Mini Keylime Pies with Animal Cracker Crust

I've seen several mini/bite size keylime pie recipes on Pinterest.

But this particular

one caught my eye...and why??

Because it has an animal cracker crust!

Mini Keylime Pies with Animal Cracker Crust

(photo courtesy of Pinterest)

ingredients:

for the crust:
3 cups animal crackers, crushed
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, cooled
2/3 cup granulated sugar

for the key lime filling:
1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons confectioners sugar
1/2 cup lime juice
2 limes zested
4 egg yolks

12 mini lime wedges, garnish
Cool Whip, garnish

directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

for the crust:
In a large bowl, mix together animal crackers, butter, and granulated sugar. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners. Gently press animal cracker mixture into each baking cup liner. Only fill up to 3/4 of the way. Bake crust for about 5 minutes to let it set. Remove from oven. Let it cool before adding the filling.

for the key lime filling:
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients. Pour about a tablespoon of the filling into the cool cracker crust. Don't overfill. Bake the custards for about 12 minutes or until your kitchen smells like a giant key lime pie. Remove pies from the oven. Cool before setting into fridge. You will want to chill the pies in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.

to serve: remove cupcake liners. top mini pies with a dollop of Cool Whip and lime wedge.

And here is mine!  This recipe made 12 mini pies (muffin size)

Absolutely love the animal cracker crust!

I plan to make another batch just to share with friends!

#46 Blueberry Cream Cheese

I find any recipe with cream cheese to always be delicious!

And this combination of blueberries and cream cheese was most definitely delicious!

This recipe is actually considered to be a pound cake...but cook it in a bundt cake pan and it becomes a bundt cake....hehe

You will love this bundt!  We devoured it!

INGREDIENTS:

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix 1/4 cup white sugar 1/4 cup water 3/4 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature 1 (16.5 ounce) can blueberries, drained, juice reserved   1 cup confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
2.	In a large bowl, stir together cake mix, pudding mix and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in water, oil, eggs and cream cheese. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Stir in the blueberries. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3.	Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
4.	Make Glaze: In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar with 2 tablespoons reserved juice from the blueberries. Drizzle over cooled cake.

*The only can of blueberries I found were 15oz.  Less than what the recipe calls for, but it still worked out great.  I found the canned blueberries in the section at the store where all the canned fruits are.*

*Also, remember when you are icing your cakes, add more powdered sugar if you want a thicker consistency.  And add more blueberry juice if you want it thinner.  Your preference.  Play around with it until you get exactly what you want*

Rainy Day Craft

I love rainy days.  Unfortunately, we haven't had many here lately.

But last week we did have a few hours of light rain.

It was just enough to keep us indoors for a few hours..

Rainy days = Crafty days for us.

It's an excuse to finally make that craft you've had on your To Do List

or to break out the markers/crayons and create something!

So as it was raining outside, Ashlan ran to grab the crayon box and some paper

"What should we draw mom?"

That's when I remembered I pinned this on Pinterest forever ago....

Trace the hand in pencil. With a marker, draw a straight line until you get to the hand. Then make a curve from one line to the next, then continue the straight line.

Ashlan informed me she had already done this activity in Art Class last year, but she would still do it again....and she would show me how to do it too..

I tried to keep my lines a similar width while Ashlan experimented with different widths.

A fun little project with crayons, indeed!

Nick Turns 18!

On July 24th, Nick turned 18!

He is officially an "adult"....

For those of you who have asked, Nick has enrolled in the local community college here.

He is registered to take 16 hours in the Fall. 

His goal is to get an Associates Degree in Science, then move on to university to begin his studies to become an Anesthesiologist.

Follow your dreams, Nick!!  We love you!!

Just a great story to share....

Bush shaves his head to support young leukemia patient

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine—President George H. W. Bush shaved his head this week to show support for a young leukemia patient.

Two-year-old Patrick, who lost his own hair because of the treatments, is the son of a member of Bush’s security detail.

President Bush, 89, noticed this week that members of his security detail were suddenly bald. When he found out why, he volunteered to join them.

The security detail members have launched a website to help with Patrick’s medical bills. They’ve also organized the Inaugural Patrick’s Pals Motorcycle Benefit Run on August 10 in Maine.

The Bushes lost their second child, Robin, to leukemia 60 years ago this October at the age of four.

　

Our Visit with Miss Avery Lynn

The girls and I packed our bags, filled the car up with gas, and headed out on a road trip to Kentucky.

We were excited to spend a week with Christopher, Laura, and Avery!!!

Since we had just arrived back from a two week trip, Brent couldn't take any week days off due to fulfilling the "call schedule", so he had plans to stay behind while the girls and I went.

I can honestly say this was my first time to drive more than 3 hours without any other adult in the car with me.  It was a 10 hour road trip and I was in charge!

And the girls did fabulous!  We laughed, we giggled, we told funny stories, we made the semi truckers honk, we stopped anytime we wanted for snacks and drinks, etc...

I have posted so many pictures on this post that they really aren't in any particular order...

I just wanted to post them so you could enjoy how amazingly precious our little Avery (grand baby) is!

Giggling with Aunt Ashlan

Enjoying the outdoors with Aunt Kate

Falling asleep on my shoulder...

Such a happy, happy baby girl!

We spent lots of time in the kitchen cooking and baking...

Christopher picked some fresh vegetables from the garden that we fried up...

Here is a picture of Ashlan and Laura cleaning and preparing the green beans...

Christopher fried up the green beans along with zucchini and pork chops...

Not the healthiest meal due to all the frying, but definitely the most delicious!

Love me some home-cooking!

Morning feedings with Avery were a favorite of mine.

As you can see, Ashlan doesn't like when I give another child more attention than her.

Morning Cuddles

Want to know what the best surprise was on this trip?

This awesome man walked through the door and surprised us!!!!!!

Apparently, he had these plans in action for quite awhile.  Sneaky boy!

He fulfilled his "call duty" during the week days, then jumped on a plane Friday to spend the weekend with us!  BEST SURPRISE EVER!!!!!

(he booked a one way ticket so he could drive us back on Sunday)

Loving on his first grandchild....

Bath Time

Morning Cuddles with "Captain"

Baking some Monkey Bread

A little sightseeing... We went down to the Paducah Riverwalk.  

Illinois was just on the other side of the river

One last morning feeding with "Captain" before making the drive back to Texas

Relaxing with my girl as she holds tightly onto my finger...

What a great trip to see our beautiful granddaughter! 

To Chris and Laura - Thank you for being such gracious hosts and for making us feel so welcome!

You are incredibly loving and caring parents to Avery and it shows.... She is a happy, happy girl who knows how much she is loved!  She is blessed to have you both!  

We are so proud of you and love you more than you know!

#45 Toffee Crunch

I can't believe I'm almost done with my 52 Bundt Cakes in a Year.  

I started this challenge on August 29, 2012 (you can check out how it all started HERE)  

I am only 7 bundt cakes away from ending this challenge.

It was been SO MUCH FUN, and the entire family has gained weight during this past year due to always having a bundt cake sitting on the kitchen counter!

After the bundt cake challenge is complete, I plan to do another challenge.

I am debating what to do...

I know it won't be a full year challenge, but it will be a challenge that will be weekly from the beginning of Fall to the end of Winter.

Should I do "A Soup A Week" (showcasing different soups)

or

Should I do "A Crockpot Meal A Week" (showcasing different meals using the crockpot)

Still debating.....

Anyways.....

This week was bundt cake #45.  

Brent's favorite candy car is Heath.

And this Toffee Crunch cake was perfect for him!

Plus, it's delicious!

Shopping List

1 box of yellow cake mix

2 small boxes of instant vanilla pudding

1/2 cup of veggie oil

1 1/4 cups of water

4 eggs

2 cups Heath toffee pieces (right on the chocolate chip aisle), divided

1 can vanilla frosting

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Regular size Heath bars for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease (I use Pam) a 10 inch bundt pan 

In mixing bowl, combine cake mix, puddings, oil, water and eggs with electric mixer.  Stir in one cup of Heath pieces.  Pour into prepared bundt pan.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean for a regular sized bundt pan and 16-18 minutes for a mini bundt pan.

Let cake rest on counter in pan 10 minutes. Then, invert cake onto serving plate to finish cooling.

To make the frosting, stir brown sugar into store bought vanilla frosting.  Add one cup of Heath pieces to frosting.  Frost each cake with icing.  Top cake with chopped up pieces of a regular size Heath bar.

 

#43 Fruity Pebbles

Shopping List

1 box of white cake mix

2 small boxes of instant vanilla pudding

1/2 cup of veggie oil

1 1/4 cups of water

4 eggs

3 cups Fruity Pebbles Cereal, divided

 1 can vanilla frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease (I use Pam) a 10 inch bundt pan

In mixing bowl, combine cake mix, puddings, oil, water and eggs with electric mixer.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups Fruity Pebbles.  Pour into prepared bundt pan.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cake rest on counter in pan 10 minutes. Then, invert cake onto serving plate to finish cooling.

To make the frosting, stir one cup of Fruity Pebbles cereal into your store bought vanilla icing.  Frost cooled cake and then sprinkle the rest of your Fruity Pebbles on top (wait and sprinkle the top Fruity Pebbles until you're about to serve the cake).

Crawfish Boil

For the Fourth of July, we were invited to a Crawfish Boil.  

Apparently Brent hosted a few crawfish boils during his college days, but this was all new to me!

I had no idea how involved these boils were.  

It is a process to say the least.

The final product was pounds and pounds of perfectly boiled crawfish, delicious corn on the cob, spicy seasoned sausage, and chunks of potatoes.

I love how casual this boil was, which apparently is how they are all done.

Everyone stands or sits around the newspaper covered table while they crack their crawfish and eat!

It's messy, it's yummy, it's messy...did I mention it's messy?  I loved it!

And yes, I cracked my own crawfish and ate it.  In fact, I cracked and ate dozens!

Brent had to give me a quick Crack the Crawfish 101 course

I had a little too much fun with all this

To top it off, several of the guys handpicked their own crawfish to race.

Whichever crawfish made it out of the circle first won.

Did you know that crawfish crawl backwards?  Just so odd to me.

Oh, and they move slooooooooow...

This just shows kids have no fear.  At all.

One adult got pinched (adults were careful with them)

Zero children got pinched (kids weren't careful at all)

How does THAT happen?

by the way, this little guy melts my heart

Thank you to Cayce and Tara for hosting such a fun, entertaining Crawfish Boil!

What a memorable Fourth of July for me!

Cheer Camp

Most of you know that our family moved a month ago and our girls will be entering a new school district this Fall.  Luckily, both girls are very excited about this new adventure and are ready to jump right in on the fun.

Kate will be entering the 8th grade.  In the past, she has played volleyball, track, and basketball on her school teams.  She is still interested in trying out for those school sports, but she was also showing an interest in cheer.  When she heard that her new school had a cheer squad that didn't require try-outs, she begged to join the squad.  We quickly signed her up and she was off and going on her new adventure!

Last week the cheerleaders gathered (around 20-25 of them for 8th grade) and completed a 3 day camp.

This was a great opportunity for Kate to meet some new friends at her new school, as well.

She absolutely loved cheer camp and is looking forward to cheering at the football and basketball games once the school year begins!

Ashlan was just as excited to sit down with Kate and sort through her cheer bag full of uniforms, shoes, pom poms, etc on Kate's first day of camp!

Go LoveJoy Leopards !!!!

#42 Lemon Cookie

A nice lemon cake with Golden Oreo Cookies crumbles.

There wasn't one person in this family that didn't like this bundt!

A+ all the way!

Shopping List

1 box of lemon cake mix

2 small boxes of instant lemon pudding (use vanilla if you can't find lemon)

1/2 cup of veggie oil

1 1/4 cups water

4 eggs

1 can vanilla frosting

1 package of Golden Oreos

1 tablespoon of lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease (I use Pam) a 10 inch bundt pan.

In mixing bowl, combine cake mix, puddings, oil, water and eggs with an electric mixer.   Pour into prepared bundt pan.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cake rest on counter in pan 10 minutes. Then, invert cake onto serving plate to finish cooling.

 While the cake is cooling, empty your can of vanilla frosting into a mixing bowl.  Crush about 10 Golden Oreos and add to your frosting.  (I put my Oreos in a large Ziploc bag and crushed them with a rolling pin.)  Stir in lemon zest too.  Then, crush about 6 more Oreos and keep to the side for garnish.

Frost your cake with your Golden Oreo frosting and garnish with remaining crushed Oreos.

Chili Cheese Frito Corn Salad

Chili Cheese Frito Corn Salad 

This isn't a recipe I found on Pinterest.  

I found it on one of my favorite food bloggers site

called Lets Dish

I just love all her recipes!

And this one was no exception

If you are looking for a cold corn salad with a crunch and a kick, this is it!

Here is what you need:

• 2 (15 oz.) cans whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped green onion
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 (10.5 oz.) bag coarsely crushed Chili Cheese Fritos corn chips
• Salt and pepper, to taste.
• 
  

1. In a large bowl, toss together corn, cheese, red pepper and green onion.
2. Stir in sour cream and mayonnaise.
3. 
   

1. Stir in corn chips just before serving.
2. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

I used this salad as a side dish one night with our dinner.

Then, with the leftovers, I ate that for lunch the next couple of days.

Great salad!

Meatball Subs

I can't believe, as much as I make these for dinner, that I've never shared them with you.

It's a Meatball Sub.  We love meatballs and we love sandwiches/sliders....so this makes a great combo for our family.  I probably make this dinner once every 6 weeks.

Shopping List

1 pound of bulk Italian sausage (I used 1/2 a pound of ground beef and 1/2 a pound of sausage...so you could do that too...just don't use all ground beef because you won't get the same results)

2 cups Mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 jar (24 oz) spaghetti sauce

1 jar (8 oz) store bought pesto sauce

Hoagie or whatever sandwich bread you want to use

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl, combine your ground meats together (if you're using more than one).  Roll the sausage mixture into a golf ball sized ball.  Take about a tablespoon or so of cheese and stuff it inside, smoothing the meat back over the top to seal it in.  Place each meatball on a foil lined baking sheet lightly sprayed with Pam.  Repeat until all of your meatballs are complete.

Bake meatballs about 16-18 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine your spaghetti sauce and pesto in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Once the sauce starts to bubble, lower the heat to low, cover and stir occasionally.  Once your meatballs are done, add them to your spaghetti-pesto sauce for a couple of minutes.

Take each hoagie and top it with 2-3 meatballs and a little extra sauce.  And your subs are done.

*The pesto sauce makes the difference in this sub.  You won't be disappointed!*

London, England

After we disembarked from our fabulous Norwegian Fjord cruise, we decided to spend a couple days in London before heading home.  The last time I was in London was 15 years ago.  I spent a summer there studying pediatric healthcare for school.  Brent, on the other hand, had never been.  We had two days to explore the city, so we put on our comfortable walking shoes and saw as much as possible!

Our first tour was at Westminster Abbey.  We opted not to do the audio tour because of time. But one day, when we return, we will do the audio tour.  There is so much history in that place. So many tombs and memorials that date way back.  This was probably Brent's favorite tour during our time in London.  He could have spent half a day in that place.

Everyone knows this sight.  

Big Ben.  

Ashlan has been obsessed with Big Ben for years.  Seriously. I couldn't help but feel so guilty standing underneath it.  She needed to be by my side.  I promised one day I would take her.  I will keep that promise.  Until then, I bought her every Big Ben souvenir I could find.  

Mini statue, journal with Big Ben on the cover, a snow globe with Big Ben inside, etc.....

*she was very happy with those gifts*

Ah, the London Eye.  We wanted to do this, but the lines were outrageous!  

But, in this picture is also the Thames River.  We definitely took a stroll alongside it.

(no time on this particular trip to wait in the outrageous line for a river cruise either)

Brent's bucket list contains three rivers he wants to see before he dies.

The Nile, The Thames, and The Amazon 

We spent time on the Nile in 2006, and we visited the Thames on this trip.

Only the Amazon left!

Tower of London

Again, to walk this entire tower and really experience all it has to offer would take almost a full day.

We bought our tickets and walked straight to see the Crown Jewels (can't take pictures inside)

I remember seeing the jewels 15 years ago and being in awe.  I really wanted to make sure Brent saw them.  After seeing the jewels, we walked through the Tower of Torture.  Creepy for sure, but interesting.  That's all we had time to do at the Tower of London.

Upon exiting the Tower, we could see the London Bridge.

(see bridge in background of photo)

We didn't walk over to the bridge.  We just snapped some pictures from a distance.

After seeing London Bridge, I spent the next 3 hours singing and repeating in my head, 

London Bridge is falling down
Falling down, falling down
London Bridge is falling down 
My fair lady

(It was stuck in my head! I was about to go crazy!)

If you know Brent, you know he is a "pub" guy.  If there is a pub, he is in there.

He was in heaven when we traveled through Ireland a few years ago because it seemed every meal we ate was in a pub.  And it was no different in London.  Here a pub, there a pub, everywhere a pub.

Brent likes the typical pub food and beer.  I just like the unique pub names.

But I'll go ahead and admit, I love a good hearty dish of Bangers and Mash, or Fish and Chips (with malt vinegar), or Shepherd's Pie, or Corned Beef.  I'll take a light beer with mine.  Brent always prefers a dark beer.

Oh, and if there's a British Cheese Board, I'm going to get it.

(And they serve their cheese boards with applesauce.  Odd)

You can't go to London and not see Buckingham Palace.

I think I must have stared at every one of those windows for at least 30 minutes.  I really thought the Queen might stick her head through the draperies and look out.  I wanted to be the first to spot her.

No luck, though.

The soldiers guarding the Palace.  

All I could think was, "how can they see with those huge, furry hats over their eyes?"

Another picture of the Palace, as people were beginning to gather for the Changing of the Guards.

Changing of the Guards is everyday during the summer at 11:30am.

Otherwise, the remainder of the year, the changing is done every other day.

It's kind of a big deal. Tourists line the street as if for a parade.

The band marches through, then the new group of guards march in. 

We also toured the National Gallery.  No photos could be taken inside though.

We also walked through Leicester Square (several times), Chinatown, strolled through Notting Hill which I loved, and shopped through the Portobello Street Market (super cool) , toured Kensington Palace, and walked the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.

We did a lot in two days.  No telling how many miles we walked (yes, we did utilize the Underground too)  I was really hoping Kate Middleton (I forget her proper royal name now) would give birth to her baby while we were there.  How cool would that have been!

I'm glad we decided to end our two week trip exploring London.  Great city!!