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Friday Favorites

I am thankful and grateful for the beautiful weather we have had!  The rain has stopped and my mucky yard is drying out nicely.  The temperatures have been perfect.  I love sunny days and 70° highs!

Favorite # ONE

Looks like we’re good until next Saturday.

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Last Friday, I had my annual eye appointment.  Good news… my prescription hasn’t changed.  After my appointment, LB and I walked around Target.

I picked up a couple of cute things…

Favorite # TWO

Ozzy wasn’t thrilled that he had to pose for pictures in this pumpkin hat, but he sure did look cute!

Speaking of Ozzy, on October 22nd he had a birthday.

His FIRST birthday…

Favorite # THREE

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I haven’t done much shopping since my last LOFT fiasco delivery, but I saw these on deal at 43% off and thought I might need them.

I was right.

Fav0rite # FOUR

Suede Western Knee High Cowgirl Boots in beige

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Every week, LB buys a 4 pack of muffins from ALDI and puts them in the freezer.  When he gets a hankering for a muffin, he pulls one out and toasts it, usually for a mid morning snack.  This past week he dropped the box of muffins on the floor.  No 5 second rule for LB, they all went into the trash.  And I’m pretty sure he muttered a bad word lol.  Feeling sorry for him, I decided to make some homemade muffins that he could enjoy

Favorite # FIVE

Pumpkin Muffins

I used this recipe from Andi Anne Recipes

LB is a happy boy once again!

 

 

We haven’t been out and about much lately, it has been a slow and relaxing couple of weeks.  But things are about to change… starting next weekend.

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Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Friday Favorites

I’ve been thinking about why Friday is my favorite since I’m no longer driving to an office 5 days a week and the only thing I can figure is that over the years my brain has been traumatized into thinking Friday is the best day. LoL!  Whatever the reason, I’ll continue with my Friday Favorites until I think of something better to do.

Last Saturday evening, the Book Club met to discuss our September read which was

Favorite # ONE

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

By Washington Irving

This was the shortest book ever and I finished it in one day!

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Favorite # TWO

Book Club

In addition to book discussion, we enjoyed a pot luck feast, pumpkin crafts, and each other’s company!

Check out the fun TikToks posted by @disneygirlgina @mandakstar @stephdstarling @krstar0601

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Favorite # THREE

Chicken Pot Pie

I used this recipe

Chicken Pot Pie

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

¼ cup butter
1 small yellow onion (pureed)
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
1½ cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon celery seed
4 cups cooked chicken diced into ½-inch pieces (I used rotisserie)
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
2 refrigerated pie crusts (store-bought)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place one pie crust in a deep pie plate or casserole dish. Prick with a fork and set aside.
In a large deep skillet, over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the onions and celery and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in flour. Slowly stir in chicken broth and whisk to combine.
Add the milk and salt, pepper, and celery seed. Reduce heat and simmer over medium-low heat until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Add the chicken and vegetables. Stir to mix throughout. Pour the mixture into the bottom pie crust. Top with remaining pie crust. Seal the edges and cut away any excess dough.
Brush the crust with an egg wash.  Make a few slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling hot and the crust is golden.

 

prettyis.me

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Favorite # FOUR

‘Blinging’ Pumpkins

I had to capture most of these from video, so I probably missed some 😕

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Early in September I placed an order at LOFT.  It was very unusual that it took LOFT two weeks to process the order and after processing LOFT shipped each item one at a time.  I finally received the last of it this week.

Favorite # FIVE

Final LOFT haul of the summer

I’m not sure how I ended up with an XL on this last item.  Its so big I can’t keep it up, but I’m too tired to send it back.  They irritated me.  I think I’m going to take a break from LOFT for awhile.  Less shopping, more reading.

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Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Friday Favorites

I’m so glad to see you!

Its Friday Favorites time!

On Wednesday I published a post about this past weekend.  A lot of my favorites for this week I briefly mentioned in that post.

Favorite # ONE

This

FROSTING SHEET

I purchased it from a company that helps to support research for childhood cancers.

You can find them at their website Cakes For Cures or on their Facebook page.

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On Sunday I created a new recipe for Superbowl

Favorite # TWO

Roasted Red Pepper DipIt was GOOD!

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

8 ounces softened Cream Cheese

1 Cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

One Cup Pepper Jack Cheese

1 Roasted Red Pepper

1/4 Onion

Toasted baguette slices or crackers for dipping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

In a food processor, finely chop the roasted red pepper and onion.  Mix the cheeses and pepper/onion mixture together.  This is easily done in a stand mixer when the cream cheese is room temperature.

Place all the ingredients in a round pie plate and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Serve and ENJOY!

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Monday was

Valentine’s Day

and LB did not disappoint!

Favorite # THREE

PRESENTS

Who wouldn’t say YES to flowers, candy, and jewelry?

And later that evening we went to the Alhambra for dinner and a show

Favorite # FOUR

The McCartney Years

When LB learned about this show, he bought 6 tickets and told me to invite my kids.

Richard and Emily weren’t able to join us, so instead of returning the seats, LB said “lets invite Gina and Stuart”.

The music was great.  There were many songs from Paul McCartney’s BEATLES years and many from WINGS.  My favorites were “My Love” and “Hey Jude”.

We all had a fabulous time!

Favorite # FIVE

Fun Times

with some of my favorite people

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Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Banana Pudding

In case you didn’t know, banana pudding is a southern delight.  It is a dessert that typically consists of layers of vanilla pudding, vanilla wafers, and sliced bananas and can be prepared baked or refrigerated, topped with meringue or whipped cream.  My daddy’s aunt Fran used to make the baked version, but the refrigerated method is the most common. Many home cooks chose to cover the top of the dish with Cool Whip (faux whipped cream made with hydrogenated vegetable oil).

Recently I found a recipe by Eagle Brand and decided I needed to try it.  I’ve always thought instant pudding and whole milk were somehow lacking, even if covered over the top with Cool Whip.  The sweetened condensed milk makes a big difference.

I followed the recipe for the most part, but I doubled it.  Also, the recipe called for vanilla instant pudding, but I used one package of vanilla instant pudding and one package of banana cream instant pudding… because that was what I had in my pantry.

It turned out to be the best banana pudding I’ve ever had (if I do say so myself).

 

This is the recipe I used from the Eagle Brand website.

 

Banana Pudding

  • Servings: 10
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

•             1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

•             1 ½ cups cold water

•             1 (3.4 ounce) box vanilla instant pudding mix

•             2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream, whipped

•             1 box vanilla wafers

•             4-5 barely ripe bananas, sliced

Directions

Whisk sweetened condensed milk and cold water together.  Add pudding mix and whisk until well blended.  Chill 5 minutes.  Fold in whipped cream.

Spoon 1 cup pudding mixture into serving dish.  Top with one third each of the vanilla wafers and bananas .  Repeat layering, ending with pudding mixture.

Garnish as desired.

Chill thoroughly for several hours.

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday and Happy Summer!

Today is the First Friday of summer 2021!

Let the rain begin!

Yes the season officially changed on Sunday, which was also Father’s Day.

I didn’t write a new post about Daddy this year, but I’ve written a lot about him in the past.  You can read some of my other posts here and here.  Needless to say, I did think about him on Father’s Day.  LB and I stopped to leave flowers Sunday afternoon.

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Favorite # ONE

I thought they were very summertimey.

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Something else that I did on Sunday took place in the kitchen…

Favorite # TWO

A one-pan recipe from RuledDotMe

 

Roasted Chicken Thighs in Red Pepper Sauce

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

  • 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken thighs
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 4 ounces goat cheese
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
  • 4 ounces roasted red peppers
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ cup heavy cream

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350F. At the same time, preheat a skillet over medium-high heat.
  2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
  3. Add coconut oil to the preheated skillet. Once the oil has melted, place the chicken  into the skillet. Sear for 5 minutes on each side or until the chicken is browned.
  4. Puree the roasted red peppers, garlic, and olive oil in a blender. Pour the heavy cream into the pepper mixture, then blend thoroughly.
  5. Remove the skillet from the stove, then pour the sauce over the top of the thighs. Flip them over to ensure that both sides are coated.
  6. Crumble the goat cheese over the top of the sauced chicken. Transfer the skillet to the oven then bake for 10-15 minutes.
  7. Garnish with parsley and enjoy!

 

 

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My son and his family came to town this week.

On Wednesday night we got together with the whole for dinner and birthday cake.

Favorite # THREE

Artwork and personal notes, addressed by Lydia are one of the many perks of being a Glammy.  Or a Glamme.  However she chooses to spell it.

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At my family gathering on Wednesday evening, it was insinuated [once again] that I am a conspiracy theorist.  Lucky for me I’m not the only American “guilty” of this.

But in my defense, I feel that if you live above ground in the Unites States of America, you should know that there is a forensic audit being conducted in Arizona (Maricopa County) because there was massive election fraud in the November 3, 2020 election.  I mentioned it in this post.

Favorite # FOUR

Conspiracy Theory or NOT

Somewhere between 3 and 4 AM on November 4th, I woke up, looked at my phone, and saw a dramatic change had taken place.

Michigan totals revealed added votes for Biden, which is typical when counting votes, but votes for Trump were SUBTRACTED.  How could the tally show a reduction in the number of votes?  That was when I began to question our electoral system.  I found out that I am not the only one with questions.  I’ve included an example below.

As you’ll hear in the following video, “votes are always additive and should never go negative”

There are other videos, but you won’t likely find them in a Google search or on YouTube because Big Tech is complicit.  Check out Rumble

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Favorite # FIVE

Rockin’ on the River

with LB at Azaleana Manor in Orange Park.

Rockin’ on the River was the name of the event.  We attended on Thursday evening for dinner and entertainment by two bands.  One of the bands was the 77ds.  The other was The Chris Thomas Band.

This is Chris Thomas and his band.

Mr. Thomas is fabulously talented.

We had a great time!

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Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Frozen Banana ‘Ice Cream’

First and foremost…

Don’t throw away those ripe bananas!

When the banana is ripe, it will be soft, sweet, and ready to freeze.

Peel the bananas and slice. It really doesn’t matter what size as long as the pieces are small enough to blend.

Put the bananas in an airtight container. Place in a freezer-safe glass bowl or freezer bag.

Freeze until ready to use, at least 2 hours or overnight.

Pulse the frozen banana pieces in a food processor or blender. Transfer the frozen banana pieces into a food processor or high-speed blender. (The more powerful the better.) Pulse to break up.

Keep pulsing At first the banana pieces will look crumbly. I’ve found that sometimes adding a little cold water is helpful.  Scrape down the sides of the blender.

Switch from pulsing to blending. At first it looks unappealing, but hang in there. Scrape down the sides of the blender.

This takes a little while. Keep blending. The banana will become smooth.

As the last bits of banana smooth out, you’ll see the mixture change from blended banana to creamy, soft-serve ice cream texture. Blend for a few more seconds to aerate the ice cream. (If additional mix-ins are desired, like peanut butter or chocolate chips, this is the time.)

Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until solid.

You can eat the ice cream immediately, which is my preference, or drink like a milkshake. You can also transfer it into the airtight container and freeze it until solid, like traditional ice cream.

 

Frozen Banana Ice Cream

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Instructions

  1. Peel the bananas and slice. I cut mine into four pieces. It really doesn’t matter what size as long as they are pieces are evenly sized and small enough to blend.

  2. Put the bananas in an airtight container such as a freezer-safe glass bowl or freezer bag.

  3. Freeze the banana pieces for at least 2 hours until ready to use, at least 2 hours or overnight.

  4. Pulse the frozen banana pieces in a food processor or blender. From the freezer, transfer the frozen banana pieces into a food processor or high-speed blender (the more powerful the better). Pulse to break up.

  5. Keep pulsing. At first the banana pieces will look crumbly. Sometimes a little cold water is needed.  Scrape down the sides of the blender.

  6. Switch to blending.  It may look unappealing, but hang in there. Scrape down the sides of the blender.

  7. Keep blending — this takes a little while. Keep blending. It will become smoother but still have chunks of banana. Scrape down the food processor.

  8. Watch the magic!  As the last bits of banana smooth out, you’ll see the mixture shift from blended banana to creamy, soft-serve ice cream texture. Blend for a few more seconds to aerate the ice cream.  If additional mix-ins are desired, like peanut butter or chocolate chips, this is the time.

  9. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until solid or you can eat the soft ice cream immediately. If you transfer it back into the airtight container and freeze it until solid, like traditional ice cream.

     

Notes

Food processor vs. blender: It is likely that a food processor works best for this, as it is larger and allows for the banana to get quickly creamy and aerated.  I make it in a blender, one banana at a time since my blender is not powerful enough to process several frozen bananas.

Mix-in Ideas
While the one-ingredient banana ice cream is low in calories and easy to make, it doesn’t take much effort to zhuzh it up by making it two– or even three– ingredient ice cream. Here are some mix-in ideas…

  • Peanut butter
  • Honey
  •  Chocolate chips
  • Nuts
  • Nutella
  • Frozen berries
  • Tablespoon of cocoa powder
  • Half a teaspoon of cinnamon

Or make a sundae…Just the way LB likes it!

 

 

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Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Friday Favorites

Yes we made it through another week!  I feel certain that there are more hours in a workday than in a whole weekend.

I may not love working, but I recognize that I should be grateful because I am blessed to be one of the fortunate people who has kept her job during the last year.  There are many things that I am grateful for such as my family, my home, my health.

And I’m grateful to have made it through another good day of not having a stranger vaccinate me for or a virus with a 99% + survival rate using an experimental mRNA vaccine that was quickly concocted to combat a Fauci funded a bat coronavirus project in Wuhan, China.

There.  I said it.

I’m also grateful for friends that will get together for a spur of the moment St. Patrick’s day party.  The food was great, if I do say so myself

and one dish was particularly cute

Favorite # ONE

A Rainbow

made of fruitwith a pot of gold at the end.

In addition to my artistic fruit platter, I made Reuben sliders.  With a corned beef brisket in the refrigerator, I needed to come up with a recipe to get this beef eaten.  So I made

Favorite # TWO

Reuben Sliders

It appears that this is primarily a food post.

 

Ingredients

  • 12 potato rolls
  • several ounces shredded corned beef
  • 1 package of baby Swiss cheese
  • shredded cabbage/Cole slaw
  • Russian Dressing ( I use the dressing from this recipe)
  • 2 Tbsp melted butter

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F
  • Cut the rolls in half separating the top and bottom.
  • Place the bottoms of the rolls in a 9×13 pan (spray with PAM for easy removal).
  • Spread dressing on rolls. Top with a layer of cheese, Cole slaw, corned beef and another layer of cheese.
  • Top with the other half of the rolls and brush tops with the butter mixture.
  • Bake  25-30 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tops are lightly browned.
  • Enjoy!

 

Although I didn’t try one myself, I understand they were very good.  I’ll have to make them again next year.

Other than the rainbow fruit platter and Reuben sliders, everything else was green.  Including these

Favorite # THREE

I may have eaten the whole bag of green pea snacks by myself.

We asked our friends to come to our St. Patrick’s Day event dressed in green.  Some of them went all out.

Favorite # FOUR

Dressing Up

 

Favorite # FIVE

Wrapping up the party with

A Group Selfie

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Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

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