New Beginnings

Welcome to my blog!  This is my first official post of this new blog.  I hope there will be many more to follow.   

It seems like introductions are in order...but I don't yet know how anonymous (or not) I want to be.  So I will be cryptic....here it goes:

I am a wife and mother of three.  I love to spend my time avoiding chores by cooking, reading, running, sometimes crafting, and watching tv. Recently we uprooted our home on one side of the country and moved to the other side.  It's different out here, good different; I like the change.   I'm a bit of a grammar and punctuation nut. (Note all of the commas, colons, semi-colons, and parenthesis.)  I will try not to go too crazy with it. 

I've been a non-committal blogger for a couple of years now.  In fact, I have another food blog that I gave up on.

  It just wasn't working for me. So I'm starting this one.

 Some friends, IRL, (here, here, and here) have,  inspired me to commit. They are committed and I love to read what they have to say.

So here I am committing.

To get things started, we're going to satisfy a sweet tooth, because really life is so much easier, happier, more gratifying (pick your adjective) with that satisfaction. 

In an effort to eat healthier this year, I am cutting out refined sugar as much as possible. That makes satisfying the sweet tooth a bit more difficult, but it is possible.  This dessert is something my mom made growing up.  It's completely sugar free, and it still tastes great.  It is not, however, fat free, so beware.

Chocolate Delight

1 C. flour

1 stick butter

1 C. finely chopped pecans

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 large package instant chocolate pudding (sugar-free)

4 C. milk

1 pint whipping cream

1/3-1/2 cup splenda

Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, pecans, and butter in a food processor, until crumb like. Press into 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 20 min. Cool.

Pudding layer:  With electric mixer, beat cream cheese until soft.  Add milk, 1/2 cup at a time. Let the milk and cheese mix together after each addition.  Add pudding powder, beat for 2 minutes. Pour over cooled crust. Refrigerate until set.

Whipped cream layer: Beat whipping cream with electric mixer until stiff.  Add splenda to desired sweetness, while cream is beating.  Spread whipped cream on top of pudding layer.  

Refrigerate until ready to eat.

So there you have it...my first of many delicious recipes.  Go try it out!