When Life Hands You Lemons...You Make Pie

I know that a lot of times we aren't truly grateful for the little things on life that God has blessed us with. Many days I realize when I lay down at night that I didn't once thank Him for the many things he blessed me with. The Bible says we should give Him thanks everyday and that is something that I committed to doing when the new year came around... I have to say a month of thanking Him and giving Him praise each day in my life has surely paid off.

I have some of the best girlfriends that I could ever hope to have...so much so they are more like my blood sisters than just my friends. I have a boyfriend that I have been blessed to have in my life for nearly two years and each day we only grow stronger and more in love than the day before. I have a younger brother who has found the love of his life and will be married at the end of this year. I have parents that even when I've made mistakes or had to face life decisions, they have been there to support me and offer an encouraging word. Grandparents (on both sides) that without I wouldn't have many of the blessings or the knowledge that I have today. I even have advisors, elders, and alumnae in my life that still play a huge role, long after my college career is over. 

Putting it all down on paper makes you realize actually how much you may take for granted every single day. I encourage you to take a few moments and write it down. Then each day while you are in the shower, driving to work, or waiting in line to place an order, turn the radio off, shut down the million thoughts running through your brain, and tell Him thank you for all those things on your paper.

David and I are currently visiting friends in Colorado and it is absolutely beautiful- hope you all are having a fabulous Super Bowl weekend!

Lemon Ice Box Pie

2 cups of Graham Cracker Crumbs

1/4 cup of Butter

3 tablespoons of Sugar

1/2 cup of fresh squeezed Lemon Juice (strained, you can a little over 1/2 cup)

2 small cans of Condensed Milk

5 Egg Yolks

1 tub of Cool Whip (You can be fancy and make your own whip cream but I like using Cool Whip to keep it simple.)

Melt the butter and mix it with the graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a bowl. Once we'll mixed, press into the bottom of a 9x9 pan to form a crust. Place the egg yolks and condensed. Ilk in a bowl and begin mixing with an electric mixer. Slowly pour in the lemon juice while beating the egg mixture. Once we'll beaten, pour over the crust. Cover and place in fridge for 3-4 hours. When ready to serve, top with cool whip and serve.

Gossip Girl and Banana Pudding

As I sit here and type this blog post, I am currently watching season 3 episode 4 of Gossip Girl. As high school as this show may be, I am absolutely addicted. I literally could sit and watch it all day, as sad as that may sound. I think I like it because if my life was that fabulous, I just wonder where I would fall in? Rich girl that is the queen bee or one of the ones just trying to get by and not be a major part of the glam. Maybe I'm just watching in order to live vicariously through the show- who knows?


Other than television show seasons on Netflix, I have had a pretty eventful week. We have started our new semester and with that comes a lot of new work. I have been training some for my new position and still trying to maintain my regular work load. I am excited and scared about it, but I know it is a great decision and I am confident in my choice to move forward.


I was also fortunate enough to have the opportunity to treat one of my former staff members to a little birthday surprise this week. I decided to prepare him a small baking dish of my grandma Bec's famous banana pudding. It is 100% homemade minus the vanilla wafers, of course. Check it out below and let me know how it turns out for you.


Happy cooking!


-HB

Bec's Banana Pudding

4 Ripe Bananas

1 box of Vanilla Wafers

4 cups of Milk

1/2 cup of Corn Starch (use a little under 1/2 cup)

2 tablespoons of Vanilla

1/4 cup of Butter

Pinch of Salt

5 Eggs

3 cups of Sugar

Mix corn starch, vanilla, butter, salt, eggs, and sugar in a boiler.

Beat with a mixer until smooth.
Add medium heat and stir milk into mixture. Turn up heat and bring mixture to a boil.
Stir continuously until thick (if pudding starts to brown on the bottom, turn heat down some).
In a baking dish, slice bananas and sprinkle with whole vanilla wafers, just until covered.
Pour pudding mixture over bananas and wafers.
Line wafers around the edges of the baking dish.
Crush about 5 wafers and sprinkle over the top of the pudding to garnish.

Cold Weather brings Sick Days and Homemade Vegetable Soup

As you can probably tell by the title of this post - I have been home sick for the past 3 days. The bonus to that is that I have watched every movie we got for Christmas, have been able to sleep my life away, and I get to make my grandma Bec's famous vegetable beef soup.


On Sunday night, I attended the ASU Men's Basketball game, got to stay after for a pizza party/meet and greet with some of the players and then headed home. Once I arrived home, I noticed my throat felt a little scratchy. Within the next hour, I could barely swallow! I went and looked in the mirror and I had developed some white spots on my tonsils - which I have seen before when I had mono - so I was terrified!


Monday morning I called as soon as the Doctor's office opened and made an appointment. They did some blood work to check for mono, took a strep swab test, and sent me home with some ibuprofen. "Come back in a week if you aren't feeling better. I'll call you something in if the strep test comes back positive" - that's all my doctor said. I agreed to take her advice and went home. Monday was terrible. I was in bed all day. I ate some canned soup, but it wasn't that great. Tuesday, I felt worse - I stayed home and rested all day long. Thankfully, David was off work on Tuesday, so he and I watched movies and we ate grilled cheese with warm tomato soup, which did soothe my scratchy throat some.


Wednesday, I feel a little better but an annoying cough started in around 2:30 am and would not let up. I have now called my doctors office twice for tests results and have gotten no answers so I made another appointment with a different doctor. The new doctor wanted to see my lab results before prescribing me any anti-biotic that may be unnecessary. I understand that and don't want to take something if it's not needed but she did let me know about some helpful over the counter things I could take to ease the pain in my throat and help with my cough until my test results were in (If you can't tell - I will be switching doctors offices now :) ).


On cold days in Arkansas, my grandma can't keep her vegetable soup bin full on the buffet line at Country Vittles. People consume it by the gallon full and I absolutely love it. I called her when I left the doctors office and told her I wanted some of her soup. She, of course, then shared the recipe with me and I came home and made it.


This soup is so good, I promise you will want it any time of the year. It goes great with cornbread or crackers and can be cooked and bulk and frozen so you can save some for later! Try it out and let me know what you think!

Bec's Vegetable Beef Soup

1 lb. of Ground Beef

2 - 46 oz. cans of Tomato Juice

3 - 29 oz. cans of Veg-All - Strained (You can buy frozen bags of mixed vegetables instead if you don't like canned)

1 can of Rotel (original)

4 small Red Potatoes (Peeled and chopped)

1 Yellow Onion (chopped)

1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 cup of Whole Milk

1/2 Gallon of Water

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large boiler (I used a 10 quart boiler) pour in your water, chopped onion, chopped potatoes, and crumble in your hamburger meat.

Bring this mixture to a boil and let boil until water is pretty clear and potatoes can be cut with a spoon.

Pour in the tomato juice, Rotel, Veg-All (or frozen vegetables), Baking Soda, and Milk and stir well.

Add as much salt and pepper as you like - I usually add some, taste the soup and see that it has a good flavor and add more if needed.

Bring this to a rolling boil- remember to stir occasionally so the mixture does not stick.

Once boiling, turn down the heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes so all flavors mix.

After simmering is done, pour into a bowl and serve.

Like I said - this goes great with cornbread or crackers and it can be put into containers and frozen to save for later!

Happy cooking! :)

-HB

New Beginnings start with Peanut Butter Fudge

Ready for 2014?

I must start off by saying welcome back to reading about my life and life lessons. One thing that I know for sure is that 2014 is looking bright and full of wonderful memories to be made. I am so excited to be back blogging again and really getting to share about my life and in addition to that - some good food!

Currently, I am in the transition phase of a promotion at ASU and I could not be more excited. I have taken on several hats while working in my current position (from Spirit Captain Extraordinaire to Guest and Conference Housing at Poly) so it will be a nice change for me to see what another part of our department looks like. David and I are trying to start planning our next steps and some mini-vacations in the near future - like Colorado :)

Over the holidays, we were able to take a long trip back to the south to see our families and I have to say it was a wonderful get away for us. We had time to visit people we don't ever get to see and actually visit more than 10 minutes, which is usually what our weekend trips look like. While at home, I thought often about the upcoming new year and what it would entail for the two of us. My job and David's school work, our move to a new house potentially happening, and then of course my own personal resolutions were all on my mind. I decided after we returned home and started to unpack that I wanted to start keeping my blog up again (at least once a week) with it being dedicated to my grandmother, Becky Roberts.

For those of you who don't know, my grandmother, "Bec" as we call her, is a huge inspiration to me and has had an even bigger impact on my life. She is one of the friendliest people, has a huge heart, and is the most amazing cook! Her restaurant, Country Vittles, is located in Crossett, Arkansas and serves a buffet style lunch and dinner meals. It is all traditional southern soul food and probably some of the best stuff I have ever eaten. With that being said, Bec has always wanted to share her recipes with the world and publish her own cookbook. She finds recipes all the time and alters them to fit her southern tastes and then mails them to me to type up for her book. I have collected tons of recipes since I moved to Arizona, not only for her book, but for me to use for parties, special occasions, and for my own dinners.

I am not a vegetable eater, so if you see me post about anything that rabbits eat, it will be because it is deep fried or smothered in butter - hence the new name :)

One of my all time favorite things to make is fudge - I have had some great trails and some not so great trials making fudge over the past 10 years and when it sets up right, it is some of the best tasting stuff!

Since I am starting my blog "over" with a new look and new name, I thought the best new beginning should start with Peanut Butter Fudge. Fudge is not scary - anyone can make it - but there are a few tricks to help you along the way. Try out the recipe below and comment how it goes! - Enjoy!

-HB

Peanut Butter Fudge

By: Becky Roberts

 

 

3 cups of Sugar

1 cup of Whole Milk

1 tablespoon of Vanilla Extract

1/4 cup of Butter

1/4 cup of Baking Cocoa

1 pinch of Salt

3 tablespoons of Karo Syrup

1 cup of Peanut Butter

 

 

Mix all ingredients in a boiler except the peanut butter. Stir together with a wooden spoon to mix well. Bring ingredients to a boil while stirring occasionally. The most important part is that you are stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon. Metal utensils will not work and will cause the fudge to have a grain like texture. The mixture should boil for about 10 minutes. To test it - fix a small bowl of cold water. Drip a couple of drops of the boiling mixture into the cold water. If the mixture clumps together and forms a mushy type of ball that can be picked up, then it is ready. If it does not make a ball, then keep boiling. Once the fudge ball forms in the cold water, take the boiling mixture off of the heat. Add the peanut butter and beat with an electric mixture until smooth. The mixture will start to harden and get thick fairly quickly, so be sure to add the peanut butter and beat well as soon as the mixture is removed from the heat. Once smooth, pour the fudge out onto a greased cookie sheet or plate to cool and set up. Once firm, cut and serve.

Fudge should never look like this...

my 1st attempt at Buttermilk Fudge this holiday season was a flop!

 

My precious Zeta says Happy Holidays!

My grandparents, mom and me

Left to Right: Pappaw (Merchel Roberts), Bec (Becky Roberts), Me (Haley Burrow), Mom (Tasha Mason)