Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

>> Sunday, July 24, 2011



While hanging at the hospital waiting for my dad to get out of surgery, I rummaged through the magazines and found some pound cake recipes that looked amazing. So I decided to make one of them this weekend. It is an amazing cake and taste like a piece of Heaven!!! Give it a try!!

Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
3 cups of sugar
1 8oz. package of cream cheese
6 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup of strawberry glaze

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add cream cheese, beating until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time beating just until blended after each addition. Gradually add flour to butter mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition, stopping to scrape bowl as needed. Stir in almond and vanilla extracts. Pour one third of batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Dollop strawberry glaze over batter and then swirl with a butter knife. Repeat procedure once more and then top with remaining batter. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely about 1 hour and then turn over to release onto cake pan.

Cream Cheese Drizzle

2 cups of powdered sugar
1/4 stick of melted butter
4 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
about 2 to 4 tablespoons of milk. Just add till you get to drizzle consistency.

Mix with a blender and then pour into a small pan and cook for just a few minutes till cream cheese blends well. Let sit for about 10 minutes and then drizzle all over top of cake.

Slice and serve with fresh strawberry and whip topping.

A little poem to make you giggle. Its by a Cowboy Poet name Joe Kreger.

One of life’s more awesome chores
is follerin’ women around in stores.
It takes good wind and a right strong heart
to accompany your lady through Wal Mart.

You thought us males were meant to lead,
but for shoppin’ trips, we lack the speed.
She’ll bid you “Come” with a little smile,
then she disappears on down the aisle.

She charges ahead—she won’t look back.
She’s in pursuit of the bargain rack.
You foller as meek as an orphan pup,
but she sets a pace that you can’t keep up.

You’re tryin’ to keep her in your sight,
but when you blink, she makes a right.
You make a left, then turn right twice.
You track through miles of merchandise.

You’re makin’ steps that stretch a yard.
You’re sweatin’ now and breathin’ hard.
You shoulda stayed home when she went shoppin’
Your feet hurt bad and your knees are poppin’.

At “Costume Jewelry,” you pause for breath.
What a terrible place to meet your death!
But, there might just be a greater cost.
What if all these folks can tell you’re lost?

It’s time to bow out of this situation,
You’ve had your share of humiliation.
You’ll just wait in the truck ’til she gets through.
She’s bound to be done in a hour or two.

A perfect solution, but dang the luck.
You’ve done forgot where you parked the truck.

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Girls Night

>> Saturday, July 16, 2011

Had a wonderful time tonight with my friends Debbie and Shelley. Its been a while since the 3 of us have had a chance to get together. I have missed hanging out with them. We decided to make some cards.
Shelley's card
Jeanie's card
Debbie's card
My dad is home from surgery. He had cancer removed from his face and then had to have reconstructive surgery to repair the place. Its a horrible surgery and he looks awful, but doctor promises it will look better in a few weeks. Praying everything is ok with him. Such a rough time he is having.

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Summer Fun!!!

>> Sunday, July 10, 2011



Wowsa, I cannot believe its been over a month since my last post. I really stink at blogging. I guess I am just busy living life. I will give you a quick update of whats going on in my life since I posted last.

1. My daughter fell off of a trampoline and fractured her skull and received a pretty good concussion. We spent 2 days in hospital and a week home recovering. All seems good now. She is on low activity for the summer though. No more falling on her head any time soon.

2. I started and finished "Prayers for Agnes Sparrow". Was a great book with a very surprising twist towards the end of book. Did not see it coming. It is the 1st book of a short series and so I look forward to reading the other books. Right now I have put it on hold to read "The Help" before the movie comes out next month.

3. Awesome 4th of July. One of my favorite holidays. The firework show in our town was amazing this year.


4. Swimming pool up and going and we are really enjoying it a lot this year.

5. Working on Raggedies for the summer. Already finished one I started a few years back, completed one for my friends niece, and starting another. I am also going to be making one to donate to the Quilt Guild Fund Raiser in the fall.

6. My friend Shelley is here visiting from California and was thrilled to find out she is planning to move back to Texas. That makes me very, very happy. I will miss her when she leaves but will anticipate her returning very soon.

7. Still working out every day. Curves, Mon, Wed, Fri. Walking at Civic Center Tue, Thurs. No weight loss, but also no weight gain. So all is good for now. One day maybe my body will let me loose more weight, but for now, I will just be happy where I am.

8. Had our 30 year class reunion from Highschool. It was so wonderful to see all my classmates. Everyone looked amazing. I cannot wait till we all hook up again at the end of July. From this, I got hooked back up with one of my B.F.F.'s and we are just having a great time chatting on the phone and visiting with one another.

9. Kadie's Hamster had babies!!! 4 of them. So adorable!!!

10. Our town now has a train that will take us just about anywhere we want to go in the metroplex. We rode it this month and I loved it. Rode it to a nearby downtown square where I did some major fabric shopping. So much fun.
11. I love my husband and daughter. We are having a wonderful summer so far and hope to have many more fun filled days and memories of our family and friends and time together.

Well I guess that is about it for now. I know the summer will be busy so I want promise to post on regular basis. I do promise to post a update though again soon. Until then, May your summer days be long and fun and most of all STAY COOL!!!!

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Rock Harbor Series

>> Monday, June 06, 2011




Awwww, I just finished the last book of The Rock Harbor Series by Coleen Coble. I am so happy I could just cry...It was wonderful. One of those bittersweet happy endings. The entire series is really, really good. I only struggled with one book, but even it had a great ending. I totally recommend this series if you love reading Christian Fiction with a twist of Romance and Mystery!! ROCK HARBOR SERIES Start with book 1 and read straight threw. Your favorite will be Abomination. I can almost guarantee it!!! When you get to the last book, be sure to visit the website where she has a really great epilogue!!! Not sure what I will read now. I have a list of books I have picked out, but not sure where to go. I love Coleen's book and she has several other series. I might just have to start one of those.

I would like to introduce you to Penelope Ann!!! She is my newest creation. Yes I said "MY" newest creation. I created her without a pattern. The only problem is I did not make any pattern pieces of her and so she is a ONE OF A KIND Raggedy!!! I started her a while back and decided she needed to be finished. I am going to be starting one to donate to our local Quilt Guild Fall Fundraiser Auction next. So keep your eyes peeled for her debut in the next few weeks!!! She will be my best ever!!!

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My Very, very Best Friend

>> Sunday, June 05, 2011


A picture of me and my best friend at the Drive-In movie in Ennis, Texas. I was so thrilled to run into her there. She was hanging out with her brother Andy at the miniature golf course!!! I just had to get a picture of her and I together and of course with Andy. We had such a great time at the Drive-In. I wanted to take my daughter and let her see just what my husband and I did for entertainment as a young couple. You could always find us at the drive-in. I was a very sad person when the decided to close the one in the town we both grew up in. This particular drive-in is very much thriving and I am very jealous its not closer so we can go more often. Ennis is about 1 hour and 1/2 from our town so its not a really long ways, but just long enough that we cannot go often. On this particular night we saw the new Pirates movie and Thor. I would not recommend 3-d at the drive-in, but it was still greatness.


A few more pictures of our fun night at the Drive-In.




Well I know I have not blogged in a while and I apologize for that. I have just been so busy with my life!!! My husband and I just celebrated our 28th anniversary. Its hard to believe its been 28 years. It feels like yesterday. The great news, we are still very much in love with one another and he is my very, very best friend. Yes Annie is my best friend, but he is my very, very best friend. He also is the best gift giver. Most girls want jewelry for their Anniversary, but not me. I already have tons of jewelry. So when he ask me what I wanted, I said a Nook Color. I have in the past year taken up reading and have fell in love with the hobby. Its just such a easy relaxing hobby that requires little effort, but comes with a whole lot of benefit. I started out reading real books and although I feel like there is nothing better than the book itself, I was starting to see that it could be a problem with storage. So my friend recommended me to download the Nook application on my Iphone and see what I thought of reading using a E Reader application. So I did and even though the words were tiny, I loved it. I could lay in bed at night which is my favorite time to read and I did not disturb my husband sleeping with a light and I did not have to fight keeping a book light on. So for the past 6 months I have been reading and I am realizing I read much faster also. I am about to finish the Rock Harbor Series by Coleen Coble. I have read about 5 books on my Iphone Nook Application. So I think that is plenty of time now to know that I would actually get use out of the Nook Color. I felt good about asking for it for my Anniversary Gift. He was thrilled to be able to buy it for me as he really never knows what to buy even though I tell him a million things. LOL!!! So anyway, that has been my newest fun thing and I am loving it and I love him. Happy Anniversary to the greatest husband EVER!!! At least in my corner of the world anyway!!!
I am still busy on my diet. I loss a little and gain a little. Its a never ending process. Not sure if I mentioned I was going to Curves now in my previous post, but if not, I am. I am loving it very much. So much so, that I dream about working there. LOL!!! I know that sounds silly, but I just want to be there all the time. Its just a lot of fun for me. I can really tell that its making me much stronger and I can also tell that I am getting more firm. Not sure when I will loose weight, but I am good for now until its time. I am done worrying about it so much. I just continue to eat as healthy as possible and exercise. I am sure with time I will get the results I need. The main thing is that I feel great.
I joined my area Quilt Guild. I have been struggling with my husbands quilt and its been a slow process for me. I thought if I joined the Quilt Guild it would help encourage me to work on it. I just joined last month so I have not had a lot of time to see any improvements in the area. With trying to finish up school and husband being on vacation, I have not done much. But I am planning a few summer projects. I have started a Raggedy doll which will be holding a small quilt. I plan to make and donate her to the Quilt Guild Fundraising Auction in the fall. So that is first on my list and then I will start working on the quilt that I have struggled with for a while. I do love quilting, its just hard to make time for it. So hoping the summer will give me some time to really get it going. I would like to finish it for his birthday by Nov. Fingers crossed!!!

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10 Day Challenge Journal

>> Thursday, May 12, 2011

This past Sunday May 8th, I gave myself a 10 day challenge. So today actually starts day 3 of the challenge. So far so good. I am really sore though. I think I am using every muscle in my body right now. So the challenge is.... I am doing 1200 calories and Curves and My Leslie Sansome 3 mile walking tape every day for the next 10 days. It sounds crazy, but I know its what its going to take to move the weight in the positive direction. I gained 10 pounds back from the HCG which was not unusual especially since the doctor put me on HRT (Hormone Replacement Therepy), but I worked hard to get to where I was and moving up 10 pounds did not make me a happy camper. So I got on internet and started reading about HRT and realized that if I did not do something, I would only gain more weight. It talked about lots of exercise and low calories and so that is what I decided to do. I joined Curves and got out my walking tapes and gave myself a challenge to get rid of the extra 10 pounds. I have been using My Fitness Pal app. on my phone to track all of my calories. I love this little application. It has become my best diet friend!!! Visit their website at My Fitness Pal So there ya go!!! Thats my reason for the crazy challenge. I think I like doing these mini challenges. I see light at the end of the tunnel this way. I can already feel results just in the 3 days. I do not feel as swollen. I am very sore though.
Ok, so below I decided to do a journal of my 10 days. I thought it would help me see progress and mistakes that I might can change from day to day. Also if anyone is following my blog and wants to do a simular challenge, they are able to see my progress and foods I eat. I would like to think I could be helpful to others by doing this. Its hard to do these things by yourself, but sometimes yourself is all you got!!! So with that said, Here is the start of my journal...Wish my luck!!!




I decided to journal my 10 days in case

someone wanted to follow along with me. You will see that I tend to eat a lot of

the same things, prepared almost the same way. Mostly cause its filling and easy

to fix in my electric skillet. I love mushrooms and eat them in almost every

thing just about. They are full of vitamin D and are a very good filler. I love

all veggies, but my favorite is broccoli. I try and eat it at least 3 or 4 times

a week. I try to get a balance of fiber, veggies, protein, good fats in every

meal. I do not eat a lot of fruit because of sugar. Mostly if I eat fruit it is

a apple here and there. Its really hard for me to get exact 1200 calories. I am

either under or over. I figure with all the exercise, a little over is better

than under. I am trying really hard this week to keep it as close to 1200 as

possible. So come back through out the week if you would like to follow along.





My 10 Day Challenge Journal



May 9, Day 1--




Breakfast...1/2 cup F Factor Skinnys-n-Fruit

cereal, 1/2 cup Private Select Organic 2 % Milk....Calories=130




Lunch.... 1 tortilla folded in half with

Spinach/Mushrooms sautéed in 1 tablespoon butter,1/8 Monterey Jack

Cheese...Calories=225



Snack...1 serving Rice Chips...138




Dinner...Grilled Chicken Breast covered with

sautéed mushrooms, mozzarella cheese,1/2 tablespoon butter,dinner salad with

feta and light ranch....Calories 520




Snack...1/2 piece Kadie's birthday

cake..Calories 180



Total Calories for the day...1193



Exercise



Curves..Approx. calorie burn...261




3 mile Walking Workout..Approx. calorie

burn...427







May 10, Day 2--




Breakfast...1/2 cup F Factor Skinnys-n-Fruit

cereal, 1/2 cup Private Select Organic 2% milk, 2 boiled

eggs...Calories=270




Lunch...2 Cups of Broccoli, 2 Cups of Mushrooms

both sautéed in 1 tablespoon of Light Smart Balance Butter, 1/2 cup of Part Skim

Mozzarella cheese...Calories =290




Snack...1 1/2 serving of Rice

Chips..Calories=165




Dinner...1 cup Mushrooms, 2 cups Broccoli, 6 oz.

Grilled Chicken, stir fried in 2 tsp. sesame oil, 1 tbsp. smart balance light

butter...Calories...479







Total Calories for the day...1204



Exercise



Curves...Approx. calorie burn...239




3 Mile Walking Workout...Approx. calorie

burn...427



May 11, Day 3-


Breakfast...1/2 cup F Factor Skinnys-n-Fruit

cereal, 1/2 cup Private Select Organic 2% milk

Lunch...1/2 of Southwest Chicken Fiesta Salad, 2 tb. Avocado Ranch Dressing...Calories.. 328

Snack...1/2 pancake, sugar-free syrup...Calories 164

Dinner...1/2 of Southwest Chicken Fiesta Salad, 2 tb. Avocado Ranch Dressing...Calories.. 328

Snack...Kudos bar...Calories..100

Snack...Rice Chips...Calories..165

Total Calories for the day...1215

Exercise



Curves...Approx. calorie burn...254



3 Mile Walking Workout...Approx. calorie

burn...427

Notes: Today I struggled. Maybe cause it was middle of week, but I wanted to eat bad, and I did not want to do the 3 mile walking. Doing the same tape day after day is very hard. I really wish Leslie had a TV show that I could watch daily. Anyways, I managed to hang in there. I turned her volume down and put in my own music and it was much better. I love her, but I have to admit it gets crazy to hear the same giggles and words every day. As for eating, I was craving something sweet all day. I ended up buying the Kudo's bars which was as close to a candy bar as I could get without all the calories. It was hard to just eat one though. They are really good. But I managed to hang in there. It was tough!!! Today marks 4 days of major exercise and 3 days of approx. 1200 calories. 7 days to go to complete my challenge!!! I can already see some results which is a very good thing!!! Thank you God for showing me positive results. With you by my side, I can do anything!!!



.

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Time to get serious

>> Monday, April 25, 2011

Last week I got started!!! Lots of random thoughts running through my head, so this might sound a little mixed up and it could change daily, but for now I am thinking that This week I am getting serious!!! I have 4 weeks to drop 10 pounds. Ok, so there is no reason, I just gave myself that goal because this is the amount of weight I gained in the last 2 months. Also I am a short term goal setter, as I like to see the end of the tunnel. Another reason is that Curves is month to month and so I might as well set myself a goal each month. This month hoping for 10 pounds. So with that said, I am going to go ahead and make the commitment to join Curves today. I want all the benefits you get as a member and I want to wrap my head around the idea that this is my new way of living for at least the next year if not the rest of my life and I need to go ahead and get started today!! Put the plan into motion!!! I already know I like it, I already know its going to be good for me, I already know I need it, so why wait any longer!!! I know that 10 pounds is a lot to expect, but if I expect big, maybe I will loose big. I figure I will loose a little water weight, and hopefully about 5 pounds of fat weight!!! I want to try and at least loose 2 pounds a week, which I think for me is a healthy weight loss. Of course I will take whatever my body is willing to let go of. Next month I will reset my goals. Ok, so all this said, it could change once I get to Curves. They may have a different idea of what is expected or excepted!!! This is just my own personal goals. No matter what they set my goals at, I will strive to beat them!!! I do love a good challenge!!!

Thought I would share my favorite breakfast. You could actually have this for a lunch meal also!!! You can prepare it ahead of time and put in frig and then just microwave. I like to start the day with something yummy and hardy that will get my metabolism kicking in the right direction and keep me satisfied longer. I am only doing 1200 calories right now, so there is not a lot of room for snacking. So I need to get the most out of my meals!!!

1 cup of pre steamed broccoli=15 calories (best buy is Sam's)

1/2 link of Gourmet Sausage = 50 calories Beeman Old World Gourmet Sausage Smoked Mozzarella W/artichoke & Garlic (only place I found it was Kroger)

1 slice of Vermont Chedder=55 calories (Kroger Deli)

1 egg=70 calories

1 La Tortilla Factory tortilla=50 calories (Kroger deli)

Put all food in a organic sprayed or pam sprayed skillet ( I use a little electric skillet)

Cook till everything is sauteed!!! Heat tortilla on both sides. I like mine a little crispy so I put it in the skillet also!! Put tortilla in a bowl and put mixture on top and eatum up!!! It really is yummy and very filling!!!

Total Calories=240

Total Fat=14 grams

Total Net Carbs=6 grams

Total Fiber=8 grams

I will share some more things I eat as I go!!!

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