What do you get when 2 Westies find a roll of paper towels?!?!

A BIG WHITE MESS!!!!

The Graduate

We packed up the car, our 2 little dogs and started the long trek to Tennessee. We were so excited, because Alison is graduating from college! She might actually be more excited than us!

We were exhausted by the time we arrived. As you can see Winnie, made her own little tent in the backseat and slept most of the 9 hour trip!



The graduation was on a beautiful spring morning. The sun was shining and birds were chirping. Families looked on with admiration as their graduates proudly accepted their diplomas and walked across the stage.

After the ceremony, I rushed out of the auditorium and snapped a few pictures of our graduate with her new diploma and huge smile!

After I snapped these 2 pictures, we heard a loud boom, a bolt of lightning and then, a downpour! Not a sprinkle, not a drizzle- fat, big wet drops falling hard! People screamed and scurried away. Families got separated- we couldn't even find our car!

Luckily, in the chaos, Cody had found his car and he picked us up and took us to our car. We were all a little late and a little wet for Alison's post-graduation luncheon.

Alison had a beautiful and delicious strawberry cake to celebrate the big event. It was the best strawberry cake I have ever had!!! Yum!

Jeremy told us that he was a pro at cutting cakes. Not sure where he picked up those skills!?!? But he did a pretty good, cutting the cake and getting everyone a piece.

After the graduation celebration, Jeremy and I made a special visit to Nashville to see a special little baby. Mr. Grayson was absolutely adorable and I'm so glad we got to visit him and his parents.

Since the graduation pictures didn't turn out so well (we all looked a little water-logged), we took some family pictures after church on Sunday.

Our visits to Tennessee are always too short. We had a wonderful visit with family and friends!

Celebrating in Abilene

We took a trip to Abilene to celebrate Sarah's college graduation and Mother's Day. It was so wonderful to be able to celebrate with both of these fabulous ladies!

Sarah was very accomplished and we were so proud of her at graduation. She will begin physical therapy school in August at Hardin Simmons.

And then, we celebrated my mom! She's the best mom a girl could ever ask for! I only hope that one day I can be half of the mom that she had been to me.

We love you so much, Mom!

Happy Mother's Day to

Mom and Rita!

Red Velvet If You Please

It was Karla's birthday and her favorite is Red Velvet. Of course, I had to make it into a cupcake!

Red Velvet isn't my absolute favorite, but it's up there. This is a really good recipe- the perfect subtle hint of chocolate. And who can resist cream cheese frosting?!?! It's delicious!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
Chopped pecans and fresh raspberries or strawberries, for garnish

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Garnish with chopped pecans and a fresh raspberry or strawberry.

I also thought it was time for a little update on Iv and Win. They are always up to trouble, but here is their latest. Win will find a chew or a stick or a toy and run under our TV stand. She will get close enough to the edge, so Ivy can see her, but can't quite reach her. Ivy can't fit, so she will just lay there- trying to reach Winnie. They will do this for hours!

I would say that I feel sorry for Ivy; however, anytime Win isn't protected by the TV stand- Ivy steals whatever she has!

Breakfast of Champions

Hey y'all! I needed some recipes to impress, so it was time to pull out no other cookbook than . . . my Paula Deen Cookbook!

The YWCA hosted a breakfast for the state legislators. Again, we planned on ordering some food and I spoke up and said- I can make that for so much cheaper.

Sometimes- I don't know what I'm thinking!!! But I do have so much fun. If I could pay someone to clean the kitchen- I would volunteer for things like this so much more! On the menu: sausage and mushroom quiche, breakfast pizza, and zucchini bread. The great thing is that each of these items can be prepared the evening before and heated just before serving. I really recommend the quiche if you have out of town guests- they will love it!

Mushroom and Sausage Quiche

One 9 inch refrigerated pie crust, fitted into a 9-inch glass pie plate
1 1-lb. package ground sausage
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 large Vidalia (or other mild) onion, chopped
4 eggs.
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese, 2 or 4 percent milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1-eight-ounce package shredded sharp Cheddar cheese


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Crimp the edges of the crust.

2. Cook and drain the sausage; set aside. Wipe out the pan and in the same pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and onion and saute for five minutes or til tender.

3. Place the eggs, sour cream, cottage cream, flour, Parm. cheese, and hot sauce in a food processor or blender and process til smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary.

4. Stir together the crumbled cooked sausage, mushroom mixture, egg mixture, and Cheddar cheese, and spoon into the pie crust. Cover the edges with foil to prevent the crust form burning (I had to take it off about half way through, so it could get a little brown.)

5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, til golden brown and set in the center. Cool for 20 minutes.

Someone at my old office gave me this breakfast pizza recipe and it's delicious. To serve- I took it out of the 9x13 and cut it into little squares. Sometimes the middle is a little gooey, so I didn't serve that part.

Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients:
1 can Crescent Roll Dough
1 roll of Breakfast Sausage
6 eggs beaten
½ cup bell pepper – chopped
½ cup onion – chopped
2+ cups of shredded cheese – Monterrey/Colby/mild cheddar (your preference)

Seasoning – I used a little garlic powder & Italian seasoning while cooking the sausage, onion and bell pepper.

Directions:

1. Cook sausage, onions, bell pepper and seasonings together in skillet. (this time I substituted bacon- really use your favorite breakfast ingredients)

2. Roll out crescent roll dough in a 9 x 13 baking pan (kind of press into pan).

3. Spread sausage mixture on dough.

4. Pout in eggs and top with cheese.

5. Bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes. (might need to bake a little longer- check middle)

I managed to not get any pictures of the zucchini bread. But it's not too exciting anyway. This is one of my all-time favorite breads. Here's the recipe:

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini (took 2 small zucchinis)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I omitted nuts)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.


In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in.


Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!