Special Treat!

I wanted to share this recipe for one of our favorite treats. They are so easy to make. Everywhere I take them, someone always asks for the recipe. I'm going to include the recipe for homemade whipped cream, but if you don't have a high speed mixer you can just use Cool Whip. (Of course if you ever taste homemade whipped cream, you'll go buy a heavy duty mixer just to make it!) For a variation, you can use vanilla sandwich cookies and a fruit topping instead. Enjoy!

Oreo Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
18 Oreo cookies + extra to crush for topping

Preheat oven to 350. Place a cupcake liner in 18 muffin cups, and fill each one with a cookie. Beat cream cheese with mixer until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Spoon cream cheese mixture evenly over the cookies. Bake for 20 minutes. Allow tarts to cool completely. Top with whipped cream and crushed Oreo. Refrigerate.

Homemade Whipped Cream:
1 c. whipping cream
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Chill mixing bowl and utensils for about 10 minutes. Beat cream on high speed until it begins to thicken. Gradually add sugar and vanilla. (Don't beat too much or you'll have butter!)

Mmmmmm!

Eating watermelon at Nanna and PawPaw's house.


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Good Morning!

Don't you wish you could sleep this soundly?

Check out Summer's "built-in eyeshadow". (She has a vein above her right eye that really stands out! She's had it since birth and everyone always wants to know if it's a bruise. She'll probably hate it when she's older, but we think it's cute.)

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I'm Still Alive!

(barely)
After 1 week of vacation (conclusion: There's no place like home), 1 week of recovering from vacation (conclusion: Routine is what makes home so sweet), and then a stomach virus to top it all off (conclusion: Bunk Beds seem like a great idea until a stomach virus hits), I haven't been very inspired to blog. Trust me, there's NOTHING inspiring about 7 people puking in 1 house. I often wondered this week about Michelle Duggar...how many times has she cleaned up puke?

Sorry for the boring "blahg" and I am praying for an inspiring weekend!

American Exceptionalism

Enjoy this beautiful explanation from an American patriot who believes that America is an exceptional nation in the history of the world.

Happy Independence Day!

Fresh Salsa

I just made one of my very favorite summer treats, straight from our garden! I absolutely love this salsa. It's great with tortilla chips (and sour cream, of course), and I also like to put it on a flour tortilla with cheese, lunch meat, and sour cream, for a delicious sandwich wrap. This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups. The corn came from our garden, but you can also substitute canned white shoepeg corn, preferrably the vacuum sealed kind for this recipe. Also, this year we have an abundance of Roma tomatoes, and I used about 10 of them instead of the 2 larger tomatoes. And lastly, the cilantro is what makes this salsa. If you've never used fresh cilantro, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? The best way to chop it is to cut all the leaves into a small glass bowl, discard the stems, and chop the leaves with kitchen shears. This salsa is best when you allow it to chill for a few hours and let all the flavors blend.

Fresh Garden Salsa

1/4 c. whole corn

2 medium cluster tomatoes, seeds removed, and diced

2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 of a medium sized Vidalia onion, diced

3 tsp. lime juice

1 tsp. sea salt

1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

15 sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped, stems discarded

Enjoy!

My Helper

As you can clearly see, Summer Rose always helps out on cleaning day.


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