DIY Tried It!

Okay, let’s be honest with each other for a minute here! How many of you go on Pinterest and are like ‘OH MY GOSH THAT IS AWESOME I’M GOING TO TRY IT!” and then never do…or you tried it and it sooo didn’t come out like it was on the site?!? Well I know that I sure have!! I have decided to dedicate one page on my blog to Do It Yourself things that I have tried and let you know if they worked or not…I will even put up pictures of what it should have looked like and mine! Please feel free to share things that you have tried or would like for me to try 🙂 Wish me luck…I hope to start this today!!

Creme Brulee Pancakes

Creme Brulee

Pancakes!

1egg

3 TBSP melted butter

1 1/2 TBSP vanilla extract

2 TBSP white sugar

1 1/4 cups milk

1/4 cup half and half

1 1/2 cups flour

3 TSP baking powder

1 TSP salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 TBSP brown sugar

1/2 TSP cinnamon

1 TSP butter (or spray butter)

Mix the egg with the 3 tablespoons melted butter, vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon white sugar. Mix in the milk and half & half. Sift flour with baking powder and salt in a separate bowl; stir flour mix into liquid mix to make a smooth batter.
Mix together 1/4 cup white sugar with brown sugar and cinnamon.
Spray the pan with spray butter or melt 1 teaspoon butter in a pan over medium-low heat. Scoop or pour some of the batter onto the pan once it’s hot. Sprinkle the top of the pancake with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Let the pancake cook until the bottom is golden brown, usually 2 to 3 minutes. Flip it! Cook it until the cinnamon sugar melts into a crust, about 3 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter and cinnamon sugar.
IMPORTANT: Let the pancakes cool WITHOUT stacking them!!

Well, there you have it! Some yummy pancakes! Emalee LOVES these!

Heavenly White Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownie

Simple Heavenly White Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownies

WARNING: I’m an awful cook…but hey this is one I’ve done in the past and

I promise…there were no fatalities!

1 cup of butter (completely melted to make it easy)

3 cups of sugar

1 tbsp sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups of flour

1 cup of cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1 to 2 cups of assorted chocolate chips (more white than dark)

Cut the oven on to 350 and grease up the pan.
Mix up the sugar, butter and vanilla (blend until it is kind of creamy-ish). Beat in the eggs.
In a different bowl mix together the flour, cocoa and salt. Then pour that mixture into the sugar mixture and blend well.
Add in your chocolate chips (try not to eat them all as you add them!)
Spread it evenly into the greased pan.
Bake for about 35 minutes.
Most important! Tell everyone that it messed up, hide in the bathroom with a spoon and enjoy the creamy chocolate brownie and pray that you don’t have to share!

Hey look! That one didn’t include any box mixes or anything! Aren’t you proud??? lol

I’m not a huge chocolate lover so I prefer to do this with vanilla ice-cream to help take away a bit of the sweetness.

Crock-Pot Death By Chocolate Cake

Okay, this is seriously one that I have made a dozen times! Everyone loves it and it smells and tastes amazing!!

1 Devils Food Chocolate Cake mix

(All the stuff the box says you need for the cake)

1 large packet of chocolate pudding mix

1 packet of vanilla pudding

White & Dark chocolate chips

1 bag of small marshmallows

1. Grease you r crock-pot.

2. In your large crock-pot,mix together the cake mix and all of it’s ingredients.

3. Once it is blended well, add in both packets of pudding.

4. Now add in as many or as little chocolate chips as you would like.

5. Set crock-pot to low and let it cook for about 2 to 3 hours. Yes I know that is an insane amount of time to wait as you house (or classroom, this is perfect for teachers) begins to smell super mouth watering! But it is totally worth it!

6. You want to cook it until the cake is pretty well set and the pudding is almost bubbling out of the cake. You still want it to be a bit gooey. At this point you need to sprinkle the marshmallows all over the top of the cake.

7. Put the lid back on and allow it to sit for about 5 to 10 minutes or until the marshmallows are melted.

8. Serve with vanilla ice-cream so that you don’t die from chocolate overdose!

Scanguards Vampires Series

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links that I receive commission or payment from in exchange for referrals. SouthernMessMoms is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Author: Tina Folsom
Website: Tinawritesromance.com & Tina Folsom Blog
Genre: Paranormal romance
Books in series: 9 Continue reading “Scanguards Vampires Series”

Sons of Kane

Author: Tiffany Allee
Website: Tiffanyallee.com
Genre: Paranormal romance
Books in series: 1 (more to come)

Book Length- 158 pages
Main Characters- Alice Shepard and Noah Thorpe

Synopsis-
The Sons of Kane series starts with Alice, who is super nervous about having to attend her sister’s cruise boat wedding because her awful ex-fiance will not only be there…he will be the best man!! To top things off he is bringing his NEW fiance! Alice showing up alone is simply not an option! So after a few drinks she decides that she is going to ask her hunky neighbor to go as her date.

Noah needs a way to get out of town for a few days while his friends try to get him out of a bad situation. When his pretty neighbor asks him to go on a cruise he doesn’t think it is a good idea…even though the timing is perfect. He tries to come up with reasonable excuses as to why he can’t go, but his friend Charles isn’t having it.

Against his will and better judgement Noah ends up on a cruise ship filled with humans for a week! During the trip he and Alice both must struggle with their attraction to one another…I wonder who will give in first?

Review-

I can honestly say that I read this book in a straight 4 hour period. It’s not that it is short…it’s just that it was so good that once I was in the story line I simply couldn’t make myself leave!! The writing style made me feel like I was going through each and every moment of the story with the characters. I enjoyed that it switched perspectives so that you got a good feel for each character. The author did an amazing job making me want to read more in this series. I will definitely be looking at her website regularly to see if she has a new book yet. She gave just enough information about characters that I am anxious to find out what happens with Charles and Alex, Noah’s brothers, and Andrew, Alice’s brother. I feel like she left a big opening for herself to write at least three more books in this series. I know I certainly want more information on Andrew and Olivia….I sure hope she doesn’t leave it at what was discussed in this book.

Although there were some small issues with the book, none were enough to make me stop reading or make me not recommend it to friends and family. There were humorous moments, intense moments, and some pretty exciting and erotic moments as well. This book was simply delicious and I can’t wait to dig into more of her work!

Argeneau Vampires

Author: Lynsay Sands
Website: Lynsaysands.net
Genre: Paranormal Romance (a little comedy mixed in as well)
Books currently in the series: 20

The Argeneau Vampires series takes an interesting twist to the traditional vampire story. I love how unique of an idea it is! The vampires, be careful who you say that word to in these books, have several abilities that help them to exist among normal humans. Each book focuses on one couple and how their relationships unfold. I found the first few books to move a little slow, however, if you stick it out it is more than worth it and this problem doesn’t exist among her later works. One thing that I really enjoy about this series is that main characters that we come to love in one story will pop back up in others. Also, some of the back ground characters often become main characters later on in the series! Always awesome! Continue reading “Argeneau Vampires”

Homemade-ish: Chocolate Pecan Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

WARNING: I’m an awful cook…but hey this is one I’ve done in the past for parties!

I promise…there were no fatalities!

Pre-made pie crust I have NEVER been able to get a home-made pie crust to turn out right.

2 cups of pecan halves

1/2 Stick of butter (softened)

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Bottle of chocolate syrup You could always do the “real cook” thing and buy the pieces of chocolate and melt them….

1 tbsp all purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar (packed)

1/3 cup dark corn syrup

1/4 tsp salt

Pre-heat oven to 325.
Mix together flour, pecan halves, and chocolate syrup (or if you’re being fancy and using the real chocolate melt that and mix it in now)
Beat the butter and brown sugar in a bowl until well blended.
Add the eggs.
Mix in the corn syrup, vanilla, and salt. Blend well!
Stir in pecan mixture.
Pour it all into the pie crust.
Bake for about 45 minutes The center will still be a little jiggly, but a tooth-pick should come out with no chocolate if stuck in the center.
Let it cool for about an hour and enjoy!

See this one was actually pretty much home-made!! Hope you enjoy it!

Homemade-ish: Strawberry Cheesecake

No I’m not just going to say buy a cheesecake and strawberries! I’m not that lazy! I have a recipe…somewhere!

WARNING: I’m an awful cook…but hey this is one I’ve done in the past for Christmas parties!

I promise…there were no fatalities!

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (can use as little as 4 tbsp. I like my graham cracker)

8 ounces of cream cheese

1 cup of white sugar

4 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tbsp. water

4 cups of FRESH strawberries

Pre-heat oven to 325

Put the graham cracker crumbs into a greased pan.
Mix the cream cheese and sugar together, make sure it’s well blended.
Add the eggs one at a time I MUST STRESS SOMETHING HERE….NO SHELLS IN THE MIX!
Mix in the vanilla extract and toss it pour it into the pan.
Bake for about 50 minutes Be sure the oven is on…and the cake is in it!
Let it cool off before you remove it from the pan…seems like a duh but hey you never know!
Arrange 2 cups of sliced strawberries on top of the cake! Now gracefully toss it in the trash!
MOST IMPORTANT STEP: Now that your house smells and looks like you cooked a cheesecake…pull out the one you bought from a professional…add some strawberry syrup and the last 2 cups of cut up strawberries on top and VOILA a beautiful, edible, home-made-ish cheesecake! hehe Shhh don’t tell my secret!

**This really is a cheesecake recipe…if you know how to cook feel free to skip step 8 🙂

Mom’s Chores

I have heard from many friends and from personal experience that keeping the house clean is becoming a full time job! No one wants to clean non-stop, even the OCD neat freak like me! I will be the first to admit that there are days that all I want to do is sit down with a good book and relax…however, if I do that I start to fall behind in my housework and we all know what happens then! Continue reading “Mom’s Chores”