Butternut Brownie Pie

This is a dreamy pie for you to try if you love fluffiness, graham crackers, and pecans!

It's a Luby's recipe...do you have one near you? It is a cafeteria style restaurant that guarantees "Good food from good people." Luby's was a family favorite each Sunday after church, a place to choose your absolute favorite dish and relax around a large white cloth covered table. The atmosphere was homey and warm with a touch of class. As you walked in the doors, the wonderful aromas were mouth watering. You could pick and choose whatever you wanted...my favorites were always the desserts. This recipe is tried, true...and scrumptious!

You'll need:

4 extra large egg whites at room temperature
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
14 graham crackers squares, broken into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup pecan pieces
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
chopped pecans

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly grease 9 inch pie plate.
2. In large mixing bowl, beat egg whites and baking powder until soft peaks form. Add cream of tartar, beating constantly. Add 1 cup of the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, beating constantly until stiff peaks form. Using rubber scraper, fold in graham crackers and pecan pieces. Spoon into pie plate.
3. Bake 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire cooling rack.
4. In chilled small bowl using chilled beaters, beat cream just until it begins to thicken. Add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla, and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat. Top pie with whipped cream. Sprinkle with pecans and refrigerate until served.

I'm joining Foodie Friday for all things tasty. Stop by for unbelieveable treats and recipes!

New Shoppe and an old Favorite!

Have you ever passed by an interesting little shoppe on your daily routine and thought, I need to stop in there... it looks like it might have some really neat things?

Well, this past Saturday, I had a bit of extra time so I did stop. It was a cold, drizzly day and I thought, we'll at least I can get warm and stay dry.

Oh my!

I'm SO glad that I took the time to take a look. It was a charming rustic little place that was loaded with goodies!

To top things off, some of their things were on sale.

Yippee!

 These guys are about 8 inches tall and were marked down from $16.00 to $10.00.

I also picked up these tortoise shell napkin rings. They were marked $5.00, but were then slashed 20%.

I ventured next to an old standby thrift store and found this bunny bowl.

Cute... just 89 cents.

I picked up this pressed glass ashtray {made in Italy} to use as a coaster for wine bottles.

99 cents

Then I saw this piece...

 

...looking a little closer...

...yep...Waterford!

$8.00

SOLD!

It's so much fun to go thrifting...you never know what you may find!

I'm linking with Tales from Bloggerville for Thrifty Thursday. Be sure to stop by for other amazing treasures!

Star light, star bright...

I'm linking with Beth over at Gypsy Fish Journal...it's her 3rd Silver Sunday and a terrific place to visit for all things silver. Be sure to take a look!

Star light, star bright...

first star I see tonight.

I wish I may...

I wish I might,

Have this wish I wish tonight.

Did you make a wish?

Thanks so much for visiting....enjoy your day!

I just can't help it!

I'm joining a new party, Silver Sunday. Please stop by for lovely silver pieces...

I just can't help it...I love to collect silver pieces! It's so much fun to see a diamond in the rough, shine it up a bit and see a beauty appear!

Take this piece. It was $2.99 at a local thrift shop. I loved the details and thought if I can't get it to shine, I can at least use it for a tray and cover the yucky parts.

Well, hello gorgeous!

Today, I found this beauty for $5.00 at a favorite antique shoppe. The dealer was having a sale and everything was 15% off!

SOLD!

I snapped a picture after cleaning only half of it, I wanted to show that it's quite easy to do...with a little effort.

 

The rim is what caught my attention.

Here are a few more pieces that were found while thrift store shoppping.

It's fun to find such treasures!Thanks so much for visiting, I truly love reading your comments.

Enjoy your day!

I'm also linking with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for her Metamorphosis Monday.

And

Diane at Second Time Around Tuesday!

Please stop by and visit these parties for additional treasures!

Poodles and Kittens...

I have a poodle,

her name is Catie.

She is seven years old,

smart,

and spoiled.

She has her routine each day and I'm convinced can read my mind.

I know she is really just reading body language.

However, she seems to know when I need a hug.

And

I can tell when she needs a hug.

 She watches every move I make...

and follows me from room to room.

And, when I get home from work, she greets me with such enthusiasm...
that no matter what kind of day I've had
she's there to welcome me with open arms paws!

{I just hope to be the kind of person she thinks I am.}

Catie has an extensive "B" vocabulary.
She knows:
bed
ball
bite
bone
Buddy
bird
bye-bye
and most importantly...
bad {when she gets in the garbage.}
However, I just can't stay mad at her. She just looks at me with those big eyes and I just melt.

She also knows:
duck
walk
shake
sit
laydown
Grammi {her favorite place to visit}
and
outside

These are her toys:

It's her bone, bird, Buddy, and duck.

I had a hard time keeping her away from them long enough to snap a picture. She does loves a good game of catch!

Then...
there are the felines.

When I was little, we always had cats. I love that they are so independent.

I love listening to their purring.

But my family is very allergic to their dander.

So when I saw this video online, I just LOVED it!

I replayed it over and over

and

each time,
 I just laughed

and

laughed!

Poodles and kittens...

gotta love them!

Thanks so much for visiting, enjoy your day!

Mother Nature...

I was listening to the weather this morning and the amount of snow some of you are getting is unbelievable! Living in the Houston {Texas} area, if we even have flurries, school is cancelled, basically everything shuts down...we just don't know how to handle the ice and the snow, it's such a rarity.{I think emloyers just want an excuse to play in it themselves!}

Today my husband and I went on a little road trip to Galveston. It was heavily damaged during Hurricane Ike about a year and a half ago. I wanted to see how things were coming along and I was pleasantly surprised. Shops are reopening, business is basically back to normal, and there were tourist roaming around {which is GREAT news for their economy!}

{I just love all the palm trees.}

From Galveston, you can take a 15 minute ferry ride across the Houston Ship Channel to a little pennisula called Bolivar.

It's on this strip of land, my family had a beach house. It was the perfect getway and held many memories. What made it truly special is that my father and mother built it from the ground up. It had two bedrooms with their own baths, an open den with kitchen, fireplace, and even an observation deck on top. Downstairs was another full bathroom and a storage area. It was built in 1979 and recently completely redecorated.

Then Hurricane Ike hit the little pennisula and Galveston with vengeance. Most of the property on the pennisula was destroyed, actually wiped clean, and Galveston was inundated with water along with a lot of structural damage. All this to say that our beach house was taken by the storm.

When we visited today, I was amazed at the powers of the wind and water. Just look at these pilings! The house was snatched off of them like they were match sticks.

It's hard to imagine such power.

There were insurance concerns...was it wind or water? {That's another story!}

Then these bolts...one completely bent.

At this point, the area is mostly cleaned of debris, vegitation is returning.

The resilience is just inspiring....

and the beaches are back to their former glory.

Mother nature...amazing.

 

Thanks for visiting...enjoy your day!

New Year Traditions...

Happy New Year 2010!
Sounds a little strange, doesn't it?
2010...new decade, new adventures...

I wanted to begin my new year with continued traditions...and food seems to be at the top of my list. {I guess that's why I'm a lifetime member of Weight Watchers!}

Ham, cornbread, blackeyed peas, and cabbage. It's comfort food, isn't it? My husband and I really enjoy it, but my kids, not so much.

I'm not famous for my cooking, so this isn't going to be added to any foodie parties...but the cabbage is very tasty. It's my mother's recipe.

It's super easy...just cabbage, red apples, mayo, milk, sugar, marshmellows, and pecans.

Chop up cabbage and apples. Add marshmellows.

{I used about 1 cup of cabbage, 1/2 cup small marshmellows, and 1 small red apple.}

Make a dressing with a couple tablespoons of mayo {I use fat free}, a little fat free milk, and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix this very well and pour over the cabbage, marshmellow, and apple mixture.

For extra crunch add a few chopped pecans.

YUM!

This was truly comfort food for this cold, wintery day.

Thanks for visiting...and enjoy your day!