Butterfinger Cake

A few weekends ago, I had a sleepover with 2 of my nephews and my husband! That weekend, we made the most amazing, fabulous, savory cake ever: A Butterfinger Cake. The best part is that it is SO EASY TO MAKE! So I'm going to share the recipe! :D

Butterfinger Cake

Ingredients:

1 box plain Jane chocolate cake mix (the more generic/basic the better)
Stuff to make the cake (eggs, oil, and water)
1 jar caramel topping
1 can condensed milk
1 tub whipped cream
1-5000 Butterfinger bars (depends on the amount you want on/in your cake)

Directions:

1) Gather ingredients! I got all of my stuff from Walmart. :) Obviously.

2) Bake the cake like you normally would.

3) Stab the cake to death with a fork. :) (This is especially therapeutic if you have had a bad day. :) )

4) Mix the caramel topping and condensed milk together and pour most of it on the cake. (I save some for decoration on the top later. :) ) This is also when you should crush up your Butterfinger bar/bars and crumble a ton of it on. If you want. :)

5) Cover the cake with Whipped Cream. :)

6) Sprinkle Butterfinger on top and drizzle with caramel stuff. :D Then put it in the fridge or freezer until cool! Then EAT IT!! :D

All of the boys felt that they needed to eat some of this cake ASAP. So I let them. :) They LOVED it! It was made on Saturday. Half was eaten by Sunday, and the rest was taken home with the boys! xD

Crawfish "Étouffée" and VBS

I have been SO busy these past few weeks! I have so many projects going on! That is why I LOVE the Summer!

Tonight I was trying to figure out what to cook for supper when I remembered that my husband recently talked about Crawfish Ètouffèe. I would like to take this moment to say that I do NOT like seafood. At all. It's something about the texture and the smell. Blech! :( But my husband loves it! He usually won't let me cook it though because he wants me to be able to eat what I make too. :) However, I have plenty of leftovers in the fridge I can eat, SO I decided to look up an ètouffèe recipe. I always thought ètouffèe was made with roux, and it is! However, Travis knew of a different recipe for ètouffèe that called for Cream of Mushroom soup instead. So I looked for an "ètouffèe" recipe using that and found one! So that is what I made. :) Here is my version of the recipe I got from Allrecipes.com.

Crawfish "Ètouffèe"

Ingredients:

2 tsp butter
1/4-1/2 yellow onion
1/2 bell pepper
3-5 cloves garlic
1 (10.5 oz) can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 (10.5 oz) can Cream of Celery soup
1 cup water
1/2 pound Crawfish, peeled (I used leftover boiled Crawfish from Easter that has been in my freezer! :D)
Seasonings to taste:
Season-all
Garlic powder
Cayenne

Directions:

1) Melt your butter in your pan. Sautè your onions and bell pepper. (While this is happening, get your rice going!)

Butter!!! :D

I love the smell of sautèing veggies!! :D

2) When they are soft, toss in your garlic and let cook for about 30 seconds. Then add the soups and the water!

 Garlic is my favorite!! :D It is a great detox when eaten raw, too!

It gets less chunky looking as it warms up. :)

3) Once that simmers, add the crawfish and your seasonings! Let that cook for a little while.

 CRAWFISH!! :D

 It should look something like this when done. :)

4) Then eat it with rice!! :D

Travis devoured this. xD I guess I have a new keeper 

recipe even if it isn't "real" ètouffèe. :)

As for other things, I have been super busy with VBS! When I was a kid, I LOVED going to Vacation Bible School. Now that I am older, being a volunteer for VBS is one of my favorite things to do during the summer! I look forward to it every year! This year our theme was Kingdom Rock! This is by far my favorite VBS theme because it was so easy to teach, the children really caught on and understood the material, there was a special section designed for younger children, and, of course, the theme was medieval which is one of my FAVORITE time periods EVER! :D Here are some pictures of our VBS! :)

Our mural of a dragon and a knight!

The entrance into VBS!

 The main room that was used for opening and closing ceremonies! :D

This year we decided to help out our local community 

by having a canned/nonparishable food drive! 

Together we brought in over 1000 items! :D

 This was the throne that was used for various different skits! :D

We had creative and fancy decorations like this all over the children's wing! :D

And now an update on my sewing! Although my favorite sewing machine recently has gotten sick and needs to go to the doctor, my friend Sarah has been letting me use her spare machine! This is really awesome because I have 2 quilts to finish, 3 dresses to mend and alter, and a large order of pony plushies waiting to be finished!! I am super excited! My friends and I have started a mini-business together called Les Trois Amies for selling our crafts! I will soon share a link to our website! I will be specializing in jewelry making and some sewing, my friend Sarah will focus on sewing and a few other things, and my friend Aimee will focus on crochet and some jewelry making. :D We are hoping to expand our skills and our business too! :D

Our Logo! :D

Home-made Chocolate Chip Cookies

Most Sundays, Travis and I spend the afternoon and evening with our friends Aimee and Robert. Aimee and I usually trade of days to cook. This Sunday was my turn to cook! I decided to make Chicken Pot Pie and Home-made Chocolate Chip Cookies! I figured that since I don't have many recipes up for dessert, I would post this one! It is super easy and has only been slightly modified from the recipe on the back of the Nestlé's chocolate chip bag!

Home-made Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1/2 large bag of Nestlé Toll House Milk Chocolate Chips
1/2 small bag Reeses Peanut Butter Chips (optional)

Directions:

1) Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl.

 Powdery! :D

2) Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in large mixer bowl until creamy.

 

It should look something like this. :)

3) Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg.

4) Gradually beat in flour mixture.

Before the chips! :D

5) Stir in delicious chips. :D

So many chips! 8D

Don't you just want to eat it like that? :) With some ice cream? Yum!

6) Drop onto greased baking sheet using tablespoon. Be sure to round the dough and press them down if you are OCD like me and like rounded cookies. :) If not, let them go crazy and just drop them!

6) Bake at 375 degrees for about 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. I sometimes take them out a little early so that they are chewy. :) Let them cool on a baking sheet if you want for about 2 minutes. Usually my cookies are eaten immediately after coming out of the oven. xD

Heavenly! :D

7) EAT THEM WITH FRIENDS! :D

Travis nomming his favorite thing in the world. :)

Sooo chewy. :3

Don't you be thinkin' about takin' MY cookie! I'll bite you!!

Nom nom! :D

I decided to do just one dozen with the extra Reese chips because my friend Aimee loves peanut butter. :)
They came out amazingly also. :D When I ate things like this, these were my favorite cookies!! :D

I forgot to get a picture of these when they were done, but I promise they didn't last long! :D

Cornbread

Although I actually made this with my Lima Beans and Tasso for a side item, I am making it it's own post because it is great with just about everything! I also have 2 ways that I make it: with honey for a sweeter cornbread and without. I LOVE the sweeter one because to me it tastes like cake. :) For someone who doesn't eat processed or artificial sugars, a sweet bread is magical. :) So here is my recipe for cornbread! Remember that all measurements are approximate! :)

Corn Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup honey (optional)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup oil

Directions:

1) Combine flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl.

2) Add egg, milk, oil, and honey if you like sweet cornbread. Do not add the honey if you like saltier cornbread.

3) Spray an 8x8 pan with Pam and pour in your mixture!

4) Bake at 400 degrees until browning and slightly cracked!

5) Eat it with something delicious like Lima Beans and Tasso!

Lima Beans and Tasso

Before I get to the recipe, I would like to say that if you would like to contact me about anything, ask questions, or make suggestions, please feel free to email me at actparker@gmail.com or message me on my Facebook Page! :) I received a few anonymous messages with questions, and I don't know if they got my responses! Please feel free to message me again. :)

Now on to the grub! This weekend is Mother's Day, and my mommy has come to visit me for the weekend! One of our favorite things to eat is Lima beans. So this weekend, we are making some! I figured I would share this recipe! For those who don't know, tasso is smoked pork meat that tastes ABSOLUTELY delicious. :) How I cook these Lima beans and tasso is also EXACTLY how I cook my red beans with sausage. :) As usual, I don't actually measure, so everything is approximate, and this is a crock pot meal! :)

Lima Beans and Tasso

Ingredients:

2lb. bags of Lima Beans
2 large pieces of Tasso, cubed
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
Dash of baking soda
Seasonings to taste:
Season-all
Garlic powder
Basil

Directions:

1) Put beans, water, and baking soda in a pot. Bring to a boil and wait until beans start floating.

You can't tell, but the beans are in water. xD

2) While beans come to boil, chop, mince, and cube your other ingredients.

 Tasso! :D

3) When beans are done, drain the water out using a colander. Throw everything into the crock pot.

4) Put enough water in the crock pot so that you have at least an inch above the line of beans and your seasonings. Turn crock pot on low, cover, and let cook for about 6 hours or until the beans are tender and nummy.

5) Sometime before the beans are done, make some rice and/or some cornbread!

It tastes like cake! :D

6) When everything is done, eat it! :D

As a conclusion to this post, I wanted to share with everyone my foster puppy, Roscoe! :) He is super cute and available to a good home! Andrew is NOT happy about him being here at ALL. xD But he is getting better about it. :)

 He's a German Shepherd/Labrador mix! :)

 He's curious about the flashy thingy in front of my face. :) Aaaand he likes to lick me. xD