Long Overdue....

I've been neglecting the blog this past week, but I haven't been cooking and didn't have anything good to share. My husband returned home last night from his trip to California and for his return I made some No-Bake Cookies! My Mom made these for my Dad and us girls all the time while growing up. They remind me of home and are one of my favorite cookies! Everyone seems to have their "own" version of the No-Bake recipe and I haven't tasted anyone else's that are like Mom's (which have a stronger peanut butter flavor versus cocoa). Mom gave me permission to post her recipe (Thanks, Mom!), so here it is:


No-Bake Cookies
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 stick butter

Place ingredients in stove-top pan. Bring to boil and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and add the following:

2/3 cup peanut butter
3 cups quick oats
1 tsp vanilla
6 tsp cocoa

Stir until well combined. Drop by tablespoon full onto waxed paper, let cool.

My view this morning....

Snow, snow, go away, and don't come back until at least November!! This always happens when my husband leaves on a trip and I stay in Wyoming....we get dumped with snow! I can't complain too much as we've had a very mild winter with only a few large snowfalls; however, I am sick of snow and it's now spring when other parts of the country are green and have flowers! Typically, snow in Wyoming is very dry and you can brush it off the sidewalks with a broom. Not today, we have the wet snow I was use to growing up with in Indiana. I'm hoping it warms up enough today that it will melt the snow in the driveway.

Despite the "lovely" weather we are having today, I do have two friends coming for dinner tonight. Both of their husbands are also out of town right now so it will be nice to visit and have someone to eat dinner with! The menu includes Italian Stuffed Shells, salad, and garlic bread...yum!

New Product (for me anyway!)

It's always exciting when I go grocery shopping at the commissary (grocery store on military base) and they have new products. Today I came across a new product in the produce section called, "Freshtables." There were 8 or 9 different varieties of vegetables and stir-fry mixes with sauce that were available in microwave bags. The green beans, carrots, and cinnamon apples looked appetizing, but I chose the butternut squash since it's something my husband would not eat. It was pretty good! I don't know that I would purchase this item all the time, as I could make it myself cheaper, but for convenience purposes it was very tasty. The squash was tender but not mushy, and the sauce was just sweet enough.

Home Alone...again!

My husband left this morning on another business trip to sunny California. I was jealous that he packed shorts and sandals, while leaving me here in Wyoming where it could still snow for the next two months and won't reach 75 degrees until at least the end of May or June.

I have plenty of leftover Italian Beef from last night that I won't need to cook dinner for a few nights at least. I really only plan to cook one night this week, as I invited a friend over for dinner on Thursday since her husband is away on business too. If I find any recipes worth sharing this week I will post them, but probably won't post many pictures. Hopefully after April, my husband will be home longer than 3 days and we'll be staying put for a while!

Rum Cake

Tonight my husband and I are having our focus group from church over for a potluck and to play games. We are providing the main course, Italian Beef, and a dessert. When we were in Washington DC, my friend Jamie made a rum cake for us. Since then, I've been thinking how good it was, so I decided to try one for tonight. I didn't get her recipe, but I found one online through Allrecipes that I believe is pretty similar.

Rum Cake

1 pkg yellow cake mix

1 (3.5 oz) pkg instant vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup rum

1/2 cup chopped pecans

3 Tbs butter

1/4 cup water

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup rum

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour one 10 inch tube pan. Combine cake mix and pudding mix. In another bowl beat eggs, water, oil and rum until frothy. Add cake/pudding mixture and beat until well blended. Spread pecans evenly on bottom of tube pan, pour batter over pecans. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto cake plate. To make the glaze: during the last 15 minutes of baking time, combine butter, water and sugar in sauce pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and boil rapidly until it's very thick and syrupy stirring very frequently. The syrup must be reduced quite a bit and very thick otherwise it will make the cake mushy. Remove from heat and add rum. While cake is still hot, poke holes all over the top of cake with a toothpick and spoon glaze over top of cake. Allow cake to sit at room temperature for one day then refrigerate.

Cherry Blossom Pictures

I don't have any new "food" pictures or recipes to post yet...still getting back into the swing of things, but here are some pictures of the Cherry Blossoms in DC. They are beautiful and it was so nice to see green grass and flowering trees rather than the brown landscape I returned to in Wyoming!

Hubby and Me

The friends we went to visit!

Back Home...

My husband and I had a wonderful vacation visiting friends in the DC area. The weather was gorgeous minus a couple of rainy days. We were able to see the Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin in Washington DC, and they were in peak bloom! We met up with one of my husband's fraternity brothers and his fiance and ate at a Washington "haunt" Old Ebbitt Grill. It was a mix of seafood and American cuisine, but not having access to good seafood in Wyoming, I chose the crab cakes...DELICIOUS! We also introduced our friends, Matt and Jamie, to the Fish Market and Cosi in Old Town Alexandria, where we had more seafood and table-top smore's. Matt and Jamie cooked most nights and everything was wonderful. I'll have to get some of the recipes from her or try to re-create them as best I can! I am trying to get back in to my routine and will hopefully have some recipes and pictures to share soon! This weekend we are hosting our focus group from church at our home for a pot-luck and game night. Hope to have some good recipes from that as well!