Almond Joy Pieces- A New Favorite

Oh my---- have you tasted these? I have and they're a new favorite for me. I love, love, love coconut, so when I saw these little bits of goodness I had to give them a try. Taste like an Almond Joy just like it says. I mean you can't replace the delish candy bar, but these are really good. I don't eat them all the time or anything, especially since I started a new workout program and am really trying not to have very many sweets,but I will let myself snack on these every now and then.Apparently their are a variety of new "pieces" candy out now. We've come along way from just Reese's pieces. Enjoy!

Goodbye Old Friend

Today I say goodbye to an old friend. Not an actual person, but to my trusty wallet." Why is she blogging about her wallet?"you might ask.--- I asked myself that, too. --Well, I just think it's interesting that I've had the same old worn out wallet for 13 years. Yes! 13 years! That's a year longer than I've been married. It has served me well through the years. I bought it at a Fossil outlet store near Park City, UT when two friends and I were on a trip there in 1997. That seems so long ago. It was a great deal at only $9. It's all leather, so I had to get it. This old wallet has seen many a purse, survived being left on a plane, weathered water from spills and much much more. It will no longer button and the zipper on the back is broken, so all my coins had to be put in with the paper money,but I still kept hanging on to this thing. Why?I guess because it still served its purpose for me and I really liked it.But, at last it was time for a new wallet.


Ta-Da!! This is the replacement. A nice shiny, new, green crocodile print wallet from Liz & Co., which I might add was on sale. It's all pretty and nice. I don't know what to do with myself. Ha! Ha! It does feel nice to actually have a place to store my change and this one even buttons!!

Easy Peach Cobbler

It seems like this is becoming a food blog with all these recipes, but I guess that's okay. What can I say? I like food. Today I'm sharing a recipe for a super easy peach cobbler. Now, this is not my grandmother's peach cobbler with the homemade crust. She used to make a mean peach cobbler.It was so good, but I'm sure it took a while to make. This one has 5 simple ingredients that combine for some yum! The ingredients are easy to remember too. They are all 1's. One cup, one stick and one can. E-Z! Get the recipe below and try it out for dessert.


Peach Cobbler
1 c. Bisquick
1 c. sugar
1 c. milk
1 stick butter
1 can of peaches

Melt butter in a medium sized microwave safe bowl. Stir in Bisquick, sugar, and milk. Mix well. Pour peaches, with liquid, into an 8x8 casserole dish. Pour mixture on top of peaches and bake in a 350 oven for about 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Cheese Stuffed Shells

Today I have a tasty recipe for Cheese Stuffed Shells to share with you.Ahhhhh........ cheese and pasta.........a great combination. This recipe comes from a friend of mine that is a vegetarian, so no meat in this dish, but you could probably add some ground beef or turkey and it would taste good too. My family and I love it just the way it is with all that cheesy goodness.Get the recipe below.


Cheese Stuffed Shells
12 oz. jumbo shells(their will be more shells than filling)
2 eggs
2 containers (15 oz.) each ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 1/2 c. grated parmesan, divided
1/2c. chopped fresh parsley or 2 Tbsp. dried parsley
1 Tbsp. dried basil
1 tsp. salt
3 cups spaghetti sauce

Cook jumbo shells for about 15 mins. Drain. Set aside. In a medium bowl, beat eggs lightly;stir in ricotta, mozzarella, 3/4 c. parmesan, parsley, basil and salt. Cover bottom of 9x13 dish with 1 c. of sauce. Spoon about 1 Tbsp. of cheese mixture into each shell. Arrange filled shells in baking dish;top with remaining sauce and parmesan. Cover with foil. Bake in 350 oven for 25-30 minutes or until heated through. **I adapt the recipe a bit because I always have enough filling and shells for about 1 and 1/2 dishes. So you can use more sauce to your liking.**

American Village Field Trip

Yesterday was Trent's field trip to American Village in Montevallo, AL and I actually got to go on this one. Yay! American Village is a historical village where they are taught about the American Revolution and government. The kids are taken through the village in different "acts" and get to take part in the acts. The various actors from the village dress in period clothing so that was pretty cool and it was very educational. I forget what this particular building above was called, but it is where they talked about the constitution then moved to a different room to learn some dances of that time from "George Washington's grand daughter."


The kids are getting some training on how to be a soldier to fight against the red coats from the Corporal here in the green. He was so funny! He taught them how to load their muskets ,march and fire them.Their muskets were broom sticks. They had to yell all the steps of loading the musket like tear(tearing off the paper with the gun powder in it), spit (spit out the paper), pour, click, bang. The kids had a lot of fun with this!

The church in the village.

I don't know what you call this thing, but Trent and some of the other kids thought they would try it out.


This is a bronze statue of George Washington. The two actors here explained the statue and the symbolism in it.

Trent and his friends enjoying some lunch.

Robotics Competition 2010

Trent's team with Server Bot

Last Thursday, Trent and I got to spend the day together at Auburn University Montgomery at the Central AL Technology Fair. Trent and his team were in the robotics-hardware competition for their Lego Mindstorms robot.(Lego Mindstorms is an after school club for the gifted education students who are chosen to be in it). They have been working on their robot for sometime after school on Tuesdays.They have to come up with a design, build it and then work on a program to make it actually work. They could finally show off their hard work. Trent's team got 3rd place in their category. Good work guys!!! It was so impressive to see 175 kids there from 3rd to 12th grade in different categories from programming, robotics, media and more.

This is Server Bot. His team's robot. Server Bot was kind of like a waiter. They had a small object they put on the tray part and the robot would move forward and run into a brick and then it turned around and the tray would go forward emptying the small object. Pretty neat! I don't remember anything like this when I was in school. Might have been fun.


We waited,and waited and waited some more at the competition. You had to wait on every group to get set up,wait on your group to be judged and wait on the awards ceremony . I know. A lot of waiting. I felt very non-productive there, but I got to spend the whole day with Trent so that was worth it. While the kids were waiting, their was a lot of gaming going on.I think every one of those kids brought some kind of portable game.

This is both fifth grade teams with their G.E. teacher and sponsor Mrs. Hurst.

Spice It Up

Today I have a great recipe to share with you for Spice Bars. This is a recipe I got from my Aunt Dorene years ago after she brought them to a family function. A few things that I really like about this recipe: they are simple to make, the ingredients are common ones usually found in your pantry, and they taste so good! The name Spice Bars might make them seem like they are bursting with spice, but it is just from the cinnamon in them. It is not overwhelming, so don't let the name keep you from trying them. They have such a good flavor. I can really taste the honey and spice together and it's a tasty combination!

Spice Bars
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. honey
1 c. sugar
1 egg
2 c. plain flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. chopped pecans ( I used 1/2 c.)

Glaze:
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
milk

Mix first eight ingredients together with wooden spoon. Add nuts and stir until well blended. Batter will be stiff. Put batter in a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 25 minutes. While bars are cooking, mix powdered sugar, vanilla and just enough milk to make mixture smooth. Glaze bars while still hot. Cut into squares when completely cool.