Cherry Dipped Vanilla Ice Cream - Dairy Queen

Oh yeah!!! The one and only cherry dipped vanilla ice cream cone from DQ!! Most frosting, and other food products that use red dye tend to be a bit bitter. That is NOT the case with DQ's cherry dipped ice cream.

I really wish I had the recipe to their cherry dip!! It is simply delicious!!! One of the best things about DQ!! :-)

Chocolate Monopoly Game

I soooooo didn't know that there was such a thing!! A chocolate Monopoly set...who knew???

We were supposed to play this game after the Super Bowl, but never got around to it.  Hmmm, I wonder what happened to the chocolate pieces!!

LOL!!

Little Pops - See's Candies

My daughter brought these home.  I had never heard of Little Pops before, so I thought I'd give them a try.

They have a really nice "deep" rich chocolate flavor!! Very good candy!! See's does candy right!!

Peanut Brittle - Made by Kathryn

This is some REALLY good peanut brittle made by my daughter's husband's mother (that was a mouth full!!...lol).

She actually made this is the microwave!!! I didn't even know that was possible!!

Most peanut brittle that I have eaten is really hard, this had just the right amount of crunch, but it wasn't break your teeth out hard!!

It was sooooooooooooo tasty!!!!

Peanut Butter Cookies - Made by Joann

 My sister is the Queen of cookie making!! This is the time of year she really brings her "A" game!!

She bakes tons of Christmas cookies for the family, her co-workers and friends!! The pic below is of some of her famous peanut butter cookies!!

They are the BEST in the land!! haha

I scored these beauties fresh out of her oven!! :-))

Praline - Made by Jackie

My co-worker is from Louisiana and she KNOWS pralines!!  This is a pic of a homemade praline she brought to work.  

She brought a bunch of them for a pot-luck, but she let me try one.

OMG!!!! BEST praline that I have ever tasted!!! Grant it, this is the first homemade one that I've had, so maybe it's not a fair comparison to the others that I've tasted.

I wish you could taste this one right through your screen!!! YUMMY!!!!

Mini Chocolate Eclair Pie

I was in the Walmart Supercenter, and decided to check to see if they still had the little mini pies for 88 cents.  They still had them, so I decided to try to mini chocolate eclair pie.

Just look how creamy and dreamy it is in this pic!! The thing I liked most about this pie is that it wasn't super sweet, just like the last one I had. The crust was even done right! It was absolutely perfect!! 

Loved the fact that it tasted good, and it was small so I didn't feel guilty about eating it! lol  :-))

Cookies - Pepperidge Farm

Gingerman or Chessmen?? Which is your favorite?? I'm kind of a chessmen kind of girl, so much so, I don't buy them often because I would probably eat the whole bag!! lol

So here is a pic of my cookie haul (no, not for me, but for the rest of the household).  I can look right?? haha

UPDATE: Slow Cooker Caramel

Unbelievable!!! Who knew that putting sweetened, condensed milk in a can in the slow cooker for 8 hours on low (covered in water of course), would produce the best tasting caramel you've ever had!!!

I had read it a couple of times, but I didn't really believe it.  In my last post, I mentioned that I would give it a try.

Well, as the saying goes "the proof is in the pudding!" (I still don't know what that expression means, but I guess it works in this case..haha)

Feast your eyes on the proof below!!

Slow Cooker Caramel

I keep hearing that you can make homemade caramel using a slow cooker.  I'm going in ya'll!!! lol

I just peeled the label off of the can of sweetened condensed milk, and placed it fully covered with water in the slow cooker.  It will be in there for 8 hours (on low), and then I'm supposed to let the can cool.

The alternative to using the actual can is to use canning jars, but I didn't have any, so the can it is!!

I'm kind of excited about this, and I can hardly wait to taste it!!  I will be sure to give you all an update about how it came out.

Wish me luck!!! :-))

Homemade Ice Cream

You see the ice cream in the pic below?? A chef, whom my niece knows, made this ice cream specially for my sisters.

On the left is a homemade blueberry ice cream, and on the right is his homemade vanilla ice cream.

My sister said this is the best ice cream that she has had in her life!!  Seeing these frozen treats makes me wish I had gone with them to Alaska!!

Pastries - Bouchon

I went to Bouchon to taste their donuts, which I heard were some of the best in the world, but I went on the wrong day!!

I didn't get to taste their donuts, but I did pick up the treats you see in the pic below.  I don't know about the donuts, but these pastries were DELICIOUS!!!

Iced Coffee & Sweets - Panache Cafe

Sometimes some of the best finds are in out of the way locations.  This was one of those times!! What I remember about this day, is that it was REALLY hot.  We had spent a long day in the SF, and we were looking for something cold to drink, so we took an exit off the freeway and found this place.

Those iced coffees hit the spot!!

Dessert Time - Luna Ristorante

So while I'm on desserts, I figured I might as well share this pic too!!  A very, very tasty dessert!!!  I just realized that the cream on the side looks like a Panda bear face!!  Okay, maybe I'm just looking at it with more of an artistic eye than I should....but it does kind of, right??

Carrot Cake Cupcake - Panera Bread

I tried to resist this one with all my might! 

Stats:
Me=0, Cupcake=1

It's so hard to resist something that looks sooooooo good!! I was given this one, so I can't take the blame for having it! Yes, I could have refused, but why??

It was like that Coke campaign where they have put names on each coke bottle. I think the moment I saw this, that word on the box...yeah that one, that says Panera suddenly said Betty!! Honestly, it did!!!

I gave into to the cupcake one day later, and let me tell you, it was sweet satisfaction!! haha

Trip to the Supermarket

Me and my girls went to the Nugget in Vacaville, CA to pick up some Japanese style sticky rice.  It's the only supermarket in the area that had it.  I did find it there, but I also found something else.

The Nugget is a cool supermarket, BUT, they strategically place the pastry section by the entrance!!  I wasn't even thinking about pastries when I went there, but this is what I saw.

This is what I wound up taking home!! :-))

Don't judge me!!!