By Sheri Hopkins, Lifestyle Contributor
Hello everyone! It’s a beautiful day and we are so blessed. I love this time of year.
This article is about weather and storms. I don’t like storms. When I was a child and young adult, I was never afraid of storms. My mother, on the other hand, was scared to death of storms. I mean she would be a nervous wreck. As a kid, it scares you seeing your parents having a meltdown. She would always say, “Howard, go out there and check out the storm!” My sweet daddy would walk out on the porch, and he would look around and I am not exaggerating when I say this, every single time, he would walk back in the house and say, “it’s going around us.” My mom would just freak out and start yelling, “we are going to get blown away one of these day by a storm going around us!”
We didn’t have a storm cellar. There was one at the house next to the sawmill in Mansfield, across from where we lived. Mrs. Henson had a storm cellar, so when it would storm, mom would always want to go to Mrs. Henson’s to the cellar, but dad refused to go. One night it was pouring rain, and it was storming like crazy, and mom was her usual scared to death self. She decided to get out the big guns and go to Mrs. Henson’s cellar, whether dad liked it or not. So, she gets out garbage bags and puts them over me, my sister Pam and her. We head out in all that rain and wind to the cellar. We can’t see anything; it is raining so hard. We get there and the whole Clopton family and some of Marie Clopton’s adult kids were already in the cellar. Let me tell ya, we were packed in there like sardines. Me and Pam in our fancy garbage bag attire right in the middle. There was no place to sit, like I said, we were packed in there like sardines. We stuck it out till the storm was over. Nothing got blowed away and all was well with the world. This happened on several occasions. Once when I was a teenager, it was coming a storm and mom wanted me to go to the shelter and I refused. Here she came with a fly swatter, threatening to whip me if I didn’t go along with her. Needless to say, I went with her. We lived through that storm also.
I was never afraid of storms until the storm a couple of years ago when the big tree fell on my house. Since then, I try to watch the radar and listen for the town siren. Storms are no joke, I’m not as scared as my mother, but I do get a little nervous now. Ok, enough about storms. It looks really dark outside, and I don’t like it.
Let’s talk about food and how I love to eat and bake. I don’t know if I have told y’all this or not, but me and some friends of mine go out and eat almost every Friday night. We try different diners. We have gone as far as Talihina to Pam’s Hateful Hussy Diner. It is one of my favorites. I think the best burger I have had is at Patrick’s Butcher Boy. My favorite thing to bake is desserts. This week is a Peanut Butter Delight. Enjoy and have a blessed week.
PEANUT BUTTER DELIGHT
Layer one is the crust: 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup softened butter, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 cup crushed pecans
Layer two: 1/3 cup peanut butter, 18 oz. package of cream cheese (room temperature), 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tub of 8 oz. Cool Whip (use half with this layer)
Layer three: 2 packages chocolate pudding (3.4 oz), 2 2/3 cup cold milk
For the crust, mix all the ingredients together and press into a 9×13 baking dish (sprayed with cooking spray) and bake in a 300-degree oven for 15 minutes, or until light brown. For the second layer, mix the peanut butter, cream cheese, 1 cup of powdered sugar until creamy and then add half the Cool Whip and mix well. Make sure the crust is cool and spread this layer on the crust. For the third layer, mix the chocolate pudding and milk until it starts to thicken and then spread on the second layer. Top with the rest of the Cool Whip. You can sprinkle the small Reese’s Cups or chop the bigger size and put on top. Keep in the refrigerator till you are ready to serve and enjoy.
