Sweet! (and a Little Farm Humor)

 

It’s sweet corn time around here.  The kids and I have been super busy picking and shucking.  I have been busy blanching and freezing all this yumminess.  And we have been gorging ourselves with corn on the cob EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!

We are truly blessed with a wonderful, abundant crop this year!

 

When I haven’t been busy in the garden I’ve been whipping up super easy, delicious, and sweet items such as these.

 

Triple Chocolate Pie  (adapted substantially from a recipe in Kraft Foods)

1 pkg(3.9) vanilla instant pudding

1 pkg(3.9) chocolate instant pudding

2 c  cold milk

1 pre-baked 9” pie crust

1 16 oz tub whipped topping, thawed and divided

1/2 c  milk chocolate chips

1 T  milk

1/4 c  mini chocolate chips

Melt chocolate chips and milk in microwave on high at 30 second increments. Stirring after each 30 seconds, until smooth. Spread onto the bottom of the pie shell.  Beat pudding mixes and milk in large bowl with whisk for 2 minutes. Spread 1 1/2 cups of the pudding into the pie shell. Stir 1  1/2 cups whipped topping and 1/4 c  mini chocolate chips into remaining pudding.  Top the pie with whipped topping.  Refrigerate. Sprinkle top with chocolate shavings or mini chocolate chips before serving, if desired.

This has become my children’s favorite pie!  They are currently requesting another one…the sooner the better!

 

 

Blackberry Lemonade

1 c  Blackberry Juice (cook down berries and drain through wire sieve. Sorry no measurements on amount of berries I just always guesstimate)

1- 1 1/4 c  lemon juice (freshly squeezed or bottled)

3/4- 1 c  sugar

Cold water to fill a 2 quart pitcher.

Place all ingredients in pitcher and stir until sugar is dissolved. Chill before serving. The variables on the lemon juice and sugar is due to differing tastes whether you want it sweet or with a bit of a twang. We like it with a bit of pucker!

My kids love this and 2 quarts is never enough!

 

Now I suggest you don’t serve both the pie and lemonade in the same setting.  Not only does chocolate and lemonade repel one another, but a sugar overload is likely to occur!

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And a little humor…..

Out here in the country we don’t have the seasons of spring and fall. WE  have the seasons of MUD and FLIES.  I noticed the other day that FLY season has begun.  We have dusted off our weapons of defense and have been whacking and smacking away.  This afternoon I asked my middle son how many flies he had killed after lunch. 

He replied, “Four.”

To which my youngest son not to be outdone said, “I killed two while they were mating!”

Oh Yeah!  Just a bit of reproduction stopped dead in its tracks! Way to go Boy!

I just couldn’t stop chuckling about this since it was said in pure farmboy/homeschool innocence!

Hey! Seriously?

 

Hey, mom, you wanna play H1N1?

WHAT?

Without leaving me a choice, she swooped in gave me an imaginary shot and slapped a sticker on my imaginary owie.

I guess I’m innoculated now.

 

If you don’t do your chores, Poppa says he’s gonna haystack you!

Seriously!

I’m not sure what that means but it sounds pretty scary, especially if your, like, four.

 

We’re seriously taking cover over here.  Someone let a bossy, shot totin’, self-proclaimed princess loose.

Watch out.

It’s scary.

A Bit of Mommy Humor

A 3-year-old tells all from his mother's restroom stall.

By Shannon Popkin

My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker. He loves to communicate and does it quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we are in the library, the grocery store or at a drive-thru window. People often comment on how clearly he speaks for a just-turned-3-year-old. And you never have to ask him to turn up the volume.. It's always fully cranked. There have been several embarrassing times that I've wished the meaning of his words would have been masked by a not-so-audible voice, but never have I wished this more than last week at Costco.

Halfway, through our shopping trip, nature called, so I took Cade with me into the restroom. If you'd been one of the ladies in the restroom that evening, this is what you would have heard coming from the second to the last stall:

''Mommy, are you gonna go potty? Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on the potty, Mommy? Oh! You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now? Mommy, what are you doing? Mommy, are you gonna go stinkies on the potty?''

At this point I started mentally counting how many women had been in the bathroom when I walked in. Several stalls were full .... 4? 5? Maybe we could wait until they all left before I had to make my debut out of this stall and reveal my identity.

Cade continued: ''Mommy, you ARE going stinkies aren't you? Oh, dats a good girl, Mommy! Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on the potty? Let me see doze stinkies, Mommy! Oh...Mommy! I'm trying to see In dere. Oh! I see dem. Dat is a very good girl, Mommy. You are gonna get some candy!''

I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either side of me.. Where is a screaming new born when you need her? Good grief. This was really getting embarrassing. I was definitely waiting a long time before exiting. Trying to divert him, I said, ''Why don't you look in Mommy's purse and see if you can find some candy. We'll both have some!''

''No, I'm trying to see doze more stinkies...Oh! Mommy!'' He started to gag at this point. ''Uh - oh, Mommy. I fink I'm gonna frow up. Mommy, doze stinkies are making me frow up!! Dat is so gross!!''

As the gags became louder, so did the chuckles outside my stall.. I quickly flushed the toilet in hopes of changing the subject.. I began to reason with myself: OK. There are four other toilets. If I count four flushes, I can be reasonably assured that those who overheard this embarrassing monologue will be long gone.

''Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now? I want you to be done going stinkies! Get up! Get up!'' He grunted as he tried to pull me off. Now I could hear full-blown laughter. I bent down to count the feet outside my door.

''Oh, are you wooking under dere, Mommy? You wooking under da door? What were you wooking at? Mommy? You wooking at the wady's feet?''

More laughter. I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the situation. ''Mommy, it's time to wash our hands, now. We have to go out now, Mommy.'' He started pounding on the door. ''Mommy, don't you want to wash your hands? I want to go out!!''

I saw that my wait 'em out' plan was unraveling. I sheepishly opened the door, and found standing outside my stall, twenty to thirty ladies crowded around the stall, all smiling and starting to applaud. My first thought was complete embarrassment, then I thought, where's the fine print on the 'motherhood contract' where I signed away every bit of my dignity and privacy? But as my little boy gave me a big, cheeky grin while he rubbed bubbly soap between his chubby little hands, I thought, I'd sign it all away again, just to be known as Mommy to this little fellow.

(Shannon Popkin is a freelance writer and mother of three She lives with her family in Grand Rapids , Michigan , where she no longer uses public restrooms)

* I know exactly what this lady went through. I had a very similar experience with one of my boys when they were little. Talk about embarrassing! Hope this gives you a chuckle like it did me!