Flower Gardens Complete

On Thursday when Randy and I both had the day off we started to work on making some new flower gardens and by this evening they were completed with the exception of the dirt piles in front of the one garden that need to be moved out back. We chose to go with rubber mulch this year and I am glad that we made that choice. All the plants that we planted are perennials so they will come back next year.

A Day of Gardening

Today Randy and I both had the day off and figured we would take advantage of this opportunity and the nice weather to do some work outside. We have been working on expanding the flower gardens in the front of our house. Here are a few pictures that I want to share with you.

I am hard at work clearing the weeds that were growning
around the wishing well.

Randy taking a much needed break from clearing out
the new flower garden.

One side of the garden after being cleared out
The other garden before the planting begins.

Strawberry Time

I wanted to make a cool and refreshing treat and since I love anything with strawberries I decided to make a strawberry pie.


Cool Strawberry Pie

Filling
1 can strawberry pie filling
1 tub Cool Whip extra creamy whipped topping

Graham Cracker Pie Crust

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup butter

Combine crumbs and sugar in medium sized bowl. Stir in melted butter until thoroughly blended. Pack mixture firmly into 9 inch pie pan and press firmly to bottom and sides, bringing crumbs evenly up to the rim. Chill one hour before filling, or bake in 350 degree F oven for 8 minutes, cool, chill and fill.

In a large bowl, mix strawberry filling and cool whip together until blended well. Place filling in pie pan and smooth out. Let chill for one hour and serve with a dollop of cool whip for a tasty and satisfying treat.

Soup For Randy

First I want to start off by thanking my sister Darcy for the idea of making some soup for Randy. Randy is not feeling very well and has a very sore throat so I am sure this soup will be a welcome surprise this evening to warm him up and soothe his throat.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

2 32 ounce containers of College Inn light and fat free chicken broth

1 package egg noodles

1 teaspoon minced onions

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon parsley flakes

1 cup cooked chicken, cut into bite size pieces

1 package frozen stew vegetables

In a large stockpot, heat chicken broth. Add onions, garlic salt and parsley flakes. Let these ingredients simmer and cook noodles according to the directions on the package. Add chicken, vegetables and cooked noodles to the broth. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for an hour.

A Sweet Treat

Coconut Chocolate Squares


1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, flour and brown sugar until well blended. In a smaller bowl, mix eggs, vanilla, baking powder, salt, coconut and chocolate chips. Add these ingredients to the larger bowl and mix until blended together well.

Place into a greased 8x8 baking pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into small bite size pieces.

One Heart of A Cookie

Heart Shaped Pan Cookie

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl using a hand mixer to mix. Beat in egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips; spread evenly into a greased 8 1/2 or 9 inch heart shaped pan.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes; remove to wire rack to cool completely.

If you prefer you can use a round cake pan instead of using the heart shaped pan.

Bite Size Pizza

I made homemade marinara sauce for a veal recipe that I did a few posts ago. I had extra marinara sauce left over and came up with this recipe for biscuit pizza bites. It may not have been a really big hit with Randy since he is not a fan of biscuits but it was for me since I am a lover of biscuits.


Biscuit Pizza Bites

For making the biscuits I used a recipe on a box of baking mix

Biscuits

2 1/4 cups all purpose baking mix
2/3 cup fat free milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Use a lightly greased baking sheet. Combine baking mix in a bowl, stir to blend to make a soft dough. Fold and pat on floured board or counter about five times. Roll 1/2" thick. I do not have a biscuit cutter so I used the 1/2 cup measuring spoon as a cutter that was floured. It worked great. Bake on baking sheet 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 8 biscuits


Assemble the biscuit just as you would a pizza, place a small amount of marinara sauce on and spread around evenly, use the toppings of your choice. I went with pepperoni cut into bite size pieces and mozzarella cheese that was cut into small chunks.