Old Fashioned No-Bake Cookies

On the cowl I knitted last night when I was iced in!!

I am iced in my house.  NO, I am iced in my house in SOUTH CAROLINA!  Ughh!

 Did I go to the store before this event? Sure I did! I have plenty of wine, cheese, crackers and smoked meats. I know- no bread? No milk? What am I going to do with that? Well, it seems that I forgot something! Or at least have a sudden craving for something because I have no access to it. (Isn't that how it always works?) Maybe I am just bored, or maybe I am reading too many food blogs, but..... I NEED CHOCOLATE! And I don't have any. Well, I don't have anything other than a jar of Nutella, chocolate chips and cocoa powder. What can I make, what can I make???? No- Bake Cookies!!! How simple and quick! When you gotta get your chocolate fix there is not time for baking cakes and whipping up a perfect ganche. Nope!

With a HOT cup of espresso... hmmmm.... I think this is the best part of my day.

I also hope tomorrow I am FREE!!! It is hard for this Pennsylvania girl to be stuck in her house because of weather! But if I am still iced in... wonder what I will whip up in my kitchen tomorrow. Stay tuned!!

Mini Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Cakes

So even food bloggers make mistakes..... and this recipe turned out to be one of mine. Every year when we go to the beach, I make my sister something for her birthday dessert. I typically make cupcakes and freeze them, then ice and decorate them when I get there. This year, I spoke to my 6 year old nephew on the phone and he told me he wanted ice cream cakes for his Mom's birthday. He had seen my Whoppers Malted Milk Ball Ice Cream Cake and he was having ice cream dreams. So "Aunt Becky" quickly agreed. How hard could it be?  I already took a huge cooler full of all the dinners for the week. I would make them 2 days before, freeze them and take them in the  cooler. So I set about my task.

OK..... I think you see where this story is going..... After my 8 hour drive to OBX (in typical July heat), I opened the cooler to find totally frozen steaks, chicken and even sweet potato French fries, and there was my perfect plastic container of ice cream slime?!?!?!?!!!! How could this happen? Everything else is frozen... Blah!  As I am dumping peanut butter milk down the drain and picking cupcake papers out before they go into the disposal, my Dad comes into the room and suggests refreezing them. We were way past that point.  "Aunt Becky" had let everyone down. I was not a happy girl, but I was at the beach and no one's feeling seemed too hurt. So, the next day we made strawberry shortcake and celebrated just the same.

Frosty Cups Treats for your Favorite Pup

Happy First Day of Summer to everyone! I hope that you made it a great day. It is a beautiful night here in SC and Charlie and I are doing a little back porch sittin'. We worked all week and are just taking some down time to recharge and relax. I have a large glass of iced tea (unsweet of course) and he just had his Frosty Cup for dessert, made especially for him by his Mom. Yes that is me!! I am one of those weird people that is a "dog mom" but I wouldn't have it any other way.  He is my baby and he gets to celebrate the first day of summer as well. As a matter of fact, at age 13, he gets to celebrate anything and everything he wants. 

To get him to wait for this pic was difficult. As my Dad says, he is the most food driven dog anyone has ever seen. This trait has given us some pretty funny times.

So the story of Charlie... I could tell it for days. But for those of you that are not in the know. Charlie was a rescue.  Here in Greenville, SC we have an amazing rescue group called Foothills Golden Retriever Rescue and in 2002, after a lengthy application process, I was the fortunate one chosen to be Charlie's Mom. At that time, they were calling him Spencer, but fortunately for us, no had told him that was his name. He quickly became Charlie, after Charleston, SC. And due to his huge, laid back, silly personality, that name has fit perfectly. Charlie's past is pretty unknown. The only thing we know is that this huge guy with perfect manners and a huge personality was between 2-3 and was left in an apartment in Charlotte, NC. Then he became mine. And the rest is history....



Heading to the beach.

From August 18th, 2002 until now Charlie has been my best friend. He has been included in all aspects of my life.  He goes to work at the office every day where he is the local celebrity and people come just to see him. He has gone on every vacation and stayed in numerous hotels across the east coast. He is welcome in all of my family's houses. He has been to the beach and to the lake. He has been through everything and been everywhere with me. It doesn't matter where we are, he is my ever present support and has the most devoted love. This past 2 years he has helped to carry my burden... And I don't know where I would be without him.



Office Hero!

And now I am helping him carry his. Charlie is 13 years old, as far as we know, and for a big dog that is a lot of years. He is definitely slowing down and it breaks my heart. The time is coming when he will be walking over the Rainbow Bridge. When that time comes, he will be celebrated by so many people, myself included. He has given and taught me so much and right now we are embracing his later years. We are eating ice cream on a warm summer night on the back porch. We are eating fresh warm tomatoes from the garden (my dad taught him how to pick his own.) We are watching fireflies land on his paws. We are listening to what his body needs and not asking too much. And we are sharing lots of hugs. We are celebrating every moment....

My "Big Man"

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Cheesecake

If you LOVE Peanut Butter Cups you have to make this cheesecake!!

One thing that I love to do is make some one's birthday a little more special by baking them something that is really fabulous. Usually I end up choosing something complicated, I am not sure why.... I guess it is my chance to try out some really amazing recipes that I have been hoarding and not have to eat the whole thing by myself!  Sometimes, after spending 4-6 hours on one of these recipe endeavours, the finished product is truly a labor of love. So why do I do it? Because in my family, my Mom always made sure that we had a beautiful, homemade cake of our choice; one that would set the theme of our birthday. My sister and I would wait and watch her construct a cake in different shapes or characters, excited about every piped rose or scalloped edge of icing that was lovingly put on our cake. Then, at our party, dressed in our new birthday outfit,  we would proudly sit behind our Alf or Pink Palace Cake and get that important birthday cake picture. Some of those pictures are the best of my childhood;  with a huge smile and light in my eyes. I was always so proud of my cake but I was always more proud of my mom! Although she had her Master's in Education, she decided to give it all up for a little while to raise my sister and I.  Early on in that process, she was gifted a cake decorating kit from my Grandma C. Whether out of boredom or her love for all things artistic, she began to practice her "cake art skills." Soon with the encouragement of others, she had a pretty popular cake business. Since she is artistic, friends and family could bring her a napkin with E.T. on it or a picture of their favorite 57 Chevy and she would draw the design freehand, transfer it to the cake and with piping bags and icing, make it come to life. Due to the time and love she put into each cake, her cakes were in high demand and her customers really appreciated the chance to have a custom cake.

Me with my 4th birthday cake

Until I left my parent's house, my mom made every birthday cake that I ever had. She also took on the large task of making my sister and my wedding cakes. Every one of the cakes that were made for me are still special to me. The memory of cakes being prepared and decorated in my house is something that  I associate with my childhood (it is one of those "kitchen memories" that I spoke about in my "About" section.) My Mom's cakes were ever present in our house, as were the happy people who would come to pick up her masterpieces. In our little community, my Mom helped many families celebrate their birthdays, weddings, retirements and all of life's big milestones.  She became part of their personal stories; part of their history.

I guess in some way, I hope to do the same thing. I bake for others to show my love, to see them smile, to let them know I appreciate them and to become part of their personal history...

 

Peanut Butter Cup, Chocolate Stout Cookies



Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Stout Cookies

So this is a hard one to write y'all. If you have followed my blog at all you know that this whole thing started as a way to vent during a hard time in my life (as well as a simple way to document my life as it is in present time.) It is also a way to revisit my heritage and recipes that have been my family recipes for years. I think, up until this time, I have used this blog to revisit where I am from and what I have been through and you all have helped me in that journey. And by no means has that journey stopped, I am just hoping that it has evolved....
Let me start by saying that, at times, in life as a relationship evolves or become stagnant, it can either change and improve or disappear. I am at that stage....

I am doing all that I can to change. I have been working for quite a while at getting ME back.  I have made this blog to help in the process of transformation.  In the past year, as you know, I have had hardship in my personal life, (hello newcomers, read my About section, LOL!) but these past two weeks I have taken it upon myself to ask another for a change; a change that I wanted for for a long time but was unable to go after.   In the past year, I have worked so hard to become the stronger person that I am. I have made stronger personal relationships, family connections and business commitments.  But most importantly, I have renewed strength in my personal and love requirements and I hope that will make all the difference.

At times, in life, I have learned through my experience, and through some trusted friends experiences (who I love more and more each day because they were willing to share their heartache with me,) people loose sight of what is important.  For whatever reason, life has a way of throwing each of us into situations that, at the time we are not ready to deal with.  While it might break us for a while, and distract us in our path, it does not mean we don't know the way.... It just makes us more able to define ourselves and what as individuals makes us happy. And there is nothing wrong with a little self discovery, as long as it leads you in the right direction in the end. In the past year, this is a path that I have traveled.

There are some really scary questions I have been asking myself lately.  Will my personal  change come in enough time???? Will others be able to forgive???? Can love overcome everything else????..... And unfortunately, I don't have those answers but I am ever hopeful and full of love and commitment.

I have included this recipe for this post because it is a super simple recipe that anyone could make. It was one of my Mom's favorites for that reason. I am not sure where she got it, but it was a staple in my house growing up and still is present every year at our beach trip and multiple other occasions. In this post, I have changed the original to make it evolve with the times; a little complicated, a little difficult to define but still the original recipe we all fell in love with;  a lot like the people I hold dear... Is your recipe ready to evolve.... to become better than it ever was.... to change.....  mine is!

Hollywood Squares

Hollywood Square

At my high school, there was always a special dessert that we all loved. It was the Hollywood Square! I am not sure where the crazy name came from other than that Game Show that was on in the 80's but I do know that this dessert would be enough to get the majority of the student body standing in the lunch line. And that was no small feat! After my high school years, I still talked about this dessert and on occasion when I was home for a break from college, my Mom who still worked as a teacher in the school district, would bring one home for me . After I had moved to South Carolina, she called one day and said she had emailed me a surprise. It was the Hollywood Square recipe. The lady who brought the recipe into our high school lives was retiring and since she knew it was every one's favorite, she decided to share the recipe as her farewell gift. We are all very appreciative!