Sugar-Free Lemonade

Hi there, friends!

How’s the weather where you are? Well, ours is undeniably hot! Yesterday’s high temperature was 109, today is supposed to reach 109 again, and 110 for tomorrow. Oh well, such is life in the desert. 🙂

With the temperature rising, we continue to look for ways to cool off. One of the best we have found is a cool, icy glass of homemade lemonade. But, we have one catch…my youngest daughter (and lemonade lover) is Type-1 Diabetic, so the traditional, sugar-laden, yummy lemonades are out and sugar-free is in!

This recipe definitely fits the bill! It is cool, icy, yummy, homemade, and is safe for my daughter to drink. And, trust me, you don’t have to be a “diet drinker” to love it. It is a great way to save some calories while cooling off.

I suggest using fresh lemons if possible, but bottled lemon juice works as well. We were fortunate to have an “overload” of lemons from Hubby’s Auntie when this batch was made. 🙂

Here’s the recipe I use…

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups fresh squeezed or bottled lemon juice
• 1 cup Splenda (or sugar substitute of your choice)
• 5 1/2 cups water
• ice

Directions:

• In pitcher, stir lemon juice, Splenda, and water together.
• Chill and serve over ice.

Enjoy! ❤

 

Creamy Coleslaw

Hi there, friends! I hope your week is off to a great start!

Memorial Weekend is quickly approaching and I thought I would share this quick and VERY easy recipe for creamy coleslaw. In addition to the benefits of speed and ease of this recipe, it is “dirt cheap” compared with what you would spend on an already prepared slaw or purchasing the bottled slaw dressing. However, I do cheat with the cabbage and carrot mixture by purchasing the already shredded slaw mix. It is a minimal expense and well worth it! 🙂

I am willing to bet the bank that you already have the ingredients for the dressing in your fridge and pantry. The only exception may be celery seed, but it is very easily found in the spice section of your supermarket. If you do not already have it, please do not hesitate to purchase some, as it goes well in all kinds of prepared salads, such as tuna, chicken, and pasta salads.

Just keep in mind to keep this slaw cool because of the mayonnaise base. If you would like a slaw that can sit out for longer periods of time, you may want to check out my Jalapeno Pepper Slaw that I posted a couple of months ago. 🙂

Here’s how I made it…

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 package of prepared coleslaw mix (cabbage with carrots)

Directions:

• Whisk together all ingredients except coleslaw mix.
• Stir the dressing into the coleslaw mix and mix well.
• Cover and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Enjoy! ❤

Mystic Maze in Needles

Hi there, friends! I hope you all had a great weekend!

We had a warm weekend here in the desert. We have gotten to our “three-digit” days and I’m already dreading the next electric bill. 😬

Although we had some chores to get done at home, Saturday just felt like one of those days to take a drive. We have not been able to get out much recently, so a drive through the countryside (desert for us) seemed like a great way to get away for a few hours. But where to go?

Hubby suggesting taking a drive to Needles, California. From our home in Blythe, it is about 100 miles away. Now, mind you, Needles is not typically a destination for most people. It is basically a stop for weary drivers on I-40, just as our home of Blythe is on I-10. However, we wanted to check out a local river campground where Hubby camped years ago.

Knowing that a “campground pass-by” did not really justify a 200 mile round-trip drive, I began an internet search to see if there was anything else of interest to do or see. Well, an interesting, little-known sight popped up on my search.

Mystic Maze. Hmmm. Sounded interesting, so I continued searching. I learned that it is a geoglyph created by the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and is believed to be over 600 years old. The belief of the modern Mojave people is that the Maze was a place to leave bad spirits behind and served as a portal to the afterlife.

Unfortunately, through development of the railroad in the 1880’s and Route 66 in 1926, much of the original geoglyph has been destroyed, so only a small portion remains. The site is fenced for necessary  protection, so I took the best photos I possibly could. If you are interested in more of the history, you can search Mystic Maze or Topock Maze (as it is also referred to) and you will be able to see aerial views that show how amazing the site truly is.

Although, it was a bit off the beaten path and only a 10 minute stop, it was well worth the effort!! It was a great learning experience for the kids, as well as Hubby and myself. By the way, we got all those chores done on Sunday. 🙂

Here’s what I was able to photograph…

Enjoy ❤️

Blackberry Almonette Trifle

Hi there, friends!! Happy Friday! I hope you all have had a great week!

I wanted to share a great weekend dessert recipe with you today that is great for this time of year. I made this a few weeks ago when my mother-in-law and auntie-in-law came over for “linner.”  Yep. That says linner. In our home, linner is that meal that is served between lunch and dinner and takes place of both…just like brunch does with breakfast and dinner. On to the trifle…

I love making trifle! In addition to being quick, easy, inexpensive, and versatile, it looks absolutely decadent. It only takes a few minutes to put together and you can usually find the ingredients in your pantry or refrigerator. As for versatility, the options for ingredients are endless. I typically use some sort of cookie or brownie, pudding, whipped topping, and a cut-up fruit or chopped candy. Again, I say, get creative! 🙂

One final tip! Make sure to take any photos you would like of your trifle before spooning the first serving. The look of decadence quickly disappears once served. 🙂

Here’s how I made it…

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

• 1 package almond flavored cookies
• 1 (6-serving) package instant vanilla pudding, prepared according to package directions
• 1 (24 ounce) container whipped topping, thawed
• 12 ounces of blackberries, washed and dried

Directions: 

• Layer ingredients into trifle dish. Start with the cookies and follow with a layer of pudding, whipped topping, and finally, the berries. Repeat.

 

Optional: I take a couple of cookies and crush them to sprinkle before the final layer of berries.

Enjoy! ❤

“Sprinkled” Cake Mix Truffles

Hi friends!

If I were a bettin’ girl, I would bet the bank that you’ve seen this idea all over Pinterest, Instagram, and any other social media forum you may follow. I know I have! I finally had to break down and try them because they look so darn yummy. 🙂

Since April was “Frugal Month” in our home, I went searching through the MANY recipes for these little balls of happiness to find a recipe that would work with what I already had in my fridge and pantry. Almost every recipe I found contained just one ingredient that I did not have on hand.

Refusing to become discouraged, I decided that I would just play around with the consensus of the recipes and use the closest ingredients I had as substitutions. Guess what!! It worked!! They were delicious!

Just think of all the different ways to make these with different flavor combinations!!

Here’s how I made them…

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3-4 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup packaged white cake mix
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 16 ounce package white almond bark
• sprinkles

Directions:

• Mix cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla and heavy cream and mix until well combined.
• Slowly add flour, cake mix, and salt and mix until dough comes together into a ball.
• Take small amounts of dough and roll into balls (about 32-36) and place onto parchment-covered cookie sheet. Place in freezer for 10-15 minutes to “firm up”.
• While dough is cooling, prepare almond bark according to directions on the package. (I use the old-fashioned double-boiler method so that the coating stays warm for the duration of dipping.)
• Remove cookie sheet from the freezer and coat each ball by dipping into coating with a spoon or fork. Let excess fall back into remaining coating and place coated balls back onto the cookie sheet and sprinkle with sprinkles.
• When finished dipping all balls, place cookie sheet back into freezer for approximately 20 minutes or until solid.
• Store in an air-tight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Enjoy! ❤

Brown Sugar Pork Glaze

Hi friends! Happy May!

The recipe I’m sharing today is for a glaze that I used for our pork roast on Easter. Our Easter dinner had to be a little on the “frugal side” this year, so I decided on pork roast. I absolutely love pork roasts. They are inexpensive, versatile, and delicious. And…remember…it’s the other white meat. 🙂

The glaze was amazing! It smelled so delicious while it was baking. I couldn’t wait to get it out of the oven and onto my plate. Bonus…make an extra roast with the glaze…you can freeze, thaw, reheat, and have a second meal with the same great flavor and no added work.

Here’s how you make it…

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

• 4 lb. pork roast
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt (+ extra for roasting)
• 1 teaspoon pepper (+ extra for roasting)
• 4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey

Directions:

• Salt and pepper roast and bake according to size and temperature.
• While pork is roasting, whisk together glaze ingredients.
• Approximately 20 minutes before pork is done, remove from oven, coat with glaze, and finish roasting.
• Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

 

Enjoy! ❤