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Catching Up

Apr5

I hope everyone had a good Easter. Mine was good but it didn’t really feel like Easter. And now they are calling for more snow this weekend. Spring is taking its sweet time getting here this year, that’s for sure. Speaking of sweet I did make a wonderful strawberry cake for Easter. It was a Trisha Yearwood recipe from one of her cookbooks. We wanted strawberry shortcake but nobody has strawberries yet. So this was a nice alternative. My icing didn’t turn out the best but it tasted good.

Pimento Cheese: A Southern Staple

Apr19


I starting like Pimento Cheese within the last two years.  You can find in in Kentucky but the further south you go the easier it is to find in on menus and in stores. Earlier this year I had a pimento Cheese sandwich with bacon, I almost ordered a hamburger with pimento Cheese on it in Tennessee but I did try a few different versions of pimento Cheese.  They were both good, one I was a little too spicy but I loved trying them.  I would love to try making my own sometime, almost every southern cookbook has a recipe for it it seems, and I’m not opposed to trying it on a hamburger.  I’m not sure what it is about this southern staple but I’m loving it! 

Trying Something New

Feb24


This may sound strange but I am super excited for this to arrive tomorrow.  I am really intrigued by the thought of making my own baked donuts.  I’m always looking for something new to try.  I’ll let you know more after I’ve tried making some.

Duke’s Mayo Cake 

Sep29

If you live in the south you have probably heard of Duke’s Mayo.  I first saw Duke’s in a store in the Outer Banks a few years ago. Well it starting to make its way to my part of Kentucky and they have been advertising the crap out of it.  One of the commerical’s they show is for a chocolate cake made with Duke’s.  I had someone request one.  So I thought I would try it out on my co-workers first.  Oh my gosh!  It is wonderful.  It is so moist and rich.  It might be my go to chocolate cake recipe now.  I have made it three times now.  I have made it twice with chocolate icing and once with peanut butter icing.  Personally I think the chocolate icing is better but the peanut butter was good too.  You can find the recipe on their website.

Catching Up

May29

I know my post have been few and far between lately. Well I am hoping to change that. I am officially a one job woman now and I even got a promotion. So my new full time second job is going to be this blog here. So I am going to do a little catching up…
 
Travel: Well we went to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge for a few days in April. The day we arrived down there was the day the helicopter crashed killing five people. My heart goes out to those affected by the crash. We are getting ready to go to Grand Rapids, MI for a few days here very soon. We have done two Cumberland Falls’ weekends with the kids. Now those were a ball. Well the first one was a ball, the second one the babies were sick so it was not as much fun. But of course our big trip this year is still to come. I’m going to Disney World! Yes again! This is a family trip in October where my three favorite people under the age of eight will be going too. I can’t wait to see how the one and two year old reacts when they see it for the first time. 


Baking/Cooking: Well this Southern Belle finally had one of her dreams come true. I got my KitchenAid Stand Mixer for Christmas so I have become the cake from scratch queen. I love it! Some days I will just look at it and think I am so lucky to have it. Cooking on the other hand I have not done too much of that. 


Reading: Since late last year I have been obsessed with the Dare Valley Series of Books by Ava Miles and then the Dare River Series and now the Dare Valley Meets Paris novellas. I can’t wait for the next Dare River now. I also read the newest Catherine Bybee book, “Doing it Over”, plus the fourth book in the In Dixie Series by Beth Albright, “Stardust in Dixie”, and then there was the final in the Crossfire Series by Sylvia Day, “One With You”. Boy I really am into series! I loved all those books though. 


Auntie: Beside the two trips to Cumberland Falls with the kids, I took the seven year old a girl’s day one day when I was off. We went to the local butterfly show, that was my first time going in years, I don’t think she liked it too much but I did. We also recently as a whole family did the horse park in Lexington, that was cool but I think the two year old how the most fun of any of us. The one year old was scared of the horse but she did well. Of course the hardest part right now for this Auntie is not being able to tell the seven year old we are going to Disney in October, her mommy doesn’t want to tell her till we are getting in the car to leave. 


Southern Belle Style: I love saying shirts. One of my newest ones I purchased especially for the seven year old “Suck it up Buttercup”. I always want to tell her that when she starts whining about something. 

Well I think that about covers everything I have been up too. I will keep you posted on my happenings and not go so long in between posts. Thank you for continuing to read Southern Belle Charm, without you the readers this blog would be nothing. I hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial Day. 
 
A
 

Update

Sep22

I’ve been going at 200 MPH it seems lately. Work, work, and the kids are all I seem to focus on here as of late. Well I need to slow down and refocus. I have gotten away from myself and the things I love. Don’t get me wrong I love spending time with the kids but I don’t have to make it a priority like I have been. I can’t tell you the last time I have really baked something, well that is going to change tomorrow night. I actually cooked dinner last night too, and I mean really cook dinner, homemade baked ziti, with homemade sauce. And I really need to refocus on here and get back to posting. I love doing this blog, I really do. Here are a few things that have been happening.
– Dad applied and interviewed for a Job in Florida, so that brought that more to reality

– I am counting down the days till we go to the Smoky Mountains, I need to get away, there are few people that are getting on my last nerve

– What I have been reading

o The Dare Valley Series by Ava Miles

o One Lavender Ribbon

o War Brides

o Message From Nam by Danielle Steel

– We took the kids to princess night at the local frontier league baseball game

– We took the kids for their first day at the local amusement park 
I guess that is about it.
 

Southern Belle Cooks: Poor Man Lasagna

Aug16

I love poor man lasagna! Not only is in easy to make it is great tasting too. I know the name sounds strange but it says it all, it is a way to make lasagna on a budget. I have googled poor man lasagna before and have found a few different recipes actually. This may have other names but this is what we have called this since I was a kid. Basically all it is boxed mac and cheese, spaghetti sauce, and cheese. Now you can add meat to it if you would like, that is the other great thing about it, you can add what you want and make it your own. Usually I use just Kroger brand mac and cheese or Kraft mac and cheese, this time I used the Anne’s mac and cheese. I have always wanted to try it and figured this was as good as time as any. I also added some Italian seasoning and garlic powder to my spaghetti sauce to give it a little more flavor. The key to good poor man lasagna is making it to your taste. Here is how I made my most recent batch…I prepared the mac and cheese like it said on the box. Usually I just use the sauce right out of the jar and do not add anything to it. But this time since I added some flavor to it, I let it cook on low for about 20 minutes before I even started the mac and cheese. Just enough to let the extra Italian seasoning and garlic flavor cook in a bit. After the mac and cheese was done I poured in the spaghetti sauce and mixed it all together. I used to boxes of mac and cheese and 1 1/3 jars spaghetti sauce but again it’s all about your taste. If you like more sauce add it, if you want the mac and cheese to stand out more add less sauce, if you like meat add it. There is no right or wrong way. Usually after I mix the spaghetti sauce and mac and cheese together I would pour it in a baking dish throw some cheese on time and cook till the cheese was nice and golden brown. Since I was making mine for lunches for work and I was running out of time. I just put the mixture into three good size microwavable containers and throw some Italian blend cheese on top. Then when I heated it up for lunch the cheese melted, it was not golden brown, but it was nice and melted. I hope you all enjoy!