Karen's Ice Cream Sandwich Cake Recipe

This is the easiest dessert you will ever make and you will be praised profusely for it.

12 Ice Cream Sandwiches

Small box of Cool Whip

Ice cream toppings, chocolate and carmel

First, the most important part (per Karen):   Take the wrappers off the Ice Cream Sandwiches.  Like the bottom of a 9x13 pan with the sandwiches.  Spread the Cool Whip on top.  Add a design with the ice cream toppings.  Freeze for about 2 hours and serve.  

I've seen other recipes adding candy toppings too...so you can crush up Butterfingers or Oreos too if you want to be fancy.

Trisha Yearwood's Broccoli Casserole

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This was in People Magazine a few weeks ago and I tried it today and it is quite, quite tasty.  It is courtesy of Trisha Yearwood.

Trisha Yearwood

Broccoli Casserole 

Ingredients 

2 10-ounce packages frozen chopped broccoli 

2 large eggs, beaten 

1 cup mayonnaise 

1 10-ounce can cream of mushroom soup 

4 tablespoons onion, grated 

10 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, grated 

Salt and pepper 

½ cup bread crumbs 

Preparation 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9x13x2-inch casserole dish. 

2. Cook broccoli in water, drain and set aside to cool. In large bowl combine broccoli, eggs, mayonnaise, soup, onion and 2 cups of cheese. Add salt and pepper, then pour into casserole dish. 

4. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove casserole from oven and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Top with remaining cheese. 

5. Return to oven and bake till crumbs brown slightly and cheese melts, about 10 minutes. 

Serves 8 to 10

Why? Just why?

I like to hit the "next blog" button at the top of the page just to read around and have come across 2 family blogs tonight where these seemingly normal looking parents named their sons Cassius and Maximus.  Why?  Are you looking for them to be bullied all of their lives?  Trust me...life is tough enough without people making fun of your names all your life.  Seriously, trust me.  Sincerely, Billie Bob, a girl

Sisters

I will remember one May 30 and one May 31 forever.

On May 30, 1970, a Saturday night the sheriff came to our door with his hat in his hand and told my parents that my sister Jo had been killed on a shooting range.  It was ruled an accident though we all had our doubts.  Her husband will rot in hell for what he did.  But that is another story.  Jo was 22 at the time and had a 2 year old son, Steve.  She is the sister I most looked like and she could not carry a tune in a bucket and she wanted to be a nurse.  She did not get to live any dreams or see her son grow up.  She died to young.

On May 31, 1997, another Saturday night, my sister Cathy lost her battle with breast cancer.  She was 50.  She was a smart cookie.  Her husband had died about 10 years earlier, also of cancer and she left 3 kids behind, ranging from 22 to 31. She deserved another man to love and take care of her and she deserved to live longer.  Even though she saw some dreams come true and saw her kids grow up, she too died too young.

I miss my sisters a lot, even after all these years.  I have joked over the years that I'm pretty ticked off at them because they left me behind to have to make the mean decisions when mom and daddy got old but the truth is it was always going to be me, even if they were both still here.  And it's ok, I survived.  And I'll see them again someday.

Summertime

It's finally here!  I'm out of school and can already tell I'm going to have to let go and relax a little.  As most of you know, I'm fairly relaxed most of the time but I was running errands today like a crazy woman, apparently under the impression that I had only one day to get everything done!!  So...tomorrow to the post office with the insurance claim and then I'm going to attack the weeds in the back flower bed.  And that's about it.  This is after I sleep late.

We'll see...

Loved San Francisco and the Rangers

Every other day or so I look at the website of the funeral home of my hometown just to see what's what.  They don't get the Lubbock paper delivered in Spur anymore so the expensive obits don't always appear in the Lubbock paper.

Today, there is an obit of a man I don't know but from reading it I learned that he married "the love of his life" and loved his family and going to the state fair and fishing and the Cowboys.  He'd been a farm hand all of his life and loved John Wayne movies.  He and his love had 7 children.  He was 71.  I kinda feel like I knew him now!  Not something you'd find in a big city newspaper but it's just right for Spur.

He was probably a man who worked hard and never went far from home.   Some would say a sad, wasted life.   But I wonder if he felt the same?  Probably not.  See, if you can find joy in the simple things--family, fishing, football--you may actually have more than a person who has all the money in the world.  Let's just guess who was happier:  This farm hand or Lindsey Lohan?

I have traveled a little more.  Nothing big mind you--never out of the country unless you count Nuevo Laredo.  I've been to Las Vegas and Miami and San Francisco.  All nice places to visit but I'm always ready to leave when it's time and come home, to my little house, to Judge Judy on the DVR and the Rangers on TV.  So I guess when it's time for me to go, they can write that I loved the Rangers and I loved San Francisco.  Maybe add that I missed my family after they were all gone and was a good friend.  I think it's all I can ask for realistically.

Soft Kitty

My 2 month weekend

Now to some cheery stuff...

School is out.  I don't have to go back to August 8.  I still get paid.  I am going to a new position at the same school.   I will make a little more money.  I am ready for some rest, relaxation and recharge.  Woohoo!!

I've made a list and checked it twice.  I am on a clean out mission and am doing ok so far.  Of course, the burglars helped me clean out some.  See I can have a little sense of humor about it.  I have made a Ladle List for the summer.  There is not enough time for a bucket so I just found something smaller.  My plans have altered just a little because of the breakin but I'm ready to get started.  

Like, maybe starting Tuesday.

Why are people so rude?

As you read earlier, I have a new alarm.  I wanted the best deal and was shopping around and had actually made an appointment with a man to come on Friday to talk alarm.  But, Thursday night a man was at my door, sent by a friend, and he sold alarms and he sold to me.  They even installed that night!  So on Friday I called the man to cancel the appointment and he asked why.  I told him I'd already purchased and his manner changed 180 degrees.  He asked how I could make a decision without even talking to him first.  WTF?  Then he got worse when I would not tell him who I went with because, frankly, I did not want to hear any bashing.  I finally had to tell him to have a nice summer and hang up because he would not stop.  I know the economy is rough but seriously?  If his attitude is indicative of his company, no thanks.

Then last week I talked to a man who had done work for me before to get a painting estimate and he told me he was very busy and was not sure when he could give me an estimate.  So I shopped around, found another person and when he called me to tell me he had "not forgotten about me" I told him I'd hired someone else and he hung up on me.  Again, seriously?

Dudes, you don't get every sale.  I won't call again and I won't recommend.

Safe

I'm sitting here tonight in my sweet home, electronically protected by a shiny new alarm.  I guess I feel safe.  I should feel safe.  Last Tuesday I came home and someone had broken into my house and at first I was nuts because, among other things, they took my mom's wedding rings.  Then I was scared.  Scared to sleep.  Scared to stay and scared to go.  Now I'm just mad.  Mad that the rings are gone.  Mad that things I have worked for were taken by people who invaded my home and touched my stuff.  Mad that there is really nothing that can be done except be in my house with an alarm on.

I filled out all kinds of paperwork for the insurance company and it will probably not be good enough.  I don't have pictures or receipts.  I called the police officer with a car description from a neighbor but no one is even pretending that anything can be done and that I'll get those rings back.  I call, the officer writes a report, the insurance company pays (I hope) and it will be like it never happened.  Except for the fact that it's going to take a long time for me to feel safe in my home again.

All in all, I'm pretty lucky.  They just took stuff.  They did pretty minimal damage.  I can afford the alarm.  I have insurance.  Life will go on even if my faith in humanity is less than it was.  I truly hate these people.

Butterbeer Cupcakes. I made a ganache!!

I found this recipe online and made and they turned out perfect and tasted scrumptious!!  I felt soooooo Food Network!!

Harry, Ron and Hermoine would approve!!

Butterbeer CupcakesMakes 18
.For the cupcakes:
.
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cream soda
.
For the ganache:.
1 11-oz. package butterscotch chips
1 cup heavy cream
.
For the buttercream frosting:.
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup butterscotch ganache
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 16-oz. package powdered sugar
Splash of milk or cream (as needed)
.
For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with paper liners. Combine your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, cream your butter until light and fluffy. Add your sugars and beat until well-combined. Beat in your eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then beat in your vanilla and butter flavoring.
.
Alternate adding your buttermilk, cream soda, and dry ingredients in batches until all are well incorporated. Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full, then bake for 15 to 17 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and cake springs back to the touch. Cool completely on wire racks.
.
For butterscotch filling: In a double boiler (heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water on the stove), combine butterscotch chips and heavy cream and stir until completely combined and smooth. Cool to room temperature. Fill a squeeze bottle with ganache and insert into the center of each cupcake, squeezing until filling begins to overflow.
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For buttercream frosting: Cream butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add in ganache, vanilla, butter flavoring, and salt and mix until well combined. Beat in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until reaching desired consistency. Add milk or cream by the Tablespoon as needed. Frost cupcakes and top with a drizzle of butterscotch ganache.
.

Here's what mine looked like:

                                                                                          And they tasted wonderful!!