Maria's Antoinette: ROSE TEA PARTY

Maria's Antoinette: ROSE TEA PARTY

July 4th Desserts Good for All Summer

July 4th is commonly celebrated with picnics, hot dogs, potato salad, cole slaw, barbecue chicken and hamburgers, watermelon and finished off with fireworks. That's if you live in an area where fireworks are allowed. I grew up in Texas, and fireworks were a part of this holiday celebration.

I celebrated this July 4th in a new way. My husband and I went with our friends who were running in a 5K. When we arrived at the park where the 5K event was taking place, I decided I wanted to walk the 5K. The runners ran ahead, and the walker walked behind the runners. Now I've added a 5K walk to my list of July 4th ways to celebrate.

After the 5K, breakfast, grocery shopping, preparing desserts for a friend get-together, my husband and I packed our ice, ice cream freezer, and all the dessert fixings in the car and headed to our friends' house for the holiday feast. Our desserts were the best ever. Homemade vanilla ice cream and a red, white, and blue trifle.

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 qt. Half and Half
• 2% Milk (to top off the freezer container to 2/3's full)
• Vanilla flavor
• 1/2 half carton Eggbeaters or off-brand
• 1 large bag ice
• 1 carton Rock Salt or Kosher Salt

It's best to blend all the ingredients except the 2% milk in a blender until thickened. I blended with a whisk then filled the ice cream freezer container with the mixture. The ice cream freezer instructions say to fill to 2/3 full. Use the 2% milk to fill it to 2/3's. Follow your ice cream freezer instructions for the ice and salt. 

Some of my recipes in my cookbooks add one or two cups sugar to homemade ice cream recipes. However, I didn't add any sugar, and everyone loved the ice cream. 

Red, White, and Blue Trifle

• Fresh Strawberries, 1 carton
• Fresh Blueberries, 1 carton
• White sponge, angel food, or butter cake
• Vanilla Pudding, 2 large boxes
• Whipped Topping, 2 cartons

Cook pudding on medium heat, stirring constantly. When done, pour into glass container and let cool then put in frig. When pudding is cool, stir in the whipped topping. Save some whipped topping for dollops to place on the very top of the trifles. Slice strawberries and cut the cake in small pieces. Serve the dessert in clear wine glasses or jars, and layer the ingredients starting with the pudding, then the cake pieces, strawberries, blueberries. Layer again then place the dollop of pudding or whipped topping on top with a strawberry slice and/or blueberry. They are beautiful - and DELICIOUS!

Easy Chicken Soup

Source: yummly.com via Anne on Pinterest

Easy Chicken Soup

2 Pkgs. Chicken Ramen Noodle Soup
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
Shredded chicken (as much as you want)
2 corn tortillas, torn in bite-size pieces

Boil water. Add Ramen Noodle Soup and cook for three minutes. Stir in Cream of Chicken soup, shredded chicken, and tortilla pieces. You may add one of the Ramen Noodle seasoning packets if you prefer. I don't (less sodium).

Easy, quick, and tasty!

Christmas Baked Favorites

December is filled with favorite Christmas cookies, breads, candy and hot apple cider or hot chocolate filled to the brim with creamy marshmallows. Now those items may not be on your December grocery list, but those are things that come to my mind when I first think of December and Christmas foods. That doesn't mean that those are my favorites to eat during the Christmas holidays. They just happen to come to mind because this evening was a chilly evening with friends over hot apple cider and delicious brownies covered with powdery sugar. YUM!

Baking for my family and friends makes me happy. It brings back memories of family and comfort, Christmas holidays with those I love, times of fun and laughter, singing carols to elderly families not able to go out, lighting fireworks with cousins in the freezing cold on Christmas Eve. Christmas memories - and baked goodies with each one.

Brownies, festive cookies, chocolate meringue pie, coconut pie, lemon pie, Pink Salad, Chocolate Cake, pumpkin bread, and banana bread. Those are among the ones that quickly pop up in my mind.

Source: sprinklebakes.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Source: thebookofsecrets.tumblr.com via Keren on Pinterest

Source: tasteofhome.com via Heidi on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Joy on Pinterest

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday because of spending more time with family and friends, not having to go to school, and enjoying days off from work. Time of relaxation. Time of making more memories.

Angie's Spicy Beef Chili

What sounds better than a big bowl of chili on a chilly and rainy November day like today? I made my own version of spicy chili last night (the leftovers taste even better). This is a new recipe because I just made it up last night with a different ingredient than I've used before.

Angie's Spicy Beef Chili

1-2 lb lean beef

green onions

salt

pepper

garlic powder

onion powder

medium hot chili powder

ground cumin

2 Serrano peppers

1 red chili pepper

a generous sprinkle of dried red chilies

1 can red beans

1 can Ro*Tel tomatoes

1 can cream corn (the different ingredient)

grated cheese, optional

Directions:

Add chopped green onions, peppers, and seasonings to skillet as your are browning the ground beef. When the ground beef is done, add red beans, tomatoes, and cream corn. Do not drain any of the canned items. After the canned items are added, stir well with the beef mixture for a few minutes. Now you have a meal. Serve with crackers, tortillas, bread, tortilla chips, or like I did, make a taco salad with it. 

Angie's Spicy Beef Chili

Taco Salad with Angie's Spicy Beef Chili

Spring Green Mix with Small Spinach Leaves

Angie's Spicy Beef Chili

Russian Dressing (tastes kind of like French Dressing)

Grated Cheese

Tortilla Chips

De-licious!

 I'm linking to Simply Designinghttp://simplydesigning.blogspot.com/.

November Comfort Food

What is so special about a plain ham sandwich? Comfort maybe?

Ham, Cheese, and Mayo

November reminds me of comfort food because of the special and delicious recipes my mother and grandmothers used to bake for the holidays. I cherish those memories. Funny how one bite into a ham sandwich with mayo can trigger a sweet comfort memory, like the days when one of my parents would send me off to school with a ham and mayo sandwich. Sometimes the sandwich would be bread, mayo, and bacon. For some reason, I can't remember other lunches. I must have really liked pork. Just for a moment today I felt like I was a little girl at school eating my ham sandwich that Daddy made me. My mother was an awesome cook, but my dad usually made breakfast. I imagine he made my sandwiches from whatever meat he cooked for breakfast.
Come back for another visit this week to read about my next old-fashioned southern comfort food for November.

Autumn Bundts

There's a little bakery cafe in the High Desert of Southern California that is called Bodacious Bundts that makes the best cinnamon rolls. Though I've never ordered a bundt cake there, I'm sure they would be delicious. In fact I'm going to this bakery cafe this weekend for a meetup group with bloggers.
Have you ever decorated a bundt cake for Halloween? Check out these ideas:

Source: Uploaded by user via JaNae on Pinterest

Source: scrapbooklady.typepad.com via Mindy on Pinterest

Source: cookingwithsugar.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Source: thecakeblog.com via Krista on Pinterest

Source: lollyjaneboutique.blogspot.com via Holly on Pinterest

Source: monstermama-monstermama.blogspot.com via Sweet Taboo on Pinterest

Source: myrecipes.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Speaking of bundt cakes, I love to bake them and other delicious desserts during the autumn and holiday seasons. One of the cakes I've favored through the years are a bundt cake my grandmother would make with baby food applesauce. It was delicious and moist with such a good flavor. But as you might can tell by the extra huge slice of cake photo added above, my most favorite cake is the one that was my mother's specialty when I was growing up - German Chocolate cake. 
Don't those delicious looking bundt cakes make your taste buds almost taste those cakes? Mmmm...I would love to have a big bite of that German Chocolate cake right now.
I'm linking to:

• This Chick Cooks