Irene's Banana Pudding
So day 389,900,987, or what felt like, of shelter in place happened to me on Sunday. I hit rock bottom and the kitchen floor bad. I lost my cookies for a polite way to put it. I was angry, I was sad, I was frustrated, I felt alone, even though I have 4 boys around me, and I lost it. It was pretty ugly! I remember looking at Trey and with tears rolling down my face I said, “I just miss my mom so bad.” So what did I do to cope? I pulled out that recipe box of hers I found cleaning out with Covid and I made her banana pudding. It is actually quite famous! True story! My old World Geography/Golf Coach STILL talks about it!!!! So I channeled my mom and thought of Coach Steward and I made pudding! The BEST DAMN BANANA PUDDING EVER! And today I will share my moms recipe with you and with you Coach Stewart!!!!
IRENE’S BANANA PUDDING
Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese
1 can eagle brand milk in a can
1 large vanilla instant pudding
3 cups of whole milk
1 large cool whip
Vanilla Wafers and Bananas…..I used 7!
PREP:
Blend cream cheese and eagle brand milk. Add pudding and 3 cups of whole milk. Fold in cool whip. Layer your pan with vanilla wafers, bananas, pudding, repeat as needed.
Chill and enjoy!
Bon Appetit!
Amy
Irene's Vanilla Butter Nut Pound Cake
During this shelter in place I discovered a treasure. I discovered my mom’s recipe box while cleaning out a cabinet in my kitchen! What a gift! And it came at just the right time!!!!! AND now you all will benefit too! Because let me tell you, my mom, the Red Head, was quite the cook! Matter of fact, my mom’s cooking MIGHT be one reason why Trey fell in love with me. I guess he thought it was a gene! Ha! Who knows, but I do know he LOVED my Mama’s cooking!
So I have decided to start trying out her recipes and sharing the ones me and my family love with you all! And if you are reading this and you knew my mom and you remember something of hers, please comment below and I will try to find the recipe and make it happen!
I have to disclose one thing though, some recipes, I feel like she MIGHT have left one ingredient out, JUST to make sure no one made it better than her, (this might be a sign of where my competitive spirit comes from) because, I swear some of the recipes just don’t taste the same. Maybe it is because my mom just had that touch, but I have a feeling she left out secret ingredients on purpose.
Today I want to share a pound cake recipe of hers. This pound cake is so good, but take my word on this. NO SUBSTITUTIONS! ESPECIALLY with the vanilla flavoring! It is just not the same. Matter of fact, I tried it and fed it to my sister and she literally said, “Aim, this is awful!” No lie! So I made it again, with the correct flavoring, which I ordered on Amazon, and it was DELICIOUS!!!!! So make sure you get the right flavoring! And vanilla ice cream or whip cream on top is to die for!!!!!!!
Irene’s Vanilla-Butter Nut Pound Cake
Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
1/3 cup crisco
3 cups flour
1 small can of pet milk (if not a full cup add water to make a full cup)
2 sticks of margarine
5 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2 tablespoons vanilla-butternut flavoring
Prep:
Cream your butter, shortening, sugar, salt. Add your eggs one at a time. Add flour and milk alternately ending with flour. Fold in flavoring by hand. Bake In a greased bundt pan for one hour and 45 minutes at 325. START in a COLD oven. DO NOT open the door while baking. Remove from the oven pan immediately.
Remember: DO NOT START BAKING IN A PREHEATED OVEN
Serve with berries and cream or Ice cream or enjoy with your morning cup of joe!
Bon Appetit!
Amy
Scandalous Brownies.....So good, they will make your toes curl!
As we are winding down the month of love and chocolate I wanted to share with you all a recipe I concocted last night. I was given a recipe for brownies by my pastor in Mississippi's wife.
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Easy and so so so so good!
As we are winding down the month of love and chocolate I wanted to share with you all a recipe I concocted last night. I was given a recipe for brownies by my pastor in Mississippi's wife. It was delish! And last night I decided to go a little crazy and boy did they turn out AMAZEBALLS! I mean they are off the rails good! And they are so easy it is just plain ridiculous! So order the secret I am about to share with you, heck you can even order your brownie mix too, and make these babies! You and your friends and family will be so glad you did!
Amy's Scandalous Brownies
Ingredients and Prep:
One box of Brownie mix of your choice. We like milk chocolate. Mix the brownies exactly how your box tells you to.
Next: Pour a little under half the batter in the bottom of your greased pan. Layer across the top with Sanders Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels. This here is the secret! Yall.....I can't even help myself it is so good! After you have done this pour the rest of your batter on top and bake exactly how your box says too!
Substitution: If you don't like caramel you can make them like my friend Julie does. Get yourself Hershey Symphony Bars with toffee and layer these instead of the caramel.
You guys, these brownies are amazing! I can't wait to hear what you think!
Here is a link for each ingredient:
Bon Appetit!
Amy
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Toffee Bars With Some History
When I asked my friends and readers for some chocolate recipes, my dear friend Cathy gave me one that has some really cool history behind it.
When I asked my friends and readers for some chocolate recipes, my dear friend Cathy gave me one that has some really cool history behind it. It is a bar recipe and wouldn't you know I am terrible at making bars. Full disclosure, for whatever reason mine NEVER look pretty, but when she told me the story behind the recipe and how she came about it, I was like, "Amy you are going to have to figure this out because this is just too cool!" More full disclosure, you kind of have to live in our neighborhood to get it, but think small town, think roots, think history and everyone kind of knows everyone....especially if you are from here. I am not, but I am from an AMAZING small town and this recipe makes me want to find one from home so I can share from my own roots.
So the story is short and simple, but I found it cool. Cathy, my friend, came across a garage sale in our hood. This particular sale was at a woman's house by the name of Mimi McKnight who had passed away. Cathy loves history and knew there would be some in this house so she went in and checked it out. She ended up buying a ton of cookbooks, which really is ironic yall because she does not even cook, but she did and they ended up being chalk full of recipes from back in the day. And the even cooler part of the story is that it appears Ms. McKnight was an amazing cook and a caterer. This particular recipe comes from a book that was put together for tastings for the Junior League Garden Club Committee's Creative Arts Show, on Saturday, March 19, 1966. How stinking cool is that! So of course I had to make this! And yall it is so good.....mine are not pretty by any means, but oh my they are soooooooo good! You can do all kinds of variations, like add sea salt, sprinkles, or m & m's, do whatever your family likes, but for today's post I made sure that half my pan was just like Ms. McKnight's recipe. One thing I would suggest, make sure to spread the chocolate when it starts to melt before adding whatever toppings you are adding. This was the mistake I made because I did the recipe just as it was written, but I think Ms. McKnight assumed people are smarter than I am! :) So spread your chocolate! And place them in the refrigerator to harden....other than that.....these babies are awesome! Hope you enjoy them as much as my family and I did!
TOFFEE BARS.......LORA SPITLER
MIX TOGETHER: 1 CUP MELTED BUTTER
1 CUP BROWN SUGAR
1 EGG YOLK
2 CUPS FLOUR
1 TEASPOON VANILLA
Spread on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 18 minutes. While hot sprinkle on 1 pkg of chocolate chips. Let set for moment before spreading ground nuts on top.
They got the thumbs up from this cutie pie!
Easy Peasy and oh so good! Hope you like them!
Bon Appetit!
xo,
Amy
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Grandpa's Favorite Dessert!
It's February and if you are anything like me you think of chocolate! Check out this amazing recipe that just happens to be my father's favorite dessert! And It is oh so good!
For whatever reason, and let's face it... we all know the reason, I associate February with chocolate. Which really is not all that bad if you think about it. We are talking about chocolate. It could be worse we could be talking about Spinach or Kale! Anyways, point is, I associate February with chocolate and this month my plan is to share one chocolate recipe with you a week. I have a ton, because I do love me some chocolate! So if you like chocolate as much as I do, tune in every Wednesday and see if you like what I am cooking! I bet you will.
I would also LOVE for you to send me any chocolate recipe you have that you love. I would love to try them all and I will highlight you and your recipe sometime this year! It's a win-win! I get to add more recipes to my collection and you can share your recipe with my readers! I love that! I hope you do too!
See how it floats in the syrup....trust me, when you are putting the batter into the syrup it is even weirder!
So for today's chocolate recipe, you should know this recipe is very near and dear to my heart. It is my dads absolute FAVORITE dessert in the entire world. My mother use to make it for him for every birthday and anniversary. Full disclosure, it looks odd (and that is being kind with my words) while cooking, but I promise it is delish! It is just not real pretty! As a matter of fact, my baby brother Paul made fun of me in December when I made it for our father. He was placing bets that it was a flop because yall it looks that bad! BUT! It was not! EVERYONE loved it, but most importantly my Dad loved it and loved that I took the time to bring a little bit of mom to him on his first birthday without her. This recipe is perfect for any special occasion or if you are having a special valentines dinner with your kiddos or someone you love. Remember....keep going even if it looks weird or just not right.....it is.....I promise!
Me rubbing it in my baby brother Paul's face that I had actually nailed the dessert!
Irene's Devil's Float
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of flour
3 tablespoons coco
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk
PREP:
Preheat oven to 350 and grease a square baking pan 8 x 8
combine 1 cup of sugar and water in a pan and boil for 10 minutes
cream the butter and remaining sugar together, add the vanilla
sift the dry ingredients together
slowly add dry ingredients with creamed butter, sugar, and vanilla as well as milk
pour your syrup mixture of water and sugar in a square pan and pour your baking mixture on top of this. (This is wear the looks go downhill.....keep going....you are doing great!)
Keep Calm and know everyone will love this!
Trust me!!!!!
Bake on 350 for 40-45 minutes
You can serve this with homemade whip cream, or cool whip or ice cream. Our family prefers homemade whip cream which I will share with you how I make this below. If your family likes nuts you can fold in 1/2 cup chopped nuts to baking mixture before you pour onto the syrup. My dad does not like the nuts so we leave those out.
Homemade whip cream:
1 Cup cold heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Put glass bowl in a freezer for 10-20 minutes to chill. Pour heavy whipping cream into bowl and add vanilla and whisk or beat on high speed....slowly fold in sugar and keep whisking or beat until medium to stiff peaks form
Simple and oh so good!
Even the little ones loved it!
I am telling you EVERYONE loved it! And my dad was so proud of me..I like that!
Can't wait to hear how this turns out for you and hope you love it as much as our family does! Enjoy and Bon Appetit!
xo,
Amy