Lisa, I'm glad to hear that you are okay!!! I will keep you in my
prayers!

Esperanza

I couldn't have said it better myself Killxherxoff!!!

Okay so this a recipe that I love to make. I believe it is from Paula
Dean from the cooking network, but I don't quite remember. lol This is
good for large gatherings of people (20-30). To make less, just halve
the ingredients. Anyways...

Ingredients:
2 bunches of bananas
3 packages of Pepperidge Farm Chessmen Cookies
2 cans of Eagle Brand Condensed Milk
2 packages of Jello French Vanilla INSTANT pudding (it has to be
instant!)
1 large container of Cool Whip (Original or Cool Whip Lite)
2 cups of 2% milk
1 block of Philadelphia cream cheese

Okay the first thing you want to do is line a deep dish pan with the
cookies. For the bottom layer, just place the cookies in faced up. But
along the sides, make sure the shortbread part is turned in, so the
chessmen design shows through the outside of the container (I hope that
makes sense, if it doesn't contact me!). Then you want to get 2 large
mixing bowls, an electric mixer, and a large wooden spoon.

Take the 2% milk, the cream cheese and the instant pudding mix and pour
them in one of the bowls. Take the electric mixer, and then blend the
ingredients until the mixture thickens.

Next, take the eagle brand and the cool whip and put them into the other
bowl. Take the large wooden spoon, and fold the eagle brand into the
cool whip until the mixture becomes a pale tan color. The next thing you
want to do is pour the contents of one bowl into the other and using the
large wooden spoon, mix the ingredients together.

Next, thinly slice the bananas and take half of them and put them into
the deep dish pan. Pour half of the contents from the bowl over the
bananas, then take the remainder of the bananas, and put them into the
pan. Then, take the remainder of the mixed contents and pour it over the
bananas.

Finally, what you want to do is take some more cookies and place them
atop the pudding. Make sure that the cookies are in lines and that the
chessmen decoration is facing upwards. There should be about 4-5 lines
up and down and 5-6 lines across (depending on the size of the pan).
Place in the fridge for half an hour and serve the dessert chilled.

If there are extra cookies, serve with cookies. I like to do this bc
when the pudding becomes congeeled (or however that word is spelled) the
cookies become soft.

LIMA BEANS-Bayou Style

Okay well here is a recipe that my mom always makes. She is from New
Orleans and it has a lot of cajun flavor!

Okay first you want to soak 2 small packages of lima beans in water for
about a day or so. After the beans are all soaked in the water, bring
the beans to a medium heat. Add seasoning salt or kosher salt. But, if
you use kosher salt, you will have to use more than if you use Lawry's
or Johnny's. Then add coarsely grounded black pepper. Take three stalks
of celery and thinly slice them, and add to the pot of beans. Next, take
a medium-sized white onion and dice it into small squares. Then, take
about 10 bay leaves and add the leaves and onion to the pot of beans.

Now, for the meat! You can either use cubes of ham or hamhocks to add to
the beans. Either one is great. The cubes of ham are usually already
cooked and so you can just add them to the pot without additional
cooking. But if you use hamhocks, you have to cook them. What you want
to do is take about 2-3 hamhocks in a large frying pan along with a
tablespoon of olive oil. You will know when they are done because the
skin of the hamhock will turn dark burgundy to brown. Remove the
hamhocks from the oil, and dispose of the oil. Place the hamhocks in the
pot of beans along with all the other ingredients and allow the beans to
cook until the mixture begins to look starchy. This canbe anywhere from
1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. Be sure to cook them on a low heat!!!

The beans are great served over white rice (Uncle Ben's) and cornbread.

Esperanza's in the house, yo!

Oh wow! I didn't know that JeanC, thanks for the heads up!

Thank you thank you thank you!

Kudos to Mike and Van!!!

No, I'm glad to announce that I've never seen any of these men before!!!

That was a nice twist to the original poem! Haha

PK this is an awesome idea!!! Do you have a good recipe for New England
Clam Chowder? It's my all-time favorite dish but I have no idea as of
how to make it.

Esperanza

My favorite flowers are Oriental Lilies and I would send them to my
sweetheart, Juan!

Your daughter is an excellent poet and also has a very strong command on
words at such a young age. I encourage you to help her develop this
talent!!!

What a guy!

This is hilarious!!!!! I love Chuck Norris, especially as "Walker, Texas
Ranger." lol He would laugh if he read this.

Ooh that's so bad!

Great one, Lisa!

Yeah that was a good one!

They are scammers Sportsnut. You should report them to Mike and Van!

I've never had a first date.