A Grandmother's Christmas Wish as written by Shelia Burnham Finley....

* Shelia  is one of my facebook friends. I am helping her to spread her story. No family should have to go through what she and her family have had to endure. So please help Shelia and her family by sharing her story, lets help her to get these precious grand-babies home with family that love and care for them. 

 Let's help make Shelia's wish come true and give her a happy holiday, please share her story with all you know.

I have one wish for Christmas and one wish only and that is to be able to bring these 2 sweet angels home where they belong for Christmas surrounded by the family that they know and love!! This is our story and alls I ask is that you take a minute to read it and then please share it every where you can!! We have tried everything we can as you will read, but it just isn't working, so I am turning to social media because I know the possibility of it getting in the right hands and getting the help we need are pretty good♥ I am willing to try anything and have tried everything!!
Our story starts back when my daughter was 16 and yes pregnant. I am not going to say we were ecstatic with the news of having a 16 year old daughter that was pregnant, but we knew she was going to need all of the love and support that she could get so that is what we did. Mikey was born in September and both sets of grandparents pitched in and tried to give them all what they needed. With a young couple with lots of added stress it was a very rocky road with plenty of ups and downs. Their relationship sadly couldn't survive it. We continued to support them all, and then we got the news that she was pregnant again!!
Once again we pulled together as a family and supported her, but sadly the dad was also very young and immature and made some wrong choices in life, and wasn't in their life at all
We made sure that they had everything they needed on December 13th I was by her side in Labor and delivery as she brought this beautiful little bundle of joy into the world. During labor and delivery we had a very close call as the chord was wrapped around his neck and as they rushed her out of the room and down the hall I had a long talk with God and prayed for them to be okay and promised that I would take care of him and always protect him!! They were able to get the chord from around his neck and with one push Tyler Alan Finley was born!! I cut his chord and I will never forget holding him that very first time!! We spent the next 13 months raising him in our home and making sure that he and his brother had everything they needed!!
The stress with a young daughter and 2 babies and 2 families trying to help them and give them advice wasn't always happy, but we loved them all, and did everything we could.
Amanda got involved with another young man and ended up pregnant again and didn't want to be at home with the rules etc so she took Tyler and moved out and got married and had baby #3 Beau was born in November and things for this young family continued to be beyond stressful!! They were in and out of court with daddy #1 fighting for custody of Mikey. If I said or did anything to make them mad the. We weren't allowed to see Tyler.
We tried our best to keep the relationship positive so that we could continue to help and be in the boys life. We didn't see things eye to eye when it came to the care of the boys. I began to get worried when I couldn't get them to answer phones till late in the day and Beaus weight was alarming to me, so in February of this last year I began to call CPS. My first call to them before I told them anythingI made them promise me if the boys were ever removed that they wouldn't end up in Foster Care they would come to us, and I was promised this is what would happen!!
We were hoping that CPS could get them the help they needed as a young family with counseling etc. We thought they would listen to them and all would be well.
They were charged with failure to thrive but CPS remained in their lives helping them.
We continued to stay in the picture but it was a very rocky road for all.
In August they decided to move about an hour and a half away and once again I worried constantly!!
Things seemed to be okay until September when we noticed a very large bruise on Beau's face We asked a lot of questions and asked for them to meet with us at the house. When they refused I told Amanda my concerns and told her that if they didn't come talk to us we would have to follow up with CPS This is what we did and were asked by the new CPS office if we were interested in custody, and we said yes. she said good because they were getting ready to have enough reasons to remove the boys from the home. She told me to wait till Monday and she would let me know if we needed to go back to Fauquier County to petition for custody or if we would need to come to Orange County. When I didn't hear from her I called the out house in both counties and was to,d to start in Orange since that is where they were currently residing. We made the appt and went and filed the paper work. We called CPS back and let them know that we had filed and that we were concerned that they would run away with the boys when they found out. They didn't return our numerous phone calls. We then got a phone call a couple days later asking if we knew where Amanda and the boys were because they weren't answering the door or returning phone calls!!! That was the worst feeling ever!! Our biggest fears were coming true We were able to find them and they were out of state at the other grandparents house. I told CPS I was afraid they were going to run it was a very emotional call alls that was going through my mind was that I was never going to see my grandbabies again. The CPS person got very aggravated with me and hung up on me and quit taking my calls
They came back to town and we thought things would be okay until our upcoming court date. CPS still wasn't returning my calls and I was told they couldn't take my calls anymore. I then began calling the Sheriff's Dept but I was told this was a CPS matter:(
Then on October 25th while I was doing a vendor event at our local pre school I received a text that I needed to call my hubby ASAP, and he never says this!! I texted him and reminded him I was working and was everything okay? He texted back it is about Amanda and the boys!! My heart stopped!! I excused myself and went I to the chapel of the preschool to Mae the phone call that I knew it my gut wouldn't be good I can still hear his words now the boys had been removed and placed in a Foster Home!!!! Are you kidding me well it got worse they said Beau needed stitches over his eye and that his leg was fractured!! Once again I prayed to God and cried and added my husband to consult with their lawyer. I pulled myself together as best I could and finished out my obligation for the day. Thinking to myself it is going to be okay they are safe, and we will get them home where they belong and get my daughter and husband whatever help they needed, and we would move forward.
Well we soon learned it wasn't that easy we couldn't get the kids till after court and our court date was a little over a week away and the boys had already been with strangers in foster care for a week. We met with a lawyer and told her our story. She agreed we should have no problem and in her opinion we don't need a lawyer. We left her office and went to Walmart and put together care packages for the boys of their favorite things and then went to the CPS office and pleaded to talk with them. We told them that they appreciated everything that they had done, but we really needed the boys to be home with us!! We left the care packages for the boys and they had us fill out paper work agreeing to a background check and then went to the Sheriff's office to be fingerprinted. We wanted to have all of our ducks in a row!!
We then received a letter fro the boys ad litem attorney so we made an appt with him as well!!
In the meantime we Lund out that our court date had been rolled into theirs and was now weeks away We heard from the Foster Mom and she had agreed to let us have a visit with the boys!!! We had a long phone conversation, and in some ways it made me feel better and in some ways it made me very uneasy and even sad:( She and her husband were having Tyler call them mom and dad and they were hoping to be able to adopt them!! My grandchildren weren't up for adoption. I called my mother in law and my husband and voiced my concerns.
The day had come for us to go visit the boys!! We were so excited and made the hour and a half drive that seemed like an eternity!! Tyler was so excited when we got there!!! He sat in my lap on the floor just about the whole time!! He hugged my neck so long and so hard you could feel the emotion and his fears in that hug!! It was heart wrenching I didn't want to let go!! I asked him if he wanted to sit with PePaw and he said yes, so then I picked up and played with Beau. We didn't want to leave when our visit was up but the Foster Mom said we could keep them over the weekend while they moved and we were beyond excited!!She also assured us she was on board with us getting them!! We attended doctors appts and had weekend visits with them. I knew in my heart Beau was good he was getting the love and attention he needed and he being younger didn't understand as much as Tyler about what was going on. Anytime over the weekend visits that I went to put him in his car seat to go anywhere he would have a melt down and cry I love you MeMaw!! I want to stay here with you!! Please don't take me back I will be good!!! It absolutely broke my heart so we would do the exchange at night when he was asleep.
Beau had slot of doctors appts etc so I began to keep Tyler while they tended to Beaus needs. One of Beaus tests got postponed and when the Foster mom texted me she said you can still keep Tyler but what time will you be bringing Beu back? She kept saying in her texts that they had a real bond with Beau and that it was going to be hard to let him go. I began to worry again!! Both the Foster Mom and CPS said maybe it would be better for Beau to stay with the Foster Mom till he was finished with all his medical stuff!! I assured them we were fine doing all of that and that I was willing to keep him at UVA and with his current pediatrician till he was on the mend. They seemed okay with this!!
The last weekend we had the boys we had Mikey their big brother come visit!! Tyler and Mikey had the best time, and we talked to Mikey's dad and worked out that we would like to have Mikey 2 weekends a month so the boys could be together!!
We took Tyler back Sunday night and we had court the next day and I had every reason to believe we would be getting the boys!! Even though Amanda and her hubby were still mad at us and weren't talking to us they had said they wanted the boys to be with us!! CPS and the Foster Mom said they would be there and there would be doctors there, and that after court we could come get the boys!!!
Well that isn't what happened at all!! The Foster Mom wasn't there or the doctors:( They asked the judge for a continuance and the judge ordered the boys to stay with the Foster Family until the next court date, and CPS and the boys attorney didn't say a word We weren't allowed to say a word and didn't have an attorney because no one thought we needed one!!
I tried to pull myself together but I was an emotional wreck. When we saw CPS in the parking lot she said she had called the Foster Mom and she said she was so excited because she was going to get to keep them longer!! I remember feeling like what you all aren't supposed to be happy you should be happy when you reunite them with their family!!
That was Sept 18th and Beaus first birthday was the next day!!! I texted Ashley and told her how devastated I was she asked me to call her so I did she assured me we would get them back and we were all on the same page and that we would see them Thanksgiving and continue visits with them. I hung up the phone and cried for the remainder of the night:(
I texted Ashley the next morning and asked her to give the boys hugs and kisses and tell Beau Happy Birthday and she texted back saying she couldn't all to me anymore and that I had to deal with CPS Then CPS went to not returning calls again we were very confused and decided we needed to consult with an attorney.
We were then told we needed to deal with one of the supervisors with Foster Care and we did an hour and a half meeting just days before court and were told Ashley would be there, doctors would be there and everyone was on board with us getting the boys.
We ended up running into our daughter and assured them we weren't trying to take their boys we just wanted temporary custody till they got their lives together and we all agreed.
We went to court to no Ashley and everyone saying that we were bonded with Tyler and not Beau and that the boys were doing well in Foster Care and shouldn't be removed till the next court date. The judge said that if I could learn the exercises the boys needed and meet with the pediatrician by the 20th we could get temporary custody and everyone agreed!!
Then I get a call on Friday morning Tyler's 3rd birthday was I was already emotional that we wouldn't be getting them on the 20th because they weren't able to get all of our appts set up. I then asked about Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and was told no that they would be with the Foster Parents. We would have to wait until court on the 6th of January:'(
Please help me get our story out there and our grandsons home for Christmas!!!!!

Pictures provided by Shelia Burnham Finley:

Once again, Let's make this Grandmother's Wish come true, and help her to spread her story!

And the Nerium test rolls on....Nerium Night Cream Night 4 and Nerium Day Cream day 5....

It is the game of catch up again, but oh well .

(Remember what you see is what you get picture wise.)

Nerium Night Cream Night Four pictures: (these were the best out of the bunch)

Yes, I know my glasses were on, but this was before the application of the night cream.

Once again the glasses on, but this was after the application of the night cream, it also shows a bit of my neck so you can get an idea that it is working surely but slowly. 

 

 

 

 (Forgive me the above pictures were after being out at the parade last night taking pictures, sorry if I scared anyone.)

Nerium Day Cream Day 5 pictures:

After I took my glasses off the cleanse my face and apply the day cream.

Had to put the glasses back on after, too see what I was doing.

Here is an attempt at a side view.

Last face on before settling in for the day after the application of the day cream.

(The pictures for the day cream were done in the afternoon, to try it at a different time of day.)

 With the day cream I have noticed that my skin is not near as oily through the day, and that this has helped me with some skin hydration issues that I face during the winter time.

With the night cream, the fact that it helps to tighten pores, has also helped with the oily skin issues that I have been plagued with all my life.(ask anyone that knows me well, they can tell you.)

I am looking forward to testing this on my arms later on, to see if it can help with another issue I am having. I am looking forward to seeing if it helps, since the boxes says can be used on other parts of the body. So stay tuned....

Nerium Night Cream Night Two and Three, and Nerium Day Cream Day 3 &4

Sorry I have not got this post until now, I was so sick last night, I just went straight to bed, so it is a bit of catch up today, please forgive me.

Night Cream Night Two and Three Pics:

I know these might scare some people, but for 1030-11pm not bad. As I have said all along, what you see is what you get, and I make no bones about it.

Day Cream Pics for days 3&4:

this was before application after washing my face for the morning.

so you can see it is working on not just my neck, but a little on the chin.

side view in the morning after application.

taking a selfie is not my best work as you can tell. I think this was the next chin shot I had.

this is so you can get a view of how it is working on my neck.

This is what you get after a long night of yucky. You can not tell I am not a morning person can you? LOL. I think this was after I took my glasses off. 

I know I am not the prettiest girl at the ball, but I do what I can everyday. I just Thank God I am alive and see what he has in store for me each day.

This journey testing the Nerium has been unique, I can not wait to see what happens after 7 days on face and neck.

I may test it out on my arms next to see how it works there.

Till tomorrow Lovies, Sweet Dreams!

Letter to Santa 2013.....

(You can message me on facebook,,leave a comment with your email to send links to at bottom of this post, or email me at youngavonmom@yahoo.com and I will send the links to my pages to you, so you can choose from a few.)

I know I am 37, but here is my letter to Santa for 2013:

Dear Santa:

Hope you and Mrs. Claus are getting some snuggling in before your massive overnight flight coming up in a couple of weeks.

I know that people say there is a certain point that people stop believing in you and the spirit of Christmas.

I can say, even at 37, I still believe in Santa and the spirit of Christmas.

Christmas is not about what you get from your wishlist, it is about what you give from your heart. Whether it be time, cooking, running an errand for an elderly neighbor etc.... I think we have gotten so commercial, with the Black Friday Deals, etc... that starting at Thanksgiving, we have lost the true meaning, and it has become overly materialistic, which honestly is pretty sad.

For those of my friends that know me Santa, they know that I do what I can, when I can all year around, and never really ask for much in return.

But, if I had to ask for something this holiday season Santa, it would be as a direct sales person, that people come and shop through my sites for some of their holiday shopping(I know the holidays are tight for people but they can message me for the links to the multiple pages I have), that I find affordable health insurance for myself,an unspoken request for my husband- that you probably already know, and a few other request that are unspoken also, and that people remember I am not a monster, or a spammer. I am just a simple person, who does what she can to help make ends meet in her household, with the multiple jobs I do from home.

Oh Santa, I also have another request. It is for my cousin -in-law and her family, if you have some time. I hope that you can help to make her Christmas bright, by helping to find her van that got stolen, and the equipment that was in it for her daughter with very special needs. (It was stolen before Thanksgiving, and has not been found. She is also one, with a giving heart, and spirit, as she is helping to make Christmas happen for other families besides her own.I just thought I would ask you and maybe you could put it in your list of possibilities. She lives in OKC Santa. )

My biggest wish for this year Santa, is that everyone has the chance to enjoy the holidays with their family, friends, and have a safe a warm place to call home, even if it be for a short time.

Merry Christmas from Tahlequah!

Mrs. M

Nerium Day Cream Day Two

Well, on to day two of the day cream.

Woke up as usual and cleansed my face off to start the day a new. (pics below)

Bottom is first thing in the morning, and the top is after application of day cream.  I still like the day cream for the fact it seems to go on smooth and not so sticky, and is mostly scent free.(which my sinus' say thank you to).

As mentioned in previous post, the pictures are WYSIWYG photos, that take you along on my journey of testing the product.

I will let you see how day 3 goes tomorrow. (and yes honey, I know I should smile, but it is first thing in the morning dude, before my caffeine.)

Nerium Night Cream Night One...

If you thought the first set of pics was frightening, these will scare you too...

But these are wysiwyg(what you see is what you get) photos to show you my journey.

Below you will find pictures, before the night cream, and after application and a pic to show you what it looks like before it went on:

Yes, I know forgot the whiskers again, but hey, it's life and it happens.

After I cleansed my face and did 5 pumps as directed of cream in my hand, I applied it, and instantly felt like someone sucked all the moisture out of my face. My husband said, so do you feel like you have plastic skin? I honestly told him a little bit. But the pore tightening comes with the territory.

I slept well through the night with this stuff on. I did notice one thing though, this had more of a perfume smell vs the other one that hardly had any. Once I got past the smell, and my body settled down, it was a good night's rest.

We'll see how night two goes tonight. Report on that tomorrow.

The Nerium Day and Night Cream Test Begins...

Yes, you read it right the Nerium test begins this week. I started with the first application today. Nerium Partner Lynn Cook sent me some samples to test out, so I am taking the challenge and testing both the day and night creams all this week.

I am not a great selfie photographer, so please forgive for how horrible they look. And yes I forgot to shave my whiskers. But these are real, what you see is what you get.

I am starting with face and neck pictures:

After washing my face with some locally produced soap, I applied the pictured day cream as recommended. I do have to say, I thought it would have a heavy perfume scent like some lotions or creams, but it did not, which was a pleasant surprise. It went on smooth, no grainy texture like some creams have.

I will state this. The closer I get to 40, I welcome any help. So I welcome the chance to test this and take you along the journey with me.

I will post a separate post for the night cream tomorrow as I do not post late night post as a general rule of thumb.

Once again, Thank You Lynn for letting me be one of your testers, and for for letting me share this journey on my blog.

Till tomorrow's post. Have a great evening.

If you are looking for an affordable way to surprise the special lady in your life, try this...

Husbands,Brothers, Boyfriends listen up!

This would make a great gift for your girlfriend, mother, aunt, wife, mistress, or daughter, etc...

I recently had the chance to go to a local shop here in Tahlequah called Everything Under The Sun.(and believe me they live up to the name.)

I had been eying the new bead line they have started to carry.

For the longest time I thought the pricing would be out of my reach. Well I went in last week to look, as I was running errands downtown, and I found out the line is called Davinci Beads, and they are extremely affordable. 

So I did something for myself, and for those that know me it is a rarity I do. I started building my dream bracelet.

For the beginning of my bracelet I included a January Boy charm, two September girl charms, one June girl charm, one November boy charm, one August boy charm, 2 white puppy paw beads, 2 silver puppy paw beads, one angel charm, and one Christmas tree charm.

I am looking to add more charms and beads as time goes along.

Here is a pic of what  I have started with:

With this bracelet I am beginning to tell a story, and as I add more charms the story will grow. That is one of the things you can do with your bracelet. Or if you just want to put a fun one together also, that would be great.

The crew at Everything Under the Sun is there to help you, and make your dream a reality. The young lady that helped me to begin this journey is named Timber. (Thanks again Timber.)

You really can not beat the pricing it is extremely affordable, and so there is not a reason you can not afford to surprise the special lady in your life with something beautiful this holiday season.

(So, may you have a blessed Thanksgiving with your family, and your friends. Also during this season, remember to shop local with some great mom and pop establishments, and direct sales consultants, it helps to keep your dollars in your community, and what you find can be just as much fun as what you find in a chain store.)

Pumpkin Wine, Who Knew?

As most of you know, I am always up for trying new combinations of things, when it comes to cooking and baking.

Well have I got one for you for this holiday season. With Halloween a couple days away here is a review and recipe for you.

The wine comes from our friends at Diamond head Wine(they are located between Pryor and Adair,OK.You can find their site at www.diamondheadwine.com.They specialize in fruit and dessert wines.) The wine is called Jack-O-Lantern, and as you may have guessed by the name it is a pumpkin wine. Here is what it looks like:

According to wine creator, it took him four years to come up with creation. The orange color reminds you of an Oklahoma sunset. Upon opening the wine, you are greeted with the pungent aroma of pumpkin and some spice.

The wine does have the flavor of pumpkin pie, but with a bit of a  heat kick in the back end. It is a good kick though. I could see sitting down with a glass at the holidays and watching some holiday specials.

The recipe I came up with for this, is the following(Happy Halloween):

Pumpkin Wine Cake:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

One Best Choice Spice Cake Mix

 One and 1/3 cups of the Jack-O-Lantern wine pictured above in the beginning of this post, to replace the water you would normally put into this cake.
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
3 whole eggs, cracked

Combine all of your ingredients in a mixing bowl, until well combined:

Once well combined pour in to a silicone pumpkin shaped pan, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, on a pizza pan

Bake for 30-45 minutes. Once the cake is done, and your toothpick test comes out with a clean toothpick, turn it out to cool. Turn off the oven.

Here is an optional frosting for the cake:

6T of Prepared Cream Cheese frosting
4 T of Jack-O-Lantern wine

Combine ingredients in a small bowl and frost your cake, and serve with a glass of pumpkin wine or your favorite Halloween beverage.

I hope you will stop by the  Diamondhead Wine website, or if your out Northeast Oklahoma way stop by their facility.(for more info check the website).

I also hope your will enjoy this cake with who ever you choose.  This wine also does well in a gingerbread mix also. Enjoy!

The Third Review for Sneaky Pete's Oat Beverage.....

In this review we will be looking at Sneaky Pete's All Natural Oat Beverage Peach Flavor. As with the other flavors , when you first open it, you get a major hit of peach scent, and the color is the same as the other, sort of the murky oatmeal color, but that is a given, since the beverage is brewed with oatmeal. The taste was good, it is not what you expect.  

With this flavor of oat beverage, I wanted to see how it married with pork. So for this round I came up with a pork loin from the grocery store.

The pork loin came from the local Walmart meat department in Muskogee, Oklahoma. So when I got the pork loin home I did the following recipe:

Peachy Pork Loin:

Get a container for marinating your loin. Put a little salt and pepper in the container. Cut open the pork loin and roll around salt and pepper, then put in the full bottle of the Oat Beverage Peach Flavor, and let set covered in the frig over night, but if making same day let marinate a few hours.

While your pork loin is marinating, preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Get out your loin, and put it on a cookie sheet and once the oven is done heating put it in and bake for 30 minutes.

Once the loin is done take it out, turn off the oven, and let set 10 minutes to let the juices re-distribute. Get out your favorite sauce to compliment the loin. All though it may not be a pungent peach flavor, you will notice a sweetness.

You could also serve with a fruit salad with a vanilla Greek yogurt dressing. For that, you get your favorite vanilla Greek yogurt and chop up your favorite fruits and mix in. Make sure you include a peach into the salad to compliment the pork.

Overall this beverage is good alone or with pork. Everyone will enjoy it. If this is out in your area, get some and try it out, celebrate oatmeal year around, not just one day a year. Happy National Oatmeal Day!

The Second of Three Reviews.....

Well I said at the end of the last review, that I was going to see if I could cook with the grape flavored oat drink pictured below:

I found out you can cook with Sneaky Pete's All Natural Oat Beverage Grape Flavor. I chose to make drop biscuits with it. 

Here is the recipe for them:

1 and 1/3 cups of  Oat beverage shown above.
4 cups of Jiffy Baking Mix

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  

Combine both in a mixing bowl, until well combined. Then take a large cookie scoop(aka. ice cream scoop) and scoop out onto a sprayed cookie sheet, or whatever pan you have around. 

Once all scooped to pans, and oven is finished preheating , put in oven and bake for 12 minutes.

Upon finishing, take out and do the toothpick test. If toothpick comes out clean, remove from pans, and let cool.

As to the flavor of the Grape flavor oat beverage, it is a bit on the medicine side, which was surprising. It has a great grape scent though, not like grape soda, but the actual fruit.

So, in the end it cooks really well, the biscuits had an added sweetness, and grape aroma that was pleasing without adding too much more sweetness to the actual biscuit. Serve the biscuits with your favorite preserve, jam or jelly.

Here are some other pictures of what it took to make the biscuits:

The third review will be pork loin and peach flavor oat drink, how well do they pair?

The First of Three Reviews....

As the title states this is the first of three reviews. The product I will be reviewing today is pictured above. It is called Sneaky Pete's All Natural Oat Beverage Apple.

Thank You to Victoria Domenico at The Baddish Group in NYC for sending me the 3 samples, to help celebrate National Oatmeal Day.

The packaging is very visually appealing to the eye, and makes you wonder what it will taste like.

When you open it the first scent you get is a strong apple scent.

Granted it is apple flavor. But when you take the first drink, it reminds you more of apple cinnamon oatmeal.

Once you get past the color, it really is a decent drink for 40 calories. On the bottle it says one serving is equal to bottle, so you can enjoy it without feeling guilty.

This would be a great drink to take on a trip for a quick kick start to the day, or a nice way to close your evening when you do not want a whole lot of caffeine.

So, if you have it in your area yet, you might try a bottle and see what you think.

Everyone's experience will be different. Just remember to enjoy it, and who knows it may become a favorite for your family or friends.

Next Review: Grape Flavor.....can you cook with it? We will see.....

As the fair comes to a close this weekend, I begin more recipe testing for next year...

With that I have started to look at some of the mixes at The Cooks Companion & More here in Tahlequah, over on Muskogee Ave.

For my first experiment for a possibility for an entry  for next year I used the Wind & Willow Caramel Apple- Cheeseball & Dessert Mix that I purchased from The Cooks Companion & More.(See pics below):

These are the mixes I used to create this test recipe.

Use the real stuff, but if you are watching intake, you can use the other.

Before it becomes batter, it is like this.

Here is the batter, after well combining.

Into the loaf pan it goes before the oven .

This is the final result of the recipe, before I took it to the gals at The Cooks Companion & More.

Here is the recipe for this test:

Caramel Apple Pound Cake:

Ingredients:

One Caramel Apple Cheeseball &Dessert Mix
(from The Cooks Companion & More, on Muskogee Ave, Tahlequah,OK)

One Best Choice Box Pound Cake Mix

Two whole eggs

2/3 block of cream cheese

3/4 cup 2% lactose free milk

Equipment:

Mixing bowl

9x5x3 loaf pan

non-stick cooking spray

Spatula

Skewer

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Combine in a mixing bowl, the mixes, eggs,milk,and cream cheese.  Once all well combined, pour into liberally sprayed loaf pan.

Insert into the preheated oven, and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes until golden brown.  Once time is done, take out of oven , and poke with skewer, and if the skewer comes out clean, leave in pan to cool.

While cake is cooling quickly do the following:

Take one stick of butter and two tablespoons of sugar and apple pie spice in a microwave safe bowl or microwave safe coffee mug for about 45 seconds, and stir to combine.

While the cake is still warm, poke with skewer on top all over, and drizzle the above over the top, to let it soak into the cake and finish cooling. This will add some moisture. Serve with your favorite fall ice cream, or favorite warm fall beverage.

Enjoy!

Next Week: What can I do with the Pumpkin Pie Cheeseball & Dessert Mix from Cooks Companion?

Stay tuned!