Happy 70th birthday.

Today my Dad would have been 70, if he was still alive. His last birthday was at the young age of 64. I am totally out of sorts today. A bit bitchy, teary, and just not with it. My Mother always celebrated birthdays, but milestone birthdays were a big event. I remember my Dad's 30th birthday party. I remember him sleeping in a lawn chair towards the end of the night. His 50th birthday party was an extravaganza. His 2 brothers came into town from out of state. That was a very fun party for his kids. I believe one of his kids may have slept in a lawn chair that night. The  60th party was at my house. At the best of our abilities, we tried to surprise him. NO one slept in a lawn chair that night. We did have a good time. We laughed about how old we had all gotten.

Today is a beautiful day. Mid 70's and sunny. Actually kind of cool for the end of July. He would have said it was an excellent day for working. Even on his birthday. He would have kicked it into gear & got a lot done.

So, Sweets by Shayla has been baking up a storm. I did a 300 person wedding last weekend. Cupcakes and Treat trays. It was a tremendous amount of work, but when I was done, I was happy. No second guessing. The bride was also very pleased. And that is the most important person. 

My sister and her family from FLA are in town for a week. We are going to do our own partying and hanging out. We all think about my Dad in so many different ways and have our own special memories. 

My Dad was such a good dad. He had his rules, and they had little bend. BUT everything else in life was fair game. Did he shake his head at us??? YES... Wonder what the Hell we were doing??? YES.. but he totally love us. I am grateful in life for my Dad... AND MOM. They have taught us many differ things. 

Be grateful for what you have, and someone always is worse off than you. WORDS of Wisdom.

Green Peachy Cleanse

I am still drinking my green drinks, but I am starting to modify them. Granny Smith apple are a bit out of season and getting very expensive. SO.... move on to summer fruit. I can remember last winter (who could forget a Polar vortex), coming across recipes with summer fruits and melons. They are all my favorites, so let us commence with the summer recipes.

This recipe still has a green apple in it, but today was the last of the apples. It also contains a peach. I made this recipe twice, once with spinach and once without. (Believe it or not, the grocery shopper sometimes forgets her spinach.) Without the spinach, the color was slightly orange. With the spinach, all GREEN.

The peach gave the drink a bit of thickness. Full flavor. All the things I love

I am also working on drinking more Plain Water

Green Peachy Cleanse
adapted by ME
Ingredients

1 cup water
1 piece fresh ginger
1 peach, pitted and sliced
1 handful fresh spinach
1 green apple, cored and sliced
1 squirt Agave Nectar (Optional)

Directions
Place all ingredients in your Vitamix or high powered blender in the order listed. Blend until smooth.

My normal handful of fruits and veggies

My almost full blender. I just love this machine

This was such a good drink. 

The Peach really amp'd up the flavor

OREO pudding cookies

My husband sometimes ask me why I buy Oreo's. I still love them, and know they come in an assortment of flavors. My Florida sister will say that Grandma's cookies are the best, but I do love an Oreo once in awhile. It is not wrong

This Marshmallow crispy was a very good flavor

Lemon was delightful. I actually used them for a lemon cheesecake bar.
I did eat the apple and orange. They both went into a drink

SO, when I can across this recipe for a Oreo pudding cookie, I was all in. This was a quick cookie to whip up. It is also not a large batch.  22 cookies or so. Great for a group of people. Use Plain old Oreo's.This batter does not spread at all. This cookie needs to be smushed down after baking. When I pull them out of the oven, I immediately take the back of the spatula and smash down. I then let cool in the pan to set up. 

A nice soft cookie with a great flavor

Oreo Pudding Cookies
adapted from Amyshealthybaking.com
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick) MELTED and cooled
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 oz (4 servings) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 Oreo's roughly chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.

In a separate mixing bowl, add butter and brown sugar together. Mix until creamy. Add eggs, one at time and mix. Add vanilla extract. Mix in pudding mix until blended. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until just incorporated. Fold in by hand the Oreo cookie pieces.

Drop cookie dough on prepared sheet pans. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Remove when done, smash down with back of flat spatula and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Then move to a wire rack.

Firm but not hard cookie dough

Lovely perfect circles baking away

Removed from the oven and flattened. Still cooling

Waaa Laaa.. bits of Oreos in all bits. Yummy.
My friends just loved these cookies.
A huge combo factor, eating Oreos in homemade cookies
Kind of like the best of both worlds.