I’m excited to be bringing you another story time video today! After you watch this one, you can scroll down and click on any of the other book covers to hear more of my favorite stories.

One Fish, Two Fish

by Dr Seuss

Listen to more of my favorite stories below!

Tacky The Penguin

Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type

Bark, George

YES DAY!

Giraffes Can’t Dance

Pete The Cat

Kiss Good Night

Green Eggs And Ham

One Fish, Two Fish

Wocket In My Pocket

If you are on Facebook, please click “Like” above. Thank you so much!

I love to surprise my kids after school with little treats and things that show them I was thinking of them and excited about them coming back home at the end of the day. Sometimes I pick them up and take them for surprise frozen yogurt, sometimes it’s a walk in the park, every now and then it’s Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies or Peanut butter cake….but a few days ago it was this pretty tray of apple slices, arranged just so around a big old bowl of creamy peanut butter dip. My kids love all things Peanut Butter.

I had it sitting in the center of the table with plates and two glasses of juice, just waiting on them. They walked in and I was already beaming, which caused them to beam - I love how beaming is contagious in my family!

Now I’m not one on to get persnickety on food presentation (I always say we’re cooking the food to eat, not to build a shrine to it) but I do enjoy setting a nice scene for the kids and as they turned the corner their eyes got big as dollars and my heart swelled up so big it just about burst. THAT is when it is worth the extra effort

There are two groups people in this world that make it really fun to do nice things for, children and folks older than me. It just seems both of those groups take the time to notice life more than those of us in the middle. The middle folks like to rush around with a head full of “I” ideas. “I have to go here. I have to call so-and-so. I have to work on this. I have to pick up that. I have to talk to so-and-so about how they hurt my feelings when they looked at me funny. I’ve got to get up in the morning. I’ve got to cook breakfast for these people. I’ve got to wear this. I need that…”

Children and Older folks have more sense than middle minded folks. They notice things. They don’t walk by flowers without smelling them or at least smiling at them. And when someone offers a kindness, their hearts are readily available to notice it and add in an extra pump of blood flow to their mind in a moment of joy. This makes it lots more fun to do even the smallest things for them.

I was reminded of that this morning when I ate a peppermint lifesaver. Hang in there with me, there is a point to this..

When I was five years old, My parents always said “Don’t shut the car door by yourself when you get in. Let us shut it for you.” They said this over and over so of course I was just pretty much waiting on the day when I could beat them to it and shut the car door on my own because, you know, shutting the car door by yourself must be an awful lot of fun for them to always want to save the experience for them!

So I shut it by myself one day, and broke my thumb in the process.

As it turns out, thumbs aren’t meant to be shut in car doors so there is your public service announcement for the day.

It wasn’t all bad though, because I got to ride in Mama’s lap in the front on the way to the hospital and my brother and sister still had to sit in the back ~fights the urge to call her siblings and remind them that she got to ride in the front and they didn’t~.

So we ended up at the emergency room back in the day before you had to bring a bedroll and rations to make it through the wait and I kept my coveted spot in Mama’s lap, sniffing from time to time while I looked at my odd looking thumb.

A lady sitting there with us smiled at me. I still remember that. Then she opened her purse and looked around for a minute before pulling out a roll of peppermint lifesavers and said “Would you like one?”. I lit up and nodded eagerly and she gave me that peppermint lifesaver. There was something in that tiny little gesture that, for whatever reason, just came at the right time for me and made me feel better.

I knew at that moment that everything was going to be alright because nice ladies were handing out peppermint lifesavers in the waiting room of Huntsville Hospital.

I don’t remember any of the pain of having a broken thumb. I just remember getting to sit in Mama’s lap and that peppermint lifesaver.

So this morning I was piddling around in the house and came across my husband’s “pile”. That little area where he cleans out his pockets at night and refills them again in the morning. My eyes caught sight of some peppermint lifesavers and my heart did that little jump as I smiled and took one and remembered how good that felt to have a stranger take notice of me and do something so sweet. I’m sure she has no idea that her tiny little gesture is still bringing me joy over three decades later.

Folks, you just never know. It is the smallest acts of kindness. Don’t fret over trying to make a wave, all you’ve got to do it just add your tiny drop of water…

And maybe keep some lifesavers handy.

You’ll need: Creamy Peanut Butter, Brown Sugar (dark or light, your preference), Softened Cream Cheese, and Milk

 Place cream cheese, peanut butter, and dark brown sugar in a mixing bow and mix until smooth.

Like this.

Now we wanna add in our milk to make it nice and creamy and dippable.

Silly Spellcheck is trying to tell me that “dippable” isn’t a word but we both know exactly what I mean by that so clearly, our intelligence level is just above that of the computer.

Add in the milk and mix again until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as needed.

When you’re done it is gonna look like this.

Now at this point, this stuff is just plain good. In addition to dip, it would also be a great icing for cupcakes or cookies!

Cut the apples into wedges, removing the center and seeds.

Now there are different ways to keep your apples from turning brown, the most common is using a powder called “Fruit Fresh” or coating them in lemon juice. I try to avoid both of those because they put a really sour coating on the apples. So I use orange juice instead and it works every bit as well.

Place the apples into a bowl filled with orange juice (this keeps them from turning brown)

Take the apples out of the orange juice when ready to serve with the dip and place on a paper towel lined plate while you arrange them on your platter, this gets the extra OJ off of them.

Enjoy!

This is great served with apples, celery sticks, cookies, ginger snaps, etc. It would also be a fabulous icing to cupcakes!

“An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the roughest weather.”

– Washington Irving

Thank you Christy Ryan for submitting this! I’m always tickled to get more quotes submitted so please click here if you’d like to visit our Give A Penny page and add your words of wisdom and wit!

A Little Video Coffee Chat about Taste of the South, National Cornbread Festival, The Book I’m Writing, and more.

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2012/01/creamy-peanut-butter-fruit-dip.html/feed 55 http://www.southernplate.com/2011/10/these-are-my-glasses-story-time-video.html http://www.southernplate.com/2011/10/these-are-my-glasses-story-time-video.html#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:30:23 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=17108 Pin it

Today, instead of reading a book, I thought we could sing a song about reading book! This is a great song my Laurie Berkner and I know you’ll love it. So get out your glasses!

Check out all of my Story Time Videos below! 

The Little Red Hen

Click, Clack, Moo! Cows That Type

Bark, George

YES DAY!

Giraffes Can’t Dance

Pete The Cat

Kiss Good Night

Green Eggs And Ham

Today I’m going to be reading you a story that my Mama read to me when I was a little girl! I hope you enjoy it! Be sure and have your Mama, Daddy, Grandmama, Grandaddy, Aunt, or Uncle to leave me a comment below and tell me how you liked it. When you’re done, check out some of my other story time videos!

Gratefully,

Christy

The Little Red Hen

*****

Listen to more of my favorite stories below!

Click, Clack, Moo! Cows That Type

Bark, George

YES DAY!

Giraffes Can’t Dance

Pete The Cat

Kiss Good Night

Green Eggs And Ham

This giveaway is now closed but please scroll down and enjoy the post! Thank you to everyone who entered and shared it! Here are the winner’s names:
(When only a first name is given, I have included a partial email to help identify)
Lucy (acookandherbooks)
Amy Boney
Lynda (mamato5)
Nancy Mosley
Amber Gray
Mary Sorg
Brandon Marley
Hillary Tharpe

From the bonus entries who entered here and also shared on Facebook:
Mollie  Adcock
Amy  Dorse

 

Okay folks, I’m not prone to being starstruck. I view people as people. I’ve spent the day cooking with Paula Deen in her kitchen, I’ve made fried Pies with Al Roker and Ann Curry on the Today Show, I’ve gotten to hang out with David Venable on QVC and eat cake with the crew of  The 700 Club. I’ve filmed with the editor of Southern Living who then took me to a cafe to try his very favorite chicken salad (it sure was good), and they’ve all been wonderfully kind people and I had a lot of fun (it was an honor to meet each one!) - but not once was I intimidated or starstruck. Not once did I have any fear of embarrassing myself for fear of fawning or gushing too much - until I had the opportunity to visit Big Idea Inc and meet one of the founders of Veggie Tales, who just so happens to be the voice of one of my all time favorite characters ever created, Larry The Cucumber.

You have no idea what a VeggieTales fan I am.

I know just about every silly song and I sing them c-o-n-s-t-a-n-t-l-y, seriously, just ask my family

~Ricky chimes in~  “Oh believe me, she does”

Sometimes when I talk about Veggie Tales people will say “Oh we don’t have little kids so we’ve never watched them” and I look at them in wonder, always finding it funny that they think I buy veggie tales for my kids! HA! I buy them for myself, but I am nice enough to let my kids watch them too.

So after telling you all of this, you can only imagine what a thrill it was for me to get to go visit Big Idea and meet the staff behind Veggie Tales. Most especially one of the founder and the voice of the character I more closely identify with than any human being on this planet, Mike Nawrocki.

Ricky and I were so looking forward to this day. We were invited to visit Big Idea, take a tour, meet the folks, and then go out to lunch with Mike and Shannon. Mike is one of the founders (AKA Larry the Cucumber) and Shannon is head of their marketing (and sweet as the day is long).

Folks have asked how our kids enjoyed it and you know what? We didn’t take them! We were so excited and hey, we take them to Disney World and everything else we can, but this day was for me and Ricky. Plus, we wanted to be able to talk to them, ask questions, and actually listen to them when they answered.

Our kids talk even more than we do so we called up the world’s most amazing babysitter in the world and said “Kids, we’re going to go visit Veggie Tales and you get to stay here all day long with Kate the Great!” There were cheers all around

So come with me, on a wee bit of a grown up tour that kids of all ages will enjoy and lets go visit Big Idea!

Okay, here we go! This is the front door to Big Idea!

Look inside and see that basket in the chair? Well that is a basket of cookies I brought. I made two pans of cookies the night before and covered them to cool and cut into bars in the morning. Well lo and behold, in the morning I tasted them and decided they weren’t good enough. They were good, but they weren’t ooey, gooey, buttery, and oh-my-word good and hey, this is VEGGIE TALES so I had to do my best. So I cut those up for the kids and at 5:30 A.M. set about making more cookie bars. Only by the time we had to leave they were still too warm to cut so I covered them in foil and put them in the back of the car.

We arrived an hour and a half later and I wish I had of taken a picture of me and Ricky standing over the trunk and me cutting cookies while he wrapped them to put in that basket. It took about ten minutes or so to get them all done and I was just DYING because I was standing outside of Big Idea and I really just wanted to be inside! But, the cookies were ooey and gooey and buttery like I had wanted so all was well.

One only gets so many chances in their life to feed talking vegetables so one must make the most of every opportunity.

Now when it comes to Veggie Tales, I had the bar set kind of high. Having been a huge fan for over a decade, I was hoping so badly I wouldn’t get there and find they weren’t as sweet or kind or filled with integrity as I had thought. You know what I mean, you have this superstar in your head say…Elvis..and you want to meet him and you look up to him and then if the day came when you met him (you know, at the Burger King in Hawaii on that island he reportedly lives on) and he snubbed you, you would be heartbroken. Well, imagine Elvis times ten and that is about what is going on here for me.

~heaves a huge sigh of relief~

No one at Big Idea disappointed me. Walking into that office there is an instant feel of family, kindness, optimism, and excitement. Everyone is so friendly and they truly have a heart for what they are doing along with a fun spirit. I could have stayed there for months – happily humming Yodeling Veterinarian of the Alps all day long.

Oh who are we kidding? Why hum when you can full on sing?

Anyway, check out this office. All of the offices are decorated with fun Veggie memorabilia.

(Oh, the office is the pic before you got to the video. I’m a little excited today so I’m getting ahead of myself)

And then you turn a corner an walk into the room where they keep the copy machine and find…umm..is that a Dove award? Or, a few Dove awards? And some other…umm…huge deal awards?  On top of that shelf thingiemawhosit that holds office supplies…..in the copy room.

They put awards in their proper place. I’m sure they’re most grateful when they receive them but you can’t help but feel that awards are not what they are aspiring to here.

That’s not what they’re here for and that is part of what makes them so awesome.

and in the middle of all of this fun, I get a text message photo from the babysitter that brings me back down to earth and reminds me of what I’m here for…

~awww~

Okay, I missed her, too, but hey….this was Larry the Cucumber.

I texted her back a smiling picture of me waving and then tucked my phone away again.

This is me with my husband and Mike Nawrocki.

Please note that Ricky and I are like…normal people height, and Mike is like…ten or eleven feet tall. Or something like that.

~grins~

As you can clearly see, I wasn’t excited or anything ~smirk~

I kept telling my husband “Don’t let me gush. Especially if he does the Larry voice, just don’t let me gush.”

We both failed miserably.

How cool is this hand carved, solid oak Barbara Manatee?

Mike received it as a gift from Jeremy Vickery, an animator who used to work at Big Idea. His father carved it and Jeremy had his dad make it for Mike when he left to go work at Pixar (I won’t even get into what big Pixar fans we are but Veggie Tales still wins out!). Mike says this is one of his most prized possessions.

I’ll be derned if I don’t want one too now! To any of you not familiar with Barbara Manatee, here is one more video intermission…

This is us having lunch at Puckett’s in downtown Franklin. Where has this place been all of my life? I’d never heard of it and the food was phenomenal. We had a great time talking over our families, childhoods, and the excitement of not knowing where we’re headed to next. It’s so nice not to be in charge of your life

All in all, it was a wonderful day for both of us. We got to meet folks we’ve always admired and found that they were even more impressive in person. We got to see some top secret footage of upcoming Veggie Tales, too, and we left with happy hearts and even more excitement over the great things to come for Big Idea.

We also had a few new silly songs under our belt. Oh you know we need one more intermission, right?

I’ll keep this one small This is me and Ricky signing a Veggie Tales about a year or so ago on a loooong drive home.

It is sideways…I have no idea why but let’s just say it is because you might need to stretch the muscles on the right side of your neck. OH, there is a GIVEAWAY at the bottom of this post with TEN winners so be sure and scroll down when your neck is stretched enough. Click play on the video to find out what I’m talking about

G I V E A W A Y     T I M E 

So a while back, Veggie Tales asked on their wall “If you could come up with an idea for a silly song, what would it be?” and I got to thinking that a fun silly song would be one about a person who can never remember names or always gets them wrong when they think they remember them. That is kinda based on me ~winks~.

Then, after I’d already come up with my veggie tales silly song, I was on a roll and went on to wondering what kind of Veggie Tales character I’d be if I could.  I immediately decided that the perfect veggie tales character for me would be a green tomato! How cute would that be? A green tomato with a Southern accent!

Mama said she’d be Okra or a Sweet Potato but then went back to Okra because she’d be skinnier . 

So today, in honor of my thought that we really need a Southern Green Tomato Veggie Tales character, the folks at Veggie Tales and I are teaming up to give ten lucky members of the Southern Plate Family a copy of one of the very early Veggie Tales videos, God Wants Me To Forgive Them!?!, that contains the fun little band of Clampett family like characters known as the Grapes of Wrath. They’re cranky grapes who treat Junior very badly (but eventually it all ends well!).

I believe this the only Veggie Tales Video that has Southern characters in it so that is why I chose this one. We gotta promote more Southern vegetables ya know! Okay, in this case they’re grapes but still…

**ENTERING IS EASY**

**Just leave a comment below**

Tell me what kind of vegetable (or fruit) you’d be if you were a Veggie Tales character –

Or just say “Hi”.

 Whatever cranks yer tractor. I’ll chose EIGHT winners at random Monday morning and notify them by email. I’ll also post their names on this post and on Facebook. Contest closes at midnight Sunday September 18th, 2011.

For another chance to win

share this giveaway on your Facebook wall

and then let me know on my Facebook that you did! 

I’ll pick two ADDITIONAL winners from the Facebook comments.

That’s TEN winners in all! 

 “Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.”

– Dalai Lama XIV

Submitted by Jenny. Submit your quote by clicking here. 

Disclaimer: I’ve not been financially compensated for this post. I was also not bribed with vegetable trays, steamed veggies, pureed veggies, vegetable soup, vegetable juice, or vegetable themed sports cars. I just love Veggie tales – I mean, why on earth wouldn’t I? However, I did get to hear Mike Nawrocki do the Larry voice a few times and that was ultra cool. Although, in the interest of full disclosure I have to say that spelling Mike’s last name is intensely difficult for me, and I absolutely cannot pronounce it, even though it is extremely simple to pronounce. I think I ever got over the spelling-it hump the pronouncing-it hump would soon follow. My daughter saw a video of him and she said “Hey, that guy can do a voice that sounds like Larry!”. ~snickers~ Oh and last week when my daughter asked if the chicken we were eating was the kind that was ever alive, I might have said no…but I don’t exactly recall to be 100% sure. I am pretty sure it had lived a full life though.  All done disclaiming now, have a great day! 

If you’re on Facebook and could click that little “like” button up there I’d sure appreciate it!

Today I’m going to attempt to keep this blog post short and sweet. Well, the recipe makes it sweet but the only way we’re gonna make it short is if I’m not quite so chatty. Yeah….good luck with that one. But I have pies to bake, errands to run, and books to write so I’m gonna make an attempt. It’s the thought that counts, right?

These cookies are the ones you most likely remember from your childhood. We usually had them in chocolate form (click here to view my mama’s tutorial on how to make the chocolate ones) but I somehow ended up with an entire family who LOVES peanut butter. Anything Peanut butter. Seriously.

We go through one of the HUGE jars each and every week. They love PB&J sandwiches, peanut butter on toast, Peanut butter balls (which I try to always keep in the freezer), Peanut Butter Cookies, oh! And of course Yellow Cake with that Peanut Butter Fudge Icing. There is a cute story about that, too. When I did the 700 Club, I made seven different cakes and talked about The Seven Cakes of Christmas story from my family (You can watch all of my tv clips by visiting this page).

Well lo and behold I arrived back in Alabama that night and my whole family met me at the airport, including a very exuberant Katy Rose, who hugged me and immediately started craning her neck to look around at my luggage.

She said “Mama, where is that peanut butter cake? I know you made that one for me!” Bless her heart, she had watched me with that peanut butter cake on tv and since it was her favorite, she just knew I had made it to bring home to her! Needless to say, that child got Peanut butter cake for breakfast the next day

So what are we waiting for? Oh, yeah, we’re waiting for me to stop talking and get to the recipe, huh?

Alrighty then, do I need to tell you how good these are? Fudgey, chewy, and every kid’s favorite. I think we’re all about due for a batch today!

You’ll need: Sugar, oats, peanut butter, vanilla, butter (or margarine), and milk. 

Place your sugar, butter, and milk in a heavy bottomed saucepan. 

Stirring constantly, bring it to a boil over medium heat.

Once it reaches a full rolling boil, continue to stir and boil for one minute.

I usually boil for a minute and a half to be on the safe side. 

After it’s boiled for a minute, remove from heat and add in peanut butter and vanilla. 

Stir until smooth, creamy, and all of the peanut butter is melted. 

Like this  

Now add in your oats and stir those up really well. 

I love oats…

Like this. 

Don’t you just love seeing pictures of cooking? I think it makes us more likely to actually make a recipe because by the time we’re at the end of a post, having looked at al of the photos, we’ve already made it in our head so it doesn’t seem so daunting

That’s just my theory anyway. I love looking at the photos but I’m not too terribly into taking them, as you can tell by looking at mine. So many food bloggers take these gorgeous photos of all of their food but I’m kinda just more into cooking it, telling the story behind it, and then feeding people.

Okie Dokie, now pour that into an 8×8 pan that you’ve sprayed with cooking spray and let sit until cool.

Of course, if you want you can drop these by spoonfuls onto waxed paper like we did back in the old days. I just prefer the pan method because it is so much less work and they make cute little cookie bites when you cut them.

You can speed up the cooling process by placing your pan in the fridge.

Oh goodness, these are good!

Did you have these as a kid?

Who made them for you?

The recipe for the chocolate version of these cookies can be found by clicking here. 

If you’d like to watch some of my national tv appearances, I have a few on on my Media/PR page, click here to go there and just scroll down to see all of the videos.

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are

conscious of our treasures.”

– Thornton Wilder

Submitted by Jenny. Submit your quote by clicking here.

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/09/peanut-butter-no-bake-cookie-bites.html/feed 119 http://www.southernplate.com/2011/08/littlepigs.html http://www.southernplate.com/2011/08/littlepigs.html#comments Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:48:04 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=16318 Pin it

If you are on Facebook, I’d love it if you’d click that little “Like” button above! Thanks so much!

Whew, life is hard sometimes, isn’t it? Let’s just sit back a minute and take a few cleansing breaths before we head on into the heavy stuff because as a parent, as an adult, as a human really, I bet you’ve had more than your fair share of heavy stuff lately haven’t you? I know I sure have.

~breathes~ Alright, let’s get to the meat of things…..

This day and age, kids are having to face more things at a younger age than we ever seen and every day I see parents walking around oblivious to that – some days I’m one of those parents. A kind lady told me a story that really opened my eyes last week. She said a young man (around 14) got up on the last night of VBS at her church and addressed all of the parents. He pleaded with them to listen to their kids, to hear their hearts, to listen to their hurts and concerns. He said “I know it seems small to you, but these burdens are heavy to us. Please listen to us when we need to talk to you.” She said his voice was literally pleading and by the time he finished, there was hardly a dry eye in the house as his words really struck home with the parents in the audience.

As mine grow older, we hit snags on a more regular basis when it comes to issues, problems, and crisis. From the perspective of an adult, all too often my first reaction is to see their problems as trivial, because I know it is all a part of life and it will pass. I know that what seems like a heart wrenching tragedy today could be completely forgotten tomorrow – but then I think of what that kid said. “It seems small to you, but these burdens are heavy to us.”

Our world is changing, it’s faster than when we were kids. Twelve and thirteen year olds are having to deal with things I never had to deal with until I was sixteen or seventeen back in my time and even then I was too young to know how to properly handle the burdens given to me. Imagine the weight on a kid who is eight, nine, twelve years old. These burdens seem small to us, but they are so very heavy to them.

My kids have no idea that when they come to me upset and pour out their hearts, as I’m soothing them and telling them it will be okay, doing my very best to explain how the world sometimes works, inside I want to re-enact a scene from Where The Wild Things Are where I gnash my terrible teeth and roar my terrible roar at the world – and that is when it takes every ounce of strength I have to hold myself back and just love them through it. It’s funny how, compassion is the character trait we admire most in our children but it is the absolute hardest to watch develop. Don’t get me wrong, I have no qualms about having a Come-To-Jesus moment with anyone when necessary when it comes to my kids, but we can’t always do that and it isn’t always called for. Sometimes, we have to let them go through something, sometimes our hands are tied, sometimes it really isn’t as bad as they think it is and we have the wisdom to know that they just need time to see with a better perspective.

BUT during these times…

There is one thing we can all do to ease the pains of growing up for them and to make sure they know they have a home port. Sit down at the dinner table tonight. Together. With a meal. I don’t care what the meal is. Heck, make bologna sandwiches if you have to, just sit down together. Mama used to tell me “If you sit down at the table with your kids, they start talking to you about their day and they don’t even realize it. That is how you find out about their friends, their school, what is going on. That is where you keep your connection to them.”

My kids are so funny, they both view dinnertime as their BIG CHANCE to tell us everything. We sit down and they both race to see who can start talking first in hopes of having the first turn. They have so much to say each meal that we actually have to take turns letting them talk!

Our kids are growing up, they’re changing and learning how to cope with the world in a way that doesn’t sacrifice who they are, but in the middle of that it is very important to realize that we still have a lot to learn, too. When we all come together, we give ourselves a chance to learn from each other, even if it is over a pot of homemade mac and cheese and a passed around basket of pigs in the blanket.

Today I’m sharing some comfort food with you, because I think we all need comfort food this week. Would you like a little comforting today?

This is Katy Rose’s favorite. She shouts it from the rooftops whenever I make these and her excitement makes me feel like I’ve actually done something!

You’ll need: Beef Cocktail Smokies (Litte smokies), and ONE Can of Crescent Rolls.

I usually buy two just in case I end up needing more but for this tutorial and an entire package of little smokies, one was enough. So if you miss reading this note until after you have gotten back from the grocery store, just make some crescent rolls to go with your supper

Open your package of little smokies and put them all on a paper towel lined plate.

This will help dry them a bit and our dough will stick much better.

(This photo only shows about half of my package)

Take out your crescent rolls and roll them out one triangle at a time.

Cut that triangle into about five pieces, like this.

Now take each piece and wrap it around a little smoke, pressing the edges together to seal.

Place them all on an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving them a little room to spread, and bake at 375 for about 10-12 minutes.

Get ‘em while they’re hot..

and sit down with your kids to supper tonight.

I promise that even your grandchildren will thank you for it later!

Add this recipe to ZipList!

Little Pigs In A Blanket

Ingredients

• 1 package cocktail smokie weenies
• 1 can crescent rolls

Instructions

1. Place little smokies on paper towel lined plate.
2. Open can of crescent rolls and separate them into triangles. Cut each triangle into five pieces using the photo in this post as a guide.
3. Wrap each piece around a smoke and place on an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 40
5. These are great served with homemade creamy mac and cheese! (See below for link to Mama's Creamy Mac and Cheese Recipe)

Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin

1.2

Click here for Mama’s Creamy Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

– Mother Teresa

Submitted by Jenny. I’d love for you to add your favorite inspirational or motivational quote on our Give A Penny Page. You can visit that page by clicking here.

I have an ulterior motive today, though, because there is a story on my heart that I’ve really been wanting to share with you. Since y’all are so generous in allowing me to do things like this, Sit back and get comfy because this one gets a bit long winded (I know, when has Christy ever been shortwinded, right?).

I love to tell the stories of good people I grew up around or folks that I’ve encountered from day to day who just affirmed to me the goodness that is in all people.
But today I’m going to tell you a different story, today I’m going to tell you about one of the most unkind, hateful, and downright mean people I’ve known thus far in my life – and how we made a truce.

Back in my younger days, I made my living as a bank teller. It was a job I loved because I got to sit in a chair and had person after person come up to my window that I could talk to, smile with, and check in on their day. It was like getting to visit with a few hundred nice people each and every day. Kinda like blogging now that I think of it.

Now I’ve noticed that most people don’t pay much attention to the bank teller. They go up, hand their transaction, barely make eye contact, take their receipt, and walk off. Well y’all know that just wouldn’t do for me. I used to play a little game where I’d take the grouchiest ones and do my best to have them smiling before they left my window. It almost always worked, too! Sometimes it just ended up with a stare down. Did you know that if you look someone in the eye and smile really big, most human nature has them smilng right back without even realizing it? ~giggles~ Kinda like mind control – but only seeking the best results.

A few weeks into working at a little credit union in Huntsville this man came in one day and everyone bristled. He turned to my window and I could instantly see what kind of person he was. Handy things, those wrinkles. As we get older they tell everyone around us whether we’ve spent our life smiling or scowling.

Well, let me tell you, this man had wrinkles in all the places you hope folks dont have wrinkles when you are about to have to deal with them!

Not quite sure what was up just yet I greeted him with my usual “Hey! How are you today?”

He responded with a grunt, threw his money and deposit slip at my face, and said “Shut up and handle my money.”
Seriously.

I was pretty stunned but didn’t let my smile falter for long. Not knowing how to handle a situation like this (unfortunately I’ve had much more experince now but this was me at nineteen) I just ignored it and went about as if he hadn’t done such a thing. I chatted with him “Alrighty then, let me see here. Here we go! ” as I typed away and got his money deposited. I printed out his receipt and instinctively reached for my smiley face stamp (Did I mention I was the wacky teller who insisted on putting a big red smiley face on each receipt I handed out?) and stamped a big one right in the middle. I handed it back to him with a smile and he gave me a narrow eyed glare and snatched it up with a jerk.

The credit union was silent as he walked out and within the next few minutes you better believe I got the full story on that man!

A few weeks later he came in again, only I was ready for him this time. If he was going to be as hateful as he could, I was going to match him and be as nice as I could. I greeted him enthusiastically with an even bigger smile. Money was thrown in my face again and the previous scenario pretty much repeated. This went on for months but I didn’t back down. To be honest, I had no idea what else to do so rather than let him best me I figured I’d just keep it up! Then one day, as I handed him his smile face stamped receipt and said “You have a great day now!” he looked up at me and I saw the quickest flash of a grin as he said “You too”.

There was another stunned silence as he left the credit union that day. One of my friends said “I am not believing it, you got him to smile!”.

We seemed to have reached an understanding of sorts after that. He quit throwing money at me and instead just placed it on my counter, he always waited to come to my teller window, and I’d be as nice as I could to him the whole time. Sometimes he’d offer a brief glimpse of a smile, sometimes all he could manage was an affirming nod, but it really started to feel like we had a silent agreed upon friendship.

I left that credit union after three years when I figured out a way to go to college and several years back I heard that man had passed away. My heart ached for him and I really did feel a loss at knowing he was no longer with us. I still hurt for him even now.

It’s hard dealing with people like that but the way I figure, people like that are just about always people like that – which means if they are that hateful to you then that is likely the only way they know how to relate to anyone. You can imagine the reaction they get from those around them as a result.

Any kindness you can show is like pouring water on a dessert. At first, they won’t know how to react because it is so foreign to them – how tragic is that? So we have to be persistent in our kindness. I’m not saying follow them out the door and take them to lunch with them every day-a body can only take so much abuse, but when fate places them before you, if you have been  equipped with the grace to show them kindness and love them despite themselves, I feel like it is our responsibility to do so.

I’ve known a lot more people like that since then and there are some that even now, seem to view my face as target practice. I’ll just bet a lot of you are nodding as you read this thinking about your relative or co-worker that immediately sprang to mind at the start of my story. I look at these folks as someone that has been placed before me for a reason. I have been given the ability to love them, so I have the responsibility to do just that.

I know how people get like that, but that is a story for another day and likely another writer. My point is that if we have the ability to show kindness to the hardhearted among us and we find them placed before us, we have the responsibility to meet them where they are. Maybe we won’t be able to change them, but being able to show them kindness will definitely change us.

And now let’s make some ice cream

You’ll need: 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk and 1/2 gallon of yoo-hoo – or 64 ounces if you are using bottles.

I don’t know how Mama managed to find an actual half gallon because all I’ve ever seen were the bottles. Leave it to the one-stop-light town of Rogersville, Alabama to carry half gallon cartons of Yoo-hoo!

You’ll also need some rock salt and ice for your ice cream maker and if you can’t find Yoo-hoo, you can substitute chocolate milk.

This is Mama, with her really big bowl, mixing yoohoo and sweetened condensed milk

Just use a whisk to mix it up.

If you can’t pour it all into your bowl pour about half of your yoohoo and all of your sweetened condensed milk to mix it that way. You can always stir the rest in once you get it in your ice cream canister.

Now pour it into your canister and freeze according to your ice cream maker’s directions, which is really very easy.

You just layer ice and rock salt around your canister (your manual will tell you how to do this) ….

and plug it up and wait!

The waiting part can take 1 1/2 to two hours or so, sometimes more depending on how hot it is outside .

I usually make ice cream indoors and place my ice ceram maker in a tray or big pan so it doesn’t leak water on the floor. It makes it much faster this way when it’s not having to battle 100+ degree weather.

This ice cream maker is a great electric Hamilton Beach model. I’m actually giving ten of those away tomorrow night so Click here to visit my giveaway post and leave a comment to be entered!

Serve to happy kids! This is Brady, my nephew Lane, and Katy Rose

and these are my nephews Jake and Austin. They’d all been playing in the sprinkler. Aren’t sprinklers great?

YooHoo Ice Cream

• 64 ounces Yoohoo (can use 1/2 gallon chocolate milk instead)
• 2-14 ounce cans Sweetened Condensed Milk

In a very large bowl, stir together yoo-hoo and sweetened condensed milk with a whisk until well combined. Place mixture in the canister of your ice cream maker and freeze according to your ice cream freezer’s directions.

*You’ll need ice cream salt (sometimes called rock salt) and ice also. Use these according to the directions that come with your ice cream maker. If you are using a countertop ice cream maker that doesn’t need these, you will likely have to divide your mixture up and freeze in batches so it will all fit.

“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.”

– James Openheim

Submitted by Jenny. Click here to submit your quote.

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/07/yoohoo-ice-cream-and-how-to-love-mean-people.html/feed 125 http://www.southernplate.com/2011/06/bark-george-story-time-video.html http://www.southernplate.com/2011/06/bark-george-story-time-video.html#comments Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:17:22 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=15438 Pin it

I dearly love today’s story. Katy Rose brought it home from the school library one day this past year and asked me to read it to her.  We both quickly found ourselves laughing throughout the whole book, especially the ending! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Thank you for all of your GREAT comments on my storytime videos! I love getting to hear back from you and you’ve encouraged me so much that I’ve got a whole slew of books just waiting to read to you

Have a great day! Gratefully,

Christy

Get your copy of Bark, George by clicking here.

Listen to more of my favorite stories below!

Tacky The Penguin

Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type

Bark, George

YES DAY!

Giraffes Can’t Dance

Pete The Cat

Kiss Good Night

Green Eggs And Ham

One Fish, Two Fish

Wocket In My Pocket

Thank you for letting me read you another story! This video is a bit scattered but that is because it co-stars Katy Rose and Teaspoon! I hope you enjoy it and be sure and check out the other story time videos below.

Gratefully,

Christy

Get your copy of Yes Day! by clicking here

Listen to more of my favorite stories below!

Tacky The Penguin

Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type

Bark, George

YES DAY!

Giraffes Can’t Dance

Pete The Cat

Kiss Good Night

Green Eggs And Ham

One Fish, Two Fish

Wocket In My Pocket