Getting Over My Rant...

Sorry to subject you all to that...worked out my frustration and anger by cooking and baking. (Maybe I should change my name to Betty O'Crocker?) Thought everything turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Nothing fancy, just playing around with some of my Tastefully Simple goodies. This stuff is so incredibly easy to work with and really makes me feel so creative in the kitchen!

Let's see what did I make...

Savory Wheat Beer Bread



This was so easy. There were 3 ingredients...the Savory Wheat Beer Bread mix, a 12 oz. bottle of beer, and 3 tbsp. of melted butter. Just whipped the mix and the beer quickly together, poured it in a loaf pan, poured the melted butter on top, and plopped it in the oven for 55 minutes. The house smelled fantastic!

***

Cheery Cherry Crisp Mix



I made things a bit more complicated with this item. Tried out the Chocolate Cherry Crisp recipe that was also printed on the box. Just this mix, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal, 6 tbsp. butter that was melted, and 2 tbsp. water.

I just opened the cherry filling mix and spread it in a greased baking dish. Covered that with the chocolate chips and followed that with the oatmeal and the dry crisp topping mix. Then I combined the melted butter and the water and drizzled that over the top of the oatmeal mixture.

Popped that delicious looking concoction into the oven and ended up eating almost all of that by myself! Wicked goodness, I tell you!

***

Cheesy Nacho Beef Hash Brown Casserole

I really went a bit crazy with this one. Just needed some comfort food. So, I used some ground beef and crumbled that on the bottom of a baking dish. Covered that with some Onion Onion Seasoning Blend,



some Garlic Garlic Seasoning Blend,



and some Seasoned Salt.



Then I covered that with some diced fresh onion, a can of Nacho Cheese Soup, some shredded Colby jack cheese, and frozen hash brown potatoes. Put that into the oven and baked it for an hour.

Can I just say that Bry ate two helpings! That girl loves her meat and potatoes!

***

I also made another dessert

Sliced Almond Bundt Cake With English Toffee Mocha Cream

Another really easy goodie. Just mixed the Absolutely Almond Pound Cake Mix



with 1 1/2 sticks of butter that was melted, a cup of water, and 1/2 of sliced almonds. Poured that into a bundt pan and baked it for 55 minutes.

While that was cooling, I mixed some whipped cream with some English Toffee Mocha mix.



Put a nice "plop" of that on top of a slice of the warm cake...

Maybe this isn't such a good idea for me to sell this stuff. I am going to gain too much weigh! Maybe I need to find a personal trainer for a client, then I can trade product for service?

This Makes My Blood Boil And My Heart Weep...

From the day the story of Baby Grace broke the news in late 2007, I have been drawn to this case. The idea of someone doing such a hanis act of putting a child's body in a storage tub and tossing it in the water is just unfathomable to me. Where were her loved ones? Were they tirelessly searching for her? Wondering where she was? If she was safe...warm?



When I read later on that she had finally been identified, I wept for joy that she could finally be lain to rest...a beautiful cherubic angel.



How awful it was, the morning that I read that her mother was charged (along with her step-father) with her very violent beating death. Again I wondered how a mother could beat her baby to death...I drew my daughters close to me in a tearful hug.





Now her murderers are on trial. They blame each other for her death. Both of them are guilty! Both of them are responsible for extinguishing the life of this precious child of God.

Do you know why they did it? Why she was beaten for who knows how many hours until she was so weak and in pain that she couldn't stand or try to block the painful blows...because the 2 year old forgot to say "Please" and "Yes, sir".

These two worthless examples of human beings gave her a day long "disciplinary" session where they beat her until she was black and blue, her legs were too weak to support her! They held her head under water, pulled her from room to room by her hair or with a belt looped around her neck. She was threw to the ground so many times that she suffered multiple skull fractures...factures that ultimately caused her excruciating death. Her step-father even verified that he took the day off of work to make sure that she learned her lesson about being disrespectful to her parents!

As a mother, I cannot understand how her horrible example of a mother could sit back and watch her baby being murdered...especially when I read that at least one time during the prolonged violence, Riley reached out to hear saying "I Love You"...(I weep gut-wrenching sobs every time I picture this...a tiny precious baby terrified and in pain, just wanting her mother to comfort her and make it stop and that mother does nothing, but let in continue and even join in the beating!)

After she mercifully died, they put her in the tub while they purchased a storage container at Walmart. Her tiny body was placed inside and forgotten in a back storage shed until several months later when they drove to the water and tossing her away with the hope that their awful crime would never be discovered...

Thankfully they are on trial...this worthless piece of crap mother (who by the way is pregnant!) and this awful, brutal pig of a step-father. And I just have to wonder...how can this woman smile?



I just want to reach into the tv screen and strangle her with my bare hands...

Dear Lord please forgive me for my thoughts...but I cannot help the hatred that I feel for these two.

Why didn't they just let Riley go back to her father and grandmother who loved her and miss her terribly?

Sorry...I just have to get this off my chest...I cannot think of anything else...

Back From The Face Of The Earth...

and boy do my arms hurt from pulling myself back on! I know...bad joke...but what can I say, it's 1:00 am and guess who is still wide awake...

So sorry that is has been 20 days since my last post. Just had alot of things going on...the biggest one being my new venture...check out my sidebar...

Anyone want to buy any Tastefully Simple products, host a party (on-line if you are not lucky enough to live in Sunny, FL), or learn more about the business?



I'm having my "Kick Off" Party this weekend...so wish me luck!

Maybe if I get enough "Comment Love" for all of you, I can be convinced to put together my first Give Away and share some of the wonderful goodies that Tastefully Simple has to offer...

[And I have not forgotten about my promise to post photos from our Disney / Sea World trip or Christmas. To be perfectly honest, I have over 300 photos to review and determine which ones are Blog-worthy. Not sure about the rest of you, but just the thought of that makes my mind go numb... Would you all really hate me if I just did a Wordless Wednesday Post and just listed my favorites? You could leave comment requests with explanations?]

The Trophy Is Ours...

And the Gator Nation celebrates...



What a great way to end the College Football Season...

Thank you Tim Tebow



for being a man of your word.

It's going to be a long 7 months until the season starts again...

~~~

Keep Chris Rainey is your thoughts and prayers.



That was one nasty looking injury and he was obviously in a lot of pain.

Now one more time before I head off to bed...

"IT'S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR!"

I Was Trying To Put Together...

my Disney / Christmas post...but my mind is on the game!!!





GO GATORS!

(Can you believe that I have to go to a Girl Scout Leaders Meeting tonight!!! Don't they realize that I am going to be missing Pre-Game?!?!? They have me until 8...and then I'm out of there...)

I Am So Very Sorry.

It has just been brought to my attention that some people are receiving a somewhat annoying message box that pops up whenever they access my blog. I too have received this pop-up, but thought that it was isolated to my computer only. As soon as I learned that it was also happening to others, I took the time to find out where the problem was originating from and performed the necessary steps to eliminate this distraction from happening again.

Again, please accept my apologies...and I will be posting a huge update e-mail with tons of photos from our Disney visit as well as our Christmas celebration.