Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding by Paula Deen

We made this last night and all I can say is YUM! There was a ton though so we took some to the Andersons since banana pudding doesn't keep well. Kim said Skip and Chase were very happy! Click here for the recipe on the Food Network website.

Prep Time: 30 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 12 servings

Ingredients
2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies (we used a box of Vanilla Wafers)
6 to 8 bananas, sliced (we used 5)
2 cups milk
1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding (we used 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 (we used a tub of whip cream...not frozen then thawed)

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. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

November in a Nutshell

Sorry I've been a bad blogger lately. To catch up here is what we have done this month!

• November 1st, Colton had his 2 year check up. Click here for details


• November 2nd, I had dinner with my girl Tracey Farmer and her 1 month old baby boy Austin at PF Changs


• November 4th, my niece Katlyn turned 10 (yes I said 10!) and we went to her surprise birthday party


• November 5th, Kraig and I went to the Razorback game and tailgate where Arkansas beat South Carolina 44-28! All thanks to Uncle Ryan and Aunt Lisa for watching the kiddos (the kiddos had a great time at Jump Zone by the way)


• November 11th and 12th, Kraig went deer hunting


• November 15th, I had dinner with my girls Keisha and Melissa at Johnny Carinos. I had not seen them in a long time so it was great to catch up!


• November 16th, I had dinner with my sis-in-laws Kristen, Lisa and Chelsea for Chelsea's belated 21st birthday at Bonefish. Lots of fun had when we get together!


• November 20th-23rd, Kraig went duck hunting


• Sunday the 20th, I hosted my first family Thanksgiving at my house for 30 people! Everything turned out great (a little later than I planned to pull everything together but it was a success)! I even cooked my first turkey (21 pounds) and ham (10 pounds) and everything seemed to think they tasted good so I was happy! (Thanks Melissa for the recipes!) Click here for the Turkey Recipe.


• Monday the 21st, Lauren went back to the dentist for her 2nd filling (and last hopefully) and did great! I stayed home with her that day and we enjoyed some mommy daughter time!


• November 22nd, the kids and I had dinner with Uncle Larry Beck and cousin Robin Beck from California at Mellow Mushroom along with the rest of the Beck clan for Larry's Birthday


• November 23rd-25th, our family went to the cabin on the 23rd to have Thanksgiving with Nana and Papaw and the Beck clan and came back Friday to watch the Razorback game.


• Saturday the 26th, I went Christmas shopping with my girls Jen and Lori and got some awesome deals at Kohls! We were supposed to go to St Louis for the weekend but Sue was not feeling well so we stayed home and gave our tickets to Spencer. It was a great weekend!


• Sunday the 27th, we celebrated Mimi's 90th birthday! The full Ellison clan was there and it was great to see everyone!


• Lauren is taking dance every Wednesday night in Tontitown and loving it!


• I've been cooking more and more and getting the hang of it! LOL. Click here for all the recipes I've been trying.

So that's our month of November in a nutshell. I do have pictures of some of it so I will post those soon. I can't believe it but Christmas is right around the corner! Happy Holiday's everyone!

Colton's 2 Year Check Up

Colton had his 2 year check up at NW Pediatrics on Tuesday, November 1st. Doctor Furlow said he was perfect (which I already knew)! She did say that because he has been slow to develop his teeth he will probably go through puberty later as well. Poor guy...looks like he will be the 'short guy' for a while. He is in the 25th percentile for his height and weight (which means that 75% of the kids born at his height and weight are bigger than him at his age).

Stats:

• Height: 33.46 inches


• Weight: 26 pounds (although he would not sit or stand on the scale...our home scale says 27.5 pounds)


• Teeth: 10 total

Things you are saying right now.

1. What You Doin' Momma?


2. I Wuv You (I love you)


3. Rock A Farm (You want us to sing Rock A Bye Baby but change the words to Farm related things?)


4. Rock Baby (when you want us to sing the original Rock A Bye Baby version)


5. Mommy


6. Daddy


7. Sissy


8. Ava Bug


9. Baby


10. Truck


11. Cars


12. Train


13. Choo Choo


14. Bike


15. Deer


16. Bear


17. Dog


18. Cow


19. Duck


20. Kitty Cat


21. Lion


22. Tiger


23. Horse


24. Mar-Mello (Marshmellow (he loves Lucky Charm cereal))


25. Choc-it Milk (Chocolate Milk)


26. Nack (Snack)


27. Appi (Paci)


28. Smoke (steam from daddy's truck on cold mornings)


29. Ow-side (Outside)


30. Jump


31. Cup


32. Water


33. Milk


34. Fork


35. Spoon


36. Cereal


37. Breakfast


38. Cheese Stick


39. NO!


40. Yes


41. Sit


42. Diaper


43. Potty


44. Pee Pee


45. Poop Poo


46. Co-wor (Color)


47. Marker


48. Water

Vaccines you received at the check up:

• Hep A 0.5 mL IM


• Flu Vaccine (Nasal Mist)

French Dip Beef Sandwiches - Crock Pot Recipe

This recipe came from one of Kraig's clients Mrs. Andrea Van Houweling in Michigan. She is a wonderful cook and this is a very easy recipe that taste awesome!

French Dip Beef

• ~3 pounds of beef roast (London broil, chuck roast, eye of round roast)


• 1 can beer


• 2 cans concentrated beef broth


• 1 packet of dried onion soup


• 2 T Worcestershire sauce


• Some sweet pepper slices (optional...I normally don't use)

Put beef in crock pot. Cover with onion soup, beer, broth and Worcestershire sauce. Cook for 9 hrs on low. Pull apart/shred with forks and mix with juice in pot. Serve in rolls or buns. Can also serve with barbecue sauce.

Barbecued Beef Sandwiches - Crock Pot Recipe

Last week my sister Mary Ann bought me a new Crock Pot book and I've been trying recipes on and off. I cannot wait for tonight's dish!

Barbecued Beef Sandwiches
Makes 12 servings
Prep Time: 20-25 minutes
Cook Time: 8-10 hours (LOW) or 4-5 hours (HIGH)

3 pounds boneless beef chuck shoulder roast
2 cups ketchup
1 medium onion, chopped
¼ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup dark molasses
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Sesame seed buns/split

Cut roast in half and place in Crock Pot. Combine ketchup, onion, vinegar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt, mustard, black pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flakes in large bowl. Pour sauce mixture over roast. Cover and cook on LOW 8-10 hours or on HIGH 4-5 hours or until done.

Remove roast from cooking liquid; cool slightly. Trim and discard excess fat from beef. Shred meat with 2 forks.

Let cooking liquid stand 5 minutes to allow fat to rise. Skim off and discard fat.

Return meat to Crock Pot. Stir to evenly coat meat with sauce. Adjust seasonings. Cover and cook on LOW 25-30 minutes or until hot.

Spoon filling into sandwich buns and top with additional barbecue sauce if desired.

Trick or Treating 2011

Happy Halloween! This year we met up with some friends (Brooklyn Fields, Hayden Lawrence, Kieran and Ava) and walked around Harber Meadows before all the bigger kids with scary costumes were out. We had a great time and I think the kids did too! I of course forgot my camera so thanks Ryan, Lisa and Stacy for the pics!

Ava as a Glitter Fish

Kieran as a Watermelon Fairy, Lauren as Rapunzel and Brooklyn as Minnie Mouse

And my little Gnome

He was really getting the hang of Trick or Treating this year! He would walk up to people and either pick out his own candy or just stand there until they gave him a piece.

Thanks for the outfits Nana and Papaw!

My Baby Boy is 2!!!!

My baby boy turned 2 on the 19th and we had his birthday party on Sunday the 23rd. I can't believe he is TWO! How does that happen?!?!?!

We had a Cars themed birthday party with friends and family and I think it was a huge success! Thanks everyone for coming to the party and celebrating with our baby boy!

The Set Up

The Cars Table

The Bobbsey Twins Lauren and Kate

Opening Gifts

Cousins Katlyn, Lauren and Kharis

Cousins Colton and Austin playing

The Barenberg's

The Beck's

And this was Monday morning before school...Lauren was showing Colton how to play his new game while sitting in his new Cars chair.

Colton you are the sweetest little boy (even through your temper tantrums). You pucker up to give kisses now, you will lay your head down on our shoulders for hugs or just to snuggle, you LOVE cars and want to do everything your sister does. You talk non-stop and are learning new words everyday. I'm amazed at how fast you are growing up. I think God for the joy you bring to our family! We love you so much!

Nona's Prizes!

Since Nona has an embroidering machine we have been very fortunate to get 'prizes' in the mail lately! She is probably regretting telling us she got the machine! LOL I found some shirts last week and shipped them to her...we got them in the mail tonight! We just LOVE them! Thanks Nona!

Lauren's Shirts

My Shirt

Colton's Shirts (he opened on his birthday)...It was so cute to see him open his gifts...you can tell he was excited!

JC Penney Photos - Colton 2 - Lauren 4

Yesterday I had the kids pictures taken at JC Penney's in Rogers. Neither kid was very cooperative as Lauren kept doing a 'fish face' smile where she would suck her cheeks in and Colton just wanted to look at the floor or play with cars...he did NOT want to look at the camera...and when he did his hands were in his mouth. Oh well...they are only 2 and 4! :-)

Happy 2nd Birthday Colton!

Wednesday night we had a mini birthday celebration for Colton because his Nana and Papaw got him a car (great find at Tuesday Mornings I might add)! Thanks Nana and Papaw...I think you can tell he likes it!

He even got a little help from Rapunzel!

Then it was time to blow out the birthday candles!