Sweet! And Easter cute!
2 bags salted popped popcorn – preferably unbuttered
1 pound bag of white chocolate wafers – melted
1 large bag Easter Color M&M’s
Coat your popped popcorn with the melted white chocolate and stir in the M&M’s. Turn out onto baking sheet to cool. Share with friends, neighbors and kids. If not, you’ll definately want to hide it from yourself! =)
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One of the recipes that my momma made us when we lived at home was her famous Mandarin Orange Cake. Somewhere along the line I started calling it Pig Pickin Cake. I call it famous because my brother in law served it at his award winning restaurant in Nitro, WV for years. It got to be one of the requested recipes of the many delicious dishes that he served up there.
This weekend I had need to make a little something for our Sunday School class and the thought hit me to turn this cake into cupcakes. This recipe is so easy, and so good! If you like orange and pineapple (which by the way, was one of my momma’s and my favorite flavors of ice cream) then I am sure you will enjoy this recipe!
The cake is easy-peasy!
1 box yellow cake mix
11 oz can mandarin oranges and juice
1 cup oil – I cut it to 3/4c
4 eggs.
Mix all ingredients together then mix on medium for 2 minutes. I then filled 24 cupcake liner in cupcake pans with the cake mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Let cool completely
I personally love this icing because it is not sugary. Once again, its SO easy to make
With a mixer, mix together
1 small box vanilla instant pudding
20 0z crushed pineapple and juice
Then mix in 8 ounces thawed Cool Whip
I chose to chill my icing a bit before attempting to pipe the icing onto the cupcakes. However, my decorator tip was not big enough to accomodate the chunks of pineapple so the icing ended up being spooned on instead! Hey.. it was a good thought. And one I haven’t given up on!
And of course… if you’ve taken the time to make your family some delicious tidbits such as these, they deserve a place of honor! Might I suggest a petite pedestal of sorts to elevate your beauties? You can get your own pedestal like mine here: http://bit.ly/zvIFP6
I hope you enjoy these light, less sugary delights!
Posted in Recipes | Tagged mandarin orange cake, pig pickin cake | 1 Comment »
I’m off to our local Pumpkin Patch this morning to find those beautiful colors to decorate my outdoor living spaces. I just love decorating for fall! After seeing the following video, I must remember to pick up a few items for indoors to add some color as well.
I hope you enjoy watching how to effortlessly liven up your Fall Tablescape with some great ideas by Melanie Grant.
Want to pick up an item or two that you saw Melanie display? Order from my online catalog today and enjoy your products shipped right to your door!
Happy Decorating!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Fall, Melanie Grant, Willow House | Leave a Comment »
Last fall, while looking through my copy of West Virginia Living Magazine, I came across a recipe for these cute, easy, fun bites to decorate up any fall plate in seconds. Who wouldn’t love them? Hershey Kisses, mini Nilla Wafers, a little peanut butter to hold them together and pipe a dab for the stem … and there you have it!
Bundle a few together with some silk leaves for color…
And I just love it when folks take something fun like this idea and get creative with it! Here’s this years version of edible acorns using mini Nutter Butters for the caps. How cute! Enjoy!!
Posted in Recipes | Tagged Hershey's Kisses, Nilla Wafers, Nutter Butter, WV Living Magazine | Leave a Comment »
As you will soon notice, it is my hubby that is the photographer in our family. Here is a gorgeous picture he took yesterday as Fall has begun to arrive here in WV.
I couldn’t help but be struck by the beauty and variety of all the colors, and how it reminded me of one of my favorite pieces in our Alfresco line of pottery. This piece is absolutely stunning in its design and rich colors and will take your table from drab to fab in no time! It holds a enough for the family; a generous 12 cups! It is dishwasher, freezer and microwave safe. Nothing like beauty plus ease! The best part?- Until the end of October you can get this $70 server for only $17.48 with a purchase of $39.96!!
Make sure you check out my ongoing Harvest Sale where all of our Alfresco products are currently on sale! You can “gussy up” your fall table with two Alfresco accent plates, an Alfresco pie plate and an Alfresco server for $57.40, and save $79! My Willow House online store .
Posted in Willow House inspired | Tagged Alfresco, Fall table, Gail Pittman, savings | 1 Comment »
One day years ago Momma called me with an infectious excitement in her voice. She loved God’s creation. That day she had seen a red-headed woodpecker in the yard. She was SO excited that when she was telling me what she had seen she got her words for red-headed woodpecker all jumbled and it came out “wood-headed redpecker”. I am just ornery enough to not let something like that go by, so I said to her, “A what?” When she started to repeat herself she realized what she had said. With an “Oh!”, she started to laugh. She laughed and laughed and laughed. We both did. For years we shared quite a giggle anytime we would hear the woodpeckers that live in the woods behind Mom and Dad’s house. I am so thankful for the memories of laughter shared with Mom.
(Now it may seem like I’m switching gears here, but hang in there, you’ll see how it all comes together!!)
If you know me, or perhaps have read my last post, you know that I love the snow. Every year on the day of the first snowfall, Momma would always call me to ask me if I was enjoying the snow. Most years she’d be at work when she’d call. She never missed a first snowfall of the year to call and love on me. Well, this year when the first snowfall came, the phone was silent. As I watched the snowflakes fall my tears fell in rhythm.
I wandered into my office and through teary eyes tried to do some work at my desk when I noticed a movement outside my window at the bird feeder. When I looked I saw none other than a woodpecker! A red-bellied woodpecker! Never had I seen a woodpecker out here. There are no words to express the overwhelming knowledge of the love of God that I experienced. For Him to send a woodpecker to visit me for the first time on the day of the first snowfall, it made me drop to my knees in tears of joy and gratitude. Oh, how great is His Love! To top it all off, that woodpecker- that precious display of God’s love, stayed feeding and bopping around in the tree until the snow shower was over. Every day this winter I have been blessed by that woodpecker. I have even come to hear his call and know he’s there even before I can see him.
Last Friday as I was cleaning up some paperwork in my office the Spirit nudged me of the temporary nature of a bird. I remember thinking to myself that even the leaves on the tree would be filling out before long and I wouldn’t probably have the line of vision as clearly to watch for the woodpecker. It was a fleeting thought in a busy day and it was soon forgotten.
As we were leaving for church on Sunday my hubby noticed there was a dead bird on the sidewalk by my office. One glance and my heart sunk! I could tell it was lifeless, and I could tell it was a woodpecker. I got out of the car to confirm and was an emotional wreck all the way to church. (shoot, I was emotional all day!!) My hubby and I recalled that we had heard a loud thud on Saturday when, no doubt, the bird must have flown into the window. We live out where stray cats and wild animals abound. How the woodpecker wasn’t carried off through the night, only God knows. What I couldn’t understand was why God wanted me to see this. This woodpecker was such a display of His love, why would it have to die, and why would I need to be witness of it?
My morning time with the Lord on Monday was full of questions. I spent much time asking God to explain all this in a way that I could get my head and my heart wrapped around. A few minutes later I heard a sound that was very familiar to me. It sounded like the sweet sound of the woodpecker and it made my heart flutter. But I actually found myself telling the mockingbird that he better hadn’t be messing with me! I went to my office window with much trepidation to see nothing but an empty feeder. Then I heard his sound again, and almost as if to show me his entrance, the woodpecker flew to the feeder! Oh, He is so beautiful! And so is the bird!
What I had failed to realize was that God hadn’t shown His love for me in the presence of one woodpecker, but two! He was loving on me “abundantly; more than I could imagine.” The bird that I buried on Sunday must have been a female. As I carried it I remember thinking that there wasn’t as much color on its head as I had thought there was. I was too wrapped up in my questions for God to notice His provisions.
Yesterday I noticed that God has loved on Mr. Woodpecker too! He has provided him another mate, for there was a female at the feeder. God is good. So good!
Posted in From my heart | 3 Comments »
I received a phone call about a month ago that was one of those things you wish you would have had an opportunity to record. It went something like this:
“Hi, Aunt Sis.”
“Hi, Sweetheart, what are you doing today?”
“I’ve been eating my cereal.”
“Oh, Ok. Was it good?”
“Yes. Guess what I did today, Aunt Sis?”
“I don’t know, sweetie, tell me.”
“I asked Jesus to come into my heart!”
“You did? That’s wonderful!”
“Uh, huh, and you know what?”
“What honey?”
“Because I did, I get to go to heaven!”
“That’s right honey, and do you know who you’ll get to see in heaven?”
“Yes, …. God and Mammy!”
Even though I didn’t get an opportunity to record this special event, God did. God recorded my nephew’s name in the Lamb’s Book of Life that day!
Here’s a picture of my nephew with his birthday balloon buddy that his Uncle Roy and Aunt Sis sent him.
Oh, did I mention that he just turned four!?
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Posted in From my heart | 2 Comments »
