Chocolate Truffle No-Bake Pie

I was in need of a dessert, and we had a reason to celebrate on Thursday! More to come on that...  But it's so dang hot everywhere I go {ha!}, I needed one that wasn't going to heat up this house! Enter in this lovely no-bake treat. :)

via

And of course, oh-so-easy.

What You Need:One 6-oz ready-to-fill chocolate-flavored crumb crust
17 squares individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
1⁄4 cup canned evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed)
1 1⁄2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
Whipped cream, for serving
How to Make:
1. In a medium saucepan, cook the caramels and milk over medium-low heat, stirring often until the caramels melt and the mixture is smooth.
2. Clean the saucepan and cook the chocolate chips, cream and butter over low heat until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth Pour over the caramel and refrigerate until set, about 4 hours.
3. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.
*the recipe called for crushed pecans under the layer of caramel, but we don't do pecans :)

Hubby stated it was the best pie he'd ever had. While I do not agree with this statement, it was pretty darn yummy! :)

Book Club, Book Review, and a Recipe, Too!

I hosted Book Club for June this month.  Although I didn't make it as fun and fancy as last year's...it was still great to hang out with the girls!  We always end up talking for so long about the funniest topics and only the books for a little bit! :)

Unfortunatly I didn't get a picture of the girls, but we had a good group! Thanks Sarai, Shannon, Ann, Amanda, Jamie, and Loren for coming over!

I made Mexican Chicken Casserole, pasta salad, and July 4th Trifle.  My sweet friend Tiffany has been getting into making cakes and she was working on one and brought it over since she remembered me saying how much of a sweet tooth I have now! It was delicious and the perfect time to bring it over so I wouldn't eat the entire thing all by myself {although it was so good, I could have!}. It was a cute pineapple cake - I'll have to upload to picture later! I made a few changes to the Mexican Chicken Casserole this time ~ which I think I liked better.  I used Chili-flavored fritos instead of Doritos chips, and I had fixed Doritos Chips Chicken the night before, so I made a few extra breasts and then used that chicken diced in the casserole instead of plain chicken.

You know I don't exactly love reading books...well Sarai suggested A Bump in the Road by Maureen Lipinski.  IT.WAS.SO.GOOD!  I absolutely loved the book! It was seriously hilarious and there were SO many points in the book that I felt was totally my life right now! I would laugh out loud while reading and read Brian tons of sections of the book.  It's a total must-read in my opinion if you like light and fun books.  It is about a girl {who blogs, haha} who just found out she's pregnant. But I don't think you have to be pregnant to like it since a lot of the girls said they did like it and they are not currently prego!

{maybe I should make this my next give-away?}

And lastly, I found this YUMMY {and easy} 4th of July treat to make from Taylor Made. 

I made one for Brian's work yesterday as a little holiday treat and made another one for Book Club last night! It was super easy and very delicious!

What you Need:

Angel Food Cake (baked with love from the grocery store)
16 oz strawberries
1 container of blueberries
Strawberry Ice Cream (strawberry and vanilla swirl, Great Value Brand)
2 tbsp sugar
How to Make:-Set your Ice Cream out because it needs to be soft
-Wash and slice your strawberries and mix them with 1 tbsp sugar. Wash your blueberries and also mix with 1 tbsp sugar and let sit for about 20 minutes.
-Take your Angel food cake and slice it right down the middle horizontally.
-Then you layer in this order:
1/2 cake
strawberries
ice cream
blueberries
1/2 cake
(I had extra strawberries so I put them on top.)
-Place in the freezer and freeze for at least 2 hrs and Enjoy!

MMMMMmmmmm Goodness!

Have you heard of the new McFlurry at McDonald's? I've been dying to try...and what a better way to end a 97 degree hot day watching my husband play in a golf tournament than to reward myself and my oh-so-wonderful-friend, Sara, for going with me?!

ONE OF THESE!!!!!

The new Rolo McFlurry. It's the bomb.
Big chunks of frozen Rolo's with caramel dripping from the spoonfuls of cold vanilla ice cream. YUM.

{PS- thanks for following!! I've chosen my design and just waiting for it to get put up!!! Yay!}

St. Patty's Day Desserts!

All I think about is eating desserts! Weird, huh? I'm usually not a huge dessert person. So, since I haven't posted a recipe in SUCH a long time, here are a few fun and yummy-looking desserts to make!!  I SOO wish I could make one of these for my students, but the thought of preparing food is still gross to me. :( Oh well, maybe soon!!

Mint Chocolate Dark Squares

The Ultimate Thin Mint Brownies

Grasshopper Pie

Kiwi Lime Pie

Easy Ice-Cream Pie

I'm a Cheesehead, ya'll are Cheese Whiz

I do not think I could describe to you the excitement and joy B has with the Packers winning last night.
To say he is a die-hard fan does not do it justice. He's a freak fan: superstitious, screaming into the TV, etc.

He was a nervous wreck during the game, but so happy with the result!

Who wouldn't love Aaron Rodgers? At least his rap sheet is clean.... :)

We went to Jordan & Nick's for the game with a few other friends.  She had a yummy spread of pizza, dips, and veggies.  I brought Popcorn Lollipops in the colors of the Packers! I got the recipe from Brown Paper Packages. I'd love to make something similar for my students for Valentine's Day, but I am thinking I don't have the time this week! They were a little messy to make! :)

don't hate on our outfits.. haha

PS- If you haven't heard the Green and Yellow song yet, YouTube it. It's SO hilarious. I couldn't get it to upload to my blog b/c my awesome computer had decided it now doesn't have sound...
PPS- My team teach is a big Steelers fan so we made a friendly bet...she had to walk my walkers out in the pouring snow today! haha :)

Better than a Snow Day Cake...

otherwise known as Better Than Sex Cake, according to the student who gave me this recipe and treat...

One of my sweet students and her mom baked a delicious, over-the-top, phenomenal, finger-likin' good dessert! AH-MAZING. It was SO good!

Here's the recipe so you can try it for yourself, and be amazed! :)

What you Need:
yellow cake mix
3.5 oz. instant vanilla pudding
8 oz. sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 C water
8 oz. German Chocolate (grated, use a food processor - do not microwave!)
6 oz. milk chocolate chips
1 C chopped pecans (she didn't make it with these, and I was glad!)

What you Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a bunt pan.  Combine: cake mix, vanilla pudding, eggs, oil, sour cream, and water.  Mix well.  Add grated chocolate, chocolate chips, and pecans.  Mix well. Pour batter into pan.  Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  You may want to cover the cake with foil for at least 15 minutes or so; it tends to burn the top...actually the bottom.

Enjoy! :)

Caramel Apple Dessert

This recipe comes from the Martha Stewart Living, November issue.

I fixed it for Book Club and it was so good and fairly easy! It makes a lot though, so fix when there's more than just 2 of you eating!

Prep Time: 15 min. Total Time: 5 hours 15 min. Makes: 16 servings

What you need:
60 Nilla Wafers, finely crushed (about 2 cups)
1/2 C butter, melted
1 pkg. (8 oz) fat-free cream cheese (I did fat-free and it tasted good)
1/4 C sugar
3 1/4 C milk
1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed
2 pkg. Jell-O Vanilla flavor instant pudding
1/2 C caramel ice cream topping
1 green apple, 1 red apple; chopped
1/4 C planters peanuts, chopped

How to make:
MIX wafer crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9 inch pan
BEAT cream cheese, sugar, 1/4 C milk with mixer until well blended. Stir in 1 C Cool Whip; spread over crust
BEAT pudding mixes and remaining milk with whisk 2 min. Stir in 1/4 C caramel topping. Spoon over cream cheese layer, top with remaining Cool Whip.
REFRIGERATE 5 hours or until firm (I did it over-night and it was fine). Top with apples, nuts, and remaining caramel topping just before serving.

Enjoy!

Surprise Date Night!

Weekend Post #1

I had one of the best weekends in a while! Brian and I had no real plans so we basically got to do whatever we wanted ~ and it was soo nice!

Friday started off great because I got to pick up my jockey silk bar stools! I can't wait to share with you a picture of them. They make my kitchen look so unique and cute! Be waiting for that post! :)

Brian also told me he had had such a good time on his surprise date night last weekend he wanted to do the same for me! YAY!

Our date was super fun. We went to Talon Winery and listened to live music, ate sandwiches, and drank yummy wine. My sweet husband even indulged me in some self-timer photos in the grapes!







Then we went to Saul Good for dessert and more vino! YUM! I love that place. We shared the Bananas Foster Waffles, thinking we'd have room to order another dessert to share but we were stuffed!
Thanks for a super fun date night!:)

{His original plan was to try out a new place, WineStyles, but they were hosting a 100+ people party so we were afraid the experience wouldn't be as good! Have you been there yet?}

GiGi's

The other night I surprised Brian with GiGi's Cupcakes! If you are from around Lexington, you know that GiGi's cupcakes are all the rave right now. And they should be because they are delicious! I personally have only had them one time, but B's office gets treats oftentimes from them so I knew he'd be excited!

B passed his first final for his certification program he's working on ~ CFP. I'm pretty proud of B for going back to 'school' as I know all too well how hard it is to work and go to school all at the same time {lucky duck doesn't have to endure night classes!!!!!!!}. So I told him we'd celebrate by grilling out steak. Little did he know he got a treat! :)

We had some super yummy steak just from Kroger's but put a Jack Daniel's marinade over it. Then we grilled corn in the husk and I made jalapeno butter to brush on it. We didn't want to eat too much more so we'd be hungry for the cupcakes!

MMMMMMM :) Mint Chocolate Chip & Hot Fudge Sundae

Delicious Dessert

After I made Brian's favorite meal, we decided to go get a blizzard from Dairy Queen. I had cried almost every night this week because I've been feeling so worn out from getting to work early and staying late {I know, I'm pathetic}, and I can't help but feel like I'm back to being a boring wife falling asleep before 9:30.

So anyways, we went to get ice cream because that always makes you feel better!

Did you know Dairy Queen had Mini Blizzards? I thought they were new. Today when I tried to talk about it to my students they told me it's been around for a while.
Well it's new to me! Yummmm-O! AND they are only $1.99 and the.perfect.size.


And yes, it made me much happier. :) I even stayed up to hang out with my husband until 10:15. Then I freaked out and had to go to sleep.
..So looking forward to the weekend!

But, all-in-all I think I've been very blessed with a great class. Obviously this is a sign considering all things I've been wondering about what my role in life is. I'm nowhere ready to say I'm back on the bandwagon of teaching for the rest of my life, but actually liking to go to work to see the KIDS is helpful. And again, it wasn't the kids last year, it was the DRAMA-RAMA that surrounded every day that caused me to just feel so.worn.out. I wish I could post a picture of them ~ every year I forget how small they are coming in the class in August. But I'm NOT crazy nor trying to get sued, so of course, I'd never think to do that.
So, thank you Lord for giving me sweet, thoughtful, well-mannered students with a few crazies but nothing I haven't had before. I appreciate it. :)

Golf Cup Cakes

I made cupcakes for friends coming over tonight. Although my hubby turned 29, I can't help but throw a good theme party. So I decided I would do very minimal decorations involving golf. {Post to come on the cute centerpieces I made!!}

I'm not much of a baker, but have learned that having an oven with a pre-heat and working timer are key to producing something yummy.
After the help from my friend Allison a while back for THESE cupcakes, I've tried a few more times on my own.

So, first I baked the cake mix {did you know the first time I attempted cupcakes I had to call Allison and ask her where those boxes were? had no idea cake mix was the same as cupcake mix...I've come a long way} but DID NOT put the cupcake cups in the pan. She gave me the tip that it'll take the color out of the cups, so I just placed the cupcakes in there after they were cooled.

Next, my friend Jordan gave me her tackle-box-like icing kit, but since I am not crafty in the department of cake decorating, I couldn't figure out how to use it. So I went back to my old way of shoving icing {I like the cream cheese kind and then use food coloring to tint} into the corner of a Ziplock baggie and cutting the corner out and using a tiny spatula to spread the first layer on.

I started with mixing green food coloring for the grass part and then using my Ziplock baggie with plain icing to draw a golf hole flag {I'm sure there's technical term but I've got no clue what it is}. I started out a little small but got better the longer I kept doing it!
Next I mixed in red food coloring and used a new Ziplock baggie to shove the icing in to fill in the flags. I was going to do red and blue, but got a little ahead of myself and just did them all.

And here they are... I know most of you can make ones even better but I was pretty excited!

Georgia's On My Mind {and a recipe}

B and I decided to take a quick trip to Atlanta this past weekend to visit his sister and her boys {one of which is only 3 weeks old!}.

B and Hayden have such a special bond. Ever since I became a part of this family, I was amazed at how Hayden remembers B without missing a beat. We don't get to see them as often as we'd like as we live 6 1/2 hours away from one another but that never phases their relationship. I guess I just remember how I was, and it would take me forever to warm up to anyone other than my parents/grandparents.

Hayden is almost 3 and he is all boy! He is so much fun running from one thing to another. He loves his trucks, too! I told B I need to get better at knowing how to play all these 'boy' games with all our nephews {we're up to 3 now!!}.
I got Hayden a cute bug catcher from one of my favorite Specialty Stores here. As soon as he received it, he ran outside. What did him and Uncle B find? A frog!! He later kept piling rocks into it. I'm just so glad it entertained him for a bit!



We also got to take Hayden to the pool. It was amazing how fearless this kid is! He kept jumping into our arms from the side and swimming to everyone!



I was {honestly} very excited about holding baby Cooper! It seems like Colby was out of the holding/sitting still stage so quickly that I couldn't wait to just have Cooper laying on me! He is such a sweet baby. B kept saying how much he looks like Hayden did. I wasn't around when Hayden was first born, so I can't tell. But what I can tell is that he's going to be just as cute! I kept asking to hold Cooper all day long. B was amazed at how long I was sitting still holding him. He was the easy-to-hold kind that doesn't fuss, just lays asleep. From what I hear that doesn't last long, but Aunt Megan likes that!



I also got Cooper a super cute seersucker Jon-Jon and pacifier clip from my favorite specialty store. They love golf just as much as B does so I knew it'd be perfect! I can't wait to see him in it!



I also wanted to share this super yummy dessert I made for the hard-working parents-of-two. My Dad's cousin's wife (right, Hope?!) makes this for all our family functions! I was so excited when she gave me the recipe for one of my shower gifts! I tried it out and it was delicious!

Strawberry Stuff:
What you need~
Large Angel Food Cake Loaf (or 2 half sizes)
1 carton fresh strawberries
1 carton strawberry glaze
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding
8 oz. fat free Cool Whip
3 cups cold Milk
How to make~
*Whisk together vanilla pudding mix and 3cups cold milk in a large bowl. Let set (about 2 min.)
*Cut Angel Food Loaf into 1 inch cubes
*Cut strawberries into fourths and mix in with glaze in a small bowl
*After pudding has set, mix in Cool Whip until smooth
*In a trifle bowl {we were traveling so you don't get to see how really pretty this dessert is!!!} layer angel food cubes, strawberries with glaze, and pudding/cool whip mixture. Continue to layer making sure the pudding mix is on top. Garnish with strawberries and serve cold.
Y-U-M-M-Y treat!