family feature: barbara's brisket

next up on my family feature list is my lovely mother-in-law barbara draffin! since i married into a true southern family, i knew i had better step up my cooking game and learn some good southern dishes. brisket is on the menu everywhere in tennessee or the south in general and barbara's brisket recipe is a wonderful dish. after being snowed in all weekend here at home, you already know cooking and baking was at the top of my list. on saturday evening we all decided to make dinner and go see a movie since we hadn't left the house since thursday. 

the dinner menu consisted of barbara's brisket, potatoes, pineapple casserole, and salad. we had a great dinner and movie, not to mention a wonderful weekend snowed in at home. it was a much needed weekend for me to relax since traveling so much lately. 

here is barbara's brisket recipe:

ingredients:

-4 to 5 lb beef brisket 

-1/2 cup of ketchup

-1/2 cup of chopped onion

-1 1/2 teaspoon of liquid smoke (found in the condiment section)

-1/4 teaspoon of pepper

-1 1/2 teaspoon of salt (for rubbing the brisket)

-1/4 cup of vinegar

-1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce

-1 bay leaf

details:

-first, start by rubbing the meat with salt

-combine other ingredients and pour over the meat

-wrap all of this in tin foil

-place in a baking dish or pan

-bake at 325 for 4 hours until tender

-cut in thin diagonal slices, across grain at slanting angles. 

you will love this recipe and i hope you all enjoy it :) see you soon! thanks for stopping by.

below is a picture of my mother-in-law barbara :)

recipe: peanut butter energy balls

this is a little healthier snack than the carmel chocolate squares i posted earlier in the week ha!

reed says weekly," i think you should maybe make some of those peanut butter things." i think thats a hint that he likes them. i have been making these for awhile now and just recently started making them a lot for a healthier snack during the week. these are great for a quick pick me or for a quick breakfast. they are so easy to whip up and make very quickly. i made this recipe up on my own; therefore, you can really add anything to it and they will be delicious.

here is my recipe:

ingredients:

-2 to 3 cups of peanut butter (add more or less depending on how many you would like to make)

-1 cup of oats

-1 tablespoon of flax seed

-1/2 cup of dark chocolate or milk chocolate chips

-3 graham crackers 

details:

-start with a medium size bowl and add your peanut butter, oats, flax seed, and chocolate chips

-fold your ingredients in your bowl 

-after those are mixed, form into small sized balls

-this recipe will make 12-15 or you can make them larger if desired

-next, place your graham crackers in a plastic baggie and use a rolling pin to crush them into small pieces

-lastly, take each one and coat it with graham crackers

-after those are coated, place them in the fridge for 30 minutes until firm

enjoy :)

again, they are very easy and quick to make. this is perfect for someone on the go and needing a quick and healthy snack.

i hope you all have a great week!

family feature: aunt amy's carmel chocolate squares

happy new year! what a wonderful year it was!! 2015 was filled with wonderful memories that i will cherish for a lifetime. i am setting a lot of goals for myself for 2016 and yes it does involve eating less and better, however; my family has way too many great recipes not to share and what a great way to start off the year with a family recipe.

gee my first post of 2016, and what does it involve? sweets!! haha no, not a new salad recipe but my aunt amy's carmel brownies!

for Christmas, one of the gifts my mother gave me was a recipe book filled with recipes from all of my family members. i have new recipes from all different generations. this was one of my favorite gifts! i cherish family memories and this was the perfect gift for me. i wanted to start this year with a family feature and i chose one of my many wonderful aunt's (Amy). 

i know i didn't make these as good as my aunt Amy does but i did my best. 

here is the recipe!

ingredients:

-1 box of german chocolate cake mix 

-1/3 cup of evaporated milk (you will use this twice is in this recipe)

-1/3 cup of evaporated milk 

-1/2 cup of margarine

-14 oz bag of carmels (i used carmel chips and this is the reason for the darker carmel color, for a lighter color use actual carmels)

-12 oz package of chocolate chips

details:

-cook your carmels and milk on the stovetop on low heat 

-stir until melted, and then set these aside

-mix your cake mix, milk, and margarine 

-stir this until it forms a ball
-set a small amount of batter to the side to use this later for the top

-use your hands to press this mixture into a greased pan

-bake this at 350 for 6-7 minutes 

-remove this from the over and pour your chocolate chips over the batter

-next,pour your carmel mixture over the chocolate chips
-lastly, use the extra batter to form small balls and place this on top of the carmel 

-return to the over to bake for 15 minutes 

-let these cool and then cut for serving

delish!! 

i made these for reed's grandparents yesterday and they loved them! i hope you all enjoy them as well. 

the time off over the new year holiday was a wonderful time of catching up around the house and getting our Christmas decorations taken down. i have been under the weather since last Wednesday but luckily i was able to rest a lot as well. reed and i went on a few date nights and enjoyed several movies. we had a great weekend together! i hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

thank you to all of my family members for participating in my family feature addition to my blog and for sending my mother your recipes :) 

here is a picture of my aunt Amy!

 :)

hosting our first Christmas gathering

what a fun weekend we had! our first Christmas dinner hosting took place on Saturday and it turned out great! we had family and friends over and the house was filled with Christmas music and a lot of food. paw helped set the table (as you can see) and reed took care of the ham. 

the menu consisted of:

-pineapple casserole

-sweet potato casserole

-holiday ham

-asparagus

-salad

-rolls

and for dessert a yummy cinnamon bread pudding and strawberry cheesecake

i loved using my new Christmas dishes that i received as wedding presents from babcocks in memphis. i loved the new serving pieces as well. the plaid napkins i purchased at home goods and i watched numerous videos of how to fold them into Christmas trees. i love how they turned out! i had several requests on how i made these and i wanted to share with you a quick video of how i learned how to make these. these will be great for your holiday parties or family Christmas dinner. 

(this video is also found on  http://www.instructables.com)

i hope you enjoy this and please share your napkin folding techniques with me, if you have any! i would love to see your examples and ideas as well! i hope you all had a great weekend!

enjoy the week and happy monday :) 

french toast casserole

french toast casserole.. enough said! absolutely amazing and so easy. this is the perfect breakfast to fix for when you have out of town guests and you need to whip something up really quick. i made this for us to have a delicious breakfast for a few days, and the guys loved it. 

heres how to make it:

ingredients:

-1 loaf of french bread or Hawaiian sweet rolls

-6 eggs

-2 cups of milk

-3/4 cup of half and half

-1 cup of sugar

-1 Tablespoon of vanilla

-1 teaspoon of cinnamon

for topping:

-1/2 cup of packed brown sugar

-1/4 cup of all purpose flour

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-3 Tablespoons of cold butter

details:

-tear your bread into small pieces and place them in a greased 9x13 baking pan

-in a bowl whisk together your eggs, milk, half and half, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon

-pour this mixture over the bread in the pan

-cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight

-preheat your oven to 350 degrees

-in a small bowl combine your brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon

-cut your butter into small pieces and place over the flour mixture

-with a fork, blend the butter mixture until it forms small crumbs

-pour this mixture over the bread in the pan

-cover this with foil and bake for 20 minutes

-remove foil and bake for another 25-30 minutes or until golden brown

-let it cool, and then serve

again, a very easy breakfast casserole and definitely a crowd pleaser :)

i hope you enjoy your day! thank you for stopping by.

oreo & brownie cookie bars

wow, this is the easiest recipe ever! any recipe that involves cookies, oreos, and brownies in the same recipe is probably going to be pretty good and gooey. i made these this week for my co-workers and i think they enjoyed them! thank you kayla for the suggestion on what to bring to the office this week haha :) 

literally, did i mention how easy this is? 

ingredients:

-cookie dough

-brownie mix

-oreos

details:

-start with making your cookie dough first (or just buying cookie dough, either way)

-spread the cookie dough throughout your pan or glass dish

-place oreos on top of the cookie dough (enough to fill the dish)

-lastly, mix your brownie mix or make it from scratch

-then, pour the batter on top of the oreos and cookies 

-bake for 25-30 minutes (keep an eye on it)

-let this cool for 30 minutes before cutting and serving

deeeeelish! and very very gooey and a lot of chocolate. FYI! :)

i hope you enjoy this easy recipe!

Have a great day!

fudge pudding cake

this is a great recipe i found on pinterest! we decided it was a chocolate dessert day at the draffin house. this chocolate fudge pudding cake is exactly what we needed for a mid work week pick me up haha!

here is the recipe!

ingredients:

-1 1/4 cups of sugar (divided)

-1 cup of flour

-1/2 cup of cocoa powder (divided)

-2 teaspoons of baking powder

-1/4 teaspoon of salt

-1/2 cup of milk

1/2 cup of unsalted butter melted

-1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

-1/2 cup of brown sugar

-1 1/4 cups of hot water

-vanilla ice cream & whipped cream 

details:

-preheat your oven to 350

-heat a pot of water on the stove to the highest temperature until boiling and then let it sit for a few minutes 

-in your mixer or bowl, combine 3/4 cup of sugar, flour, 1/4 cup of cocoa, baking powder and salt

-stir in your milk, melted butter, and vanilla and mix until smooth

-pour the batter into a greased ban or glass dish

-spread the batter evenly throughout the dish/pan

-in a small bowl mix together the rest of your sugar (1/2 cup), brown sugar, and the rest of your cocoa powder (1/4) and blend well.

-take this small mixture and cover your cake batter in the dish

-then, take your hot water and pour the hot water over the top, but do not stir 

-Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the center is almost set

-remove your dish from the oven and allow it to stand for 15-20 minutes

-then, spoon the cake into a bowl with a few scoops of ice cream and a dollop of whip cream and you have an easy yet delicious dessert! 

yum!!! i hope you enjoy this as much as we did. whoops! :)