Need Prayer?

The day after Thanksgiving, in my morning time with the Lord, I felt led to pray for all those in the world who may not have anyone to pray for them. I don't know why (but He knows). Lord knows I'm no saint, just a struggler. I don't even consider myself a so called "prayer warrior". I just pray for what's on my heart at any given moment of the day. And I DO know desperately the need for, and the power of, prayer. So, if you have a prayer need, I invite you to share it with me and I will share it with my Father...and ONLY Him. (You don't even need to share your specific need with me~I don't need to know it~God will know.) That's a promise. You can message me on my Facebook page (found on the sidebar here).
Or email me at: TJsSweetHome@hotmail.com

Thanksgiving Recipe Favorites - Puppy Pumpkin Stew

My dear fellow blogger Rachel was kind enough to send me her recipe for Puppy Pumpkin Stew for my sweet little Dollface. Who knew that Bobo, our finicky cat who only has ever preferred cat food and the water poured off the canned tuna, would put a roller derby worthy elbow move on Dollface to get at the Pumpkin Stew? Poor Dollface. But now I put it in both of their bowls. Thanks Rachel! I hope you don't mind me sharing (along with my tweaks that follow)...

Puppy Pumpkin Stew

1 basic can of pumpkin

1 can of chicken broth

1 lg. can of chicken pieces

1 finely diced carrot

1 cup of frozen peas

1 Tbsp. olive oil

Directions: In a saucepot, saute the carrots in olive oil until they are softened. Add broth and pumpkin, stirring to combine. Add chicken. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the frozen peas and cook for one more minute.

Measure 1/2 up serving sizes and pour into greased muffin tins. (she uses silicon muffin tins). Freeze the stew and pop the portions out, storing them in a ziploc bag. Pull our a serving as needed and microwave until thawed. Serve warm not hot(!) with a regularly used kibble. (Her recipe is based on the Proportions stew component)

*My Tweaks: 1)I took some already cooked turkey we had on hand, ground it quickly in my Ninja (love that thing!) in place of the chicken. 2)I didn't think I had any peas on hand so I omitted them. (Only to find out later, after bravely cleaning out my freezer, that there were, indeed some hiding in there!) 3)I added about 1/4 cup of cooked brown rice that I had on hand. 4)I put the stew in ice cube trays to freeze (which I've done with a lot of things I freeze since my "homemade baby food making days".)

Hope your "babies" enjoy as much as mine do!

Thanksgiving Recipe Favorites - Sugarless, Crustless Cheesecake

This is really an everyday favorite for me since I am usually watching the carbs & sugar, but it's good enough to serve as a dessert to those guests who may be watching those things too, IMO. Did I mention it's easy? That's always a bonus for me!

Sugarless, Crustless Cheesecake

The cake:

3 - 8 oz.pkgs of cream cheese, room temp.

1 cup of Splenda

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Sour Cream Topping:

8 oz. sour cream

2 Tblsp. Splenda

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

In large bowl, cream the cream cheese while adding 1 egg at a time until blended well. Add Splenda and vanilla. Pour into a well "Pam" sprayed 9" pie pan. Bake for 30- 35 minutes. Cool for five minutes while you prepare topping.

Topping: Blend all ingredients until well blended. Pour over top of cheesecake, spreading evenly, and return to oven for 5 minutes.

Cool and refrigerate.

Note: To make it extra fancy schmancy & elegante, offer fresh fruit to top it with. You may wanna make more than one since, if you don't make a big deal about the fact that it's sugarless & crustless, everyone will be loving this dessert!

Enjoy and check back for my next, and final, recipe for your furry friends! After all, they deserve a little punkin' sumpin' too!

Thanksgiving Recipe Favorites - Dinner Rolls

This is the third installation in my Thanksgiving Recipe Favorites where I am sharing our family's tried and true, absolute favorite dishes!

If you're feeling up to making these deee-luscious dinner rolls, prepare yourself, they will go fast. They do take a little time and effort, but are sooo worth it! And as with most of my recipes that have been gathered over the years from hither and yon, I don't know where these originate to give credit where credit is due.
Get the butter ready y'all...

Dinner Rolls

2 Tblsp. plus 2 tsp. yeast

2 Tblsp. plus 1 tsp. granulated sugar

1 c. warm water

1/2 c. sugar

6 c. all purpose flour

8 Tblsp. butter

1/4 c. veg. oil

1 egg

1 c. hot water

2 tsp. salt

2-3 Tblsp. veg. oil

Combine yeast, sugar and one cup of warm water in a med. sized bowl. Stir to dissolve and let rise until it equals 2 cups. In a large mixing bowl, add 1/2 c. sugar, 1/4 c. oil and the salt. Mix well. Add egg & mix well. Add the cup of hot water and the yeast mixture. Add three cups of the flour & mix well. Add the rest of the flour, one cup at a time, mixing well after each. On lightly floured surface, knead dough until it's easy to handle, about 10 - 12 times and then form into a ball. Place 2-3 tblsp. veg oil in a large bowl then place the ball of dough in the bowl with oil. Turn dough until all surfaces of the dough is coated with oil. Cover and let rise until doubled in size in a warm place. Melt the butter and set aside.

When dough has risen, punch down. On a floured surface, sprinkle dough with flour and roll out to a one inch thickness and cut into triangle to roll into crescent shapes or pinch off small balls of dough (without rolling out dough) with your hands (about the size of golf balls) for round rolls. Dip each dough ball into melted butter. Place rolls in shallow pan with sides touching and cover again and let rise until double in size.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit on lowest oven rack until golden brown. You may brush with butter when they come out of the oven.

YUMZ!!!

Note- I have never made these ahead of time and warmed them up, but I don't see why you couldn't. I would probably just not butter them when they come out of the oven if I were going to do it this way.

What are YOUR family favorites?

Thanksgiving Recipe Favorites - Daddy's Appetizer Cheese Dip

I don't know about you, but at our house, thanksgiving dinner is usually not quite ready when the company begins to arrive. And that's okay, it gives us time to get reacquainted before the meal and before they roll...ahem...head home. We all need something to keep the hungry masses from getting cranky before the turkey is done. For us, it's the always-requested-and highly-disappointed-if-it's-not-there Cheese Dip that my hubby makes. It's the usual hot Velveeta type dip, and his is never quite the same from one time to the next. One year, he dictated the recipe to me so I could pass it along to my sister, Cindy. And that's what you will be getting here. But don't worry, you really can't mess this up. We serve ours with Tostitos and for the low-carbers *cough*me*cough*,- veggies).

"Daddy's" Appetizer Cheese Dip

2 lb. box Velveeta, diced

1 can Rotel brand tomatoes with cilantro & diced tomatoes in tomato sauce (or whatever version you like and/or can find)

1 can regular Rotel

Put all the above ingredients in crock pot on low.

While that is beginning to melt, brown a small package of chorizo (about 3 links. Squeeze the chorizo out of the casings into the skillet to cook.) Cook til "dry" (I guess when all the liquid has cooked off)

Add the chorizo to the cheese mixture in the crock pot.

*Note- he has also used ground beef but I think we like the chorizo best.

**'nother Note- we usually keep the Rotels mild since we have assorted ages and palates eating it.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Recipe Favorites and My New Blog Button Debut!

First of all, I wanted to thank Jenn from The Days of a SAHM for my new blog button (on the right...)! She did this for free, can you believe it? She may do one for you too if you ask, "pretty please, with a cherry on top?"! Thanks so much Jenn! You are so talented!

And, with Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, I thought I would do a series these upcoming days of all the Thanksgiving family favorites we've enjoyed over the years. Some recipes show up year after year. Every year. Some make an appearance occasionally. But often. Today I thought I would start off with the star of our dessert lineup. This creamy, luscious, fruity pie makes an appearance every Thanksgiving and Christmas. There would be an uprising if it didn't. The kids start talking and asking about it well before the holiday, just to be sure it's not forgotten in the hustle & bustle of things. My sister Cindy has taken on the role of making several of these pies each holiday for the past few years. (Yes. Several. They go fast and furiously. We need several to satisfy the masses.) Thanks for always coming through Aunt Cindy!

Aunt Dot's Blueberry Pie*

1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese

1 cup of sugar

1 large box of Dream Whip (+ ingredients on box to make)

1 can of blueberry pie filling (or fruit pie filling of your choice)

2 baked pie shells

2 bananas

Cream the cream cheese & sugar and set aside. Whip the Dream Whip according to package directions then fold in cheese and sugar mixture. Slice the banana in the bottom of the baked pie shells. Pour the cheese/whipped cream mixture over the bananas. Make a shallow well in the center of each of the pies whipped cream/cream cheese mound and put 1/2 the can of pie filling in each.

Note- Cindy uses Cool Whip instead of Dream Whip but I'm not sure of how much she uses. You may want to try that. I'm guessing 1 small tub for each pie.

* Our Aunt Dot didn't create this recipe (& I don't know who did) but she is the one who gave it to us years ago so we call it that, lol!

Sorry I don't have any pics to go along with these recipes. We haven't made them yet. I just figure there may be people out there that still don't know what to make for the big day. Hope this helps!~TJ

Daddy & Son

As my son & grandson were heading home on halloween, I snapped a few adorable photos of them...

LOVE!!!