Stuffed

Whew! We had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday...good company, good food, and nice cool weather. I felt truly blessed when my family walked in the door. Little Man had spent the night with us and had some pretty roses to give to his Mom when she came in. Big Guy was all smiles and did a lot of cooing to keep us entertained.

The kids had given us 3 slabs of ribs and we had the standard cookout fare, scalloped potatoes, baked beans and deviled eggs. Plus that big cake (that I'm seriously thinking about going to the kitchen and bringing the whole thing in here with a fork).

The baked beans were declared a hit...I used plain old pork and beans, added wine, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, molasses, chopped onion, and pepper. After mixing and putting in the pan, I put maple flavored bacon on top and baked at 325 degrees for a long, long time, until the sauce had thickened and been absorbed.

The scalloped potatoes were good (I put the recipe in the recipe section) and  the ribs were wonderful...Hubby dry seasoned them and wrapped them in plastic wrap and refrigerated them over night then put them on the grill about 11 a.m. He got a "rib rack" at Lowe's and it turned out to be a nice item to have. The ribs cook evenly all around, browned nicely, and were easy to handle.

The cake had raspberry and chocolate filling and a generous amount of buttercream that I love...real butter and smooth as silk.

When the kids when home, they had been gone about 5 minutes and the sky opened up. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. These nice rains are nectar for the garden...and the plants are showing their gratitude. Everything has come up and is blooming. We have tiny strawberries that are growing by leaps and bounds.

I went to the kitchen Thursday and there were 2 ripe strawberries on the counter. I asked Hubby if he wanted them sliced and sugared or dipped in whipped cream. Maybe one day soon we'll have enough to do that.

Have a wonderful day!

Almost Mother's Day

And I got presents early. Hubby brought me a red rose in a pretty vase, and my daughter made me a cake at culinary school. Their project was to completely decorate a cake, which was to be presented to their respective mothers.

It's a white cake with raspberry and chocolate chip filling...buttercream icing and probably a bazillion calories. Tomorrow we're cooking ribs for everybody and will cut the cake then.

Our neighbor had a death in the family last week and we fixed dinner for them last night. Hubby cooked two spatchcock chickens on the grill and I made a big pan of scalloped potatoes and green bean casserole. Sure did look good and I'm sorry I didn't get a picture.

My green bean casserole is a little unusual but it is very good. It is supposed to be called green bean bundles but I am too lazy to make those tiny bundles. The original recipe calls for 2 or 3 cans of whole green beans. Drain the beans and wrap a bundle of 4 or 5 beans in a half piece of raw bacon. Make as many bundles as you want or need. Place each bundle in a baking dish and spoon a can of Golden Mushroom soup (very important...not Cream of Mushroom) over the bundles. Drizzle the top with any red salad dressing, Ott's, Catalina, Russian, whatever you like. Bake at 325 degrees until the bacon is cooked. It holds and reheats very well, or you can put them in a crock pot to keep warm.

Instead of making all those bundles, I simply empty 4 cans of drained, cut green beans in a baking dish. Spoon the soup over the beans, then dice raw bacon and sprinkle over the top. Drizzle with the red salad dressing and bake as above. The taste is the same, it's just not as tedious.

The laundry fairy didn't come to my house yesterday, so I've got to wash today. Maybe there will be a good movie on I can watch while I'm folding. I like those goofy Syfy movies where the woman always turns her ankle and falls and gets grabbed by the monster while she's trying to get away.

There Ought To Be A Law...

against cake balls. We went through the first batch like a swarm of locusts, so I got out my handy-dandy cake mix and frosting I got with a coupon at the first of the month...German chocolate with coconut pecan frosting. I mixed it all together and added some chopped toasted pecans. We've been really busy these past few days trying to get a room in our house redone and I was really sore and tired, so I shaped the cake mixture into balls and froze them.

Today, after a visit from Little Man, I decided to dip them and indulge myself. They are really, really good. Really good. When I make them again I might add a little toasted coconut with the pecans.

Cake Balls!!!

Okay...I kept hearing about cake balls. On the net, in the newspaper, everywhere. SO...I decided to try my luck. I just happened to have a Devil's Food cake mix and fudge frosting on hand. I also had a block of chocolate confectioner's coating in the freezer.

This is so easy it's just about silly. Bake the cake according to the package directions. Remove from the oven when done and let sit out to cool. When the cake is cooled, crumble it in a large mixing bowl using a fork or your fingers. To the cake crumbs add 1 carton of ready-made icing and mix until thoroughly combined. Roll the mixture into bite sized balls. Place in the refrigerator or freezer to cool.