#TheSundayPost My Belated Mother's Day!

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.  See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

Last Sunday we celebrated Oldest Son's birthday with his favorite pizza, so I opted to request any Mother's Day celebration for me to be moved this Sunday. Since I recently went to Love's Sweet Arrow and purchased a nice stack of books for myself, I don't really need any presents for Mother's Day.  Instead, I'm expecting my family to put up my pool. 

 I was planning to get a pool last summer to celebrate being done with cancer treatment and the momentous occasion of being alive for half a century; however, the global pandemic caused a run on pop-up pools and also ruined my plans to have old lady backyard pool parties. 

I bought a pool and all the supplies necessary for it, about five minutes after President Biden signed the stimulus bill and now tomorrow is the day my wonderful family can get that pool set up!  The forecast is calling for temperature in the 80s later this week...and I can't wait to float in my pool with a book in my hand! 

How are things by you?  I hope you had a good week! Comment below and share any fun summer plans you have coming up! 

What I'll be reviewing this week:

It's Finally Here! The Day We've Been Waiting for All Year!

Happy #NationalCookieDay!  It's Adventures in Cookie Baking Day 8!

Today's cookie isn't really a cookie, although you do bake it, so it's almost a cookie.  Cookie adjacent we can call it.  What is it?  A cookie bar that loads of people enjoy!

7 Layer Magic Cookie Bars!

Here is an up close picture of the 7-layer bars cooling.  You can't see it here, but several family members have already helped themselves to a piece.  A very gooey piece of the bars because the recipe hadn't cooled off and set yet.

If you like these you can make them as directed or swap out ingredients as you wish.

7 Layer Magic Cookie Bars (See cookies is in the title; ergo, these are a perfect fit for #NationalCookieDay)

Step 1: Preheat Oven to 350



2 1/2 cups of crushed graham crackers. (I couldn't find crushed graham crackers at the store and got tired of looking so I bought graham crackers and used a cheese grater to crush them.  It worked.

1 1/2 sticks melted butter

Mix above 2 ingredients and then press evenly in a 9x13 inch pan.

Pour 1 can of sweetened condensed milk over the cracker mix evenly-don't try to smooth out, just pour it over and leave it.

Next layer each of these in order:

1 1/2 cups of butterscotch morsels

1 1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups of coconut flakes

1 cup of  walnuts

Place in a 350 degree oven for 23 minutes and then try to let cool completely before sampling.

You could swap the butterscotch for white chocolate chips  or peanut butter chips--you could add dried cherries or cranberries. You could use pecans or hazelnuts.  It's a very flexible recipe.

Happy #NationalCookieDay!

xoxo

Taking the Guesswork Out of Cookie Baking

Welcome to day four of my adventures in cookie baking!  Today I started with a mix and whipped up a batch of delicious thumbprint cookies.  This is a mix and a recipe I've used before so I was 99.5% certain these cookies would turn out *chefs kiss* perfect.

On to the cookies,

I used the my favorite cookie sheet, which was purchased by the Man, so I'll give him credit for finding a quality cookie sheet at a good price. I don't know what he paid for it, but he loves to shop for a good deal.

The mix I used was the Absolutely Almond Pound Cake Mix from Tastefully Simple I got my box from my good friend Becky McNeill.

All you need is the mix, 1 stick of butter, an egg, a wee bit of water and the jam of your choice. I had a jar of the Tastefully Simple's Rhubarb Strawberry Fruit Spread so I used that, but in the past I have used apricot jam and the best of all jams: Currant Jelly.

You mix the ingredients and then bake for 10 minutes after which you remove the cookies from the over, make the thumbprints, add your jelly of choice and cook for another 4-6 minutes.  What sets these cookies apart is the almond flavor in the mix. 

Here is my finished product.  I ate a couple and the kids had a couple and now the rest are in my garage freezer--safe from easy consumption and ready to be added to holiday cookie trays.

What cookies will I make next?  Stay tuned!
xoxo

They Claim to Be the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, Let's Find Out!

Welcome to my adventures in cookie making day three. Today I tackle, with the help of Ms. Anna, everyone's favorite cookie, the chocolate chip cookie.  I found a recipe that calls itself "Best Chocolate Chip Cookies" and I had to try it. What did I have to lose right?

We followed the recipe exactly, and I think the one instruction that sets this recipe apart from other chocolate chip cookie recipes I have used is this:

"Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt."

After making the first dozen, Anna lost interest and left me to my own devices. Out of the goodness of my heart, I proceeded to make two dozen more walnut free cookies.  By the time I had finished with the last of the plain cookies, Bryce had eaten the first dozen.

The last two dozen cookies are the best of the batch because those cookies have delicious walnuts in them. Walnuts, as you may know are not cheap but add a richness and crunch the the basic chocolate chip cookie.  Nuts are also good for you; therefore, adding nuts makes the cookie more of a health food than a treat.

This recipe did deliver excellent results.  The cookies are a little crispy on the edges and soft and gooey on the inside, but not too gooey.

Tomorrow's recipe is going to be super easy for me because it starts with a mix! We won't even need the Kitchen Aid.

xoxo

Who loves Halloween? Who loves Hocus Pocus?

Hocus Pocus & The All New Sequel by A.W. Jantha
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fall is here and when it's Fall I fill my TBR pile with Witches and Ghosts. I also fill my DVR with movies and TV shows featuring Witches and Ghosts. When I saw there was a book version of the movie and a sequel to the -dare I say- cult classic movie--I had to read the book ASAP.

"Hocus Pocus and the All New Sequel" was a fun nostalgic read. I really enjoyed the sequel and am looking forward to seeing the movie version of this follow up to the classic Hocus Pocus. The sequel features some of the children of characters from Hocus Pocus and of course those terrible witches are back too.  Note, I read that the sequel won't start the same actresses as the Sanderson Sisters, which is a bummer to be sure. That's was makes the book even more fun, as reader of the sequel, I was able to picture the original witches. The pacing of the stories is on point with a nice build up to the final confrontation between the witches and the humans. In the original story I thought the 8 year old Dani was too mature for her age in words and actions--she really seems more like an 11 year old. The teens in the stories are perfectly age appropriate which is a nice change.

This would be a fun book to read with kids at bedtime as you count down to Halloween. I borrowed the book digitally from my library, so I'm sure it's easy to get a copy to enjoy before October ends. Once you finish the book you can have a family movie night, pop some popcorn and watch the classic movie! 


View all my reviews

First Annual Family Halloween Craft Day #ThrowbackThursday

 

With the kids being teens, I see the writing on the wall, our time together as a family under one roof is limited.  Therefore, I'm on a memory making mission.  Heck I even put Throwback Thursday on this post so it will be easy to find in 5 years when Anna goes off to college and I'm a giant puddle of nostalgia.

This past Saturday was declared by me as Family Craft Day.  The craft I chose was Halloween Mason Jars.  You may notice we didn't actually use Mason Jars. Being frugal and ecofriendly, I saved jars, soaked off the labels and we were set. I still have about 6 jars we can use for Christmas Crafts. 

 Should you be looking to make your own Halloween Luminaries, there are literally thousands of different webpages like this one, and Pinterest Pins devote to this craft.   I got buy-in for this craft project from 2 of 3 kids, so I took it as a win and we are now enjoy the whimsical fruits of  our labors.

 I also spent some time being creative in the kitchen and here is what I came up with for Sunday Dinner.  Jewel had a sale on pork loin, so I paid $11 for a loin I cut into 5 pork roasts. Such a Deal!  I froze all but one for future meals. This one I first covered with Garlic Garlic, Onion Onion, salt and pepper and seared it on all sides in a cast iron skillet.  Then I placed the roast in a roasting pan and added a couple of sliced apples, an onion, 4 potatoes and 4 wedges of cabbage.  I seasoned the vegetables and poured 1/2 cup of Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar over everything.   I covered the pan with aluminum foil and roasted  until the pork roast was fall-apart tender ( 300 degrees F for about 3 hours). It worked out really well. The sweet/sour/savory flavors melded together quite well. Tom and I enjoyed ours with a Ballast Point Pumpkin Ale.