German Chocolate Pie

I love chocolate in almost any way shape or form and German Chocolate Cake is one of my favorites. A few years ago a friend of mine passed along a recipe for German Chocolate Pie and I was in love. I tweaked the original recipe a little and this is what I came up with.

German Chocolate Pie

Ingredients:

  • 2 T. cocoa
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 c. pecans, chopped
  • 1/2 c. coconut, flaked
  • 2/3 c. evaporated milk
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 3 T. butter or margarine, melted
  • 1 pie shell, unbaked

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Line a pie plate with the pie shell. Set to the side.

Mix remaining ingredients together.

Pour into the pie shell.

Bake for 45 – 50 minutes.

 

 

Shopping: Discount Bread Stores

I finally went grocery shopping yesterday after about a 2 week break! The pantry and freezer were looking a bit bare but they look much better now.

My grocery cart was rather full, actually almost to the point of overflowing, by the time I reached the bread aisle in the grocery store. I had been planning on stopping by the new Aldi but it was so crowded I chose to go to another store. That grocery store happened to be fairly close to a discount bread store. I had been in the habit of stopping by the bread store once or twice a month to stock up on bread and occasionally some snacks. With my crazy schedules last year I fell out of the habit.

Well, yesterday I managed to squeeze it in after the grocery store and I was so glad I did. I know that sometimes people have a distorted image of what a discount bread store is. I have never bought anything that was not edible and since I freeze most of the bread I buy it keeps for a while.

The picture at the top is some of the bread I bought. The date was June 8, 2017 and I bought it on June 1. This same bread was over $3.00 a loaf in the grocery store and I paid $0.99 a loaf for it at the bread store. There was some fresher bread that was being sold for $2.00 a loaf and some that was discounted even more than what I paid but some of that was a bit smashed so I decided against it.

I also stocked with a fw packs of hot dog buns, a box of snack crackers, a couple of gravy mixes (I love the pepper gravy mix they carry), and 4 more boxes of snacks. Combined with the 10 loaves of bread I bought it was all less that $20.00! I would’ve spent well over $30.00 at the grocery store for the same items.

I am always looking for ways to stretch my dollar a little bit further and the bread store will definitely be making it to the top of my grocery saving list! If you haven’t stopped by one of these little stores I highly recommend you check one out. They always have a great selection of items and the items change quite frequently. You’ll never know what they have or how much you’ll save until you stop in for yourself.

June 4 – 10, 2017 Meal Plan

This is our basic meal plan for the week. Sometimes we will switch the days around if I forgot to set something out or put something in the crock pot. Please feel free to use this or change it around to suit your family’s needs.

I have started trying to do easier meals on days that I have square dancing obligations. This helps me to be able to put a nice meal on the table without feeling guilty about having some much needed ‘Mommy Time’. Some of these meals may also help with those that have busy or irregular schedules due to work or extracurricular activities.

I do have ‘Snacks/Desserts’ listed as well. I always try to keep a bowl of fresh fruit out on the counter or table for the kids to snack on. Sometimes I will make a special snack or treat for us to enjoy.

Sunday 

Breakfast:

Overnight Coffee Cake, scrambled eggs

Lunch:

Soup, grilled cheese

Dinner:

Easy Chicken Casserole, steamed veggies

Snacks/Desserts:

Boiled Eggs


Monday

Breakfast:

Cereal/Oatmeal

Lunch:

Tuna Salad, Veggies

Dinner:

Chicken NachosSalad

Snacks/Desserts:

Fruit


Tuesday

Breakfast:

French Toast

Lunch:

leftovers

Dinner:

Philly Cheese Steak SandwichesSalad , Chips

Snacks/Desserts:

Jelly Toast/Pizzelles (** I will try to make a few extra to take along for refreshments at the dance.)


Wednesday

Breakfast:

Basic Muffins

Lunch:

PB & J, fruit

Dinner:

Mexican Tortilla SkilletSpanish Rice, Black Beans

Snacks/Desserts:

Muffins


Thursday

Breakfast:

Pancakes

Lunch:

Egg Salad Sandwiches, chips

Dinner:

Oven Fried ChickenMashed PotatoesCreamed Peas

Snacks/Desserts:

PB Crackers


Friday

Breakfast:

Cereal/Oatmeal

Lunch:

Hot Dogs, mac n cheese

Dinner:

Crockpot Italian Chicken, Rice, Salad30 minute Rolls

**(This is a fairly quick meal to put together as Momma has a class/dance in the evening)

Snacks/Desserts:

Cupcakes (** I will try to make a few extra to take along for refreshments at the dance.)


Saturday

Breakfast:

Monkey Bread, scrambled eggs, Bacon Grits/Cheesy Grits

Lunch:

Pepperoni pockets, salad

Dinner:

Breakfast for dinner: I plan on making 7 Up Biscuits, with Tomato Gravy, and maybe some bacon or sausage.

Free Day

Snacks/Desserts:

Popcorn/ German Chocolate Pie** (new recipe, link will update soon.)

Baked Potatoes

I love a good baked potato. I can eat them at almost any time with almost any meal and sometimes as a snack. I usually make them in the microwave but this is the way I make them when I need to make more than one or two at a time. Continue reading “Baked Potatoes”

May 28, 2017

I pray you are all having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. This past month has been extremely busy around here with this past week being the busiest of all. It has been a blast though and many memories have been made.

Our homeschool will be wrapping up this coming week with a special surprise outing planned as a treat. We are all looking forward to just having a little fun and maybe getting to relax a bit.

My youngest child just turned 4 this month! I can hardly believe how fast time has flown and how much has changed since the day we brought him home. My kids amaze me everyday and I am so blessed to be able to stay at home and watch them as they learn and grow.

My oldest son came to visit this past week! Yay! We had not seen him in almost 4 years because of his employment. He also brought along his beautiful wife, my first daughter in law, who I had not met before. We had such a great time. It was hard to say goodbye but I know that they will be back soon. All we can do is trust that God will watch over them and keep them safe along life’s journey.

Amongst all of the visiting, homeschooling, and other normal routines of the house I also had my square dancing. Ahhh… if anyone had told me a few months ago how involved I would become in square dancing I wouldn’t have believed them. I probably would’ve laughed a little but it is amazing how things can sometimes just fall into place.

Our club in Starke, the Silver Fox Squares, has been very busy and we dance every Friday night. We have also had some special dances, visitations, and other activities that we attended throughout the month including a Luau and a banner raid. I have earned two new dangles this month. As the publicity chairman for the club I am constantly busy with updating the sites, planning new events, and looking for new ideas.

In addition to the Friday nights, we also have dances and classes on Tuesday nights in Fort White. We have been trying to recruit new dancers and had a covered dish dinner on the first night of class. So far we have a couple of couples who have come to join us and we are looking forward to seeing some new faces this coming week.

And then we have the Clay Allemanders in Middleburg on Mondays. Our caller and co-caller from the Silver Fox Squares are the callers there as well. This club has also been extremely busy with the transition to the new callers and the fact that we moved to a new dance location this month.

I am also the caller’s assistant to one of the callers so I have been busy with a few other details as well. We went to visit the Grand Squares, in Gainesville, earlier in the month and I got to meet a lot of new people. He was also able to reconnect with some people he had not seen in awhile. Square dancing has definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, in a good way, and allowed me to expand my horizons and meet a lot of new people.

My youngest son, and my oldest son and his wife, attended the dance this past Tuesday. It was a lot of fun to have some of my children there. My little one didn’t make it through the night before he curled up and fell asleep. My oldest however did seem to enjoy himself and caught on quite quickly. I hope to be able to expose my children to it a little bit at a time and eventually get them involved more with square dancing.

I have been trying to squeeze in some blogging between all of the different activities that are going on. I have so many drafts started that it would make you go cross eyed if you could see them. The topics are quite varied as well because I get so many ideas and just try to write them down as I think of them. I hope you all have enjoyed the ones I have managed to publish and I pray that you do find something that helps you or inspires you in some way.

As i write this and think about it I am completely amazed at the awesomeness of God! He has a plan for each of us and He knows what He is doing. He has been working in my life in so many ways and He has been preparing me for where I am now for quite some time. All I had to do was let go and trust Him to guide me to where I needed to be.

Well, my little one just climbed up on the stool beside me and is sneaking sips of my cold coffee. Another one has mentioned that he was ready for snack a minute ago so I will get off of here and set out some snacks for them to hopefully hold them over until lunch time. I pray you all have a blessed day and week to come!

Yellow Rocks (hugs) to all!

Links to club updates will be posted soon:

Silver Fox Squares: June 2017 Updates

Clay Allemanders: June 2017 Updates