We made the best corn on the cob this past weekend and it was so good that I knew I had to share the recipe with everyone. If you love corn on the cob the good ol' fashion way then you are going to adore it this way. Daniel and I both had two ears a piece and Addison ate an ear all by herself...she loved it. I made some changes to the original recipe which you will find below but if you are interested in seeing the original then click on the link below!
1.) In a small mixing bowl mix together melted butter, pepper, salt, paprika, brown mustard and minced garlic.
2.) On one piece of aluminum foil add butter and about two tablespoons of butter mixture. Wrap tightly. Repeat for the remaining pieces of corn.
3.) Grill for about 20 to 25 minutes. Un-wrap each piece of corn carefully and grill directly over the heat until the corn has a few grill marks. Serve immediately.
I told you she loved it!
We served ours alongside some grilled Chipotle & Lime chicken. We recently discovered this marinade after I clipped a $1 off coupon for a KC Masterpiece product. So far it's become one of my favorite store bought marinades. I highly recommend it!
In case you aren't currently located in the state of Ohio I thought I would let you know...IT'S HOTT OUTSIDE. Yes I am aware that hot does not include two t's...it's just so hot outside that I thought it deserved two for this post.
One minute we're complaining that it's freezing cold outside, and then we're complaining about all of the rain we received over the last two months, and now here I am complaining about how hot it is outside. I'm all about spring and fall around here and it seems like we skipped both this past year.
Anyway, since some days are so unbearably hot Addison has spent some time swimming around. She swam most of our Memorial Day weekend when we were taking turns at all of the grandparents houses and I figured it's time we bought a pool for her here at the house. We made sure it was plenty big so that the hubby and I could at least soak in it.
Here she is in our pool. The bathing suit was cold and damp from swimming after nap time so she just free birded it after dinner.
Here are some shots from our Memorial Day weekend. She was thrilled when we bought our pool because she had the hose all to herself and there was no risk of being sprayed by someone. Dylan, my nephew, took over the hose at my Dad's house and Addison was made aware of it on several different occasions.
Here is another shot from Memorial Day. We celebrated my brother Matt's college graduation on Memorial Day this year so my step-dad and his girlfriend Kathy made sure there were plenty of pools for the kids to enjoy. My brother Steve is shown in the picture. It's funny because last year at this time we were celebrating his graduation and Addison swam then...more like sat...but she was in the water. I can't believe how much she has grown over this past year. I wish I had those pictures saved to the lap top but their on our desk top and I just don't have it in me to go downstairs and add them to this post.
She enjoys being in the water but I'm not sure if it's something she's really going to enjoy. She's in and out all of the time but I wonder how much of it's because she has nobody to play with in ours. Her Sissy needs to hurry and grow up so that they can be splash buddies!!
I've been cooking a lot more lately which is a good thing for my blog and the new cooking page I have created on facebook. It feels so good to get out in the kitchen and make new things and more often than not I have a little helper along for the ride. She doesn't really help me, but she is out there. Pulling all of the can goods out of the lazy susan, taking the pots and pans out of their cabinet, and pulling the cereal boxes out of their home. That list could go on but I'm tired and don't feel like writing it all down. Let's just say that after we clean the dinner mess we have to go around the house and pick up every single item Addison dragged out. It makes me tired just typing that...lol.
Here's Mommy's little helper making an italian love cake which was a big flop in our house. Don't you hate getting all excited for a recipe, spending precious money to buy the ingredients, and then you end up throwing most of it away because the family just wasn't feeling it? I hate that! Money around here is a precious thing since I'm no longer working and five dollars here and there really does add up. Especially when you have two kids in diapers and one on formula.
Here she is from Monday night, or maybe it was Tuesday, lord who knows. Anyway, we were making lasagna buns which I stumbled across over at Cassie Craves. I'll post the recipe on the food blog eventually...I hope. Did I mention I am really tired tonight? LMAO
If stacking cups keeps her entertained, then by all means, stack away. She actually pulled these all out the package and made one stack with them. I thought it was really cute, notice the tongue sticking out? She's concentrating so hard!
Below you will find her in one of her two favorite spots lately. For awhile she was taking over the bouncy seat and now she's taking over the swing. Even though she is about 97% at being really good with her baby sister, she still has her moments. Like the other night when I was on the floor with Cadence and Addison came up and kicked her in the head. She got in trouble for that and then she stopped crying long enough to come over and dangle her foot over the top of Cadence's head as if she was going to stomp on it at any second. The girl is only fifteen months old and I know already I am going to have my hands full with her growing up. She LOVES to try our patience and I know that she knows the meaning of the word no even though when we say it she looks at us like she's dumber than a box of rocks, gives us a good glare, and then keeps on doing what she was just being told what not to do. God help us when the terrible twos start!
Here's my other precious child. I know I have mentioned it before but seriously, the first month and a half of her life, I honestly thought I was going to have to kill myself. She cried ALL.OF.THE.TIME! There was no consoling this child and I can't tell you how many times I got so frustrated I just cried right along with her.
Now she is a completely different child. She's so happy and she is always smiling and talking to us. It just melts my heart at how precious and wonderful she is. I am reminded every single day how blessed I am to have these two little girls in my life. My only complaint with her is how noisy she is. She wakes us up every single morning talking to herself. It's so loud that my Mom asked me yesterday to start shutting our bedroom door because she can hear her talking in her room...lol. This is her chatting in the morning! It's cute and I love hearing it, but we are not morning people around her. It's take Mommy and her big Sissy a little while to wake up, we don't wake up all bright and sunshiny like she apparently does. I'm hoping one day she can turn it down a notch or two!
And then because this is one of the best pictures I have ever taken, my little Miss Sunshine!
If that picture doesn't melt your heart, then there's just no help for you!
Looking for something sweet to make that's easy to throw together? You must try these brownies. They hit the spot without being overly sweet.
Triple Threat Brownies
Source: Me
Ingredients:
1 box of Better Crocker Fudgy Brownies, the 13x9 family size
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup white chocolate chips
2/3 cup caramel bits
Directions:
1.) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2.) Mix brownies according to the back of the box. To mixture add the pecans, white chocolate chips, and the caramel bits.
3.) Add mixture to a greased 13x9 baking dish and bake for 25 to 30 or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool before cutting or else your brownies will crumble upon taking them out like the picture shows. Somebody, OK me, couldn't wait for them to cool before taking one for a test drive.
Serves with a nice big glass of ice cold milk and you have a heck of a dessert on your hands!
What is it about certain foods that qualify them as being comfort foods? Is it their cooked all day, from scratch taste? Or maybe it's their ability to take you right back to your Grandmother's kitchen as if it were yesterday?
No matter why, I for one love comfort foods. Especially when they were made by my Grandma Murphy. Man how I would love to be able to sit at her kitchen table right about now and gobble up some of her fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and her boiled cabbage. I still haven't met anyone who could match her skills in the kitchen.
One of my comfort foods is pot roast. Not only do I enjoy the roast itself but the vegetables thrown along with it. I stumbled this fantastic recipe for pot roast awhile back but never blogged about it. At least I don't think I did. If I did I enjoy it so much it won't hurt to post about it twice. Coca-Cola Pot Roast Source: allrecipes.com
Ingredients: 4 lb. beef sirloin roast 3 carrots, chopped 3 stalks of celery, chopped 1 clove of garlic, minced 1/2 packet of dry brown gravy mix 2 tbsp. water 1 package of dry onion soup mix 1 can cream of mushroom soup, I used the golden mushroom soup and we all know why! 1o oz. cola flavored carbonated beverage, aka...coca-cola
I also added five small to medium size potatoes, chopped
Directions: 1.) Place roast in a crockpot followed by all of the vegetables. 2.) In a small bowl combine the gravy mix and water, mixing into a smooth paste. Add onion soup mix, mushroom soup and cola flavored beverage. Pour over the roast and the vegetables. 3.) Cover crockpot and cook on low for eight to ten hours.
Low and slow is the answer to a tender piece of meat!! The original recipe calls for it to be done in the oven. Its so much easier in the crockpot!
A little girl I know really enjoyed pot roast night. So glad I could satisfy her need for some comfort food right along with me!
This week was a pretty crummy one for us. Daniel's Dad passed away this past Saturday. There is no preparing for that phone call, even when you expect to receive it at any moment. I think the hardest part about getting older is that the older you get, the older your parents get. I know the day will come when I have to say good-bye to them, but I pray that it is a long ways off. I can't imagine living life without my parents or even my siblings but that's life for you. Daniel is thirty three years old and he just said good-bye to his Dad. My heart aches for him, as well as for my daughters since they will never know how great their Poppy was. I know that there are others who have had to say good-bye to parents at an even younger age, how blessed they are to have guardian angels, but how sad that they have to go through life without the people who would support and guide them most.
Daniel with his oldest brother Chuck along with his baby brother, by ten and a half months, Dustin. Just look at those smiles will ya!
Death has a funny way of bringing you together with loved ones that are still living. It reminds you of the value of family and what being together as one does for your spirit. Daniel's oldest brother lives in Kentucky along with his two youngest children and their families. We made a vow on Tuesday before we sent them off that we would try harder to be more of a family. No more of this only getting together for weddings or a funeral.
Here is another picture of the boys along with their Mom, Sue, a few of the grandkids, and three of the great-grand kids. The two baby boys are great-grandkids, while Addison and Cadence are grand-kids.
I think we are all holding up pretty well given the fact we just lost the patriarch of the Blankenship family. I think it helped a little that Charlie had been in a nursing home for the past year or so. We had gotten used to visiting Mamaw without Poppy being there at home with her so it won't feel all that unusual to us when we continue to visit without him being there. We would love to still have him there but we all know that he is better off. Charlie fought a hell of a battle these past few years, especially this last one, and it's reassuring for us to know he's finally at peace and in complete comfort.
Rest in peace Poppy! Please watch over my babies and help me to keep them safe from harm.
I got this recipe from my soon to be sister-in-law Paula this past Monday. I would have loved to have gotten the recipe under better circumstances but what can you do. On Saturday, Daniel's Dad passed away and on Tuesday we held his viewing. Monday night all the immediate family gathered at our place for dinner and some much needed time together. Isn't it sad that the only time you see family that's in another state is for funerals or a wedding? We made a vow to spend more time together and I hope it's one that we all stick to.
Anyway, the hubs loved these. When I say loved I mean he ate a ton on Monday, then ate a ton more after the viewing on Tuesday, and then was saying how he could eat some more on Wednesday. These will definitely be made again and he's already thinking of ways to kick them up a notch.
Jalapeno Bites
~Paula Harris
Ingredients:
12 jalapeno peppers
1 8oz. block of cream cheese, softened
1 C. parmesan cheese
1 lb. bulk sausage
Directions:
1.) Pre-heat oven to 350.
2.) Brown sausage in a medium skillet over medium high heat.
3.) Slice each pepper lengthwise to make 24 while browning sausage. Scrape out all of the seeds and set aside.
4.) In a small bowl mix together browned sausage, softened cream cheese, and parmesan cheese.
5.) Stuff about a tablespoon or so into each pepper half.
6.) Bake peppers in oven until bubbly and golden brown.
Paula advised that you can also use the zesty sausage and grill the peppers if you would like. Daniel is looking forward to wrapping a piece of bacon around them and grilling them.
Here she is from Monday night, or maybe it was Tuesday, lord who knows. Anyway, we were making lasagna buns which I stumbled across over at Cassie Craves. I'll post the recipe on the food blog eventually...I hope. Did I mention I am really tired tonight? LMAO
Charles E. Blankenship Sr. 