Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

We had a potluck at church last week and I tried a new recipe for it.  I had seen this recipe for banana pudding and thought it was a good one to try.  It's filled with creamy pudding, whipped cream, bananas and some crunchy vanilla wafers.  And it was so good! I had lots of people tell me they loved it, including a few who are transplanted Southerners who said it matched up to their Southern tastebuds.  :)
The photo below doesn't have the crumbled wafers on top, as I added them at church.

Banana Pudding

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
2 cups cold milk
5 ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
15 ounce box mini Nila Wafers
6 ripe bananas, sliced

In a large bowl, beat together the condensed milk and the 2 cups cold milk until well mixed.  Add in instant vanilla pudding and beat until smooth.  Place in refrigerator while you whip the cream.  (Mixture will thicken.)
Beat heavy cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.  Then add half of cream to pudding mixture and beat until well blended and fluffy.
In large trifle bowl, place a layer of Nila Wafers, followed by 2 sliced bananas.  Spread 1/3 of pudding mix over top, then 1/3 of remaining whipped cream.  Repeat layers. Crumble a few Nila Wafers on top.
Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.

Wordless Wednesday

Time for a wedding!

You may remember a few months ago, a post I did about a bridal shower we had for my niece, Shaelyn.  This weekend, she got married!

Bob and I were host and hostess (or master and mistress of ceremonies), so we spent much of the day at the venue and I have some photos to share with you. It was an absolutely beautiful day in West Michigan, the sun was shining, and the temperature was 57, so we were ok being outside for the wedding.

This is the barn, where the reception would be held.

The back of the property, with a fire pit that was lit in the evening.

Sun shining through the grasses on the property.

Inside the barn after we got it ready for the reception.  You can see Bob on the right side, looking dapper. (He was a little nervous as he had to do all the announcing at the reception, but he did great!)

The ceremony site, ready for people to arrive.

They had this beautiful arch, with doors that closed.  The doors were opened to reveal the bride just before she walked down.
We stood back there to direct everyone down the aisle, so I was able to get this photo of Shaelyn and Dave as they walked down the aisle.

Here's Shaelyn with my sister Terri and her husband Dave.

Me, Terri and Shaelyn

The bride and groom!

They did something fun between the ceremony and the reception.  They weren't having any alcohol, instead they had an Italian soda bar, which the grooms sister and a few groomsmen helped with.  It was fun and everyone liked it!

A memory candle lit for grandparents who are no longer with us. Instead of a guest book, they had a Bible where guests could highlight a favorite verse and sign next to it.

Here's people enjoying the Italian Ice's.

And people enjoying the reception.

Here's Laura and Heather and their families.  The girls were excited to go to a wedding.

Connor was not as excited, but was sleeping during the reception.

Soon it was time to send them off, running through sparklers!
It was a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding!

Autumn Splendor

It has been such a beautiful Autumn here.  We've had warm temperatures and sunshine.  The color changes have been a little slow, but suddenly they've popped!  Bob and I did a little driving on the back roads last week, just wandering and seeing what beauty we could find.

A one room school house

Yes, that's an old outhouse.

Another old one room schoolhouse

Here's my view at work

Here's our street.  Our driveway is on the left, just ahead of the trees that are meeting over the road.  

This is the view from our porch

Our side yard

And our front yard.  

God has surrounded us with beauty! The leaves are really starting to fall, so I'm afraid this will soon be gone, but we are enjoying it right now.

"Autumn winds begin to blow,
Colored leaves fall fast and slow,
Whirling, twirling all around,
Till at last they touch the ground."

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

I have a new recipe for you that has a funny story.  I had seen this recipe and saved the site.  When I went to make it, I took my laptop into the kitchen and set it on the counter to work from.
As I was adding ingredients, I thought I hadn't read it well the first time, as some things didn't seem familiar.  Then I realized that I must have bumped the laptop and sent it to another recipe!
So, we ended up with a recipe that was a combo of two recipes.  It was tasty, so next time, I'll do it the same way!

Crock Pot Cheesy Pasta and Beef

1 pound ground beef, browned and drain
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon dried garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
14.5 ounces diced tomatoes
16 ounces tomato sauce
6 ounces tomato paste
1/3 cup red wine or beef broth
16 ounces penne pasta
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Place all ingredients except pasta and cheese into crock pot.  Cook on low for 6 hours.
Cook pasta as directed on package. Stir into beef mixture and cover with cheese.  Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Latest Home Project

I mentioned last week that Bob was working on a little home project and said I would show it to you later.  Well, here it is!
Earlier this year, we ordered a slider for our dining room.  It's something we've thought about for a while and decided it was time to actually do it.  We had to wait for awhile for the door to come in, and finally, in September they said they were ready to install it.
Here's what it looked like before:

Here's the dining room before.  There were 2 windows, and the glass in them had a film on them that would not come off!

Here's the back of the house.  You can see the double windows where the slider was going to be placed.

Here it is with the slider door in place.  There is a little patio off the door from the garage.  Next Spring, Bob will build a small patio under the slider door.

Here's how things looked after it was installed. You can see Bob had some trim work to do!

And here is the finished project.  Bob did a great job with the trim. It lets in lots of light and gives us a nice view of the back yard.

Making Slime!

I have a cute, fun craft to share with you.  A friend sent this one to me with instructions for making "pumpkin" slime.  It was easy and Alaina and Ruby said it was the best craft ever.

To make this, you need shaving cream, Elmers glue, saline solution, baking soda and food coloring.  But before we made the slime, we made cute little jars to put it in.

I found little glass jars with lids, and the girls used paint pens to paint jack-o-lantern faces on them.

They practiced on a paper plate, and then put it on the jar.

Then came the fun part!

4 cups of shaving cream in a bowl

Then mix in 1/2 cup white glue.  Once it's mixed, add orange food coloring till it's the color you want.

Then add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

and last - 1 tablespoon saline or contact solution. This is what makes it become slime.  Add more saline solution as needed until it comes off the side of the bowl and becomes ball like and sticks together.

It gets really stretchy!

As you work with it, the air bubbles go away and it gets smaller in size.

It didn't all fit in the jars, they each took home a zip lock bag too.
Now they have plans to make it in green for Christmas, and blue with glitter for winter.  
It's a little messy, but not bad and well worth it for the fun they had!