Happy 13th Birthday Aubrey!!!!

 

Look at this Beautiful Girl! She turned a "Lucky" 13 yesterday and I was Lucky enough to spend the afternoon with her and her friends  at the Dippity Do Spa in Biloxi, MS. Take a look dippadydospa.com  It is a spa just for the younger crowd.  They got their nails done.

 

  

They also got their make up done!

  

They even got their hair done!

 

  

When they left they had another surprise waiting on them!

 

 

The limo took them for dinner here.  

http://www.ocharleys.com/  After  dinner, the limo took them back home where all her family and school friends were waiting for a great Birthday party that I am sure she will always remember fondly.

 

Aubrey, I have watched you grow into a beautiful young lady and I look forward to watching you grow into a successful adult.  As you go down the road of life, I hope that you never forget  how fortunate you are.  You have both beauty and brains, and most importantly, you have a family that loves you unconditionally. With those things on your side, Girl, the world is yours for the taking!

Creamy Vanilla Plantation Ice Cream

This stuff was yummy!! It was so creamy and smooth.  The  fact that it had no added sugar is what I believe made it so creamy.  I made it in my Rival Ice cream freezer  and it took about 20 minutes.  Besides being delicious, it was also very easy to make.

Ingredients

4 cups half and half

1 can condensed milk

16 ounces of cool whip

2 TBS of vanilla extract

Combine all of the ingredients and pour into the ice cream freezer container and freeze for about 20 minutes.  Thats it! Easy and delicious!

TWD: My Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

This is the second time for me to participate in the Tuesdays with Dorie challenge.  I was more than happy to make this recipe as I am always looking for the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie.  I thought this cookie was very very good.  I used 6 ounces chopped Ghiradelli Chocolate(bittersweet) and 6 ounces of Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips.  Also, I melted the butter prior to mixing in the sugar.  I find this method the easiest and quickest way to make cookies because doing it this way you don't even have to bring out the mixer.  I will definitely make these again.  But I will also continue to be on the look out for great Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes.  As I try new ones, I will share them here.

Happy Birthday Holly!!!!!!

This great plate came from my favorite gift place-Etsy!  The seller is Little Miss Artypants and you can visit her store atwww.etsy.com/shop/littlemissartypants.  Holly loved it.  I also made Nainamo bars for her.  I used this recipe www.joyofbaking.com/NanaimoBars.html.  This is a great recipe and if you would like to make them, I highly recommend these!

I truly hope that Holly has a great Birthday!  She is one of my most favorite people in the world! She is such a wonderful friend and I am so thankful to have her in my life!  I hope she has at least 100 more birthdays to celebrate!

Plantation Chicken Pie

This is the best tasting Chicken Pie I have ever made!  My husband loved it and he is very picky about his Chicken Pie.   He had his mind made up before this was ready that he wouldn't like it.  But after one bite, he said make sure you keep up with this recipe because I will be wanting it again!

Ingredients

3 lbs boiled chicken breasts

3 cans of cream soup-celery, chicken, or mushroom(or combination of 1 each)

2cans Veg All

2 Sleeves of Ritz Crackers Crushed

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup half and half

1 cup sour cream

1cup red sodium chicken broth

1/2tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp granulated garlic(I got mine from Penzey's Spices) http://www.penzeys.com/

 Shred the boiled chicken breasts and place in a 9x13 pan.  Mix the 2 cans of Veg All, Three cans of soup, sour cream, half and half, chicken broth, granulated garlic, salt and pepper.  Pour over the chicken breasts.  Pour the crushed Ritz crackers over the mixture evenly.  Pour the melted butter over the crackers evenly.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, or until evenly browned. Makes approximately 8 servings.

TWD: Rick Katz's Brownies For Julia

This is my first post for the Tuesday's with Dorie challenge.  Though I have made several of the recipes from the book, this is the first official one.  Actually this task has produced several first's for me.  Besides it being my first TWD challenge, it is the first time I have used my new Corning Ware Lite  casserole dish ( which I love).  The dish comes with an airtight lid to keep the food fresh.  It was also a first to make brownies like this.  I don't think I have ever had a brownie recipe that called for you to whip the eggs before adding them to the batter.  How does it taste?  Well,  My husband said it tastes like it has pudding in the middle and he loved it.  It is very rich and moist, just like a brownie should be. My original plan was to add an icing recipe that I usually use when I make brownies, but once I tasted them, I realized that they were perfect without the icing.

A Day at the Spa

Hey there! My daughter and I spent the day at the spa yesterday.  We got the gift for Christmas, and were just now able to schedule some time to go.  It was a much needed and appreciated luxury.  Thank you to my dear husband, Lynn! You can always give us this gift with confidence knowing that it will be a greatly loved gift .  This is the placewww.beaurivage.com/amenities  This is a beautiful upscale place of indulgence. For the first time, I had a European Stone massage, and it was heavenly!  We both had a facial and a Body Scrub and Maegan had a Therapeutic massage, which she loved.  Afterward we ate herewww.beaurivage.com/restaurants/restaurants_casual_dining_terracecafe.aspx  Here are photo's of the meal we enjoyed at the Terrace Cafe.

Muffalata Wrap                                                                                                                   Ahi Tuna Salad

These photo's were taken with my iphone.

Crock Pot Beef Stew

Got this bowl herehttp://www.etsy.com/shop/aspeerstudio  Isn't it the cutest thing you have ever seen?  I think so and I plan to get alot of use from it.  They  also have elephants, bunnies, and foxes.  You should really check them out!

Crock Pot Beef Stew

1 1/2 lbs Beef Stew Meat

6 med. potatoes, cut into bite size pieces

1/2 med. sweet onion, chopped

12 oz. bag of baby carrots

32 oz Beef Broth

4 Stalks of celery, cut small

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

In a medium size bowl, mix flour, salt and pepper. Dust meat with flour mixture.  In a large frying pan heat the oil.  Add the dusted meat and brown evenly.  Remove meat from pan and set pan aside.  In same bowl where you dusted the meat, add diced onion and coat with remaining flour. Put pan back on heat and put flour coated onions in pan.  Brown onions in remaining oil in pan.  When onions are browned add all ingredients to the Crock Pot.  Cook on high 5-6 hours.  The flour on the meat and onions will make the sauce a little thick.  This is great with Corn Bread.

Enjoy!