Black velvet unicorn paintings and the easiest recipes ever

I have a back log of posts due to my computer being out of business for a little while.  I will post one a day until I catch up.*  On an unrelated note, I wish I had this painting in my living room.

Borrowed from the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab website. Some day I will post a picture of my collection from them.

After being ill for a over a week it was difficult to get back into my routine of cooking, cleaning, being a general house wife... not to mention doing anything for myself.  We finally made it to the grocery store and I was able to get much needed ingredients.  I will simply post the link from the myrecipes website for this one.

Four-Cheese Manicotti 

If I would have taken the time to read the reviews I would have used a Ziploc bag to fill the manicotti up rather than a spoon.  Next time I will read the reviews more closely like I usually do.  This recipe is very good.  The only thing I changed was the veggie cream cheese, I couldn't find it here so I used a  little bit of onion and chive cream cheese.  I wouldn't do that again due to how strong that taste is, so it is good that the experiment only involved about half the amount recommended.  How did the husband review it..."Very good, " he said.  That's about the best the best answer I've ever gotten, second only to the bourbon glazed tenderloins I made last month.  That will be remade and posted on here very soon.

And now the fun stuff... Key Lime Pie!

This recipe is amazing. And it has a story.  I had three cats before I left the states to live with my husband in Okinawa.  For several reasons, as it is not that interesting, I decided to leave them in the US until we get back.  I drove Jack to Columbia to live with my old roommate Marla and my mom and I flew Sal and Maggie to live with my grandmother in Florida.  Due to a surgery my grandmother had I ended up flying there again to take care of her dog and my cats while she was in the hospital, with in a month and a half I spent about 3 and a half weeks there between my two visits.  While my grandmother was in the hospital and after she got back, she had quite a few friends and neighbors stop by to check in.  They were all very nice, but one in particular was exceptional.  Her name is Barb.  Barb is a great friend to my grandmother, she came over many times bringing food and treats.  She went out to eat with us a couple times before the surgery.  I told her about my apprehension to cooking and she gave me several recipes.  I'm not sure I would have believed how good this was if she hadn't made it for us. Between my grand mother and myself we finished it in two days! Thank you, Barb.

Bimini Key Lime Pie

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 - 8oz package of cream cheese softened

1/2 to 3/4 cup Key Lime juice

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 graham cracker pie crust

Combine milk, cream cheese and lime juice in blender on low speed until smooth. Add vanilla and stir into mixture.  pour into graham cracker crust.  Chill in refrigeratior and let set for 3 or 4 hours.

I did a few things different.  I baked the pie crust in the oven for a couple of minutes to make sure it didn't crumble too much.  The pie tastes very good with regular lime juice, which is good since that was all I had and I recommend using 3/4 cup if you want to taste the lime.  I also used a low fat can of sweetened condensed milk, not sure if it made a big difference.  The last thing, I used a handheld mixer to mix the ingredients, it would probably still be amazing even if you just used a spoon.
This didn't go over that well with the husband, but that's okay!  More for me :)

*disclaimer: I'm not in an editing mood right now, I may come back and clean this post.