2025 Randoms of a Creole Princess...

Mississippi Gulf Coast Snow Days!

*DUSTING OFF THIS BLOG THAT I STILL PAY FOR…LOL!*

Hear me out. 2024 sucked. For me that is. I hope it was amazing for everyone else.

Watching the narcissist hustle over TikTok, banning it for over 180 million people only to bring it back in less than 24 hours so someone could take credit for it coming back? That was just horrible and playing with so many small business owners livelihood. That was so wrong.

But eh…

That said, I miss having my own space where I can say what I want to say without being interrupted by ads or bots or arguing with foolishness. I miss reading thoughtful comments that aren’t a quick brain rot blurb from doom scrolling.

Speaking of doom scrolling…I am weaning myself off Facebook. I like to keep up with my friends, of course, and I am worried about how that is going to look going forward or even make it possible to wean myself off. Honestly…I enjoy interacting with my friends without having to leave my favorite chair. You can’t tell me that it isn’t meaningful. Sure…not as meaningful as visiting but we mostly live in other states and visiting is difficult to do.

I did wean myself off the news and am pretty glad I did that because it opened up an entirely new morning routine for me that I think benefits me better. I get more done in the morning because by the time I have returned home for the day I am BEAT!

I lost all of my menopause weight using Noom. Then my brother died in October from ALS and I gained it all back by becoming depressed and sedentary. I have NEVER been sedentary before. This depression is so comfortable to me that it’s not a big deal anymore I guess…I would love to shake it forever but it certainly does not work that way.

Still can’t believe it for real snowed on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. We got about 8 inches of snow. Bryson and one of his besties played outside for probably a total of 30 minutes. They weren’t about that life talking about how cold it was.

We are having another snow day today and I had plans to clean my closet, clean out the fridge, and do laundry. I did neither. I put on a kimono and posted up in my favorite chair ALL.DAY.LONG.

One of the meals my mommy used to make for me was Southern Fried Cabbage. I made some recently and BAAAAAAABY…so good. I missed it. It is one of my nephew’s favorite meals now. Life repeats…

I’m currently looking out the window at a palm tree covered with snow and it does not look happy. I wonder if it will become problematic. Losing a palm tree would certainly suck.

“To care for palm trees in the snow, focus on protecting the roots with a thick layer of mulch, wrapping the trunk with burlap or a frost blanket when temperatures drop below freezing, and avoiding excessive watering, as the cold can further stress the plant; if possible, choose a cold-hardy palm variety suited to your climate.”

WE DID NONE OF THAT. *sigh*

I looked in our pantry and freezer today and decided to see how long we can eat without going to the store. Have you ever done that? I mean…I’ll get milk and produce, of course, but that’s it. I want to eat as much of what we already have as we can. This is a part of my quest to shop less this year.

I love The Upshaws on Netflix. Bennie would have been divorced long ago messing around with me tho…

I bought a lot of new pajamas lately. Coping strategy.

I bought a Wooble, Fred the Dinosaur, and then a family member bought Sebastian the Lion for me. New hobby alert.

Are kids lazier lately? Were we super lazy? Did we have blindness when it came to simple stuff? Like if they told us to pick up the stuff on the floor of our room, did we pick up everything but like 80 things?????? 80 things we still don’t see until it is pointed out to you by a bewildered adult?????????

I actually love being home with my family and having nowhere to go but I know it’s a slippery slope so I am trying to be better about it. It’s much easier than it used to be because I have an amazing framily/friend group who takes circling the wagons seriously.

Becoming a hermit might STILL be in my future, however.

Social Media was cool but they ruined it by focusing on the rich getting richer. I miss the REAL connections we had through blogging. Social Media started removing our friends from our feed slowly and it all went to hell after that. My feeds are filled with shopping and random pages I don’t wish to spend time on. I just like who I like and people with good sense that I can get to like based on a common interest or two. I am not someone you can put in a box and know what I want. Shit…I don’t know what I want on any given day. Except pineapple on pizza. I will never want pineapple and cheese together. Fight me.

What’s going on random with you?

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Tabitha Brown for McCormick Like Sweet Like Smoky

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Holiday Menu Spreadsheet Download

This is the spreadsheet I use every holiday meal to get ready.  I work on it a little at a time starting as soon as a cool breeze hit and I'm in a holiday mood.  You can download this to help you too.  It is a lifesaver when it comes to shopping!

Add sheets along the bottom with your recipes so you have everything where you need it to be and just prop up the iPad in the kitchen with "The Color Purple" on in the background and get your cooking on!

HOLIDAY MENU SPREADSHEET

(You happy, Kristen?)

German Chocolate Cake - Gluten Free

I've been making cakes that I've never made before as gluten-free.  I ran into some issues recently trying to make my own gluten-free flour and well...I won't be doing that mess again.  Nothing worse than an ugly cake that tastes good.  NOTHING!  Cake should be pretty.

Moving on...

The Robinator requested a German Chocolate Cake for his birthday this year and, since I've started using Bob Mill's Gluten-Free Baking Flour...life has been good.  So I just swapped out the flour and made the old super-dooper delicious and word that I hate which starts with a 'M' and ends with a 'T' and is sometimes used to describe non-dry cake.  

CAKE INGREDIENTS

2 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

Kraft Baker's German Sweet Chocolate Bar - 4 oz.

1/2 cup water

1 cup butter

4 large eggs, separated

2 cups sugar

1.5 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 tsp salt

ICING INGREDIENTS

1.5 teaspoons vanilla

4 large egg yolks

Can of evaporated milk - 12 oz

3/4 cup of butter

1.5 cups sugar

1 cup sweetened coconut flakes

1.5 cups chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS - You need 4 bowls:  2 small glass bowls, a medium and a large bowl.

Small bowl: Break up chocolate chunks, add 1/2 cup of water.  Add an inch of water to the bottom of a pot, bring water to bowl and place bowl on top.  Stir until chocolate is melted.   Remove from heat.

Medium bowl:  Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.

Large bowl:  Beat 2 cups sugar and 1 cup butter until fluffy.  Add egg yolks one at a time blending after each egg until mixed. Add chocolate and vanilla.  Beat.  Add 1/2 cup of flour mixture and 1/4 cup of buttermilk.  Beat.  Repeat until all has been incorporated.

Small bowl:  Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Fold into cake batter gently.

Split between 3 round cake pans which have been buttered and floured.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Leave in pan for half an hour or so before you take them out of pans to cool.

Make icing.  (This tastes like pecan candy.)

In a saucepan, whip together can of milk and egg yolks over medium / high heat.  Add butter and sugar.  Stirring constantly, bring to boil.  Remove from heat and add coconut and pecans.  Let cool.

To frost, add icing between each layer.  I do it by pouring in the middle and the pushing out to the edges allowing it to drip down the sides.  All the leftover icing should be poured all over top and moved around to spill over.

This cake is ridiculously delicious.

Sweet Potato and Pecan Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Week before last I was sitting at a red light in a bit of traffic.  I looked to my right and caught the eye of the elderly gentleman on side of the road who was selling sweet potatoes.

Him:  You don't need no sweet potatoes?

I laughed and pulled over.  Apparently, I needed sweet potatoes.  

So I returned home with 20 pounds of sweet potatoes for $10 which is a REALLY good deal but um...there are  only two of us and sweet potatoes will probably go bad before sweet potato PIE time.  That said...I've been being uber creative with sweet potatoes and searching out all types of different recipes online.    

Today, I roasted cubes of sweet potatoes tossed in olive oil on a cookie sheet for thirty minutes at 425 degrees.  Then...I put two cups to the side and seasoned the rest for lunch.  

Have I mentioned we had 20lbs?  

Yeah.

I found a recipe for Sweet Potato Pecan cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting which looked promising so I swapped out the can of sweet potatoes for my smashed cubes of potatoes and they were soooooooooooooooooooooo delicious!  I'm not a big icing person so I put far less icing on them than it seems most folks do but they were so good.  Not too sweet and just perfect!  The Robinator had three in twenty minutes.  LOL!  Good thing the recipe made 24!  

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I gave some to the neighbor using the awesome Dollar Store boxes I buy all of when I see them in NON-traditional Christmas print.  LOL!  They are $1 for 3 and they are super nice with a peek-a-boo top.  And they are way nicer than the ones at The Container Store that you pay $6 for.  

I feel safe telling yall that because I have like...a LARGE drawer full of them so I won't run out if there is a shortage.  LOL!

This is a 3 bowl recipe for the cake.  Use the biggest bowl for the creaming together the butter and the sugar.  Oh...you'll need another bowl for the frosting.  LOL!

Sweet Potato and Pecan Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 large eggs
• 1 (16-oz.) can mashed sweet potatoes OR two cups of mashed roasted sweet potatoes
• 2/3 cup orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour OR 3 cups of Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Garnish: coarsely chopped pecans

1. Place pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan.

2. Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted, stirring once after 4 minutes.

3. Beat sugar and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.

4. Whisk together mashed sweet potatoes, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with sweet potato mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Fold in toasted pecans. Place foil baking cups in muffin pans, and coat with vegetable cooking spray; spoon batter into cups, filling two-thirds full.

5. Bake at 350° for 28 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove immediately from pans, and cool 50 minutes to 1 hour or until completely cool. Spread cupcakes evenly with Cream Cheese Frosting. Add a pecan half to the top to make pretty.

The cream cheese frosting is the basic recipe.

1 package of cream cheese, softened

1 stick of butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream together cream cheese and butter until fluffy, gradually add powdered sugar on low until all gone and then add vanilla.  Voila...cream cheese frosting!  

These are EXCELLENT fall cupcakes and will be great for the dessert station for Thanksgiving!  GO YOU!

Spicy Boiled Peanuts

My husband loves boiled peanuts and I love my husband so I make him boiled peanuts.

Even though I'm from the Deep South, I've never had boiled peanuts.  Robby used to talk about them all the time when we were up North saying how much he used to really enjoy them.  I could never find raw peanuts so I couldn't make any for him.

I ran into some raw peanuts recently and decided to make him some.  I chose the slow cooker method because it seemed fool proof.

I don't remember how many peanuts I had but it was at least 2 - 3 pounds.  He likes them spicy, so I doctored up some serious spicy stuff.

Raw peanuts

1/3 cup cayenne pepper 

1 boil-in-bag crab boil

1/4 cup salt

Seasoning

Rinse peanuts.  Add crab boil-in-bag to crockpot.  Add peanuts.  Add seasoning.  (Garlic salt, black pepper, Creole seasoning, etc.) Cover with water.  Stir.  Cook on low for 24 hours.  Stir a few more times.  Taste one after 18 hours.  Adjust seasoning accordingly.

I cooked them outside on the deck.  Why?  It smells like vinegar and feet while cooking.  24 hours of that is NOT my ideal nose tickle.  

Oh...and I store them in half gallon mason jars in the fridge using the "juice" to keep them wet. He puts some in a bowl and microwaves them.