"Best thing since Robert Redford" Desert

Let me warn you before you make this... it is THE BEST desert and it can be dangerous!  It consists of four amazingly good layers:  a graham cracker crust, then a cream cheese layer, next a chocolate pudding layer, and finally topped with cool whip.  YUM.  Hint:  You can use any flavor of pudding to mix it up.  I prefer chocolate, but vanilla would also be good for those who dont like chocolate.  Or for a banana cream pie desert, use Banana pudding!  That sounds so good, its on my to do list for the future.

  My mom has made this for years and would bring it to family get togethers and everyone always seems to look forward to the desert we call "Robert Redford."  Well.  I finally got the recipe from my mom and made it for the first time last night.  It turned out AMAZING if I do say so myself.  I am bringing it with me this weekend so that my family can eat it because if I keep it in the house God knows I'll end up eating the whole pan myself!  Anywho. Lets get down to it.

<----- Those are the main ingredients, but not all of them.  The list of ingredients you need are:

For the Crust:
2 1/2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
2/3 cup melted butter
6 tbs sugar

Cream Cheese layer:
1 block of Cream Cheese
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbs milk
1/2 cont. Cool Whip

Pudding layer:
3 1/4 cups of milk
2 boxes of chocolate pudding

                                                                Cool Whip layer:
                                                                1 container of Cool Whip

And now the fun part.  I was first intimidated by all of the layers, thinking it would be a lot of work.  Nope it was actually very easy to make!  (And I am by no means an experienced cook!)

Directions for the crust:

• Mix together the graham cracker crumbs and sugar
• Stir in the melted butter.  (I used a fork and that worked pretty well)
• Pat to the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 pan
• Put in the fridge while you make the next layer

Cream Cheese Layer:

• Soften the block of cream cheese.  (Using a hand mixer is the best way to do this)
• Mix in 1/4 cup of sugar
• Mix in 2 tbs milk
• Mix well until light and fluffy
• FOLD in 1/2 container of Cool Whip
• Spread on Top of crust, put back in fridge

              Cream cheese layer














Pudding Layer:

• Slowly add both packages of pudding to the 3 1/4 cups of milk, while stirring
• When pudding is set up, spread on top of the cream cheese layer

Cool Whip Layer:

This is the 'easy' part

• Spread 1 container of Cool whip on top of the pudding
• Done!

It will look something like this picture once completed.  Now I know its tempting to dig right in, but it needs to sit in the fridge for a while in order for it to set up properly.  I put it in there overnight like my mom usually does and that gives the best results.  

If you dont wait for it to set up, it will still taste the same, it just will be ALOT messier. :) 

                                    I dug into mine this morning...

                  The first piece is always hard to get out :)

My 1st FINISHED quilt

A couple of summers ago I decided that I was going to make, and finish, a quilt.  I had made two quilt tops in high school and never finished one, so I was determined to see this one through.  I know I wanted it to be outdoorsy, and I had a shower curtain I bought at Cabelas that I wanted to use because it was made out of fabric.  So I went to the craft store and picked out some other fabrics.

I ended up getting a green material with paw prints on it, an orange tree bark material, and a light pine cone material.  Because they are all pretty busy, I decided to get plain black material to put in between each piece to break up the materials.  To the left is a picture of just one of the many blocks used to make up the large quilt.  

The pattern I used was like the Zig Zag Rail Fence.  I used the same pattern for one of my quilt tops I made in high school, so I already had some experience.  I did not use an actual pattern for this quilt.  My grandma and I crunched some numbers and I followed my own pattern.  The original pattern does not include the black pieces in between the other pieces so I wouldn't have been able to use that pattern anyways. 

Here is a few of the blocks put together

It took some thinking to get the quilt just right and to figure out which way every block had to go.  It was nice once the pattern started to come together.  

Before sewing the blocks together, I laid them out to make sure I got the placing right.  My grandma had some sort of contraption made that had a big piece of felt like material that held the blocks on nicely.

I finally had all the blocks done!! Now all I had left was adding the borders and the top was finished.

There is the finished product! (Not including after the backing was put on and the actual quilting was done)  My grandma had a friend who was really into quilting and had a top-of-the-line quilting machine.  She was nice enough to let me use it and quilt it myself.  The machine was very fun to use and hopefully one day I can buy one for myself :)

After it was quilted, my grandma hand stitched the binding for me and it turned out AWESOME!  It is my proudest creation to this day.  Now I am itching to make a new quilt!

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

Took this lovely picture while I was working at the Airport.  I put this quote by Abraham Lincoln on the picture because it is such a true quote to me.  A beautiful sight like this comes right from the hands of God.  

When all else fails, go to grandma's

Learning to crochet.. NOT as easy as I was hoping. How hard could it be? All you need is some yarn and a hook! I was wrong. You also need two trained hands, which I do not have. I bought how-to books, watched online tutorials, and scoured pinterest for helpful hints on learning to crochet.  None of it worked. Seems the only useful method for me is a crash course from my grandma.  She has taught me all I know about sewing, embroidery, an any other "crafty" hobby Ive picked up along the way.  Unfortunately for me she lives hours away and I hardly ever get a chance to go there BUT this weekend I am and hopefully I will come back an expert crocheter!!  I have way too many baby blankets and booties patterns that I need to put to good use before our little one gets here in February :)

Another quote

Another quote I love
Speaks for itself.

Picture also taken on my grandparents farm.

Words for thought

This is one of my favorite quotes.  Put on a picture I took at my grandparents farm.  This quote means alot to me, because its just so perfect.  I had all these big plans.. college, degree, high-paying job.. but God had a different plan for me.  College was not right for me and I couldnt decide what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  Then I met a wonderful man and got pregnant and I just feel like I am exactly where God has chosen me to be.  And I couldnt be happier. 

Upcycled Barn Wood

These were some of my all time favorite projects to make.  They are fairly easy, I just had to be very careful making them, because as easy as they are to make, they're just as easy to mess up.  Luckily for me, I had access to a huge pile of old weathered wood from a barn my grandparents tore down long ago.  I took the four wheeler to the pile, loaded it down with wood and got to work.  Besides the wood, all you need are some paintbrushes and paint, and unless you feel like handwriting all of them, some stickers.  Note:  Handwriting them all is VERY tedious.  For me, anyways.  I get very shaky when concentrating and ended up with a LARGE pile of signs that were ruined.

One of my better free-handed signs

So head to your local craft store and stock up.  Get as many stickers of letters that you want.  I tried re-using stickers but that only works if you are very careful and I got a maximum of two uses from the stickers.  Get whatever paint colors you want.  (Just the little acrylic paint bottles that come in thousands of different colors)  They are also fairly cheap.  Only a couple bucks a bottle.

You will also need paint brushes.  I like to be over-prepared so I probably had one of every possible size.  the skinnier ones are better for free handing on the wood, I had a flat one that I found worked best for the signs like the one in the picture above.

To get started:
Pick out the quote you want to put on the piece of wood
Place the stickers down where you want them, spelling out the quote
Paint over the stickers.  How you paint over them is up to you.  If you want to paint the whole board, using a larger paint brush would be better.
Let it dry a little, then VERY CAREFULLY peel off the stickers.  I used a pin to get under the sticker without making a mark in the paint.  Note:  I learned that if I used too much paint, which I did alot, the stickers were more prone to ripping, making the process that much harder.
Let dry the rest of the way, then enjoy!

I got claw-like hangers and nailed them on the back of the signs so they would be easier to hang.

2 more finished products

How to avoid weeds in your garden

If you're like me, you look forward to planting and growing a garden every summer, but the thought of keeping the weeds out makes you sick.  Last year I wanted to come up with something to prevent weeds the best I could without using chemicals.  My grandma and I came up with a great idea involving the old carpet from her house.  It definitely took a lot of work, but in the long run was SO worth it.  I spent way too much time the previous year on my hands and knees pulling weeds out every other day.

Putting the carpet down 

We cut the carpet into strips about a foot long, and placed the strips in between the rows that I had already planted.  We put large rocks on top of the carpet strips to weigh them down, but after the first couple of rains we didn't need them because that got the carpet in there good.

Carpet in between my rows of beans

Of course, this is only going to prevent most of the weeds from growing in between the rows.  It does wonders, though, compared to hand-picking all of the weeds out!! The cats also loved the carpet so they could graze in the sun before the plants grew too tall :)

Unless you've done some home renovating recently or know someone who has, you probably dont have any spare carpet just laying around.  Luckily, there are other good solutions.  I'm sure everyone has heard of or tried using newspaper, which is an effective way to do it too.  It is decent at keeping weeds down and retaining moisture in the soil.  In fact, we put newspaper around the tomatoes, but we also put straw on top of the newspaper to hold it down a little better.  One "miracle" trick I've read about is using cardboard.  In hindsight, cardboard would have been easier than the carpet, but we needed something to use the carpet for.  Cardboard would have also been better because from what I've heard, you just leave it in the garden and by the time you are getting your garden ready the next year, it will be all disintegrated into the soil, which in turn adds more organic material to the soil.

From my personal experience the carpet worked great!  But next year, when I dont have old carpet on hand, I will definitely be trying the cardboard.  I have only heard great things!

Tasty Banana Muffins

My homemade Banana Muffins!

Maybe its the time of year, maybe its pregnancy "cravings,"  but after Josh's mom gave us a loaf of banana bread and it lasted a whole few days, I was itching to make more.  So I ran off to Target and bought some bananas and patiently waited for them to turn brown.  While the days were going by waiting for them to be ready, my coworker gave me the idea of making muffins instead of bread.  I loved the idea.  Easier to bring to work for a snack, no messy crumbs all over from cutting a slice, and faster baking time.  So I found a recipe and made them a week after buying the bananas.  They probably werent ripe enough, but they worked so I dont care!

This recipe makes a dozen of them.  I mistakenly thought they wouldn't last, so I made two batches.  I now have 10 muffins with mold on them.  On a related note, they last about a week and a half before they get moldy.  Take it from me, I know :)  

Ingredients:

3 Large ripe bananas

1/2 c sugar

1 egg

1/3 c butter, melted

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 c flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

• Mash the bananas in large bowl.  I found that using a fork worked best for me.  
• Mix sugar, egg, and butter in with the mashed bananas.
• In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
• Mix everything in the two bowls together well
• Pour into greased muffin tin, or muffin cups like I used
• Bake for 20 minutes
• Enjoy! 

Once again, this recipe makes 12 muffins