Category Archives: Food, Restaurants

DisneySide @Home Celebration!

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We hosted a DisneySide @Home Celebration….and we had a blast!!  Thank you so much to Disney Parks, Mom Select, HP, American Tourister and Ocean Spray for the wonderful party supplies, guest gifts and hostess goodies that were included in our box.  Disney Parks wants everyone to Show Their Disney Side this year and a select number of people were chose to do just that.  We were sent a box with great party supplies to get us started.

 

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We also added a few party supplies of our own.Image

  We chose to have a Disney Luau with our family and friends.  There were lots of yummy eats and treats, Disney Bingo (which came in our box), a Treasure Hunt for the little kids and lots of great Disney prizes.

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We are so glad our friends and family joined us for our DisneySide Celebration.

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A special thank you to the kids that made the party so much fun!ImageImageImageImageImageImageImage

I like to thank all of the sponsors for my wonderful hostess gifts as well.

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I will be using my measuring cups from ABC’s The Chew when I bake.  The Mickey cookie cutters are perfect for cookies, sandwiches or other Mickey shaped snacks and I will definitely be using my American Tourister luggage on our Disney vacation this summer!!  We can’t wait to get to Disney World and Show Our Disney Side!!!

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Please visit the DisneySide Celebration Facebook group at www.facebook.com/#!/groups/disneysidecelebrations.  Also visit the Disney Side website at www.disneysidecelebrations.com/.  Plan a party, invite your family and friends and show your DisneySide!

No Bake Boston Cream Pie Dessert

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I like to give credit where credit is due when I post a recipe.  Unfortunately, I have looked at so many recipes on Facebook and Pinterest lately, that I can’t remember where I saw this one!   I jotted down the ingredients and instructions and totally forgot to write down who posted it.  I did want to let you know this is not my recipe.  It is, however,  simple and delicious!!

You will need:

1 box of Honey Graham Crackers

2 boxes of French Vanilla Instant Pudding

1 -9 0z. tub of Cool Whip

3 Cups of Whole Milk

1 Can of Chocolate Frosting

In a bowl ( I use my Kitchen Aid),  mix the 2 boxes of French Vanilla Instant Pudding with 3 cups of whole milk until it thickens.  Add the 9 oz. tub of Cool Whip and mix thoroughly.

In the bottom of  a 9×13 baking dish, put a layer of the Honey Graham Crackers.  Spread a layer of the pudding mixture on top of the graham crackers.  Keep alternating layers and make sure you end with a layer of graham crackers on top.  I had 3 layers of graham crackers and 2 layers of pudding when I did this one.

Spread the tub of chocolate frosting on the top layer of graham crackers and that is it!  We had to taste this as soon as it was finished.  The graham crackers are still crunchy at this point so it was a little difficult to eat with a spoon.  I would recommend leaving it in the fridge for several hours so the graham crackers have enough time to soften up.   We left ours in the fridge overnight and had some after lunch the next day.  It is absolutely yummy!!  I’m usually not one to eat Boston Cream Pie, but this dessert was so simple to make I had to give it a try.

This is what it looked like when we cut it while the graham crackers were still crunchy.  It cuts much easier (and neater!) after they have softened up.   If you’re looking for a simple dessert that will be a crowd pleaser, definitely give this one a try!


It’s Giveaway Time!!

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In honor of my Facebook page reaching over 600 fans, I’m having a giveaway!  One lucky reader will receive 3 awesome cookbooks that contain some really yummy recipes.  Here are a few pictures so you can see for yourself.

   

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Soon you’ll be making delicious cakes and pies for dessert.  The Fix It and Forget It series is one of my favorites.  This cookbook has over 550 recipes in it!  The giveaway will run from today, Jan. 21, 2012 til next Sunday, January 29, 2012.  There are several ways to enter.  The more you choose to do, the better your chances of winning!  Here they are:

 

1. You must “Like” my Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Ihearditsyummy/216206971770433 and then leave me a comment here on this blog letting me know you did so.  If you already are a fan of the page, please leave a comment letting me know that, also.

 2. Go to our Facebook Group, http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/ihearditsyummy/, and join us.  Then come back here and leave a comment letting me know you asked to join.

3. Leave me a comment here and just say something nice….something nice about the blog, what you like about the giveaway, tell me what your favorite this to cook is….whatever you’d like.

4. Subscribe to my blog!!

Next Sunday evening, January 29, 2012, I will have random.org choose one winner for all 3 cookbooks and will announce it on my Facebook page so keep checking there to see if you’ve won.  Good Luck Everyone!!

Apple Brown Betty in the crock pot!

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When I buy fruit, I always buy it with good intentions.  I intend on eating it instead of some other less healthy snack, but it always seems to just sit there.   I’ve had some Granny Smith apples sitting on the counter just staring at me and this time, instead of just tossing them out, I decided to look for a recipe to use them in.   The first site I went to was www.thecountrycook.net as Brandie always has yummy things on her blog.  I LOVE her potato salad, hamburger steak and apple danish recipes, they are three of my favorites.  I typed “apple” in her search bar and found this blog entry, http://www.thecountrycook.net/2011/09/apple-brown-betty.html.  I am ashamed to say I was so excited to read the recipe that I skimmed thru the blog post rather quickly and didn’t notice that the recipe was actually one from the Big Book of Homecooking by Gooseberry Patch.  Now, I do not have that cookbook and have never read it so I went by the recipe Brandie had posted on her blog.  I just need to mention all of that here so I can cover all of my bases and give credit where credit is due for the recipe.  I did, however, make a few changes to how everything was put together, added caramel to the recipe and cooked it in a crock pot instead of the oven.   Here we go:

Ingredients:
8 slices white bread
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored & sliced
2/3 cup Light Brown Sugar, packed
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Nutmeg

24 pieces of caramel candy

 

 

Cube all 8 pieces of bread into 1 inch pieces.  Place on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven until brown.  This took about 11-12 minutes in my oven. 

 

Peel, core and slice apples.  I tried not to slice my apples too thinly as I wanted them to be good-sized chunks.  Put apple slices in a bowl and add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT for the caramel.  Stir well and let sit for about 5 minutes. 

You probably should spray the inside of your crock pot with a non-stick cooking spray, but I forgot to do this. 😉  Put a layer of the bread crumbs at the bottom of the crock pot. 

Then put a layer of the apple mixture on top of that.  Unwrap your caramel candy and put about 8 pieces on top of the apples.  I only used about 6 pieces until I reached the top layer, but it could have used a little more, in my opinion.  You definitely could add more caramel if you’d like.  I think you might even be able to add caramel sauce here if you don’t have the candy on hand. 

I was able to get 3 layers of this in the crock pot and it pretty much reached the top.  I don’t remember how many quarts this one is, it is on the smaller side as far as crock pots go.  I put the lid on and cooked it on high for 2 hours and then turned it to low for 1 hour.  It does cook down some so keep that in mind.

 

This is one of the yummiest apple desserts I have ever eaten and so simple to make!  It would have been great with some vanilla ice cream, but I didn’t have any in the freezer.  I will have to remember that for next time.  Thank you so much Brandie and Gooseberry Patch!

Enjoy and thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Goodies

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Hello, everyone!  It has been a while since I’ve written anything here.  Hope everyone is doing well.  I have wanted to put some goodies together for friends at Christmas and finally decided to do it this year.  I asked my sister, Jenny, if she wanted to do this with me, as I thought they would make good gifts for her to give to her friends and her children’s teachers as well.   We had fun doing these and I thought I would share the results with you! 

I had a friend that came to my rescue with recipes for Hot Cocoa, Buckeyes and Nutter Butter Santas.  Thank you, Kara!   The Nutter Butter Santas were fun and easy to make.  I think they turned out pretty cute!

I found the perfect little tubs to put the Hot Cocoa in.  We added crushed peppermints to the cocoa and put a candy cane in each tub, too.  Chocolate spoons are always a great way to add even more chocolatey flavor!  I liked making these, as well.  We added green swirls to some and others has Cinnamon Sprinkles on them.  I bet those will taste pretty good in a nice hot cup of cocoa.  

    

 

Next, we baked Chocolate Chip Cookies and Butter Sugar Cookies and put them in the cutest  little boxes.  The boxes came with cute stickers to hold the flaps down on them, those were a great idea!  You can really find some wonderful packaging for your baked goods.  I think I’m going to go shopping after Christmas and see if I can find these items when they are marked down.  Then I will have plenty for next year!

 

 

I totally forgot to take pictures of the Buckeyes and the fudge.  Those were two of the yummiest items to me.  I did take pictures of the bags we put them in.  I love these Santa’s and Snowmen!

 

  Special thanks to my niece, Brooke, for her help with these yesterday!  I hope all of the teachers that receive these enjoy the goodies that are in them.  We had a lot of fun making them for you!  Please forgive the shameless plug for my blog that my sister and I added to your bag…LOL!   If you read this, maybe you will leave me a comment and let me know how everything tasted.  It would be greatly appreciated.  You may even see your name in one of the photos, too! 

I hope everyone out there has a safe and wonderful holiday season.  I will be thinking of all of you when we are spending Christmas at Disney World and hopefully getting some new material for this blog! 

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Thank You for reading!

Lisa

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting

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These pumpkin cupcakes are so yummy and really moist.  There are just a few ingredients in this recipe and there are no eggs or oil in them.  The pumpkin buttercream frosting is delicous.  I could eat it by the spoonful!   Here are the recipes if you’d like to try a nice Halloween treat.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 Box Duncan Hines White Cake Mix

1 Cup Canned Pumpkin

2 Tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 Cup Applesauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour white cake mix into a bowl. Add canned pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and applesauce. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full with mix. If you aren’t using cupcake liners, make sure you spray your cupcake pan with a non-stick baking spray. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean. Let cool thoroughly before adding frosting.   These are delicious enough to eat without  any frosting.  Enjoy!

 

Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting

1/3 Cup Solid Vegetable Shortening
1/3 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Canned Pumpkin
… 1 Tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
2 Tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
4 Cups Confectioner’s Sugar

Cream shortening and butter with mixer. Add canned pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla. Add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl each time before adding more sugar. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. I cut back the canned pumpkin to 1/2 cup in this recipe. I used 1 cup in mine and it was way too runny. If  it needs to thicken up a bit you could add more sugar to it. This frosting is really good if you need a pumpkin fix!

Thanks for reading!

The Liebster Blog Award

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I am so grateful to have been given another blog award by a fellow blogger.  This one is called the Liebster Blog Award.  In German, Liebster means Beloved, Dear, Dearest and it is so very special to me.  Thank so much to Nel from The PaperCup Kitchen.  You are so sweet to extend this award to me and my blog.  I am very thankful for your support and to everyone else reading!

In return, I am passing along this award to 5 other pages that I have enjoyed reading lately. 

The Hungry Mommy

Blog of a Peri-Menopausal Woman……. When I Remember

 The Dash Between

Kesha’s Kitchen Kreations

Love.Peace.Happiness.Cooking

It was so hard to choose just 5, but I have enjoyed reading these wonderful blogs.

 

Here are the rules that come with this
award:
 
1.) Show your thanks to the blogger that gave you the
award by linking back to them.
2.) Reveal your top 5 picks by leaving a comment on their
blog.
3.) Post the award on your blog.
4.) Enjoy the love of some of the most supportive people
on the internet!

 

Thank you again, Dear Nel! 

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies from Williams Sonoma

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Not too long ago, I tried my first Whoopie Pie.  They were chocolate pies with a peanut butter cream in the middle and they were really good.  I’ve been wanting to try to make some ever since.  A shopping trip to Wilmington led me to Williams Sonoma.  When I walked in the store,  the smell of freshly baked pumpkin bread hit me.  It always smells so good in their store, no doubt this is how they get people in a cooking mood and a shopping mood, too.  I spied the Pumpkin Whoopie Pie mix and the pans to make them in and had to have one of each.  Any excuse to add to my collection of baking pans! 

Seeing as how all I had to do was empty a pouch into my Kitchen-Aid mixer, along with a few other ingredients, it seemed like it would be pretty simple, and for the most part, it was.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love my Kitchen-Aid mixer?  I have no idea what I did before I got one.  It is absolutely my favorite thing in my kitchen.  You know, some attachments for Christmas would be a wonderful gift.  Could you all pass that along to Santa?  Maybe I can leave him Whoopie Pies instead of cookies this year. 🙂 

Everything went in to the mixer with  no problem.  I sprayed the Whoopie Pie pan with non-stick cooking spray like the directions called for.  The box said to put 2 TBS of mix into each well.  I can tell you, either I don’t know how to measure out 2 TBS or this was way too much to put in them.  The mix was VERY thick so I may have erred when measuring this out.  Yes, I have to tell you the bad right along with the good, no matter how much I don’t want to.   After all the wells had been filled, I had no mix left.  This is the part where it would have helped if I had read the ENTIRE set of instructions before I just jumped in.  I needed the batter to fill the pan twice and here I had only filled it once!   The pie pan came with a recipe for original Whoopie Pies and that one calls for 1 1/2 TBS of mix in each well so I’m thinking maybe it wasn’t entirely my fault.  Next time, I think I’ll just try 1 TBS of mix in each well.  Gotta love trial and error.  

These were supposed to cook for 10 minutes, but seeing as how they were twice as full as what the directions called for, I let them cook about 15 minutes.  The lightbulb came on here and I figured I could just cut them in half!  Who would know?  I’d still have tops and bottoms and cream in the middle!

You probably can’t tell much by this picture, but my tops and my bottoms were going to be different sizes.  I was going to have to make lop-sided whoopie pies folks!  These were more muffin shaped than whoopie pie shaped.  Then that light bulb came on again…I could cut these in half, length wise and use two tops for half of them and two bottoms for the other half.  Am I a genius, or what?  Don’t answer that!  It was a pretty good cover up in my mind!

You can see how they turned out here.  I don’t think they look too bad and they tasted delicious!  See my new Snowman plate I got during my shopping trip?  It’s almost that time again and I can’t wait!!  Please, don’t forget to tell Santa about those attachments for my Kitchen-Aid!  As always, thanks for reading!!

 

 

 

Baron Bars

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Baron Bars are a yummy snack when you need a chocolate fix.  They are very simple to make and require very few ingredients.  The hardest thing about making them is having the patience to wait until they have hardened long enough in the refrigerator. 😉  Trust me, at my son’s insistence last night, I tried speeding them up by placing them in the freezer.  After listening to him ask me every 10 minutes, “Are they done yet?”, I decided to take them out.  They were nice and hard on the top, but sticky on the bottom.  This lot turned out chewier than usual because I rushed them, however, they tasted as good as always.  For this recipe you will need:

1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)

1 cup light brown sugar

35-40 Saltine crackers

1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil.  Spread butter on the entire piece of foil.  Make sure you cover the foil good so the crackers will not stick to it.  Arrange Saltine crackers, salty side up, on the buttered foil.  Put as many as will fit without overlapping them.

  

In a medium-sized sauce pan, combine butter and brown sugar and bring to a boil.  Boil for one minute, stirring constantly.  Pour mixture over all of the Saltine crackers.  Spread evenly with a butter knife and make sure crackers are thoroughly covered.  Place cookie sheet in oven and bake for 8 minutes.

    

Remove cookie sheet from oven and pour chocolate chips over the crackers.  Spread chocolate evenly with a butter knife.  The chocolate chips will melt quickly and can be spread like frosting. 

   

Refrigerate cookie sheet for several hours until completely cool and chocolate is hard to the touch.  Break the Baron Bars into pieces as you peel it off of the foil.  I store mine in an airtight container or Ziploc bag in the refrigerator so the chocolate doesn’t melt.  The saltly, chocolately, sugary mix is YUMMY! 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

The Versatile Blogger Award

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On Sunday morning, I sat down in front of my comuter with my first cup of coffee.  I checked in on my WordPress blog and then headed over to Foodbuzz.com.  I saw a new post from Shay at paperplatesandchina and clicked on it to give it a look.   The words Cocoa Chili caught my eye and I thought how yummy that sounded.  I couldn’t wait to read her recipe for it and see if it was something I thought my family would try.  Also, in her title was, “my very first award.”   I knew blogging awards existed, but being new to the blogging world I had no idea what were or what they entailed.  You could tell she was super exicted about this, I could only imagine how honored I would be to receive one myself some day. 
 
Shay explained that when you receive this award, you have to pass it along to 15 other bloggers that have sites you really like.  You must also tell your readers 7 random things about yourself.   She announced she was addicted to Diet Coke.  Not so out of the ordinary, I thought, but then I saw that she slept with one beside her bed.  Now this made me giggle.  Do NOT step between this girl and  her Diet Coke!!  As I read through her list, I thought of what a nice, little package of information those 7 facts gave about her and her family.  I wondered, if ever faced with this task,  what 7 things I would choose to tell people about myself.  Could I even think of 7 random things about myself that I felt were blogworthy?   The time came for her to pass on the award to 15 other bloggers that she felt were deserving of it.  I read down the list, wondering what each person’s blog would hold when I clicked on it.  Surely, I would find new recipes to try and maybe make a new foodie friend or two.  As I reached the bottom of the list, I saw a blog name that looked familiar.  I sipped my coffee and stared at the words.  It just couldn’t possibly be….could that last blog be MINE?  I clicked on the link and sure enough, there was my blog!  I almost fell off of my chair, folks.  I wanted to jump up and down and shout, but as I was not alone in the room and I didn’t want my family to think I was crazy, I somehow managed to contain myself.  MY blog….another blogger actually thought MY blog was worthy of an award.  I instantly left Shay a message telling her how honored I was that she would extend this to me.  It is now my turn to extend this award to 15 other bloggers.  It is now my turn to tell 7 random facts about myself.
 
Here we go:
 
1. I am a SAHM of 3, one of which has left the nest.  My husband is retired from the Marine Corps.  I didn’t have to experience deployments and the like as he had already done 19 years in the service when I met him.  I feel like I am very lucky in that aspect, as I don’t know I would have dealt with him being gone for long periods of time.  Even though his job right now is far from being 9-5, he home almost every night.
 
2. I was born and raised in North Carolina.  Although Southern girls are supposed to like sweet tea, tomatoes and turnip greens, I despise all three!  Well, I like tomatoes if they are cooked…hopefully they are in spaghetti sauce.
 
3. I am a Disney Freak.  Disney World is my favorite place to vacation and is just about the only place we have taken a vacation to in the last 4 years.  I speak of Disney every day, usually sing a Disney song every day and see a past vacation photo of Disney every day.  You see, these are hanging on  my wall, my screensaver on my computer, my wallpaper on my phone…you get the picture.  Goofy is my favorite character.  I noticed the other day that my Goofy keychain was only Goofy’s head now.  I couldn’t locate his body anywhere in my purse so somewhere out there is a headless Goofy.  If you find him, please return him to me.  Superglue works wonders ya know. 
 
4.  I was blessed with two of the most wonderful grandmother’s anyone could have asked for.  One was a Southern grandma who made the best cornbread you ever ate.  The other was an Italian grandma who made lasagna that no one could hold a candle to.  I was lucky enough to have both of them live right next door to us from the time I was 4 years old.  I don’t remember either of them ever raising their voice to me or spanking me.  They had the patience of a saint and loved their grandchildren more than anything.  I miss both of them dearly every single day and wished I had paid more attention to them when they cooked…or sewed…or quilted.  If you are blessed with a wonderful grandma people, hang on tight to her and pay attention when she does ANYTHING!
 
5. One day I would like to own my own business.  It would defninitely be something involving cakes, cupcakes and children’s parties.  I think it would be a lot of fun to have a place where you could throw themed parties for kids.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to shop for, cook for and decorate for a party.  I do love a good Luau.
 
6. I was really scared to start this blog.  It was something I had been wanting to do for quite some time, but didn’t have the confidence to do it.  I worried no one would read it and if they did, they wouldn’t like it.  I had several Disbuds (these are  friends you met through your mutual love of Disney for those of you not familiar with the term) tell me to go for it, even if it was just something for myself.  I mean, as long as I liked it and it made me feel better, who else’s opinion mattered, right?  Right now I am extrememly happy someone else did read it and liked it!!  Thank you, Shay!
 
7. Wow, my last random fact.  What to say here and reveal about myself?  I think that in the last couple of weeks, I’ve learned it’s okay to take that leap.  That everything may just turn out well in the end.  That I shouldn’t focus so much on the negative’s and what if’s.  That I have a hand in steering my fate.  After 17 days of blogging….so far, so good.
 
Now, to extend The Versatile Blogger Award to 15 other bloggers: