Mmmm.... Dole Whips! :)

Ok, remember how I've promised you (twice now) that I would post a yummy recipe for a dessert/snack? Well, guys, today's the day. Today's the day!

If you have ever been to Disney World, I'm sure you've passed by the Aloha Isle snack stand which is located in Adventureland right across from the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. Have you ever stopped there? Surely you have.. right? Well, if you have, you know the dreamy sweet goodness that is a Dole Pineapple Whip float. Oh. Em. Gee. It's absolutely delicious!

I found a recipe that you can make at home, and with a few of my own alterations,  let me just say, it is pretty darn tasty. It is best served immediately after the initial freeze time, but I guess you could thaw it in the fridge a little if you needed to make it ahead or had left overs. I haven't had leftovers. ;) Anyway, here ya go! (Make sure you read this all the way through before attempting.)

Knock-off Dole Pineapple Whip Floats

2 20z cans of Dole crushed pineapple
2 T lemon juice
2 T lime juice
Any eeeeensy weensy bit of lemon and lime zest, added to the pineapple
1/3 cup of granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream, whipped

Drain your pineapple, and reserve the juice in the fridge. Place pineapple, lemon and lime juice, zest, sugar, and 2 tablespoons of the reserved pineapple juice in a blender. Cover and blend until it's nice and smooth.

Pour this mixture into 2 one-quart zip top freezer bags. Place bags FLAT in the freezer and freeze until slushy. It usually takes about 1.5 hours.

Once the pineapple mixture is slushy, gently fold it into the whipped cream in a large bowl until it is just lightly blended. (You don't want to kill the fluff of the whipped cream.)  Cover, and return the entire mixture back to the freezer until it's completely frozen. It should take about 1 hr. At this point it is ready to serve.

You may serve the Dole Whip "ice cream" exactly as it is, or you can serve it as a float. (My favorite!) To serve it as a float:
Fill a glass about 1/3 of the way with the chilled, reserved pineapple juice. Add a hefty scoop of your Dole whip, and then top with a little more juice if needed. YUMMO!

Personally, I like to use my straw to stir the extra juice into the "ice cream" and drink it as a thick, cold, creamy drink. Mmmm...

I think I may go "whip" some of these up now! :) Enjoy! ....and let me know if you try it!

Road trip!

     Anyone who knows me knows I love to travel. I haven't done nearly as much traveling as I would like thus far in my life, but it is something I really enjoy. I love to see new places, try new cuisine, observe new cultures, etc. I also love to visit regions of the US that I haven't before. My dear hubby grew up all over more than any place else. He's lived in Louisiana, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Wyoming, California, and probably some others that I forgot to mention. I have lived in 3 towns in the same state.. one until I went to college, one until I married, and now the other.

        Anyway, although I haven't seen near as many places as I would like, I love to soak in a new place when I do. This past week, we traveled to one of my favorites.. Sunshiney Florida! (Ok, so I know it hasn't been terribly sunshiney for the past few days since Debby Downer came to town, but generally speaking...) Anyway, we decided to make it a road trip. We drove down (in 15.5 hours) to lovely
Melbourne.

Indian Harbour Beach near Melbourne, FL

      While there, we drove to this amazing, beautiful state park about 18 miles south down A-1A (the coastal highway.) Sebastian State Park is absolutely gorgeous. The picture is an aerial view, and it will sort of help you to see the whole layout of the place. Basically, as you are driving down A-1A, you go across a massive bridge across this inlet. (Sebastian Inlet, actually.) On the right side of the bridge, there is a beautiful lagoon, and on the left, the most gorgeous beach and fishing pier ever. Well, here.. have a look.

Sebastian Inlet, Sebastian, FL. LOVELY!

                                      

     You can see that this photo was taken with the beach side and pier in the foreground, to the right of the picture. To the right of the pier is the GORGEOUS beach, which is actually very quiet. It has spectacular waves, and lots of surfers like to hang out there. We saw quite a few doing their thing, which was a first for me. There are also a ton of porpoise and dolphin sightings out past the waves. So incredible to see them play!
        If you look just behind where the bridge crosses the inlet, you'll see the shallow lagoon. It's a fantastic picnic spot with its own little beach, tables, etc. The lagoon is roped off for swimming, and it's only about chest deep at the deepest point. A lot of times, manatees make their way into the lagoon, but we didn't happen to see any while we were there.
        In addition to the beach and lagoon, there are also hiking and bike trails you can take. I hear it's an absolute haven for bird lovers, and there are many different types of small wildlife in the area. The best part about it is you can stay there all day, bike, kayak, surf, fish, frolic, swim, hike, relax, nature watch, etc. for only $8 for an entire carload of your family and friends!

   Another really cool stop we made was Kennedy Space Center. I expected a launch pad and a museum. I got so much more! I really had no idea that KSC was located on a wildlife preserve! Wow! It was incredibly beautiful. We saw a giant nest of bald eagles, marsh, forest.. lovely. I found out that Merritt Island is home to many, many alligators (approximately 1800 per sq. mile!), manatees, fish, birds of all kinds, deer, raccoon, and basically any other animal you can imagine being located in the southeastern United States.
     Aside from the wildlife, there's also a ton to learn about the space program, past and present. We saw an IMAX presentation of images from the Hubble Telescope (narrated by Leo DiCaprio, no less), which was astounding. We saw pieces of Apollo shuttles, we saw pieces of the moon, we watched an entire presentation on the first moon landing, the inception of the Apollo program, etc. We went to a launch pad. We did a simulation of a launch. We saw space suits! It was incredible. I loved it.

Stole this from the website.. Apollo modules

    After leaving KSC (we had been there ALL day!) we stopped at a gem of a restaurant in Titusville called Dixie Crossroads. I'd been there before when I was in college, but didn't realize it until we got inside. It was a moderately-priced restaurant, and was typical of most seafood restaurants in the area, but it was really enjoyable. The highlight of the menu, I think, was the meal my hubby and I shared. (Yes, that's right. We shared one entree. It was HUGE.) Here's a photo:

Our amazing seafood feast!

                                

     Yep. That's one plate. Crab legs, an entire lobster, shrimp, scallops, and 2 side dishes! He had cheese grits, I had the baked potato (not shown.) It also came with an entire basket of sweet corn fritters. The best part? The entire meal was only $35. Yes, a lot if only one person was eating this, but I'm telling you, it was plenty to share. And it was very tasty. We also split a piece of  key lime pie afterwards, but I didn't get a pic of that. It was homemade, and it was deeeeeelish! Check this place out if you are ever in Titusville.

     It's the day after Kennedy! What are you going to do? I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! That's right, folks. My first ever trip to Disney World. Keith grew up going to Disneyland in Cali, and Disney World, so he wasn't nearly as excited as I was, but let me tell you.. I was pumped! Since we only had one day to spend at Disney, we decided to opt for Magic Kingdom -- the Disneyest of all.

The Happiest Place on Earth!

                                

     I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. I was very impressed that the lines and the rides were mostly indoors, so even though it rained off and on all day, it was manageable. Yes, we did get completely soaked at one point (and had to buy t-shirts to change into),  but it was great. My favorite ride of the day was the Haunted Mansion. More of a drive-through show than ride, it was amazing. Loved the holographic ghosts. Super, super cool. My favorite part? Meeting Mickey and Minnie, of course. Hubby totally made fun of me, but I don't care. He wasn't nearly as thrilled as I was, but what can I say? I'm a kid at heart! (I'm working on uploading a photo of that, but it isn't cooperating. I'll try to get to it later.)

     For dinner at Magic Kingdom, we ate at Tony's Town Square. (Think Lady and the Tramp sit-down Italian.) The highlight of the meal? Surprisingly, it was a tomato and mozzerella salad dressed in balsamic vinegar. What's that you say? "Don't you hate tomatoes?" Yes. But I guess there was some Disney magic going on, because it was fantastic. I think the combination of all the components is what did it for me. It was less about the tomato and more about the dish itself. And it was pretty.

Yummy tomatoes.. something I never thought I'd say!

                                      
  

   We also had yummy snack, but I'll share more about that tomorrow! (Hint: it comes with a recipe!)


   Finally, on our food and fun road trip, one more Italian place. (We like it, can you tell?) We had originally planned to dress all up and head to a nice steak house on our last night in Florida. Unfortunately, the directions we had for the one we planned to go to were pretty crappy, and we couldn't find it. So, we set back toward the hotel intent on finding something good. Well, a mile before we got back to the hotel, we spotted this place we'd passed by all week long, Melo's Ristorante. We decided to give it a try. It looked pretty run-of-the-mill on the outside, but the parking lot was packed, and that's always a good sign.

Melo's Ristorante, Indian Harbour, FL

     I had to steal this picture from the restaurant's website because the photo I took that evening didn't save. Anyway, it looked nice enough on the outside, so we stopped. What we found inside was even better! It is a really nice, quaint-upscale (is that even a thing?) Italian restaurant. The owner has been doing the cooking for over 20 years. He uses fresh ingredients and everything is homemade - pasta, sauces, hand-pounded cutlets, hand cut steaks, you name it. The service was excellent. We shared a server with only 2 other tables. Tuxedo pants, white shirt, white towel, bow tie. They filled your water glass nearly every time you took a sip, and were incredibly friendly and professional.

      We had some calimari for an appetizer, and HOLY COW. I love calimari, but I don't think I'll ever enjoy it as much from the chain places. It was hand cut, perect light breading, and melt-in-your-mouth tender, which is atypical of calimari. My entree was veal parmigiana (one of my favorites,) and it was fantastic. The homemade linguini and sauce was to die for. Hubby had a veal porterhouse and some kind of green vegetable that I'd never seen or heard of. The steak was thick, cooked to perfection, and although the greens were a little bitter for his taste, he said they were cooked and seasoned wonderfully. Although we were absolutely stuffed, we couldn't turn down house-made dessert. He had a half-slice of key lime raspberry white chocolate cheesecake (yep), and it was wonderful. Mine was better, though. I had a cannoli.. mmmm... I can almost smell it now just thinking about it. Perfect.


   Our week-long vacation was pretty amazing, but I have to say it is wonderful to be home in my own bed, in my own space, and with my sweet "Fur-Baby" Asa. Hope you enjoyed your virtual trip alongside us, and happy travels to you this vacation season! :)



Super Quick Update!

Hello, faithful followers! (Ok, I think there are 2 of you.) Just a short and quick update to let you know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, and to (hopefully) intrigue you of things to come.

Here's what I have in the works for you lovelies in the days to come! (In no particular order)

*Travel Update!
*Products I LOVE test runs and thoughts
*A tasty recipe :-D
*A crafty project
*Classroom things

I know, I know! I'm a magical conglomoration of topics. I like to think of it as "a little something for everyone."

Until then....

Painting with a ....Twist ;)

I just wanted to take a couple of seconds to share with you guys the most fabulous game I've ever played! Who doesn't love to get silly with a game of Twister? Well, tonight for the last night of youth VBS, we took it to a completely different level!

Here's what you will need:
A large disposable plastic table cloth
Green, Red, Yellow,and Blue paint (I used 2 large-size bottles of acrylic paint in each color -- you could use tempera if you wanted it to be washable. We wanted to stain our shirts, so we chose acrylic.)
White paint (optional, just for extra messiness.. )
A Twister board spinner
(You can make cards to draw out of a hat if you don't own the game!)
Old clothes
That's it! You play just like regular Twister, but here's what happens....



During the game.... we had just started!

The aftermath!

Happy Twister-ing! :)

Youth VBS and an easy, yummy snack!

So, Sunday night we started youth VBS for our kiddos. We kicked off with our first night of the series "visiting" Victoria Falls and Devil's Pool, followed by a super fun pool party in my back yard. I have to say, it was just about perfect. We had an absolute blast.

Last night, we "visited" the Paricutin Volcano in Mexico. Wow.. what a shock it must have been for the guy just casually plowing his cornfield with then ground split open and a volcano began to grow. Insane! I cannot imagine..

Anyway, in tribute to our Mexico lesson, we had fajitas for dinner (picked up from Los Pantalones in PVille...) and I made the snack suggested for dessert...  sopapillas!

Have you guys had sopapillas? (Come on, I know you have!) They are so yummy! Puffy little airpockets rolled in cinnamon sugar, drizzled with honey...  I've made them before, but it has always required a good bit of time.. mixing and kneading the dough, rolling them out, cutting them into pieces, frying, sugaring.. Don't get me wrong, they are fantastic, but they just take a lot of time.

Well, guess what! I found a SUPER easy short cut that I'm about to share! I looked at several different recipes before I realized the sopapilla dough and homemade tortilla dough are VERY similar, so here is my twist. Pretty tasty if I do say so myself!



Short-cut Sopapillas

8-10 flour tortillas -- the fresher the better!
(I used handmade tortillas from the Latin section in our local deli)
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/4-1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Honey and/or Chocolate syrup for drizzling


Mix cinnamon and sugar together in a small paper bag. Set aside. In a heavy pan, heat about 1 inch of oil to 350 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer, insert the tip of the end of a wooden spoon. When it gives off a steady stream of small bubbles, it's ready.
Cut the tortillas into wedges (I cut them into fourths). When your oil is ready, place 4-5 wedges into the oil (single layer) and fry, flipping frequently. Your tortilla wedges should reach a light golden color. (Takes about 2-3 minutes). Place on paper towel to drain slightly.
Once your tortillas are fried, but before they are completely cool, put a few at a time in the bag of cinnamon sugar, and shake to coat! That's it! Serve them drizzled with honey or chocolate sauce.
They can be stored in a ziploc bag to give as gifts or to save for later.. if you have any left! Yummy!
Enjoy!


Chel with her yummy sopapillas!

Friday Update!

So, in my last post, I rambled on a bit about dreams and how I miss my sweet college friends. Wellll.... today, I went with my mom to an appointment, and then we ran a couple of errands at the mall, and I am SUPER pleased to say that I bumped into my dear friend KB! (She was pictured in the first photo of the last post.)
 
I can't tell you how excited I was to see her beautiful smiling face (and her precious baby bump)!Although we only chatted for a few minutes, it reminded me that although time and distance may separate us from our friends, our true friends are still exactly that. While we chatted I told her that I had a silly dream about our group, and we both agree that we should stage a little reunion of sorts. I'm completely down.

Happy weekend, y'all! I know I'm starting mine off a little bit happier and springier because I ran into my friend!

"Vintage" photo of B-Dub, KB, and Mandy :)

Subconcious + Imagination = ....?



My beautiful girlfriends! Miss them!

My best friend and me!

What is with dreams? It seems like the weirdest concoction of memories mixed with a hearty dose of what can only be described as pure imagination blend and swirl together to make an alternate reality during those minutes spent in REM. And though REM sleep only lasts a short period of time, these dreams can seem like they envelope the entire night, dragging you through what could literally take hours or days in conciousness to accomplish.


They can also draw up and contort visions of the past. If anyone of you knew me during my college years, and the couple years following, you probably know I had some amazing friends, had a ton of adventures, and that I love and miss those friends and times dearly. You probably also know that my BFF was a dude, and we were generally inseperable. But, time and distance change things, and looking back I can see that we were in a weirdly co-dependent relationship. It was kind of psychotic really, and if I spoke to him today, I would probably apologize for being so dang... ugh. (Side note, he owes me a lot of apologies, too! I promise I wasn't the only crazy one in that relationship!) I should probably apologize to all of my other friends for that relationship, too, but there's not enough time in the world, and that's another post.
 

A lovely bunch of my friends and me at a college formal

Zoo escapades

 Anyway, this dream. I can't remember exactly what happened. That's the funny thing about dreams. As vivid as they are, and as much as you repeat to yourself throughout the dream that you will remember every last detail, you never do. I do remember a restaurant with a group of dear friends, and I remember reading a letter from said BFF. Actually, a letter to him, and a letter from him. In the dream, I could see each word printed on the page (literally, it was a print-out of an email,) and the letter from me described what I think would be exactly what I would say to him if I were to relay my current understanding of our former friendship. Only.. the letter took place during our final year of college.. so it's my current perspective, had I told him in the past. (I know, dreams are weird like that!) And the letter from him.. well, I found it shocking. It's not at all what I would have ever dreamed (haha pun intended) he would say to me.

Another formal

 Does that mean anything? I have no idea. Why am I even dreaming about this? Do I need closure from this former friendship? I mean, we didn't split on bad terms. My goodness, we grew up, we grew apart, we married our fantastic spouses, we moved away, started careers..

Alaskan adventure with one of my best pals! (yeah,
we climbed that mountain barefoot!)

Dreams perplex me.


Subconcious + Imagination = Simply Confusion.


Organization... I don't have it!

Ok, so I know it's summer, and technically, according to societal norms, I'm supposed to be relaxing by the pool, sleeping in, sippin' fruity drinks, so on, and so forth. However, today I spent my day going through a mountain of papers that were sititng on the island in the kitchen.

For literally hours, I separated, shredded, categorized, and filed papers in a binder. I found 2 (TWO!) checks that needed to cashed that were just piled on there (totalling no more than $15 combined, mind you), one of which had not even been opened! (It was addressed to the husband, fyi.)

How on earth do I let all of that junk pile up? It seems like I'm so busy that when I get home, I check my mail, pay whatever bill needs to be paid, and leave the rest of it for later when I have "more time." Then I jump into washing clothes, fixing supper, or whatever else seems to be more important. There has GOT to be a better way. I mean, I can't let all of that stuff pile up until May every year!

So far today, here is what I did:
I took a gigantic binder, sectioned it off with dividers, and labeled them "bills and statements, insurance, healthcare, services and memberships, bank" and I tried to "file" everything in order oldest to newest so I can stick new arrivals on top. I may not do it every time something new comes in, but I'm going to at least try to get it all filed a couple times a month.

My question is this: How do you keep it all together? Do you have a specific routine, location, or system? I need help!!!

The Monster Under My Bed

I awoke this morning, promptly at... 2 AM. I heard scratching, scurrying, and I... I panicked. I had heard that sound before. I knew where it came from. There was a MOUSE in my bedroom.

I tried to ignore it; "It's probably in the attic," I thought. "There's only been a mouse in my house once, and it was promptly caught. It came in from outside when we moved an above-ground pool. It won't bother me. It's not in here." And I went back to sleep.

At 3 AM, I woke up again. The dreadful sound of crinkling paper filled my ears. "Oh no.. it's in here, and it's nesting!" I thought. Complete terror filled my being. If it was moving in, it must have a family. But the crinkling stopped, and I decided it must be in my imagination.

4:30 AM, and I'm once again bright-eyed. More scurrying. Where was this taking place? I couldn't quite locate the sound in the pitch dark, and I didn't dare sit up. What if it got me?!

5:30 AM, and this time, Keith heard it too. He sat bolt upright at the sound of crinkling, scurrying, nesting.. "Wal-Mart is open in 30 minutes," he said. "I'm going to get a trap." My worst nightmare come to fruition: a mouse was sharing my bedroom.

I didn't go back to sleep then, but decided to wait in bed. I didn't want to put my feet on the floor, lest it attack me. 

A few minutes after 6, as the rattling continued, and light poured through the cracks in the blinds, I decided I would be brave. I sat up in bed. I scooted down to the foot of the bed, and sat perfectly still. Again, with the noise! Someone must stop this vile creature before it set up a home inside mine!

Carefully, slowly, I peered over the footboard.

A gift bag, left over from my birthday a few days ago, sat just at the foot of my bed, billowing with tissue paper. I had forgotten to put it away. Just then, I heard a crinkle, and I realized... the monster was inside the abandoned bag! It could easily leap onto the bed and gouge my eyes out with it's monstrous claws! I called Keith's cell phone -- no answer! I left a message.. GET HERE NOW!! I FOUND IT!!!

I couldn't see the creature, and I knew to dodge its attack, I must turn on the light to keep it within my sight. I leaned as hard as I could across the void between the bed and the wall where the light switch resides. I flipped it, and the crinkling, scratching, nesting went WILD!

I jumped back to my place of saftey, and lifted only my eyes above the headboard to look back into the bag, when I saw it...

It was brown. It scurried quickly over the matching brown tissue paper making the most noise you could possibly imagine....

It was a bug. Just then, Keith came in. "I FOUND IT!" I shrieked.

I showed him. He smushed it.

Vengeance. Is. Mine.