Friday, September 27, 2013

Fall Goodness For Your Tummy

I am full throttle on my pumpkin loving. When I see anything fall related, I just get happy. It is my favorite time of the year. And I just love it. The slight chill in the air. Boots. Football. Tailgates. Bonfires. Hot Cocoa. Family gatherings.

I should stop now or I will go on forever. 

Five of my favorite fallish recipes that I made last year for my other blog.

1) Spicy Apple Pork Roast
see recipe here

2) Pumpkin No Bake Cheesecakes
See Recipe Here

3) Apple Cider Mimosa
See Recipe Here
4)Oatmeal Butterscotch Goodness Bars
See Recipe Here
5)Maple Spice Whoopie Pies
See Recipe Here
and this last one may have a bonus second recipe, a mudslide. 
Linking up with Five on Friday, Friday Favorites

Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Winnie

This drink may lend itself a little more towards the summertime, but if you're in an area like we are, it will still be in the high 70's some days...well into October. and so, you can enjoy this at least another few weeks. Or you can be like me and enjoy it whenever you want;)

When we were up in New Hampshire a few weeks ago, we paid a visit to A Castle in the Clouds, and while there we stopped halfway to the top, at the Carriage House, and took in the gorgeous views and had a drink.

They had a rather extensive drink list and many I had tried before, ergo...I tried something a little different. They had this and I thought it sounded `refreshing. and it was.

They named this after the famed Lake  Winnipesaukee, or Winni as some of the locals refer to it. There are amazing views of the mountains and the lake from here.

When I got home, I decided to try and recreate it, but making one slight adaption...I added pineapple juice.

Enjoy.

2 oz  blue curaco
2 oz citrus vodka
1 oz oj
1 oz pineapple juice
spritz of sprite(optional)

Place all ingredients in shaker and shake vigorously for about ten seconds. Serve straight up or over ice. If you are a fan of bubbles(like me;) then top with sprite or club soda

This would also be super yummy as a margarita and subbing tequila for vodka! Yum.

Linking up with Thirsty Thursday

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Pumpkin Caramel Poke Cake

So, are you familiar with  The Country Cook? Oh. My. Goodness. If you're not, do yourself a favor and check her out. She has such a sweet personality and I love her recipes. And more than likely you have pinned one of her recipes and not even known it. My favorites are her "poke cakes." Hence...my title and what I whipped up.


As I have always said...I get my ideas for recipes from lots of different people and sites...but most I make up are completely on a whim and all mine. Obviously, I didn't originate whoopie pies or mudslides...but many of the flavor combinations are all my own and that's the case w/this cake. When I first stumbled upon a caramel cake mix and a pumpkin pudding, the idea was pretty immediate. It is rather tasty and I hope you enjoy.



Ingredients

1 box caramel cake mix
ingredients used to make cake(eggs, oil & water)
2 boxes pumpkin pudding mix(if you can't find, check my notes & I'll have alternate)
2 cups caramel coffee creamer
2 cups milk
1 container whipped topping(the cinnamon one was perfect for this) or 1 cup whipping cream
1 package heath bar bits

Prepare cake according to directions for a 9x13 cake, allow it to cool for a few minutes. Then, w/a handle of a wooden spoon or something similar  poke holes in the cake. They should be big, so the pudding can "poke" down in there...but really there is no rhyme or reason to this.



In a separate bowl, whisk together pudding using the coffee creamer & milk, then pour directly over the cake into the holes, reserving a 1/2 cup into the fridge to set up. Once you have poured into holes, making sure to "seep"  down into the holes, use the back of a spoon to spread it out evenly and place in fridge to set up, at least 2 hours.



To make "icing" use remainder of pudding and mix w/a container of whip cream. Sprinkle some heath bar bits over the cake and top with the "whipped icing"


Set back in fridge till ready to eat.



***notes.

if you want to use all milk, feel free. I just am a big fan of using flavored coffee creamers to completely change up the flavoring of something. I rarely make pudding w/out one. If you can't find the pumpkin pudding, you could always use cheesecake/or vanilla pudding and use pumpkin spice coffee creamer to make it instead. and the second time I used this...I just got an extra packet of pudding and mixed the dry packet it/w a cup of whipping cream to make my "icing" really easy and so tasty!                                      


Now...if only I could get mine to be as pretty as hers! Or I can just be content in what my inadequacies are;) haha and yes...my recipe varies a little from hers. It's b/c I did hers from memory and I was a little off...but mine came out great too. or so I decided.

Funny story...the whole time I was typing this as I was reading to myself, pudding sounds like "puddin" I am a word nerd. I love words, ones that are interchangeable  I get made fun of so much for this...So when my accent creeps in, no matter how hard I try, I can't squash it. 

The reason I am so amused is b/c just this weekend a friend of mine from TX and I were talking. She said something to the effect that when she pictures "my South" it's "debutante balls and big dresses" and "her South" is "daisy dukes and cowboy boots" I howled and laughed till I almost cried...



Yes, I love MK and Kate Spade, my Frye boots, and Paige denim. I love fancy restaurants and good wine. I adore fruity martinis and I have worn high heels to grocery shop on more than one occasion...but


~I grew up on a tobacco farm in the middle of nowhere
~if the boondocks had a backwoods, Gladys, VA would be it!
~I learned to drive in a 25 year old jeep and a tractor
~my nearest neighbor was almost 3 miles away
~the only store we had was "Burls Market" 
~I am pretty sure the "penny candy" was original to it's 1943 store opening
~I am fully aware that camo serves a purpose & it isn't a fashion one
~I love cowboy boots
~I prefer bourbon/whiskey to wine and I like it hot...and straight out the bottle;)
~Wide open spaces rock my world
~I realize that everything just tastes better in a mason jar
~I know the difference between a ruger and a remington


Just funny how in life...even our friends can have a completely different picture of us than we do of ourselves!




linking up today with Jessica & Ashley

Monday, September 23, 2013

OTT-Lynchburg: Rivermont Pizza

One of my favorite places back home is Rivermont Pizza, it is downstairs from a place I spent many a day in my teen years, I even bartended there when it was still part of "trotters" now it is the basement part of Mangia, but a completely separate restaurant. 

It is some of the best pizza you will eat and they have a small store in the back where you can buy single beers or ciders. A lot of them are hard to find and smaller craft beers.


largest bowl of chili known to man

pistachio pesto pizza

one of the many beers they sell

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Caramel Heath Cookies

I made these last year for my sis in laws baby shower and now that Fall is almost upon us, I wanted to share them with you guys today. They are simple and so very good. You really cannot go wrong. Let's be serious, they have heath and caramel. oh, and butter and cream cheese. In other words...yums for your tums.


Ingredients
    1 8 oz brick cream cheese, room temperature
    1 stick butter, at room temperature
  • 1 egg
  • 1 (18-ounce) box caramel cake mix
  • 1 1/2 cup heath bits
  • Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Pre heat oven to 350'

DIRECTIONS-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then finally add in the cake mix & slowly add in the heath bits . Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar.

 Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired. 

These fit in perfectly with the Fall theme from the shower and here was just some of the decor. If you are planning to host any fall party, you can't go wrong with these simple looks. and the baby touches could easily be swapped out.




Linking up with Jessica and Ashley, your whims Wednesday

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Thirsty Thursday: Bourbon Sidecar

I am uber happy to be joining up with one of my favorite bloggers to co host in the weekly edition of Thirsty Thursday. Kristin from Hopelessly Ever After let me partake in Co-Hosting the weekly shenanigans with her this week. below is the rules, so join in the party. and she is always looking for co hosts, so if you'd like to join in on the fun, contact her! I am bringing you guys a spin on one of my favorite cocktails today, but first...


 photo Rulesheader_zps312869c4.jpg

1. Follow Hopelessly Ever After and The Whimsy One via GFC or Bloglovin'.
2. Grab a button from below or Kristin's sidebar and put it in your post.
3. Write about your favorite alcoholic beverage.
4. Come back here and link up!!!
5. Get some new recipes or drink ideas for the weekend and make a new friend!!
6. Send a tweet with #ThirstyThursday and include @leggs532 and @Thewhimsy1 so we can see it!!

Anyone interested in co-hosting (it’s free) email Kristin at: hopelessly_ever_after@yahoo.com

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Hopelessly Ever After
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This drink is a classic and one that conjures up images of ordering your drink in a tea cup at a Speakeasy. A cocktail from the prohibition era and born in a Parisian cafe. And while the original uses cognac or brandy...I am nothing if not Southern, so why not use bourbon instead. I knew you'd agree. That's why we all get along so well. You guys are smart.

We were in New Hampshire a few weeks ago and I asked the bartender to make me this version and he so readily obliged. I had never had one but had read somewhere that people were requesting these. he had never made one either, but after he took a sip, he nodded his head in agreement that he approved. Turning people into bourbonistas...one stop at a time;)



Ingredients

  • 3/4 ounce Cointreau
  • 3/4 ounce lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 ounces bourbon

  • Shake well with ice, then strain into a chilled martini glass that has had its outside rim rubbed with lemon juice and dipped in sugar.


    This is such an easy and refreshing cocktail and one that is hard to go wrong with! I implore you to drink this tasty beverage. Stat.

    Tuesday, September 10, 2013

    Fluffatella Goodness Bars

    and some kinda goodness these are. The newest installment of my goodness collection live up to the hype.After trying so many different kinds, i knew I wanted to make a nutella version and the fluff just seemed a fitting companion. and if you start reading how these are prepared and you know them by ooey gooey bars, or chess bars or even neiman marcus bars...you're all pretty much on the right track. I just call them goodness bars...because let's be serious for a second...they are.

    and oh so simple to make.


    Cake 
    1 box chocolate cake mix
    1 egg
    8 tbsp butter, melted

    Filling
    1 box chocolate cake mix
    1 egg
    6 tbsp nutella(reserving 2)
    3 tbsp fluff
    8 tbsp butter, melted
    16 oz powdered sugar


    Directions

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
    Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer.  Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
    In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. In a microwave safe bowl, heat 4 tbsp nutella and fluff for about 10 seconds and add to cream cheese. Combining and then add the eggs and butter and beat together. 
    Next, add the powdered sugar and mix well.Spread over the cake mixture. I then dropped the remaining nutella by spoonfulls onto the top of the batter(I heated it for just a few seconds) bake for 40 to 50 minutes.  Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.
    I should mention that I rarely, if ever, use the full 16 ox box of powdered sugar. But the original ooey gooey bars calls for that much, so if you want to, go ahead.

    Thursday, September 5, 2013

    Salted Caramel Mudslide

    Since it is Fall, I wanted to revisit a drink I had made on my other blog last year. and I have revamped it quite a bit and it is so much easier now. Well, actually they were both quite simple, but this way is much easier to parlay via written word!


    Ingredients
    2 scoops salted caramel ice cream
    1 tbsp Baileys
    1 tbsp Kahlua
    1 tbsp whipped vodka
     Heath bar topping(optional)

    Place all ingredients in a blender with ice and blend till desired consistency. Pour in a glass(add caramel syrup to the glass for added flavor) Top with whip cream and heath bar pieces.

    ***Notes. I used this instead of ice cream


     You could use baileys caramel flavor or even vanilla vodka, cake vodka or the new caramel vodka. However you choose to make it, you can't go wrong! And I actually added a little caramel coffee creamer to make it a little creamier the second time. 

    I also made caramel whip cream by using 1/2 cup cold whipping cream and adding 2 tbsp caramel syrup once stiff peaks began to form and continued whipping till completely stiff. 

    linking up for Tell Us Tuesday

    Wednesday, September 4, 2013

    OTT: Richmond- Tazza Kitchen

    For my foodies in Richmond, I have a new place for you guys to check out; Tazza Kitchen. We were in Richmond for my sissy in law's birthday and while the eats in Downtown Richmond are a plenty, we ventured out towards Short Pump for dinner the second night. They only opened last Wednesday and we left quite impressed. 

    I loved the ambiance but not as much as I loved their white pizza. Oh. my. word. People. 


    Prosciutto pizza with arugula.
     a perfectly made mojito
    and as a {self proclaimed} bourbonista I am more than pleased to say the my Manhattan was pretty much close to perfect. As you already know I normally prefer my bourbon neat, but this way(if done correctly) can please my palate nicely.

    I definitely recommend hitting this spot up. You can tell the owners are proud of the product they are putting out and since we had absolutely nothing left on our plates, I can say they have a pretty good reason to be pleased. If only I hadn't forgotten to take pictures of our small plates;)

    Tuesday, September 3, 2013

    Cucumber and Tomato Salad

    My mother in law threw this dish together quickly while we were up visiting a few weeks ago. the colors were vibrant and the veggies crisp. This is a refreshing and simple way to use up the goods from your garden this summer before fall kicks into full gear. 

    We used fresh veggies from my in - laws garden, they had a plethora this year!



    2 medium cucumbers{diced)
    3 medium tomatoes (cut in large chunks)
    2 tbsp olive oil 
    1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
    crackers
    feta *optional


    Toss the veggies in a bowl, add the oil and vinegar and add salt/pepper to taste. You can top with feta if you want to add another layer of flavor.

    A super simple and healthy option to finish off your summer veggies and clear out your garden.

    Linking up with your whims wednesday and wonderful food wednesday