A Work in Progress: June's Pop Recipes

You may not have noticed, but I am delinquent on my wrap-up of June's recipes. The embarrasing truth: I haven't made my recipe yet! *Gasp* I know, it's quite pathetic. I mean, it's my challenge after all, what am I thinking? But instead of making you wait any longer, I'm going to go ahead and post the recipes of those people who DID in fact get their ducks in a row and actually met my challenge! Once I do make mine, I will come back and add it on to this post. So you may want to come visit this one from time to time to see what updates I have made.

Mom's Strawberry Ice Cream

She made up her own recipe! I'm always amazed by people who do this. The recipe--3 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks, 1 3/4c. of sugar, pinch of salt, 1 pint of cream, 2 c.diced strawberries, 1 can of strawberry pop and finish filling w/milk 1 gal ctn 3/4 full. Her review: If you like strawberries, then this homemade ice cream will fill that craving especially on a very hot day. Ahhhhhhh, so yummy!!

My sister made Root Beer Float Cupcakes! She even got to share them with Mom and they both seemed to really enjoy them. They were very moist, but didn't have as much root beer flavor as she was expecting. Check out her review at her blog: My Strongest Life.

Tara made PW's Perfect Pound Cake.

Here are some pictures of the process - Mixing it up

After mixing up the batter -- a long process with all the ingredients and just a hand mixer!! - she popped it into the oven.


Bake, bake, bake, and then out it comes!


Question of advice from our more experienced bakers, how long are you supposed to wait before removing a bundt cake from the pan? Right away? Or do you wait for it to cool? Or just wait a certain amount of time? Does it stick if you wait too long? Or not long enough? The cake tore some, but it didn't affect the taste!


She served it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was very sweet the first day, but after it had a chance to sit a while, it mellowed out and was a really nice pound cake.

There you have it! Maybe these will inspire you to try a new recipe this summer. I think all of these would be good for just about any hot summer day!

I was going back and forth about my decision for July's theme. I discussed it with my sister and my friends. Then I read somewhere that July is National Ice Cream Month and that decided it for me. ICE CREAM shall be the theme for July. Check out what Wikipedia has to say: Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month in 1984.[1] He also appointed the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day. Reagan recognized the popularity of ice cream in the United States (90% of the nation's population consumes ice cream) and stated that these two events should be observed with "appropriate ceremonies and activities."

I just couldn't pass it up. Sorry Mom, I know you just made ice cream, but maybe you won't mind making a different kind? Or even a different variation? Be free with your ideas this month. This is not restricted to making just homemade ice cream -- although that is a great option and everyone might choose to do so! But you could make ice cream cake, a pie that calls for ice cream, I saw a cake that included ice cream in the batter. There are many choices! I'll come back with a post in a few days giving you some possible options I have run across. I hope you have fun with this month's theme! Maybe it will help us all stay cool during this summer heat :o)

To life... full of ice cream!

Halfway There!

Wow! It's hard to believe the year is already half over! Seems to me it has flown by, but don't they always? I've just learned to appreciate the days that are slow and maybe drag on a bit, because they are like the anchor that keeps time from blazing out of control! As you know my goal for 2011 is to walk/run 575 miles. As of June 30, 2011 I have logged 255.6 miles! Not quite half, but I am still proud of my progress. That leaves me with 319.4 miles to go. It's a lot, but I think it is still achievable. January and February were a challenge because of the weather and this summer makes walking outside nearly unbearable. We've had one of the hottest June's on record here in Fort Worth! So we'll see what July and August hold. I am thankful for having a place to go work out that is air conditioned. But hopefully this fall I will be able to average a few more miles per week because I love walking during my lunch break, I just don't think others really appreciate me coming back to work all sweaty and red -- ha! So I will gladly refrain for the next couple of months. I absolutely love being outside in the Fall, so I hope to demolish some miles then!

To life... full of the glorious outdoors!

Firecracker Mama!

The 4th of July holiday is coming up. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. Some of my reasons for loving it include:

1)being out of school for the summer
2)the fireworks
3)celebrating it with family -- pretty much every year growing up!
4)grilling and eating great food
5)and, it is my Mom's birthday! So that always made it an extra special day.

I remember many years traveling down to my cousins' house in Kansas and watching the parade. There was often a car show afterwards. We'd play games in and out of the house and just have a great time.

The past few years I have missed getting to spend the day with my Mom because I always associate such wonderful memories with this holiday. So I want to spend part of my post telling what makes my Mom special, since I can't be there with her.

My Mom is special because...

#1. She shows people how much she loves them. She's not usually the chatty one in the group nor an overt gusher of love words, but she is the one who wakes up early and makes you your favorite breakfast or stays up late - when she should be sleeping - cleaning the house and making everything look nice for your arrival. Because when you come to her house, you are her special guest!


#2. Everyone says this, but it's because it is true - she is an excellent cook and baker!


#3. She works hard ALL THE TIME, but when it's time to play games, she brings it on! Board games, volleyball, croquet, tag/hide and seek - she's a fierce runner, and more; you can just tell she loves to have fun!


#4. Her laugh! I'll be honest, I went through a stage where I may have thought it was a little too loud (high school brat much?) But now, I love to hear it. One of my friends recently coined me as a "loud-laugher" and at first I was embarrased. But then I thought, this is ok, I do love to laugh and I am ok with people hearing me. Maybe then other people will want to laugh more too... but I digress. Regardless, I think Mom's laugh has been passed on to both my sis and I, and I wouldn't change it for anything.


#5. She's self-less. She's always putting other people ahead of herself, almost to a fault. She wants what's best for her family and friends and it shows in all of her actions and words. I can hardly think of anyone else who demonstrates this characteristic as much as her.


Quite honestly, I could go on, but these are a few of the first things I think about when I think of Mom, firecracker Mama, my wonderful Mother! I hope you have a wonderful birthday Mom and maybe see a portion of how much you mean to me. I love you!

To life... full of beautiful memories with and of my Mom!

One Week Left!

Well if you're like me, which I think most of you are this month, we only have one more week left in June... meaning?!?!? The time is running short to choose, make, sample, and send me pictures and insight about the 'POP' recipe you chose for the month of June. I listed some ideas at the beginning of the month, but as always, feel free to make WHATEVER you want! I may even be changing my mind -- sorry -- probably more than anyone, that frustrates me the most :o) But we'll see what I can put together in the next week. Be sure to fill me in on your choices!

To life... full of snap, crackle, and *POP*!

Today's Random Thoughts

It's Friday afternoon -- almost the weekend and I can't wait! I want to lay by the pool, read, get in the pool to cool off, watch a movie, bake something wonderful (maybe the Root Beer Float Cake- is it time?), sleep in, clean the house (I don't REALLY want to do that, but I'm ready to have a clean house again!), take a lesuirely run, and just relax! Who's with me??

My mileage for the year is now up to --> 226 miles! I'm getting there bit by bit. I'll definitely give an update at the end of June because that will mean I should hopefully be halfway done at that point! We shall see...

My friend Stephanie and I made BLT's for lunch today. They were awesome! I always forget how much I like them until I make them again.

Some days I wish I had summers off like I did in school/college.

To life... full of 52 weekends a year!

Summer List of Fun!

I read a blog earlier today that stated her list of 10 things she wants to do this summer and I thought it would be fun as well! Not necessarily brand-new things that I've never done before -- maybe a few though -- but things that make me think summer and I want to make sure that they are done this year! I'm doing this on the fly, so let's see what I can come up with :o)

1. Try new slushies at QT during half-price drink summer! Lovebug and I got the orange juicy one on Memorial Day and it was SO good! So now I want to try more! And why not? They're like 79 cents!! Up next? I think pina colada would be delightful!

2. Make homemade ice cream, at least twice!

3. Go swimming, lay out by the pool, and read by the pool as much as possible!

4. Make strawberry lemonade pie -- a frozen dessert that requires zero baking = win-win!

5. Go see the new Transformers movie (they've always come out in the summer, so I make the association!)

I think I'm ok with five. Most of them are food-related, yes, but that's kind of my thing. Plus there are just certain foods you associate with warm/hot weather that just don't have the same appeal during the winter months. I'm excited to try to do these this summer!

To life... full of summer fun!

June's Theme

I think I've picked an exciting theme for June! It's: Pop!

You know, Soda, Cola, Coke (as some strange people call all pop :o)), Sodi-Pop... you get the idea right? You may be thinking, what?!? This is strange! What am I supposed to do with this? Well, let me tell you, there are many great options out there. Let me show you! But first, let me provide just a bit of a story of the reason I came to this decision.

Last week, Stephanie decided to bring root beer floats for snack at work. I was so excited! I hadn't had them for so long. I grew up making them with chocolate ice cream and root beer. So eating the "typical" floats has never been my favorite, but I enjoy them nevertheless. This made me think, there are several variations of the float that people could make -- vanilla ice cream, chocolate ice cream, root beer, coke, dr. pepper, chocolate syrup -- am I right?? Variety is the spice of life! A few days later I was looking at some food blogs and I stumbled across someone who had recently made the Root Beer Float cake from the 'Baked' cookbook. I have this cookbook and it's recipe I've been wanting to try! She made this cake sound so appealing on her blog and she served it with some vanilla ice cream -- it made up my mind, I have to make this cake this summer! Then I thought, "Well, I might as well try to make it into a theme and make it in June (the sooner the better!)." So I thought about what I could make my theme for June... and the rest is history.

You can be as creative, simple, extravangant, plain jane, or over-the-top as you want. But I will list below a few ideas if you're having difficulty seeing the wonderful directions where this could go.

Root Beer Float Cake! Yes, this is the one I plan to make! Oh, and she posted it on my birthday... it was meant to be :o)

Come up with your own variation of root beer float! Oooh like THIS one!

Cherry Limeade-- Yum!

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork - we made it and loved it! Just be careful, it is quite spicy!

This Perfect Pound Cake looks great!

Or last, but NOT least, these apple dumplings are simply delicious! I made these a couple of times last fall and they were terrific!

Happy 1st day of June!

To life... full of *pop*!