Thursday, March 13, 2014

Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafer Cake...No Baking

Chocolate Wafer  Icebox Cake

Here is an easy dessert that requires no baking and only 3 ingredients..  It is easy to make and my grandkids really enjoyed it.


Ingredients:
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups whipping cream
1 package of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers




Pour the heavy cream in a cold mixing bowl.  Whip it up until it stiff peaks form:



Fold in the vanilla:






Take a wafer and spread about 1/2 tablespoon of whipped cream onto each wafer.  Make five stacks(this part is not precise...just don't let your stacks fall over):




Turn the stacks over and make logs:





Use the rest of the whipped cream and frost all around the logs...add chocolate chips, syrup or sprinkles for decoration:




Chill for 4 hours or more.  Slice on an angle so you can see the layers and eat:


How easy is that?  I love an easy dessert the kids enjoy.  Now I may have to make my own chocolate wafers since they are expensive.


If it is not sweet enough for you add some powdered sugar to the cream while whipping it.


Enjoy!!!

Monday, March 10, 2014

Fun Weekend With The Granddaughter

My husband and I have been in Florida for almost 6 months.  Now we are back in TN and catching up with the family.  Specifically our 9 year old granddaughter our first weekend back.

For over a month Ella has made plans to spend our first weekend home with us.  So on Friday after school her mother dropped her off at our house.  Let the fun begin, lol.


I set up "her" room by emptying out a cabinet and some drawers.  I also added some paper, pens, card games, a flashlight(it gets dark in our house), and a walkman...yes a walkman, lol.

It's a good thing I made room...the kid came with about 7 or 8 bags.  I think she is moving in.


Friday....

Ella and I playing Sorry....We played many many games.  She won some and I won some:)



Her Papa played chess with her.  She is a very good player for one so young:



Retro Ella...she digs the walkman, lol:



Later on I introduced Ella to some of my online friends(you know...the ones Mike calls "my invisible friends")  Ella introduced herself and my friends were great.  They all wrote back to her and made her feel so welcomed.  Thank you...you all know who you are:)  Ella thought it was the coolest things for people to write back to her.  It made her feel special.

She asked everyone what their favorite cookie was and one of the responses was Snickerdoodles...so we decided to make some on Saturday.

We spent fun quality time as a family.  Lot of games and lots of fun.



Saturday...

Today we took Ella to town.  We needed to run some errands


Ah...to Papa's favorite store...Lowe's.  Ella being Ella:)




It was a beautiful day so we spent some time  outside when we got home.  Ella helped my kick off the gardening year by planting our very first seeds...some lettuce and spinach:)  Of course Niki helped us:)





Here is Ella posing while she makes Snickerdoodles:



More fun and games with Papa and I.  I taught her to play Skipbo which she really likes.  Then we made our own game of Scattergories.  Ella and I came up with almost 150 categories and I wrote them all down on small pieces of paper.  Ella wrote out all the letters.  We made the categories easier enough for Ella to have fun.  If anyone wants some categories ideas just let me know.  We have plenty.


After games it was girl night.  Papa got a break and Ella and I each took our showers and then it was time for the girly stuff.


Ella explained how to put the curlers in my wet hair and we put them in:




Ah...time for the nails:



After the nails dried we made ice cream sundaes and played more games.  Now we have to sleep with the curlers in.  Ugh..I have never done that before.



Sunday...


Time for the rest of the family to join us.  We are back home which means Sunday breakfast at our house:)


The new Ella and I....and no I am not curling my hair again, lol:




Our grandson, AJ.  He is growing up now:)




And the "dawtah" as Mike says, lol:




Good times around the breakfast table:


After breakfast we all played our homemade Scattergories.  AJ re wrote the letters in magic marker and he helped me come up with about 50 more categories.

Here is our game:



We had fun with the kids as always.  Mike and I really missed seeing them and spending time with them.  We have lots of cool things planned with them this year:):)


I lost Niki after everyone left...ah there she is, hiding, lol:



Some of our deer showing up right outside the front door:




Nicole showed up a few days later to visit.  Niki "loves" Nicole:





That was just a quick update of the fun we had with the family.  Once the weather breaks we will get back to some work.  For now we are enjoying being back home, getting some rest, and catching up with the kids:):)


I will post again on Thursday with something from the kitchen...hmm???


Have a great week.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Loading Up And Going Back Home...And Our First Visit



Last Monday was a crazy day in Florida.  Mike and I got a call from the transport driver and he said he would be there by Monday afternoon to pick up the Suburban that came with the house.  As soon as he picks it up, Mike, Niki and I need to hit the road and meet the driver at the other end.


The Jeep is stuffed and ready to be towed:




All of the gas equipment is in the Jeep since we need to keep the motorhome "clean" for us:




I do the finishing clean up on the house while we wait.  Niki is banned to the outside, lol.



Yay...the transport truck is here.  He did have one problem...he couldn't turn around on our block.  He drove to the cul de sac and then he had to back up to our house:



Mike helped the driver load the Suburban on.  It barely fit.  The back tires are just at the end of the truck.  I really hope it makes it up the mountain...crossing my fingers.




The driver is ready and so are we:




Bye bye house....see you in a few months:




Mike and I left about 3:00pm on Monday afternoon.  We took turns driving and drove through the night.  We were worried about bad weather coming in so we had to get there as soon as we could.  Nicole told us our driveway was clear:).  We got in about 4:30am on Tuesday morning and we were exhausted.  First things first...get the wood stove started.  While Mike did that I set Niki up inside the house and started to unload the motorhome.  After a couple of hours we went to bed.  A little after 7:00am the phone rang....it was the granddaughter "are you home yet"?  "Can I come over after school"?  It's nice to be missed but Mike and I need to catch up on sleep first and make sure the house is OK, lol.


We spent the rest of the day getting the house back in order and running.  Mike filled our water tank, got the propane turned on, and filled the batteries for our solar bank, and got the water turned back on in the house.  We both finished unloading the cars...then we took a nap.  Thankfully this trip back went very smoothly unlike last year's fiasco.  The house held up extremely well and everything was in good shape.  The worst thing this year was we needed a new shower head as our old one clogged and we couldn't get it cleaned out.  There is a lot to be said for the old shower heads that can be taken apart with a screw:)  Other than that we had some dead bugs inside.  Mike and I were extremely happy about that.

Tuesday night we got a call that the driver was in town and on his way.  Mike and I drove over to the store to wait for him.  Yay...the truck made it.  We got it unloaded and Mike drove it up to the house.



On Wednesday morning we got our first visitor.  Mike's daughter showed up with chocolate cake to celebrate all of our birthdays that were missed.  We even sang to ourselves, lol.  It was a nice visit and it is good to be back.



Later that same day Ella wanted to come over to bring Papa his gifts:)



Ella and Papa....they are best buds:)





Mike's gifts handmade with love and filled with goodies:)





We are happy to be back and have lots to do this year.  Now we have to wait for Spring weather:)  I will write in each week to give you an update.  Sorry this one was late.



Home Sweet Home




Have a great week:):)