they might.

But there are plans to make another one for the

February birthdays in my family.

mmmm....

Happy Valentine's Day.

Hope you had a fun day. I worked at one job from 7am to 11am.

And another from 4pm to 9pm.

With a nap, a shower and a workout in between.

I did make heart shaped muffins to share with my morning co-workers, but forgot to take a picture. Oops.

Strawberries.

I went to the grocery store last week and they had strawberries on sale for $1.25. I really like strawberries. So I put a couple in my cart. There was a limit of 8. So as I thought about it, I decided why not just buy 8. So I did.

I washed and cut up 5 of them and froze them for future use. But the others I needed to use right away to make something delicious! My friend invited me over for dinner so I told her I would only come if I could bring dessert. So I made this:Double Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake
I forgot to sprinkle it with Icing (Powdered) sugar. But it was still tasty.

Then I decided to make a special treat for FHE and made this:
Strawberry Freeze
Unfortunately I didn't have time to let it set as long as it was supposed to so it was more like Strawberry Freeze Soup. But a tasty soup. And I forgot to put strawberries on top. Oops.

My roommate is visit taught by the 2 girls that I visit teach so we decided to have a little visiting teaching dinner with the four of us and my companion. This is what I made for dessert:
Strawberry Cheesecake Cups
These were probably my favorite. I learned from the last recipe and made them at school so they would have time to set. (there are benefits to having access to 6 kitchens & equipment).

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of any of them... so thanks to Kraft for making them look so pretty. And delicious. So go buy some strawberries. Mmmm. I actually went to the store again for something else and couldn't walk past the cheap strawberries without putting 3 more in my cart! I have a problem.

A weekend of feasting

It has been a great General Conference spiritually feasting weekend. There is so much I need to improve on and become. What was your favorite talk? I can't decide... I liked them all. But one that stands out is Elder Holland's.

"Were those early Christians... who only had access to the gospel of Mark... offended to receive the more detailed account set forth later by Matthew
and Luke. Surely they must have rejoiced that ever more convincing evidence
of the divinity of Christ kept coming."

I had the blessing of watching the Sunday afternoon session with my former roomie Anitra and her hubby Jud- then we feasted physically. I tried a new recipe for dessert. And I think it is a keeper. Super delicious and super easy. Apple dumplings- courtesy of the Pioneer Woman. Check out her blog for the recipe. So yummy.


And we played a rousing game of Skip-Bo. I LOVE that game. Anitra complained the entire time... and of course won. Sheesh. I think we need a re-match.

What I did...

I told her... I said that I made it for her birthday but when she got home late, I figured she had been out celebrating. I told her she could eat it whenever she wanted... and she decided we needed to have a piece before the party. Of course I supported that. It was pretty frozen but still tasty. I think it is going to take us a LONG time to eat it. And now we have 5 containers of ice cream in our freezer. Yikes. And of course I am going to have to eat it. I have an ice cream problem! Here are pictures of the outside of my cake (ready and waiting for her to arrive- candle from Dollarama!!!)- and the inside. I bought Betty Crocker Bake n' Fill pans from Target (on clearance of course) and gave them a try. Very fun!


































Today is going to be my productive day (key word- GOING TO) I have needed to organize my room desperately so today is the day! The only reason I can leave is to go buy milk at the grocery store! Wish me luck!

Lots of Leftovers!

It was a success... the Elders showed up 15 minutes early! but luckily everything was ready- it just needed to be dished up! We chowed down and it was soooo good! I love my mom's stuffing-I keep forgetting how easy it is, I need to make it more often. It was my first time making gravy... I thought about just not making it- but how horrible would that be??? So a little coaching from Mom over the phone and all was well! I can't say it was perfect but I am very pleased with my first time! I was a little scared about the dessert but it was SCRUMPTIOUS! I made Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake. I highly recommend it! Look at all these leftovers... yikes! Good thing Thanksgiving leftovers are my favorite!!! And the Elders were great! Elder Arnold is so much fun and he had a brand new companion- fresh from the MTC! I got to be his first dinner appointment. I am determined to be a better member missionary!
p.s. I didn't get to make the Snickers salad... and looking at the leftovers- that is probably a good thing! But I will make it soon and post the recipe for you Kim! It sounds soo weird but is delightful!

And the Winning Cake is...

We are having a ward FHE tomorrow. Our group is in charge and we are having a ward birthday party! So fun! We are each in charge of a different party game; pin the tail, unwrap the chocolate bar, pop the balloon, etc. Each fhe group is supposed to bring a Birthday cake and they will be judged by the bishopric. I volunteered to make one for our group- and this is it!!! I have wanted to make it for a long time so now is my chance! I hope it still looks good tomorrow night! Yikes! I am not so happy with the mustard and the tomatoes but what can you do! It is Jud's real birthday tomorrow (my fhe dad & home teacher) so I am trying to figure out how to do a little sign that says "Have a WHOPPER of a birthday!" It was all I could think of that has to do with burgers. I'll let you know if I win!

If it's Oreo- I LOVE it!

I made this cake last night for dinner- I had the missionaries over! It is yummy and so easy! Most desserts take a long time to make... plus have to be in the fridge for a long time! But not this one. I made the cakes the night before and it seriously took me minutes to assemble! So good. The middle filling is tasty!!! It is called Chocolate-Covered Oreo Cookie Cake from Kraft! Just make sure you buy semi-sweet chocolate and not unsweetened chocolate!! Yup- I made the mistake and am SOOOOO grateful I licked my finger after spreading it on- NASTY! So I quickly scraped it off and spread on some not nasty chocolate frosting! Delish!