I always tell myself I should do more baking. When I was growing up, my mom baked a cake or something each week. Seriously, my mom is my inspiration. You know how they always tell you that you come to appreciate things from your youth once you get older...it is true. As a mama myself now I realize just how important those little things were that my mom did for us...like her baking us something every single week.



My kids love peaches. While I don't usually cook with canned or frozen goods these days, we keep non-perishables in our pantry in case of emergencies or for those lazy days when I do not feel like doing much.  We have a ton of canned peaches and I was a bit tired of making only peach cobbler so I thought it would be awesome to find another pie idea for my bajillion cans. 


And thus peach and apple butter handpies were born. Dude. These are so easy. You only need three things: pie dough/pastry dough, apple butter and peaches. You do not need sugar, vanilla or anything extra. The apple butter adds in the perfect touch of cinnamon and the peaches combined brings about the perfect sweetness. And you don't have to do any cooking of the fruit before hand either! Perfection, yes!

You will need:
Roll out pie dough or pastry dough
Kyvan Apple Butter
Canned Peaches in heavy syrup


Drain syrup from the peaches, cut into smaller cubes and pour peaches into a bowl. Mix in 4 tablespoons of apple butter and mix.

Roll out dough and cut out 4 inch circles.  Scoop 1-1 1/2 spoonfuls of peach and apple butter mix into middle of dough circles.  Fold over one side of the circle and use a fork to crimp the edges. Use a knife and cut small vent lines in the top of the handpie.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with ice cream, a dollop of whipped cream or with a simple powdered sugar icing drizzle.

I have four kids. I am a single mama, divorced since 2007. 

Trying to come up with birthday ideas for my kids that are budget friendly that I can do on my own is tough. 



When my youngest turned thirteen this summer, I knew I had to make it special. At the time (and still to this day) I was obsessed with candy cakes....over the top cakes topped with anything you can find. I am no baker but I loved making her cake.




I opted for a simple taco bar. Easy enough, right? You cook your meats and everything else is pretty much prep. Yes, this was so easy.



This is a fabulous idea because, well, who doesn't love tacos? What kid hates candy? A win-win, right?

Right.



My kids and our guests loved it. Even though the cake fell on the back side, nothing was left. All food was eaten and we didn't know whether to pass out from food overload or be super hype from our sugar high.



This was one of my favorite parties to put together. Outside of the taco bar, we had an ice cream mini bar and the best part???? The best part was that it all cost me less than $100. I'm taking all the food, the Dollar Tree decorations and errthang....less than $100.



Tips for buying on a budget for a birthday party:

• Check out your local dollar store. 

• Dollar Stores have tons of candy for goody bags, candy bars, chips, drinks, and decorations. 

• Clearance!

• Tons of grocery stores and stores in general have clearance sections or baskets. Look at those clearance bins for candy or decorations for some awesome deals. I got all the toppings for the ice cream bar for 90 cents a bag.

• Plan a simple menu but display it in a high end fashion.

• Burgers, hotdogs, tacos, etc....display your food items on coordinating serving platters. It really makes a difference.

• Be Creative!

• Make decorations for inexpensive items.

I had hard taco shells, flour tortillas, and bags of doritoes that they could use to make their own Taco-in-a-Bag. Seriously, dudes, this was so good.

When I was in college and after I became a newlywed, I never cooked greens. Not 'real' greens. I cheated and always bought the ones in the can. Then one Thanksgiving one of my friends brought over a plate of collard greens that her dad had made. I was instantly in love and from that moment on, canned greens that would not do.

Collard greens are my favorite. When cooked right, the pot liquour is amazing and you can 'sop' it up with a nice slice of cornbread.

How to Cook Collard Greens

You will need:
1 bunch for every  two people
Chicken Bouillon (1 per bunch)
1 Fresh Jalapeno (optional)
1 smoked turkey leg


In the kitchen sink, wash your leaves well. They are usually dirty so, make sure you rub them to get grit off.  After you have them clean, remove the large stem from the center and end. You only want the leafy part. Cut the leaf part into bite sized pieces.



Fill your pot with water, mix in your bouillon cube and slice in the optional pepper. My kids and I love a bit of spice, so we leave the seeds in. This is completely optional. Add in your smoked turkey leg and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and cook for two hours until the greens are very tender.

For the breakfast sandwich I made my homemade biscuits which can be found here and my homemade fried chicken you can find here. I cooked an egg seasoned with salt and pepper and placed it on top.



Paired with the collards and the biscuits, the chicken and egg are amazing together. We even drizzled a little honey on ours.

When you think of the South, you might think acres and acres of nothingness. You might think poverty...you might think the place where everyone goes when they want to retire into a an area full of hospitality and....of course great comfort food.

One thing that is synomous with the South, we sum up in two words:  Sweet Tea.  And when we say sweet tea, we don't mean the kind you gently place two sugar cubes in while it sits into a dainty china tea cup...no we mean, iced, sweet and sugary brown. The kind that you sip slow on a lazy afternoon or enjoy at a fancy restaurant.

When it comes to tea in the South, we are picky. Boy are we picky. It has to have the right balance of tea, water and of course sweetness. We like our tea freshly brewed and placed in the fridge until it is the right kind of cold...but guess what, when we don't make it ourselves, there are definite go to grocery stores we find ourselves at with a cart full of gallons of already chilled browned goodness.

Milo's Tea is the closest I have come across that equals the Southern goodness that is my mama's sun tea.



I remember growing up and having to bring in the glass covered jug of  'sun tea' so that my mom could sweeten it and get it chilled for supper. Sun brewed meaning, she did not boil or microwave, she placed the jug full of tea into a sunny spot to brew on it's own. Milo's tea reminds me of my mama. It reminds me of goodness. It reminds me of the South.

I got the awesome priviledge to try out some of Milo's brand spanking new products. Oh lawd, when I tell you heaven is their tea and lemonade blend....I mean it. I bought several of the gallon jugs home and why no...it did not make it to see the light of the next day. Gone. My kids, family and friends gulped it down in  one seemingly  simultaneous guzzle.

The next day, I decided to try something. I got a recipe from Milo's and thought, hey, this is perfect for these hot Mississippi summer days.

Sweet tea and Lemonade granitas.

I mean, who doesn't love a great slushy drink?

With the recipe being soooooooo easy, why not try it!? I made the sweet tea and lemonade blend and the lemonade.

You will need

Milo's Tea, Tea and Lemonade, or Lemonade



Fill a casserole dish with the drink of your choice. To be creative, add a bit of chopped fruit or mint leaves. Fill the dish fingernail deep.  Place into the freezer for 45 minutes or until it begins to freeze. Take a fork or spoon and stir the mixture. Freeze again for 45 minutes and stir again.



This method is helping create the snow cone/slush texture.



Who needs shaved ice? You can do this at home with out a machine!

And then...serve! Seriously, how easy and how deliciously cool and slushy is that?!