Cake Balls

****MAJOR UPDATE****
Ok, I was dying to make these but I again was faced with the dilemma of nobody to share them with UNTIL...an event at work TODAY!!! I made them using strawberry cake mix, cream cheese icing and vanilla almond bark. They were certainly not as easy to make as I expected. I found coating them in the hot bark to be difficult, but I will catch my stride!! DIVINE!!! And everyone at work agreed!!! MUST TRY THIS!!!

MOTC's birthday is a week away and she LOVES red velvet cake, so I am planning to make these for our family cookout...get excited family!!! I will coat them in the white bark though! Don't they look YUMMY?!?! I would go ahead and make them now, but home alone = eat all of them by myself!

Roast with gravy

Two things happened today:

1. I found this website...WHOA NELLY!!
2. I got my first recipe request from my S-I-L, which happens to use a crockpot and is super easy! So what perfect timing...

You all have probably made this or a variation of it.

Roast with gravy

1 Roast* (just needs to fit in the pot, but whichever size works best for your family will be just fine.)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope of Lipton onion soup mix

Place roast in crock pot. Season with salt and pepper on both sides. Mix cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix on top of roast. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Sister adds water to hers, but I choose not to do that. (The gravy tastes a little richer to me without adding water.) We usually don't, but you can of course add potatoes, carrots, and/or onions if you choose.

*The Former Roommate would even make this same recipe using pork tenderloin. SO GOOD either way and very tender!!! The Dish Washer and I usually like to take the leftovers and spoon it over toast for an open faced sandwich!

Old-Fashioned Lemonade

Yesterday, MOTC and I were strolling a local Spring Festival and we decided to treat ourselves to some fresh lemondae...you know those lemonade stands that have INCREDIBLE lemonade. It inspired me to share a recipe for lemonade...

Old-Fashioned Lemonade

8 cups water
1-3/4 c. sugar
1-1/2 c. lemon juice (more fun to use fresh lemons even though more work, but nobody is looking!)

In a saucepan, bring 1 cup of water and the sugar to a boil until the sugar is disolved. Allow to cool to room temperature and then place in fridge until chilled.

In a pitcher, combine simple syrup, lemon juice and remaining water. Serve with a slice of lemon and ENJOY!

Certainly not as easy as adding water to a powder and stirring, but you may want to bust this one out when company is coming!

Goody Girl Championship Potatoes

This is a new favorite of Sister's and her family! I served it the Saturday night before Easter when my house was filled to the rim! I normally am not the biggest fan of Guy Fieri, but his recipe for Championship Potatoes really is something to write home about!!

One thing about this recipe, I did not use the cayenne pepper but "to each their own."

Hey, I never said this would be a collection of "healthy" recipes...those never are THAT great anyway!! And the one thing I know now that I have joined The Dish Washer's family is that we cook with a LOT of bacon, so get ready!! OINK! OINK!

Heratio is calling...one last Miami crime to solve for the night!

Later Taters,
The Cook

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This is a MUST TRY if you love buffalo wings!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 - 3 chicken breasts, boiled then diced into bite size pieces
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1/2 c. Ranch dressing
3/4 c. hot sauce (like Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce)
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
Tortilla chips

Cook hot sauce, cream cheese, ranch dressing and chicken until the cream cheese is melted. Then add the shredded cheese until it melts. Pour into baking dish and bake at 350 until melted and bubbly. (You could add more cheese to the top before you put it in the oven and I am sure that would be yummy, but it just seemed a little too cheesy for me so I opted not to.)

Later taters,
The Cook

Graham Cracker Cake

This recipe is from my M-I-L's Ladybug Club cookbook...company was coming and I didn't really have a dessert until I did a pantry raid and VOILA!!

Graham Cracker Cake

1 (16 oz.) box graham crackers
2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. undiluted evaporated milk
2 sticks butter (HELLO!!!)
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. chopped pecans
1 (3.5 oz.) can coconut

Crumble crackers and baking powder; mix well and add milk. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time. Combine with cracker mixture. Stir in vanilla extract, pecans, and coconut. Bake in greased 9x13 pan at 350 for 50 minutes or until done.

I would definitely eat a piece of this for breakfast!!

Later Taters,
The Cook

Beer in the Rear Chicken

This was our most recent exciting find - tis the season to fire up those grills!

1 (3-pound) chicken
Lawry's Seasoned salt
garlic powder
fresh cracked pepper
1 (12-ounce) can beer

Preheat a grill over high heat. Wash and drain chicken. Coat the chicken liberally inside and out with seasoned salt, garlic powder and pepper. Open the can of beer and pour out about 1/3 cup to keep it from spilling out. Then, place the beer can into the body cavity starting at the rear of the chicken. Carefully place the chicken on the center of the grill, making sure not to spill the beer. Adjust the grill temperature, as necessary. Cover the grill and cook until chicken is done, approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour, turning the chicken as necessary. Jason didn't have to turn our birds once. The chicken is done when the juice runs clear.

Be very careful with that can when you are trying to pull it out because it is incredibly hot - we learned that the hard way!

Later taters,
The Cook

Family Traditions

"Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!" Psalm 34:8

This is my attempt at having an avenue to share recipes with friends and family that I have tried and loved (and maybe even some that I haven't loved but others have...we'll see). The one thing you are pretty guaranteed NOT to see on here is anything fishy, at least, not from me anyway! I have tried to force myself to eat seafood because I know it is healthy, but I just can't do it (and I gag)! I make it a point never to cook things that I don't eat because that would be, well, pointless. Posts will probably be very sporadic, so don't get your hopes up for daily recipes! I have linked several sites that I like to visit for good recipes.

I love southern food and I love cooking. I love my family -- who just happens to love to eat (ME INCLUDED!!) and have been great guinea pigs. (Maybe they will even let me share some of their good recipes!) They always say when the food is yummy and not so yummy.

I think eating around the dinner table is important for families and is certainly fading fast in our family traditions. Jason and I are not the most successful at eating at the dinner table every time together, but we certainly try and that is what this is all about. We are all individually going in a million directions, but join me in "bringing it back to the dinner table." (That's cheesy, I know!!)