Easter Blessings

Easter Photo Shoot

Our daughter has a co-worker who is also a wonderful photographer. Last year he took family photos for us.

Since then, he has wanted to do a photo shoot with Girlie as his subject. Last weekend, we all met up at Woodward Park in Tulsa for Easter photos. It's the perfect place for photos!

Dennis was ok with me bringing my camera along too. The photos you see here are ones that I took. 

Because I kind of like shots like this one.

I should say here that Son brought 4 dresses with him and I took 2. That way Dennis could pick the one(s) he'd like to use.

This is one of the dresses I brought with me and I loved the way it looked on Girlie.

We asked Dennis how he'd like her hair fixed. He didn't care. Girlie asked for 2 piggies. I must confess I was the one that put them in and I certainly didn't do a very good job with the part in her hair!

Her shoes looked great with the dress!

Here's Dennis in action.

Son was the "keeper and carrier" of Girlie's wardrobe. I just had to get this picture!

We walked all over the park. I think Girlie's feet were getting tired.

 

After an hour and 45 minutes, 4 wardrobe changes and almost 1,000 pictures snapped between Dennis and me, I KNOW she was tired.

I did make sure to bring lots of Easter treats with me though. She deserved them too!

Sometimes It's Hard to Get Home

This morning I had to make a trip to town. Usually it takes me 30 to 35 minutes one way.

Today it took me a little longer coming home. I had to stop for these Volunteer Fire Department trucks on the highway. Yes, that is a highway.  And yes, the term "highway" in this instance is used in a very broad sense.

This pasture fire was the reason. There's been a lot of those around here lately. Scary stuff, I tell ya.  A little further down the road I had to pull over because another fire truck was barreling down the highway, sirens going and lights flashing.

I'm not sure if they were headed to the same fire or another one.

Our local volunteer fire departments are worth their weight in gold. We live equi-distant between 2. And we pay dues to both. Our thought is, belonging to both departments, we double our chances of getting help fast in case we should ever need it.

Once off the highway, I had to stop for this guy. He was out for a stroll. And stroll he did. Back and forth across the road a couple of times before he finally stopped long enough that I felt like I could get by him.

I know. I know. He would have moved for me if I'd kept going. AD tells me that all the time. I'm just scared I might come across a really stubborn cow sometime who wants to play "chicken" with me. And I'd hate to hit a cow. Just look at their big ol' eyes. Not to mention hitting one could do serious damage to my car.

Now at this point I was a bout 3/4 of a mile from home. You'd think there wouldn't be anything else to hold me up. Not so!

Just as I turned the corner on up the road there was a whole flock of scavenger birds feasing on the carcass of a dead 'possum. (I'd seen the critter laying in the road on my way into town and wondered how long it would last there.) No pictures for that. It was just gross!

And those stupid birds were NOT going to fly away. I'm thinking they were thinking strength in numbers. That, or they'd heard about AD hitting the wild turkey a few months back and they knew I'd be cautious so as not to hurt my car's grill again.

Finally, I'd had enough and honked the horn several times. They decided to give me the right-of-way and I made it to the house. Whew!

So, how's your Monday going?

So I've Been a Little Slow

but I finally found some time to update my blog header for Spring.

Although windy, it's a beautiful day in NE Oklahoma.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

So Many Recipes . . . So Little Time

Almost every single day while reading blogs I find at least 2 or 3 recipes I want to try. I copy them down and file them for future use.

Some days I have to try them that very day. Sometimes I even have to make a special trip to the store to pick up some of the ingredients. Not so though with the last couple of recipes I couldn't wait to try.

A few days ago I found a recipe for Cheeseburger Macaroni at kevinandamanda.com. Granted it takes more time than Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper but OH. MY. GOODNESS! It is SO worth the little bit of extra time it takes to make it.

Here's the recipe. Sorry, I didn't take any photos but you can click here to jump over to Amanda's blog to see her beautiful photos of the whole process.

************************************

Cheeseburger Macaroni
adapted from kevinandamanda.com

1 pound lean hamburger meat
1 package taco seasoning
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilies (or petite diced tomatoes)
2 cups beef broth (or water)*
1 cup elbow macaroni

Brown and drain hamburger meat. Stir in taco seasoning, Rotel, beef broth, and macaroni. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and cover pan. Simmer 12-14 minutes until macaroni is tender.

While the meat and macaroni is cooking, prepare the cheese sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese**
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking for 5 minutes until fragrant and light brown in color. Whisk in the milk and bring to a boil. Whisk until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the shredded cheddar cheese until melted. Add the salt and pepper to the cheese sauce. Pour the cheese sauce over the hamburger mixture. Stir gently to combine.

Serves 4.

*I didn't have any beef broth and I wanted more flavor than what water would give so I dissolved 2 teaspoons of beef bouillon in 1 cup of water that I'd brought to a boil in a small saucepan.

**I was out of cheddar cheese but I did have Velveeta crumbles and used those as a substitute. They worked great!

***************************************

It was DE-LISH-OUS!!!!! Luckily, G1 and G2 happened by after we'd eaten. (No leftovers to tempt me the next day!) They hadn't had supper so they put the leftovers in the microwave for a minute or two. G1 gave it 2 thumbs up. G2 was too busy eating to offer his opinion. But by the way he ate it, I'm sure it received a passing grade.

Today I found a recipe for Root Beer Float Cupcakes at howsweeteats.com.

It just so happened I have Root Beer Concentrate in my pantry along with the rest of the ingredients so I made them tonight for a special treat.

To see Jessica's recipe click here. She also does an incredible job at photographing her process.

******************************

Root Beer Float Cupcakes
adapted from How Sweet It Is

makes 12 cupcakes

1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons root beer concentrate
1/3 cup root beer
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk egg and sugar until smooth and no lumps remain. Add cream, butter and vanilla, and mix until combined. Stir in sour cream. Sift dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture. Add root beer concentrate and root beer. Mix until batter is smooth. Line a muffin tin with liners and using a heaping 1/4 cup measure, add batter to each cup. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Let cool before frosting.

Vanilla and Root Beer Frosting

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon root beer extract

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter until smooth. On low speed, add powdered sugar one cup at a time, increasing speed to bring the frosting together. Add milk and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. Remove almost all of the vanilla frosting, leaving behind about 1/3-1/2 cup in the mixer. Set vanilla frosting aside. Add root beer extract to remaining frosting in the bowl and beat until it comes together.

If you have pastry bags fill one with vanilla frosting and the other with root beer frosting. Alternately you could use Ziploc bags and cut a small hole in one corner to squeeze the frostings through. Or you can just use spoons and/or spatulas to frost the cupcakes.

Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, fill each one with root beer frosting much like filling a cream puff, then top with vanilla frosting. Top with hot fudge or cocoa syrup.

***********************

I did make a few substitutions but nothing earth-shattering. I used diet A&W root beer and light sour cream. I mixed the cupcake batter up in my KitchenAid mixer instead of by hand. Also, rather than use milk in the frosting, I opted to use heavy cream because I was trying to use up the last of what was left in the carton. And although I had hot fudge sauce in the fridge I didn't use it. Maybe next time. And there will definitely be a next time.

It did take my cupcakes about 20 minutes to bake but all ovens are a bit different.

AD and I each enjoyed one after dinner tonight. I'm taking a few to the scrapbook store tomorrow to share with friends and AD is taking the rest to work. I sure don't need those tempting, tasty little sweets at the house calling my name.

Do you enjoy finding and trying new recipes?

Did You Hear the One About . . .

G3 is my riddle/joke buddy.

Yesterday he had this riddle for me -

Why did the bee itch?

I thought and I thought and I thought. I was focusing on a bee's stinger but I couldn't come up with anything.

That's because the answer is: Because he had hives!

So I had a little joke for G3 -

Did you hear about the 2 cannibals that were eating a clown? One said to the other, "Does this taste funny?"

I know it's a lame joke but it's all I had.