show us your life - desserts

okay, i'm really excited about this week's show us your life. this girl loves her desserts! here are a couple of recipes that i love. this is seriously the best banana pudding ever, and the cool whip cookies are one of the easiest, most delicious cookies to maek. if i think about it, i'll post a few more later when i get home.

best banana pudding ever

this recipe makes 12 servings

ingredients

• 2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
• 6 to 8 bananas, sliced
• 2 cups milk
• 1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

directions

line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.
in a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. (michele’s comment: i crumbled the remaining cookies before spreading on top.) refrigerate until ready to serve.

enjoy!

cool whip cookies

this recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies (more or less depending on size)

ingredients:

• 1 pillsbury plus cake mix (any flavor)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup cool whip
• powdered sugar
  

mix all, then using a spoon, drop dough the size of a walnut into a bowl of powdered sugar; roll and cover well with powdered sugar. put on cookie sheet. bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes.

these cookies are so yummy! my favorites are the red velvet(these look really pretty) and chocolate.

show us your life - dinner recipes

i'm joining in on the show us your life - dinner recipes from kelly's korner. this is a super easy chili recipe, and we have it for dinner quite often in the cooler months. it's also delicious reheated.

easy chili

1 can of pinto beans
1 can of ranch style beans
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of diced tomatoes (rotel is good if you're able to find it)
1 can of corn
1 chopped onion
1 lb ground beef (or turkey)

brown the meat and chopped onions together. add to pot of beans, diced tomatoes and corn. let simmer for about 30 minutes and serve with sour cream and/or shredded cheese. enjoy!

if you have more time and want to get a little fancier, this chili is great with green and yellow peppers.

updated to add:

i'm reading a lot of the recipes posted today, and so many of the ones that sound so delicious to me call for boiled chicken. i have no clue how to do this. can anyone share an easy alternative or tell this poor girl how to do boiled chicken? i'd greatly appreciate it!

mother of the year

while standing in line waiting to check out at the store yesterday, i witnessed one of the saddest encounters between a mother and child.

the little girl looked to be between one and a half and two years old. i could tell that she had been crying, but she wasn't crying anymore. she stood there in the basket, silent with her fingers in her mouth, just staring. all of a sudden, her (poor excuse of a) mother kicks off her flip flop and holds it in her hand, shaking it at the little girl's face as she says, "hush your mouth! HUSH your mouth!" i was floored. i could not believe anyone would treat a child like this, much less their own. i wanted to scoop that little girl up and hug her and take her home. but i couldn't. all i could do was smile at her and wave, and hope that she knows not everyone in this world will treat her badly.

what a day, little j!

today we went to a's fourth b-day party at their neighborhood pool. you had so much fun playing in the children's splash pad. you would hold your hand out to the water and squinch up your face when it sprayed you. you giggled and screamed as you played. you jumped into me in the big pool after watching m jump to pops. you said, "kick, kick" as you kicked your little legs to try to swim. you put your face in the water and blew lots of bubbles. daddy chased you around while i ate because you were too busy to stop and sit down. you did come back for a few bites of a yummy cupcake. you liked that a lot. daddy didn't have his swim suit, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to swim with us. you were having so much fun, it was contagious. daddy got into the pool to play with us and m. you were jealous when daddy held her. then when we switched, you were jealous if i held her. daddy put you on his shoulders and you had so much fun chilling up there. i thought you might fall asleep. m wanted to jump and be thrown over and over again. she wasn't even up from being thrown before she was saying (choking), "do it again!" once the party was over, you didn't last too long in the car. you went to bed early without eating dinner. you were so worn out from our fun day. as i snuggled up to you, you still smelled a little of chlorine. you giggled a lot today, little one, and that's what made it one of my all time favorite days.

i don't wednesday

i don't...

...like my job. (still)
...like sushi
...like diet drinks
...use coupons
...get the obsession with twitter
...like being away from my little guy or hubby
...like fighting with people
...handle confrontation well
...understand close minded people
...understand selling your used stuff. why not just donate?

now it's your turn. what don't you do? either post your i don'ts in the comments or head over to jenna's journey to join the fun.

show us your life - favorite vacation spots

without a doubt, my favorite vacation spot is disney world. it's been my favorite ever since my parents took us there for the first time when i was 10 years old. my parents took us three times when we were kids.

the next time i went was with my hubby when we were dating. i jokingly told him he was stuck with me when he took me because there was no way i'd want to go back with someone else, but i wasn't about to give up disney!

hubby and i went to disney world as part of our honeymoon three years ago. it took some persuasion, but i was able to talk him into it. i think he was afraid that if we spent our honeymoon around that many children, we'd never want to have any of our own. we spent the first week at disney, and then we took a cruise afterwards to relax.

this year, we got to go back with our son, my parents and my brother and his family. we had such an amazing time, and i loved sharing it all with our son. we were a little skeptical of taking him at 15 months old, but he did great, and he seemed to be very much aware of what was going on.

as i get older, i seem to enjoy it even more. it's changed a lot since the first time we went, but the magic remains the same. i become a child all over again the second we're on disney property.

if i had my way, this is where we'd go for every single vacation.

i don't wednesdays

i don't...

...like my job.
...like the weather where i live.
...like my obsession with reality tv.

...do a very good job at keeping up with my blog.
...do a very good job of keeping our house neat. thank goodness for help!
...do a very good job of keeping up with old friends.

...want to work, but i'm afraid to quit my job.
...want to go away this weekend.
...want to be at work today.

...understand why time seems to be passing so dang quickly.
...understand how a parent could ever hurt their child.
...understand why some people are so judgmental of others.


now it's your turn. what don't you do? either post your i don'ts in the comments or head over to jenna's journey to join the fun.