Bahama Mama Drink and Award

Happy Friday!! I've been so lucky to make new friends and people from all over through this blog. I admit I don't comment as much on other blogs as I should, but I do stop by and print lots of yummy things so don't worry I do read everyones. Every once in a while blog awards make their way around the web and Karen from Eat Drink and Wash Up sent me a happiness award the other day. I was asked to share the gift of her award with some blogger friends and also list ten things that make me happy. It's really hard to narrow down to ten things the more I started to think about it and really made me realize how many happy things I have in my life right now. So lets get to my list while I sip on this lovely cocktail. (recipe below) Thanks again Karen your so sweet!!

1. My hubby and my sweet puppy Mocha. :)

2. Cooking with my friends and having us all together.

3. My swimming pool in the 100 degree weather we have in Texas.

4. Being able to travel with my husband.

5. Finding inspiration in food and getting the creative bug for recipe contest.

6. Photography.

7. Crafting.

8. Home made gifts.

9. Getting lucky moments and winning contest.

10. Last but not least.....sampling new dishes or call it eating whatever...food is good!!

As it goes I'm now supposed to pass this award on to some of my fellow bloggers so they can share it with some of their friends after sharing 10 things that makes them happy.

Mary at One Perfect Bite

Lisa at Jersey Girl Cooks

Scotti at Oxford Family

Carol at Cybercooks Cooking Corner

Donna at My Tasty Treasures

Ramona at The Japanese Redneck

Jinx89 at YumEase

Sara at Today's Menu - Take It or Leave It

Deb at Just Short Of Crazy

Monica at Lick the Bowl Good

This makes a really good drink that you can make in big batches and keep pool side in pitchers.

Bahama Mama Drink

1 jigger Myers dark rum

1 jigger Captain Morgans spiced rum

1/4 cup sweet and sour mix

1 cup orange juice

1/4 cup pina-colada mix

splash of grenadine

Combine in a glass filled with ice and stir well.

Friends Award and a Side Dish

I'm so excited!!! I got an award and it's not just any award it's a friend award. I feel when you read and follow a blog you become part of that person's world and I hope that you feel that way about my blog. I feel like I know several of you even though we haven't ever met by reading your blog and others I've gotten to meet via cooking contest or through a friend of a friend type of deal. Blogs open up a connection and bond people through a whole other level.

Barbara over at Traveling Aprons has passed this award on to me. The award is accompanied with this message:

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated."

I am passing this award on to some of my good blogger friends:

Scotti at The Oxford Family who just opened her store Smox Creations
my friend and fellow crafter Laura at Divine Domestics
Priscilla at Priscilla's Baking Adventures
Maria at Two Peas and Their Pods

Sara at Today's Menu Take it or Leave it

Thank you guys for being great friends, opening your lives up to all of us readers and always leaving me sweet comments.

Today's side dish is from Sara's blog Today's Menu Take it or Leave it. The recipe originates from Allrecipes.com and it was super easy to throw together. I sprinkled a little cajun seasoning on top to give it a little kick.

Scalloped Corn and Broccoli

Makes about 4 servings

1 (15 ounce) can creamed corn

2 eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

5 ounces frozen chopped broccoli

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together the corn, eggs, sugar, flour and salt.

Add the cheese and broccoli, mix well and pour into a 2 quart casserole dish.

Bake for 1 hour.

Mocha Pecan Cookies and an award

These are a favorite in my family and when my mom makes them she has to hide them from my dad so there's some leftover for everyone else. I'm excited about my new toy I got for Christmas since I was a good girl Santa brought me a "studio". I'm still playing with the lighting and I'm on the hunt for some new backgrounds but so far it's been my favorite thing to play around with.

Mocha Pecan Cookies

1 (12 ounce) semisweet chocolate morsels (1/2 cup melted, 1 ½ cups regular)
2 tablespoons instant coffee
2 teaspoons boiling water
1 ¼ cups flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt ½ cup chocolate chips. Stir until smooth, cool to room temperature. Dissolve coffee in water, set aside. Combine flour, baking soda and salt, set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, brown sugar and coffee; beat until creamy. Add egg and melted morsels, mix well. Gradually add flour mixture. Stir in remaining 1 ½ cups morsels and pecans. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Allow 2 to 3 minutes standing time before removing from cookie sheets. Cool completely. Yields 2 dozen 3 inch cookies.

I love this picture it reminds of something Pillsbury would do.

Now on to the award. There's so many great blogs out there and I've been lucky to receive this award from Priscilla back in December, but with all the craziness settling down I thought it was time to pass it along.

I have quite a few blogs I follow now so it's hard to pick a handful of them and I'm sorry if I didn't pass the award on to you this time, but I haven't forgotten about you all....

Maria and Josh at Two Peas & Their Pod. They are the ultimate couple who crank out some yummy dishes. She's full of clever ideas that are so easy they have you wondering why you didn't think of the same thing. Check out the brownies they just posted they have me craving a sweet treat now.

Prudy at Prudence Pennywise. With the way the economy is now many of us are turning into penny pincher's and Prudy has the site for you. No need to loose the flavor and wow factor in your dishes when you can use her money saving tips.

Love At First Bite is a blog done by Melissa and everything on her site looks delicious! My mouth waters every time I look at her site. She also does a kitchen tip every Sunday which I love and my favorite is a recipe for homemade sweetened condensed milk. I hate when you think you have something go to the store come home to bake and realize you didn't have it.

Peanut Butter and Julie is a blog I've followed and she actually introduced me into the cooking contest site I'm a memeber of now. She has the perfect light after dinner treat posted right now which I'm excited to try out.

CHOCOLATE!!!

I feel like it's the holidays already with 2 awards in one week I'm jumping for joy! A special thank you to Veronica at Supermarket Serenade for a yummy chocoholic award. What perfect timing for the fudge recipe I just listed. So what's more chocolaty then fudge you ask? Well, I'm going with chocolate bark because it's mainly chocolate with the added guest of marshmallow. Since I have lots of Hershey kisses (thanks to Jenny using the pumpkin spice which I've been on the hunt for, I've been picking up every other type they make in fear she'll find something else I don't know about) I figured this would make a great experiment.

I took a couple of kisses out and arranged them on my silpat then popped them into a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes.

When the looked about done I took them out and swirled them, except they didn't swirl so I got a knife out and spread them. Kisses aren't meant to be turned into chocolate bark so keep them for the cookies or eat them as is. :(

It looked ok, but it's super fragile and I couldn't move it without making it crumble. So lesson learned use the baking chocolate!

In the meantime since my chocolate bark was a flop lets move on to some recipes that do work. I'm passing the award along to several other people that make me wish the chocolate had no effect on my growing back side... :)

Maria and Josh at Two Peas and Their Pod Maria has a killer cake ball recipe I’m currently addicted to right now. (A special thank you to Laura for making them for me!)

Prudence Pennywise has some tasty treats and she’ll show you how to save some “dough” as you make them too. She also has the cutes kids that she spoils rotten with her good cooking!

Mary at One Perfect Bite has a Kladdkaka which is a Swedish sticky chocolate cake and a killer looking Bavarian hazelnut cake

Barbara at Traveling Aprons is a newcomer to blogging and she has a wonderful blog with recipes, tips, travel reviews and movie reviews. She also has a chocolaty millionaire brownie which is to die for!

Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes with everyone!

Speaking of sweet...how sweet is this cutie? We have been approved to adopt Mocha and she's been with us since Saturday!

Sweets and a Treat

As if you aren't sick of candy here's a fudge recipe I tried out. I've never been able to make a good batch of fudge. I don't know what my problem is, but it never sets up. This is the best attempt at it I've ever had. It held together nicely, but I think I rushed it out of the fridge to take a picture and taste test. :P I hate waiting I'm so bad at it. I'm starting to try out some recipes to see what I want to bake this year as part of gifts. My husband is a huge fan of fudge and he said this one was really rich, but also tasted really good.

Cappuccino Pecan Fudge

1(14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
8 ounces semisweet baking chocolate

1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Grease an 8 inch pan. In a saucepan heat milk over low heat. Add chocolate and stir until melted; remove from heat. Place instant coffee in a small bow and mix in 3 to 4 tablespoons of chocolate mixture, stirring until coffee is dissolved. Add coffee and powdered sugar to melted chocolate. Stir until smooth then add in pecans. Pour into prepared pan; cool.

A huge thank you to Priscilla over at Priscilla's Baking Adventures for this award. If you want to see a determined girl cook her heart out she has the blog to check out. Everything she makes is fantastic and she shares of love of photography with the world as well. I wish her all the best as she continues to cook and blog about it!

I'm passing it on to a few people who I admire:

Candy at The Courageous Cook

Jenny at Picky Palate

Lisa at Jersey Girl Cooks

Thank you ladies for sharing your life and recipes!

Award and Cookies

I have to admit I've been a little bummed lately because I've entered several recipe contest and haven't been picked for anything so I'm having a dry spell. I've also been busy so I haven't gotten to post anything and then I forgot to upload pictures so I've been having a rough week. I log on today and to my surprise Lisa from Jersey Girl Cooks has given me an award! She's totally made my day and my week!! I haven't been blogging that long and don't have that many readers but I'm working on it. It's a great feeling to be able to share recipes like this and make new friends in the process. I feel like everyone's blog I read is a close friend I've known forever. It's amazing how passionate everyone is and I've always felt that food is something that brings people together and gives you that instant bond.

I encourage you to visit their sites, they are full of information and wonderful yummy recipes! I list the contest buddies blogs on the right side of the page, but there are several others I visit regularly. I'll have to add to my list sometime soon.

Veronica at Supermarket Serenade. Veronica has lots of tasty recipes that are simple and full of flavor. I always enjoy drooling over her pictures. I love how she takes an ingredient from the supermaket and adds a great twist to it.

Julie at Peanut Butter and Julie has lots of fantastic recipes. I envy her for finding the time she does to cook and be able to write such wonderful post. She has a great variety for anything you're looking for.

Tracy at Rah Cha Chow. She's a triple threat, a singer in a band, cooks yummy recipes that fit anyones taste and she wins contest. She's not afraid to put it all out there and I admire that in her.

Cindy at Bake Alaska is another new favorite of mine. I originally came across Cindy through the Daring Bakers site and she's been super sweet helping me pick out restaurants for my upcoming trip to Alaska at the end of the month. She's done a wonderful job with her blog and I've printed several recipes to try that look delicious.

Addicted Sweet Tooth is my last pick. The food photography is amazing and I would lick the screen if no one was looking! The creativity it takes to make the food look so yummy and pop of the screen is true talent. I originally came across this blog through Daring Bakers and have been "addicted" to seeing what new things this pastry chef turned stay at home mom is making.

Cowboy Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups sweetened flake coconut
2 cups chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl. In 8 quart bowl, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 1 minute. Gradually beat in sugars; beat to combine, 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans. For each cookie, drop ¼ cup dough onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart.

Bake in 350 degree oven 17 to 20 minutes, until edges are lightly browned; rotate sheets halfway through. Remove cookies to rack to cool.