Welcome! I'm happy and humbled you've stopped by.....Cozy up and follow along as I share my attempts at simple living with you.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Mourning and Celebrating

Before I get to some pictures of our birthday celebration this weekend and a yummy recipe, I thought I'd share these pics to honor a local legend.

  Here in Pennsylvania, there's a lot of mourning going on for Penn State's Joe Paterno, who passed away on Sunday morning.  Wherever you live, I'm sure you've heard about it.  It's all over the news.  And regardless of some of  the negative publicity surrounding Joe Pa in the last months, it seemed he was loved by everyone who new him.   

This is my friend George on a
happier day.  He's a big
Penn State Fan. 

The Joe Pa statue this week.  


Okay, now on to the birthday partay this weekend.  We celebrated 3 birthdays...

Hubs turned.....well ....fifty something. I've lost count!!

Ashley turned 20.  Can you imagine being
 20 again?..and know what you know now??

Son in law Steve is twenty something. Let's just
say he can feel 30 nippin' at his heels!


Jack's Mama wouldn't give him any ice-cream cake because he didn't eat his dinner... 


But when Mama wasn't looking, he snuck some of Pap Pap's cake.

I know you're thinking you could eat some of that ice-cream cake too. It was yummy.... and very sweet.

So here ya go.....this is the original recipe.  I of course had to change some things.
I switched out the ice creams for chocolate and peanut butter cup because my kids don't like coffee.



Dulce De Leche-Mocha Ice Cream Dessert

Dulce De Leche-Mocha Ice Cream Dessert

INGREDIENTS:
Praline Crumbs
10
whole rectangular graham crackers
1
cup butter
1
cup firmly packed brown sugar
1
cup chopped pecans
Filling and Topping
1
quart (4 cups) dulce de leche ice cream, slightly softened
1
jar (16 oz) hot fudge ice cream topping
1
quart (4 cups) coffee ice cream, slightly softened
1 1/2
cups whipping cream
1/3
cup coffee-flavored liqueur

  • Heat oven to 350°F. Arrange crackers in single layer in ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan.
  •  Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in brown sugar. Bring to a boil. 
  • Boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in pecans. Pour and spread over crackers. 
  • Bake 10 minutes. Cool 30 minutes or until cooled.
  • Crush crackers into coarse crumbs. Sprinkle half of crumbs in bottom of ungreased 
  • 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish. Cut and remove carton from dulce de leche ice cream.
  •  Cut ice cream into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Arrange slices over crumbs, overlapping slightly. 
  • Spread ice cream with spatula until even pressing down firmly. Freeze 1 hour or until firm.
  • Place hot fudge ice cream topping in resealable 1-quart plastic bag. Cut small hole in bottom 
  • corner of bag with topping. Squeeze bag to pipe fudge topping over ice cream. Scatter
  •  remaining half of praline crumbs over fudge layer. Freeze 30 minutes or until fudge is firm.
  • Cut and remove carton from coffee ice cream. Cut ice cream into 1/2-inch-thick slices.
  •  Arrange slices over crumbs, spreading ice cream until smooth; press down firmly. Freeze 
  • while preparing topping.
  • Beat whipping cream in large bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold in liqueur. Spread over top
  •  of dessert. If desired, garnish with chocolate curls. Freeze 4 hours or until firm. Let stand
  •  at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before serving time.

The Bad News is.........


Nutritional Information:
1 Serving (1 Serving)
  • Calories 560
    • (Calories from Fat 305),
  • Total Fat 34g
    • (Saturated Fat 18g,
  • Cholesterol 80mg;
  • Sodium 290mg;
  • Total Carbohydrate 59g
    • (Dietary Fiber 2g,
    • Sugars 48g),
  • Protein 5g;
Percent Daily Value*:
  • Vitamin A 20.00%;
  • Vitamin C 0.00%;
  • Calcium 14.00%;
  • Iron 8.00%;
Exchanges:
  • 2 Starch;
  • 2 Fruit;
  • 7 Fat;
Carbohydrate Choices:
  • 4 ;
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.










I Love taking time for celebrations, especially during these dreary months.
I guess the next reason to celebrate will be

Valentine's Day


I better get started on my Valentine plans...


Do you have any plans or crafty ideas lined up for Valentine's Day?





Thursday, January 19, 2012

Love in the New Year

Hey, it's a 
NEW YEAR!

I know, I'm a little behind on the new year greetings.  But that's okay.  
I've been busy getting my new year off to a good start....

*The tree and the decorations are down...

I've made some plans and set some goals....

My goal for the new year is to focus on
 LOVE.

That may sound a little strange.  But 2 years ago I resolved to guard my mouth.....and keep my words sweet.  I not only wanted to avoid saying things that I may wish I could take back, but I wanted to use my words for good. 

But lately, because of some people that God has placed in my life, I thought it was time to work on 
loving the unlovely. 

You know, its easy to love lovely people....
  But what about those who are 
UNLOVELY!!??

You have them too- I know you do.  

So I've decided its time to kick up my love walk to a new level by 
SHOWING 
love to others....all others!

The lovely
and
the unlovely!

So this year, I'm working on 
I'm not sure yet what that's going to look like.
One things for sure, I'll be more mindful of others and their needs...

I'll be looking for ways to bless them.



*Our basement is on its way to becoming something other than a storage facility for our grown children's 
STUFF...


For some reason, our children left home and forgot their stuff.  But we're determined to get it all cleaned out, even if that means a


 to their homes.


*And next week, hubs and I are planning to do some painting.  We'll be painting our bedroom, bathroom and spare bedroom-which has been empty since our youngest
 flew the coop.....

Our empty bedroom will soon become a room for the grandbabies


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And this week, we're going to be celebrating again! 
We have 3 birthdays to celebrate in January.  So we're just gonna have one big party and celebrate them at the same time.
Hopefully, next week I'll share some recipes from the celebration.  
But for now, I'll leave you with the card and boot bling I made for Ashley.

Real Cowgirls have a little bling on their boot!



 Soo cute. 
 I hope she "likes".

Miss Ashley is my son's girlfriend. 
 She's a fun-lovin' country girl who enjoys line dancing...  
and we love her!

Yep, she's the one in the boots.

That's all for now.
Thanks so much for stopping by.
I do appreciate it! 
And if you have any lofty goals or plans for the new year,
I'd love to hear about them!

Until next time.......




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