Ressurrection Rolls

In celebration of Easter, this year we made Ressurrection Rolls as a family on Saturday night before Easter morning. Not only was it a great teaching lesson, they are soooo yummy!

Ressurrections Rolls

Ingredients:

1 can refrigerated cresent roll dough

8 large marshmallows

melted butter

cinnamon sugar

Directions:

- Give each person one triangle shaped section of the cresent roll.

This represents the tomb

- Each person takes one marshmallow.

This represents the Body of Christ

-Dip the marshmallows in the butter and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

This represents the oils and spices the Body of Christ was annointed with upon burial.

-Lay the marshamallow on the dough and carefully wrap it around the marshmallow. Make sure all the seams are pinches together well. (This is very important, otherwise the marshmallow will "ooze" out of the seams.)

-We put the rolls in the cold, dark oven

Which represents the tomb in which they placed the Body of Christ

-Bake according to package directions on Easter morning.

-When ready to eat, break open the tomb and the Body of Christ is no longer there!!!

We pray that each of you had a wonderful Resurrection Day!

We're Still Cookin'

If you are wondering if The Sparks are still out there, yes we are. We're just very busy with school, work, church and with life in general. Not to mention, me trying to pass a kidney stone.

I have serveral post I want to share and I pray I can get to them soon.

But in the meantime, don't worry...

We're still cookin'!

Teddy Graham Dip

We celebrated the marriage to two very special people in our lives, Tyler and Danae. Tyler is serving in the US Army and we are so proud of him. We have know Danae for many years and it has been a joy to see the wonderful Christian young women, now wife, that she has become.

Before the wedding, we had a some fun at a lingerie shower for the Bride-to-be. On the menu for the shower was Teddy Graham Dip, get it, "Teddy" graham dip...

Anyway, oh my goodness, this is best dip ever!!! Thanks Ginger for sharing it!

Teddy Graham Dip
2 packages 8oz, soften cream cheese
2 cups powered sugar
2 sticks soften butter (don't skip the real stuff
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 small tub cool whip topping
1 bag mini chocolate chips

*please note - you can cut this down half, but I always make a big batch*

Mix soften cream cheese, powered sugar, soften butter, vanilla and cool whip well (I use my stand mixer.) Once mixed well, add mini chocolate chips and mix well. Refrigerate and serve with Teddy Graham cookies. I found generic cookies at the Dollar Store that we actually like better because the "double bears" and you can get more dip!

Our girls had the honor of being part of their beautiful wedding. It will be a day that they long forget.

Congratulations Tyler and Danae!

Grandmom Cool's Peanut Butter Pie

Today is my Grandmom Cool's 86th Birthday. So in honor of her, I want to share her recipe for the most wonderful Peanut Butter Pie.

Grandmom Cool's Peanut Butter Pie

1 baked deep dish pie shell

1 cup powered sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 c. cornstarch

2/3 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups scaled milk (just put it in the microwave to heat)

3 eggs yolks beaten

2 Tbsp butter

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Combine powdered sugar and peanut butter. Blend until the appearance of biscuit mix; spread 3/4 of this mixture in baked pie shell. Set aside.

Combine cornstarch, sugar and salt; add scalded milk and mix well. Pour small amount over beaten egg yolks; mix well. Then return to milk mixture. Cook in top of double boiler until mixture thickens to the consistency of pudding or custard.

Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla and pour into prepared pie shell. Top with meringue. Sprinkle remainder of peanut butter mixture over meringue. Bake at 325 degrees until meingue browns.

Meringue:

3 eggs whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp vanilla

6 Tbsp sugar

Beat egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla and add sugar until peaks form.

Girl Scout Cookie Banana Pudding

It's March and in March it's Girl Scout Cookie time and when it's Girl Scout Cookie time it means I can make Girl Scout Cookie Banana Pudding. The recipe is Nannie Ford's Banana Pudding recipe, which you will probably see on here again, but today I will share the recipe using Shortbread Girl Scout Cookies.

*Our sweet niece, Lydia, who sold cookies for the first time this year as Daisy.*

Girl Scout Cookie Banana Pudding

2 boxes Shortbread Girl Scout Cookies

4-5 large bananas, sliced

1 large container whipped topping (cool whip)

1 large box instant vanilla pudding

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix pudding according to directions. Add vanilla and whipped topping. Mix well. Then add shortbread cookies and bananas. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Girl Scout Cookies freeze well, so if you have enough self-control, put a couple of boxes of the cookies in the freezer and save for later.

I hope you enjoy this yummy Springtime treat...

Happy Spring!

Green Eggs and Ham

Last night in honor of Dr. Seuss we had some friends over (OK, the real reason we had our friends over was for him to help Travis fix the washing machine.) But, whatever the reason, we had a blast and made wonderful memories with our kids. They are such wonderful friends and got into the spirit of the night and came as Dr. Seuss books. We had, Hop on Pop, Fox in Socks, There's a Wocket in my Pocket, And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, Ten Apples Up On Top! and sweet little Cindy Lou Who tagged along with them.

We made Cat In The Hat hats while the guys were working on the washing machine. With five little "whos" running around, this was the best picture I could get.

The recipe to share is not much, all I did was add green food coloring to my scrambled eggs to give them their green color. Everyone ate their green eggs except for Hannah Grace, she did not like green eggs.

We are so blessed to have these "Whos" as friends...who will come help with a broken washing machine, who can come over on a week night and it doesn't stress me out how my house looks, who are intentional in the time they spend with their family and the memories they make with their kids, who are great friends!

Sugar Cookies

For Valentine's Day treats and gifts we got in the kitchen and made yummy sugar cookies. I got this recipe from a friend of a friend and it is the only sugar cookie I make anymore (unless it's cut and bake).

Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 large egg

2 tsp. baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

(I doubled the recipe for this batch of cookies).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream butter and sugar in mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix baking powder and flour, add one cup at a time, mixing after each addition.

DO NOT CHILL DOUGH.

Divide dough into 2 balls. On a floured surface, roll dough into 12-inch circle 1/8th of a inch thick. Cut into desired shapes.

Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet on top rack of oven 6-7 minutes or until lightly browned.

Once cookies have cooled, ice the cookies with a cookie glaze.

Sugar Cookie Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon corn syrup

2 Tablespoons water

a splash (1/2 tsp.) of almond extract, or whatever flavoring you desire)

Divide the mixture into smaller containers and stir in 2-3 drops of desired food coloring per container. You may need to add more sugar or water to get it to the consistency to spread on the cookies without it being too runny. Use paintbrushes or spoon to apply icing to cookies (we used spoons). Add sprinkles if desired.

Apple Dip

I have posted the recipe for this Apple Dip before but I made it again this past week-end for Seth's 5th Buzz Lightyear Birthday Celebration.

Apple Dip

2 pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup while sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 pkg. Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits

Mix together and serve with sliced apples.

Note: It is better if you make the dip the night before you plan to serve it and store in the refrigerator. It will keep for over a week (if it last that long.)

Granny Hill's Dried Apple Stack Cake

This past week-end, Daddy and Candy came down for a visit. While they were here, they got to go to our Upward Games on Saturday and we painted the living room and two front hallways. They are always so wonderful to help us out around the house.

Candy brought me several old recipes from her, her mom, Nannie Ray and Daddy's mom, Granny Hill. I look forward to trying and sharing those over the next few months. Along with the recipes, Candy brought Granny Hill's Dried Apple Stack Cake. She said she remembers having this cake at Christmas each year with Granny Hill. We enjoyed this yummy cake for dessert while they were visiting.

Granny Hill's 90th Birthday Celebration

Granny Hill's Dried Apple Stack Cake

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup molasses

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream shortening and sugar; add egg, molasses, buttermilk and mix well. Stir in flour, ginger, and vanilla. Roll out dough as you would for a pie crust or spoon into greased pan and pat out to edge. This should make six thin layers. Bake layers for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Stack layers with cooked apples and end with cooked apples on top. Slice in thin layers to serve.

Cooked Dried Apples

Put 1 pound of dried apples in heavy pan and cover with cold water. Cook until soft enough to mash. While still hot, mash apples and add 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, 4 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp cloves and 1 tsp. allspice. Cook down until apples turn dark color like apple butter.

If dried apples are not available, cook several pounds of cooking apples in enough water to cover apples and add spice and sugars. Cook until mixture is very thick.

Notes: The cake is better made up in thin layers sandwiches with apple filling. It is also better to make ahead and let it set for a few days before eating.

Bubba's Key Lime Pie

For Christmas, Travis got me tickets to see Paula Deen, so this past week-end he and traveled to Cherokee, NC with my Christmas gift for an early Valentine's Day get-away. We had a great time away and Paula Deen was very funny. She didn't really "cook" she talked about what her Chef was cooking and interacted with the audience and told stories with her son, Bobby, her husband, her Aunt Peggy and her brother "Bubba" and his daughter.

The dessert they served with the meal they were cooking was Key lime Pie. I had never made Key Lime Pie before Mama and Eddie brought me some Key lime Juice back from their trip to Key West. I have made Key lime Pie several times since then, until I ran out of the Key lime juice. Well, just the other day I saw that same Key lime juice at Ingles. So, when the pie was served on Saturday night I thought that would be the perfect recipe to put with this post. I searched Paula Deen's website and found a recipe for "Bubba's Key Lime Pie" and I adapted it a little bit.

Ingredients:

2 eggs yolks

2 teaspoon grated lime zest(not pictured)

1/2 cup Key lime juice

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

You can make your own crust, but I buy the package of 6 mini-ready graham cracker crust. My family loves "little pies". You can also use a ready made 9-inch graham cracker crust.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, beat 2 eggs yolks. Add condensed milk, Key lime juice and zest. Blend together.

Pour filling in crust and bake for 15 minutes, recipe will make six "little pies".

Refrigerate pies for several hours before serving to let set.

Once set, serve with a dollop of cool whip.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

When Samuel or Travis go on a trip, I usually try to make them so kind of treat to take and share. A lot of times, I make Rice Krispy Treats. Well, since Samuel got his braces on this week, he can't eat yummy marshmallow goodness. I went ahead and made some for him to share but he asked me to make him some Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies.

I'm sure most of reading this, know how to make these super easy and supper yummy cookies, but since this will be passed down to my kids, I thought I would share the recipe.

The recipe for chocolate oatmeal cookies, sometime called "No Bake Cookies" is in just about every cookbook that I have on my shelf, but when I'm making them, I always go for my Seasoned Love cookbook from the Lincoln Inn Restaurant. I helped compile this cookbook when Daddy and Candy owned and ran the Lincoln Inn Restaurant in Stanford, Kentucky. I have many wonderful memories from the Lincoln Inn, from waiting tables and getting a tip of a quarter to learning to cook so many things. Every time I use the griddle at church, I think about my Daddy standing at the griddle at the Lincoln Inn frying up a "Mike's Special", but that's another post!

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

2 cups sugar

dash of salt

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup milk

4 Tablespoons cocoa

Mix together in a cooking pot and bring to a boil.

Once the mixture comes to a rapid boil, boil for one (1) minute.

After the one minute, add:

3 cups oatmeal

1/4 cup peanut butter

(and I add a splash of vanilla)

Mix together well and drop by spoonsfuls onto was paper.

Let dry and enjoy!