Friday Foto Friends

Meet my friend, Randy. I work with his wife, Amanda. They have two great children.

He is an avid hiker and the whole family takes treks all over the Great Smoky Mountains. On his days off and before he has to be at work, many times he can be found out exploring what nature has to show us. I got permission from his wife to share some of his recent photos to showcase the beauty of The Smokies this time of year.

Some of their happiest family moments come from spending their days in our mountains.

He has photographed many things over the years, all with his cell phone. He loves snakes and share many, many, many pics of snakes he finds and can tell you all about the species. But I tease him and tell him I need advance notice before he posts his snake pictures. I just can't bring myself to post them because I have a great fear of snakes. However, just to show you his talent for getting up close and personal with great patience here is a friendly butterfly he was able to photograph.

And a great close up of one of the lingering clovers.

Early November found him hiking up to Newfound Gap (elevation 5048 feet) and then on up to Clingman's Dome (elevation 6600 feet) in the hopes of finding an early snowfall. He wasn't disappointed. Check out the gorgeous "white stuff ". I love snow but I do admit I am glad that it is up over 5000' instead of down here in the valley this early.

It had to be really cold up there, because checkout the close up of these twigs.

His views must have surely been breathtaking.

I am a sucker for photos of frosty tree tops against blue skies so this was my favorite.

I hope you enjoyed taking some hikes along with Randy and his family. His pics never cease to amaze me. Thank you, Randy for always being willing to share your experiences with us who consider a hike to be a long day shopping.

Want to try a new recipe?

With Thanksgiving just two weeks away, I am sure many of you are starting to make your menu and shopping list. If you are like me, you may even be thinking of making something different or in addition to your normal choices for desserts. I thought I would share two of my favorites in case you would like to try something new. First is the Reese Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle. You don't have to use a trifle bowl, you can also layer it in a deep baking dish.

Box of Duncan Hines Chewy Brownie Mix for 9x13 pan

16 Individual Reese Cups

2 boxes vanilla pudding (3.4 oz size)

12 ounces Cool Whip

3 cups milk

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 tsp. vanilla

Make brownies per box directions for chewy brownie (2 egg recipe) and bake in a 9 x 13 pan and let cool. Cut into squares about 1" in size. (If you turn them out of the pan onto a cutting board, when they come out of the oven you can cut them easier with a pizza cutter once they cool.) 

In a mixing bowl, mix 2 boxes of vanilla pudding with 3 cups of milk (Ignore pudding recipe on box). Whisk until well blended. Whisk in peanut butter and vanilla. Once it is blended good, fold in 1/2 cup of Cool Whip. Cut up 16 individual Reese Cups into quarters. Set to side. 

In a trifle bowl, layer one layer of brownies. Spoon 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the brownies. Spread on 1/2 of the remaining Cool Whip and top with 1/2 of the chopped Reece Cups. 

Repeat process, starting with the remaining brownies, then the remaining pudding and remaining Cool Whip. Top with remainder of the brownies. Keep refrigerated until ready to eat. I usually do my brownies and cut up my Reese's the day before and then throw the rest together the day we are going to have it. If you refrigerator your Reese cups until ready to use them, they cut up easier and spread in the layers easier. This is my most requested dessert.

The next on my list of recommended desserts is a lemon pound cake with home made glaze. 

I start with the Duncan Hines Deluxe Lemon Supreme Cake Mix. You can use a greased and floured tube pan, a couple of loaf pans or simply use a 9 x 13 cake pan. Instead of the directions on the box, make the cake as follows: 

1 Pkg Duncan Hines Deluxe Lemon Supreme Cake Mix 

1 Package lemon instant pudding Mix (4 serving size)

1/2 C. Crisco Oil

1/2 cup Sprite and 1/2 cup of lemon juice.

Zest from one lemon

4 Eggs

Use the baking temp and time per the box but watch it till it tests done, it may take shorter or longer depending on your oven.

I make mine in a Bundt pan and it is to die for. For the glaze, I use confectioner sugar and just a little milk then add the zest of another lemon, a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice and a splash of sprite to get it the right texture. I like it thick enough to cling to the cake but thin enough to run down over the sides when I pour it on. I take a skewer and poke a few holes in the top so it drains inside as well to keep it moist. Here is the first time I ever made it which was also the first Bundt cake I ever made so I just thought the picture looks delicious.

And thinking about Thanksgiving, if you are like me your week leading up to it is slammed with things to do to get ready. So I like to have something I make ahead of time and freeze for the days I'm too busy to cook a meal. My go to item for the week before is a big pot of School Cafeteria Style Veggie Soup. I make it one day and freeze it in portions so if I need something quick and easy to eat, I get out a bowl of this and heat it up and fix a grilled cheese to go with it and I'm not in the kitchen forever nor do I have a big mess to clean up. 

School Soup

1 48 oz. can tomato juice

1 lb. fresh lean ground beef

1 bag frozen mixed vegetables

1 14-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed and with juice

2 potatoes, diced

2 med. onions, diced

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

(Note it calls for lima beans but I leave them out)

Bring tomato juice to a boil. Slowly add crumbled ground beef. Cook until beef is separated. Add onions, mixed vegetables, potatoes, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

Add more salt if desired.

Well, there you have it. Some new ideas for recipes for the holiday. These are not stock photos. These are actual recipes that I have made exactly like I am posting them so I know they are good. And they turned out so good that I took pictures as I made them so I could have them. If you try any, let me know. I would love to hear your results.

When do you decorate?

You hear so much controversy over Christmas decorating. Should you wait till after Thanksgiving or should you do it as soon as Halloween is over. I for one have never decorated before Thanksgiving in my entire life. I guess because that is the way everybody in my family did. But I may stray from that tradition and put my tree and decorations up on the evening before Thanksgiving this year. simply because my family Thanksgiving is the weekend before and I will be the only one at my house for the holiday weekend. Not to mention I work a few hours on Thanksgiving day. I try to do what others do but this year, I'm going to do what makes me happy. We are coming into a busy season at work so I won't be home much. I want to enjoy every minute of my decor while I can. 

I think part of it is the excited in the kick-off transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I love getting up on Thanksgiving morning and looking at the Black Friday ads while eating some type of dessert I have made for Thanksgiving weekend. Usually it is me, my ads, a glass of milk and my no bake oatmeal cookies. I usually watch Miracle on 34th Street (the original) while I do a rough scan of the ads. Later that night I sit down with a piece of graham cracker pie and a Pepsi to make a list and plan my two day shopping trips for the Black Friday weekends. I never purchase the big ticket items that make people crazy and I absolutely refuse to shop on Thanksgiving day. It's my own personal tradition and I like it that way. Since I lost my hubby a week before Thanksgiving 3 years ago, I have hung on to some of our traditions but some I have changed because the holiday is just too hard if I try to keep some of them the same way. So I am decorating at a different time this year.

But right now I am looking at some of the vintage Christmas decor memories and checking out antique stores to see if I can find any on my wish list. I hated this aluminum trees but at the same time I loved the sparkle of them. I would love to find a small version even if it modern to put in the spare room and decorate it with beach Christmas theme to go with the beach room.

Mom had one of these and it went out every year. I would love to find one at a reasonable price. I found one last year locally for $85. Ummmm....NO. Maybe I can find one cheap this year.

Do you remember wearing Christmas corsages on your coat? We got new ones every year. 

I think I actually had one similar to this. I just love them. I would like to find one, not to wear, just to have. Maybe I could make some and start a revived trend. LOL.

Hopefully I find something new vintage this year. Last year, I was able to find me one of the small nativity scenes I was looking for. It was like this only no palm tree. I was so thrilled to find it in an antique store for just a few dollars.

I wanted a vintage Mr. & Mrs. Santa kissing S & P shakers. A friend found me a set similar to this one this past summer. Can't wait to set them out.

I love the old Shiny & Brite brand of ornaments. I have a set of over 30 of them that belonged to Hubby's grandmother. They are over 60 years old. I always hang them first on the tree.

A few years back a friend found me two of the little deer I wanted like these. I would like to find a couple of more of these.

I wanted this really bad and was able to find it one year as well. 

Everybody is Elf on the Shelf crazy. I have a vintage one that I have had for 41 years. He gets into mischief some. This isn't him because he's not "here" right now. But he looks like this one.

I collect Santa's and this is not my collection, but I see some vintage things in here I would love to find. I think Friday will involve some antiquing. 

Hope you have a great day!

The beauty around me....

I love this time of year in the Great Smoky Mountains. The trees and leaves have so many different beauties. I don't have a lot of trees around me that have changed completely but there are a few as you can see in this picture.

However from my daughter's front porch, you can see some beautiful colors.

A friend of mine works afternoons. So in the early morning when his Kid's head out to school and his wife heads out to work, he likes to hike in the Smokies. He posted this from one of his recent trips when he was hiking.

Then a couple of days later he went hiking up to Newfound Gap and Clingmans Dome and was able to see some of the first snow of the season.

As you can see, there is a lot of beauty in the area where I live.

Getting ready...

In my true fashion, I designed an Excel form to get organized for Thanksgiving. We do our family Thanksgiving the Saturday before Thanksgiving since I work 1/2 a day and the kids both do dinners with their in-laws. I'm not a big cook and don't like turkey so we have a pizza and dessert bar where we make our own pizzas on a choice of flat bread or sub rolls. Then I make everybody's favorite desserts. So I have to get organized because it is just a couple of weeks away. Then I fix myself a small dinner for Thanksgiving day. Ham, potato salad, deviled eggs and baked beans and something for my dessert for the weekend. It works great for all of us. I made me an Excel form in order to get myself organized and ready for the big day.

Remember when I showed you this that I thought was so cute. Well, I am going to make a modified version of it. I went shopping for fabric yesterday and just wasn't thrilled with the muted plaids I found at my local shops. I found absolutely nothing that matched this.

If you remember from my trees of Christmas past, I am a little old fashioned in my decor but love a twist of sparkly and bling. Christmas needs to have some glitter and shine for me.

So I picked some fabric for my craft project that has some sparkle in it. I'm going to work on it tomorrow. I have the grandkids and they may want to help out.

I'll keep you posted on the results. Have a great Monday.

Fall back....

I am normally a morning person. I get up between 5:30 and 6:30 every day for the most part. But today I am really dragging. I hate falling back on time as much as I hate springing forward. Yes, we gain an hour. Yes, I should get an extra hour sleep. In theory. But when your body only needs 4-6 hours sleep your whole life and you wake up at 5:30 and it is really 4:30 it is not good. And that doesn't even cover the fact that when I went to bed, I woke up about 4 times throughout the night because I was so worried I got it wrong and forgot to reset the clock right. Ugh. So here is some humor about falling back I wanted to share with you today.

Sharing some things today...

As we head into the month of Thanksgiving is when I usually start crafting for any Christmas crafts so they are ready when decorating time gets here. I have found some things that are amazingly simple to do. Going to head to Hobby Lobby, AC Moore or Joann's today or Monday to get supplies. This first one is going to be my first project. Talk about simple.

I want to do something like this on my entry table.

And I just love this. A little paint, a little fabric and you have a great new Christmas hanging.

I love this wreath. I want poinsettias for my flowers though.

Okay, I need to find this cup or get a white one and make it myself. Just too cute. I think Hobby Lobby has white ones but not sure if they are plain.

I fell in love with this manicure. I want to do one with pearly white nail polish and silver trim.

I have another friend having a birthday so I got up and made a Mississippi Mud cake for her before work this morning.

I have been up since 5:00 a.m. and have gotten a lot done. It's going to be just another regular, normal day at work so I need to head out soon.