Shopping Around the World

This month my dear brother Phenny is hosting Shopping Around the World.  His suggestion this month was pie, dessert or anything sweet.  Since I can’t just post a picture of me for something sweet – snorts with piggy laughter, I”m going to let mom take care of this month.  Hope you enjoy my friends ❤

Now this month was hard.  Sweets – my favorites of any kind – is something I’m trying to stay away from here at the Hotel Thompson.  But there are times that the inner sweet monster comes from within and you just *have* to have something gooey and wonderful.  A long time favorite of ours here are Whoopie Pies.  Now if you don’t know what a Whoopie Pie is here, you are a sheltered person and need a fix ASAP!  You can fix them as elaborately as you want or in my case as simple as you want.  And you know me…. I’m all about simple 🙂 

So here is a picture of what a Whoopie Pie looks like.  (I didn’t take this picture.)  This is a simple way of seeing what a Whoopie Pie looks like.  They should be gooey and wonderful.  Most of them are made with a cake batter as the top and bottom.  But remember, I have a favorite ‘quick’ recipe.  Here you go:

◊ Store bought cookies (no lying).  Get a package of the soft cookies – you don’t want a hard one.  Or you can make your own.  Now remember to buy twice as many cookies because you will need two cookies for every Whoopie Pie.  I bought a package of 24 cookies from our local market for $3.29 – I bought Macadamia cookies.  Buy and make whatever kind of cookies you like.  24 cookies will make 12 Whoopie Pies.

◊ Here is the tricky part – what do you want for your center?  You have several options.  You can buy a container of Cool Whip.  You can buy those little containers of pre-made frosting.  Or, you can be lazy like me.  I asked the bakery department at my market to whip me up some butter cream frosting.  A huge container cost me $4.99 – and that is more than enough.  

Now the fun begins.  I take my 12 cookies and place them on a cookie sheet.  I then put my butter cream frosting in a pastry bag and start dabbing frosting on my cookies.  After all my cookies have full attention, I then place cookies on top of the frosting.  There you go – instant Whoopie Pies.  No, they are not like the ‘real’ Whoopie Pies but are your guests or family going to know the difference?  Of course not.  Heck, throw some flour on your face and around the kitchen and let them know you slaved in the kitchen for hours.  Who is going to know?  I’m not going to tell.  ❤ 

 

Bashful is HOME!

Oh friends – I’m happy to say that Bashful made it back home over the weekend.  In fact, mom/dad went out Sunday morning.  When they got home, there was a special delivery on the porch – BASHFUL.  Remember he had been visiting Miss Harper Lee and her sister Tallulah Bee in New Orleans.    Of course, they couldn’t wait to get the box in and dig inside.  Boy were mom/dad happy – look at all of the awesome goodies.  There were marvelous hand pies from New Orleans from Haydel’s Bakery.  They had 4 different flavors – chocolate, lemon, cherry and apple.  The note from Miss Harper’s mom said to nuke a pie in the microwave for a mere 15 seconds and eat.  Well mom picked out the chocolate, nuked it and her and daddy then proceeded to make more aaww and oohh sounds in the kitchen than a porno – not that I would know anything about that….looks innocent.  The package also had beads, a shirt, cookies and red beans.  Remember last week when Miss Harper’s mom posted her Red Beans and Rice recipe?  If not, you can get it here.  My mom now has the beans and Bashful is begging for more of this delicious meal that he tried while in New Orleans.  So next week when my mom is on vacation, she is going to make this fantastic looking recipe.  We can’t wait… of course mine will be minus any pork products... you know for obvious reasons – snorts with piggy laughter.

AND did you see the magnificent piggy Christmas ornament?  Squeals with delight!  Isn’t it magnificent?  Mommy put it on our book shelf in the living room.  That way we can see it every day of the year – not just at Christmas time.  We absolutely love it!

And see the pop rocks.  That’s for Bashful and his new friend.  You know, in case they got hungry on the way home to the Hotel Thompson.

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And of course you know when Bashful comes home, he brings a friend.  This time was no different.  Meet Lola from NOLA – isn’t she beautiful?  So flashy and it’s just meant for Lola to be laying around in those beads – don’t you think?   So our friends from New Orleans – thank you bunches and bunches. We love everything and will think of you often!!

 

Shopping Around the World

My friend Fozzie and I have scheduled a group posting today of Shopping Around the World.   We thought it would be interesting to see the differences between different countries all over.Here are our prices for the following from our area – Georgia USA.

 Items to price this month:

• Milk.  Mom usually buys 1/2 gallon store brand which lately has been on sale for $1.00
• Tomatoes.  Mom loves Roma tomatoes.  They are small but meaty.  She bought some for the dinner at $1.29 a pound – that was about 4 tomatoes.
• Canned Product.  Black beans.  How could you possibly go wrong with black beans – especially when you can buy store brand for a $1.00 a can.  Mom bought two cans for the meal.
• Homemade Dish.  Jalapeno Cornbread with Black Beans 🙂 yum – see below
• Random Item of your choice.  Jalapeno.  Mom bought one very large one and it only cost $0.69 the day she was at the market.

 Okay my friends.  Mommy went easy – really easy on this month’s Shopping Around the World – go mom!  She was able to combine all of her prices and items into the Homemade Dish – which is one of our favorites here at the Hotel Thompson.

Jalapeno Cornbread made with with a diced up Jalapeno (according to taste how much you throw in), cup of milk, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 cup of cornmeal and shredded cheddar cheese.  We have a small iron skillet that will serve four slices of cornbread.  Mix ingredients, except for shredded cheddar cheese, and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  When done turn over skillet onto a plate and top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Black Beans with tomatoes, diced Jalapeno’s and diced red onions. So easy here – snorts.  Open store bought black beans and heat over the stove on medium heat.  Add a little chicken broth (or whatever broth you have on hand), diced Jalapenos (to taste for heat) and diced tomatoes.  When bubbles, turn down to low and stir.

When bread is ready, spoon black beans into bowl and top with more diced tomatoes.  Mom even added some cilantro into the mix this date.  A meal made for a king and queen.  Filling and hot for a cold rainy night that we seem to be having a LOT of lately.  Happy eats my friends.

Oh… and this entire meal when you break it down ends up to be around less than $6.00 for two people.

I hope you had fun my friends with this month’s edition of Shopping Around the World.  Hope to see you shopping soon!

 

Shopping Around the World

My friend Fozzie and I have scheduled a group posting today of Shopping Around the World.   We thought it would be interesting to see the differences between different countries all over.Here are our prices for the following from our area – Georgia USA.

This month we are working RANDOM CHOICES of the items mentioned.  List what is your favorite of the random item and price.  Let’s see how many things we can recognize in *your* area.

 Items to price this month:

• Random condiment of your choice.  Friends – I’m shaking my little piggy head here on this one.  Why do you ask?  Well, I stumbled into the kitchen – the land of the unknown to this oinker – and looked in the cabinet.  What I found was shocking and took me back a bit.  You see one of dad’s favorite condiments is… well… perhaps I should show you. See, this brings many questions to this pork butt’s mind.  Exactly where and what does he season with this item I’m not sure.  But it’s one of his favorites and he says it costs around $3.49 a bottle.  I think that’s kind of cheap for butt kickin’ – just saying.

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• Random frozen meal of your choice.  This one is SO easy.  In our freezer here at the Hotel Thompson, you will *always* find a Hungry Man television dinner.  Chicken is mom’s favorite and turkey is dad’s.  Do you remember these dinners?  Mom can usually find them on sale at our local Kroger for $2.00 each.  Not bad for a complete dinner with dessert, huh?  Yeah, mom knows they are full of bad stuff and carbs but every once in a while, it takes her back to her childhood and fond memories.  And I’ve heard the brownie desserts in the chicken ones are delicious.  Not that mom has shared with me but I hear her squeals of delight when she eats them.

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• Random dessert/something sweet of your choice.  Four words for you.  Edwards Peanut Butter Pie.  They cost $6.99 in the store and are worth every.single.bite.  So says mom and dad.  Again, I haven’t had a taste.  A single morsel.  Nothing.  Not even a crumb.  Do you see a pattern of abuse here at the Hotel Thompson?  Snorts and oinks.

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• Random Fruit of your choice.  Okay I got this one mom.  Our random fruit choice *has* to be apples.  I don’t care what kind, what size, what color.  I’m not discriminating.  I LOVE them all.  On a good day at the market, mom pays about $1.29 pound.  Sometimes in the summer/fall, she can get them a lot cheaper.  Which is good because I can put the apples away.

 

• .Random Item of your choice.  One of the things that mom likes to put in her salads and on her sandwiches is avocados.  Neat huh?  This week they are on special at the market for only 99 cents each.  This is great – have you ever had slices of avocados in your salad and on your sammies?  Awesome nice touch.  Snorts – I have had these lovely things – licks piggy lips.

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I hope you had fun my friends with this month’s edition of Shopping Around the World.  Hope to see you shopping soon!