The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook by Allysa Torey and Jennifer Appel

Have you ever tried NYC's Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding?  If so, then you know how wonderful it is and you should know that the price of this book is well worth that one wonderful recipe. If you have never had their Banana Pudding, then you must try it, it is heavenly!  But,  there is an added benefit with  this book.  You also get the Magnolia Bakery's famous cupcake  and buttercream icing recipes!  These cupcakes, in my humble opinion, are the best in the world!  I have made the vanilla cupcakes and the buttercream so many times that I have the recipe's memorized.  I have tried many buttercream recipes, but none come close to this one, and it is easy to make !   So, it should be pretty obvious that I believe you will love this book.  As if the ones already mentioned were not enough, let me tell you a few of the other recipes included. They are (randomly chosen),   Raspberry Cream Cheese Breakfast Buns, Blueberry Coffee Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Pear Pecan Cake, Brown Sugar Pecan Cake, Pumpkin Walnut Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting, Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, Orange Vanilla Chip Cookies, Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake, Caramel Apple Pecan Cheesecake, Cheese Pie, Nectarine Cobbler, and Sweet Potato Pie.  Those are  just a few of the many wonderful recipes you will get in this delicious book!

Happy Baking!

Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread & Scuppernong Wine

;Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking by Joseph Dabney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is full of stories of the people of the  Smoky Mountains. My favorite chapters are devoted to Fruits.  Some of the mouth watering recipes are:  Stewed Apples, Fried Apples, Apple Dumplings, Peach Cobbler,Peach Butter, Blackberry Cobbler, Scuppernong Jelly,and yes, Scuppernong wine, which I plan to try!  Now, I will warn you that there are recipes for some things that I will not try, such as Turtle Stew, Squirrel Pie, and Possum and Sweet Potatoes.  However, there are enough great ones like Tomato Gravy, Mint Juleps, Angel Biscuits spoon bread, and apple butter to more than make up for the unusable ones.  If you want to cook up some serious southern food that is sure to be authentic and delicious, you cannot go wrong with this book!


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Sugar Baby By Gesine Bullock-Prado

;Sugar Baby: Confections, Candies, Cakes & Other Delicious Recipes for Cooking with Sugar by Gesine Bullock-Prado
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have been patiently waiting for this book and now that it is hear I realize that it was worth the wait!  I want to make every recipe in this one!  The structure is different from her first book, in that it does not weave the recipes into a story. Most of the  the recipes can be made on top of your stove and they all include my favorite ingredient-Sugar!  Also, there are many photos of Gesine and photos of all of the finished recipes.  I plan to make all of the recipes, but I am going to start with the Rock Candy, G's Gelee Shots (made with champagne), Vanilla Pastry Cream, Perfect Passion Fruit Parfait, Vanilla Pecan Swirl Tea Cake, and Cotton Candy!!!


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My new Mountain Cottage Renovation Project

Yes I know it is a mobile home, but we have big plans for it! And, when we are finished it, hopefully it will not look like a mobile home.  It is 14X60 and has 2 bedrooms and one bath.  It is only 5 minutes from Downtown Gatlinburg,TN and I believe in the winter we will have a beautiful view.  I have always wanted a cabin in the Smoky Mountains and we got this for such a great price, we figured we would grab it while we could and with a little work, make it look like a totally different place.  It is private and in a great location.  There is even an original log cabin on the property.  It needs some work because it is falling down, but my husband has already said that he can fix it up.

Some really big rocks along the driveway!

Also, there is a beautiful creek about a mile away that is perfect for picnic's and wading.

Here are a few photo's of the inside of the mobile home. It does need some work but it is really not too bad right now.

Well this is what is keeping me busy these days!  If anyone has any great ideas, please share them with me! I will keep our progress posted here.

Blackberry Cobbler

This is a quick, easy delicious dessert!  I got this recipe from my Mother in law years ago and have used it hundreds of times for a quick dessert.  You can use just about any fruit.

Blackberry Cobbler

1 Stick butter

1 cup of milk

1 cup self rising flour

1 cup sugar(may need a little more to sprinkle on berries if they are not sweet)

3-4 cups rinsed blackberries

Put butter in 8x8 dish and place in oven to melt while mixing the other ingredients.  Mix milk, flour, and sugar together.  Pour into pan with melted butter.  If berries are not real sweet, sprinkle with about 1/8 cup of sugar and toss.  Place berries evenly on top of batter.  Bake about 45 minutes and serve with cream or ice cream.  Enjoy!

Cauliflower Salad, Chicken and Rice Casserole

Happy Poceno Ladies! I love you all!

I have been in a Ladies club for over 20 years. We meet once a month and play a game called Poceno.  It is a combination of poker and Bingo.  But, over the years we have changed the rules a litttle and we think our version is way more fun than the original.  We play a game called the Boob and the first nipple off gets a point and then the first one that gets all of the chips off gets 2 points.  We even have a game representing a male part, but i 'm not going into details on that one. Some of the ladies have been in this group over 30 years.  Some of us have had our moms in the group.  Over the years we have been saddened by the loss "The Joy Luck Club"of some of our best friends, but the rest of us stick by each other through happy times and sad times. I have always thought of us being like the ladies in the movie,  "The Joy Luck Club".  We get toghether at another members home and have dinner, drinks and just plain old FUN!  Well, My month this year was June.  I served a delicious Cauliflower salad, Chicken & Rice Casserole, corn muffins, cupcakes and vodka and grapefruit juice.  I am going to share the salad and casserole recipe here.  I didn't get photo's of them, so you are just going to have to take my word that both were delicious.  The cupcake recipe is on my blog already.  It is the Magnolia Bakery recipe.

CAULIFLOWER SALAD
This is delicious-I promise!
1 large head of Romaine lettuce or 1 large bag of pre washed lettuce.
1 head of cauliflower
approx. 1 cup of mayo
1 small red onion, chopped
approx 2 TBS sugar
approx. 1 1/2 cup shredded parmasean cheese
1 small pkg of real bacon bits

If using a head of romaine lettuce, chop or pull apart by hand into small size pieces, and layer it into the bottom of a large bowl.  On top of the lettuce, place the chopped tops of the cauliflower.  The next layer is the red onion sprinkled on top of the cauliflower.  Then cover with a thin layer of mayonnaise and sprinkle sugar over the mayo. The last layer is the parmasean cheese.  Let it sit in the refrigerator over night.  Before serving, toss the entire salad and sprinkle the bacon bits on top.  So easy! So good!

Chicken and Rice Casserole
2 TBS butter
1 medium sweet onion
1 8.8oz Uncle Bens ready to serve  jasmine rice
3 cups of chopped rotissire chicken
1 1/2 cups frozen petite peas
1 1/2 cups shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 cup mayo
1 10 oz cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz can sliced waterchestnuts, drained
1 4oz jar sliced pimiento, drained
3 cups crushed ridged potato chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter and put in chopped onions and cook til tender.  Microwave rice according to package directions.  Combine onions, rice, chicken and next 6 ingredients.  Place in a 13x9 dish.  Top with chips and bake until bubbly. This is another easy, delicious dish!