Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Oh sweet heavenly Fall season. I welcome you with this outstandingly tasty Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread. Thank you for making me smile and do a little happy dance when I slice a piece of cream cheese covered gooey goodness. I’m glad I made three loaves of you.

Hinsdale Highlight Salad Recipe

This last weekend I had the honor of singing again with my Heritage Family in a concert at the Hinsdale SDA Church in Illinois. I love being with this fantastic group of singers. They are wonderful people and we always have the best time together. This trip we had the special treat of spending some time at Rick and Karen Mace’s home (Rick is Max Mace’s nephew). They fed us three times…like, a whole big group of us…..THREE TIMES! Karen, you are awesome. And your FOOD…superb! Thank you! And now…to share your phenomenal creation with everyone…I have dubbed it, “The Hinsdale Highlight,” unless you’d rather “The Karen Concoction”…let me know

Ladies and gentlemen…this salad is such a TREAT to the palate. I would have never thought this up, but KAREN, being the genius in the kitchen that she is, managed to dream up my new favorite salad.

Artisan Blend Salad Mix – found at Costco
Blueberry and Vanilla Infused Goat Cheese – found at Costco
Heart of Palm – cut into slices
Watermelon Chunks – as much as you’d like!
Chopped Mint Leaves – about a 1/2 tablespoon
Pistachios – lots!
Lime Olive Oil – drizzled on top to taste
Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar – drizzled on top to taste
A special salad spice blend that she found at a cool downtown Chicago store just lightly sprinkled on top – but I may have to make it without the spices – It’ll probably still be just as good – hopefully!
 

 

 

All In The Family…

Even my cousin, Sam, is a cook!!!

Sam goes to college at Southern Adventist University just a couple of miles from our house, so he comes over to our place fairly often. Yesterday he said, “I’m doing dinner tonight.” And dinner he did!! Some of the best stir-fry I’ve ever had. Look at that plate! Good job dude!

Lets Just Call These “Heaven”

A few days ago, my hubby and I returned from Hawaii and what a fantastic and YUMMY surprise to see that our friend Lindsey made us these heavenly cookies as a “welcome home.” Thank you girl!! Your creations are always SO fancy looking too. The drizzled white chocolate, the caramel center, the pecans and the sugar dusting……all I can say is “mmmmmmmmmmm”

 

Restaurant Review: Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack

Brooks and I are getting ready for our second annual Hawaii trip with our fabulous California friends and family and this year we’re flying out of Nashville since we now live in Tennessee. Each time we go to a big city, Brooks goes through the archives of the popular Travel Channel TV show “Man vs. Food” to see if there are any amazing restaurants we should visit while in town. He had recently seen an episode in Nashville, so of course….Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack was the first place we went.

Watch the Man vs. Food quick recap by clicking HERE

Here we are in front of the restaurant!

My opinion? It was TOO HOT! So hot that I couldn’t enjoy the flavor. One of the men who was interviewed on the full show said “This is a hot chicken shack, if you want medium chicken, go somewhere else!”  Well, Brooks took that to heart and ordered the HOT. Turns out, they do offer less spicy versions, but I was still naive and went for medium instead of mild. As brooks perspired over his chicken, some ladies from another table made note of his “hot” demeanor. As we chatted with them we found out that they were regulars, and they ALWAYS got medium…along with many other patrons who said the same thing. Wow, we were dumb to go for it. Brooks still said he liked it a lot. I think I would have loved the flavor if the spice hadn’t overpowered it all.

Click here to watch our experience  
Man vs. Food – Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack