Some Days The Color Pink Rules The Whole Day!
I do love the color pink…and last Friday was…well it was a pink day.
It started with the early morning drive to the airport…the Captain was going to deliver another new airplane only this time to Japan….and the early morning sky was pinkish. What is the old saying?
Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning.
Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
Only this particular day had nothing to do with sailing or water, unless you count the ocean the Captain would be flying over. The sky was just a pretty shade of pink.
As many of you know, I teach Bible Study Class every Friday and so of course….since it was a pink day… I made Pink Lady Bars! These were popular back in the 60’s and 70’s…sort of retro. I used to make them for church potlucks or family re-unions and everyone loved them….though they are a bit rich, I decided the pink dessert would be perfect for our snack. This recipe is so easy as were many of those retro desserts back then…just a few ingredients. The recipe follows and I show the easy steps below.
The crust is crushed vanilla wafers …although you could use graham crackers or Oreo cookies…mixed with a little butter and flour.
The filling is shredded coconut and Sweetened Condensed Milk. Sometimes I add chopped pecans but they are optional.
The frosting is simply butter and powdered sugar with maraschino cherry juice for the pink color.
And I served Pink Lemonade….served up in a pretty punch bowl. Did you know that most Pink Lemonades have no additional flavors other than lemons? In the past I have used red food coloring to tint my lemonade pink and have come up with some funky shades of pink. I did see a tik-tok video (I am never on tik-tok but my grand daughter is always sending me funny reels on tik-tok so I look at them and then go back to whatever I was doing)….but one day I saw a lady using pure beet juice in her lemonade to make it pink, Friends, I do NOT like beets so I was very suspicious when she said there is no flavor in the pure beet juice. But lo and behold, I bought pure beet juice knowing the Captain would drink it if I did not want to use it in my lemonade…(He’s like Mikey…he eats and drinks anything) LOL and the lady was right…the pure beet juice is flavorless in the lemonade….and I was able to experiment and come up with a pretty pink color.
And to carry out my pink day,🩷 I wore pink…well, a pink spaghetti strap top with a pink shrug layered over, along with white big leg jeans and white flip flops.. The pink top actually comes down below my waist…or it can be tucked into the jeans. When one sees these clothes modeled, they are usually modeled by very young ladies who don’t mind showing a little more skin than I care to show. LOL! 💕 I do not like my upper arms showing, so I almost always wear another piece of clothing over such tops. In this case, the pink shrug was light and flowy… yet I was able to be be cool but covered. The shrug is not quite as ‘see thru’ as it shows on the model…tho one could see the pink top underneath..
The jewelry I chose was silver hoop ear rings and silver bangle bracelets. I really love bracelets and there are 11 of these bracelets in various sizes. I put 5 on one wrist and 6 on the other wrist. If you are interested in any of these items…please type ‘pink outfit’ in the comments and I will send you the links.
Fashion Friday:
Below are the recipes for the Pink Lady Bars and the Pink Lemonade.
Pink Lemonade
Ingredients
- 4 quarts Lemonade (I love using Country Time when I am in a hurry)
- 1/4 cup Pure Beet Juice (depending on the color add more or less to your liking)
- 6-8 slices lemons for garnish (I used two large lemons)
Instructions
- Mix the lemonade either fresh or use a mix like Country Time Lemonade and add as much or as little pure beet juice to get the color you want. Start with very small amounts. Pink Lemonade is basically regular lemonade with a pink color...no other flavoring. Believe it or not, pure beet juice has NO flavor to change the lemonade taste. I do not like beets and hesitated to use it when I saw the suggestion on tik-tok....but trust me...no beet taste at all.
Pink Lady Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups crushed vanilla wafers (or graham crackers or oreo cookies, your choice)
- 1 stick butter (melted, unsalted)
- 1 Tbsp flour
For the filling
- 1 14 ounce can Sweetened Condensed Milk (such as Eagle Brand)
- 2 cups sweetened or unsweetened coconut (can use flakes or shredded)
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) (I sometimes add chopped pecans)
For the frosting
- 1 stick butter (melted, unsalted)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup maraschini cherry juice (or red food coloring)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 and place parchment paper in 9X9 pan. Overlap the sides for easy removal of the baked bars. ( use small alligator clips to hold the parchment paper in place)
- To the crushed vanilla wafer crumbs, add the butter and the flour. Place the crumbs into pan, tamping to compact. I use a metal measuring cup bottom as well as my fingers to be sure the crust is evenly distributed. Bake this for about 10 minutes...do NOT overbake. Pull from the oven as soon as the edges start to show a browning color and cool for about 15-20 minutes.
For the filling:
- Mix the coconut, the sweetened condensed milk and pecans (optional) and spread over the cooled crust, spreading as evenly as possible. (I like to tap it down with my offset spatula) Place in the oven and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Do not let coconut burn altho mine gets slightly brown near the edges. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 30-60 minutes.
For the frosting:
- Blend melted butter, powdered sugar and maraschino juice either by hand or hand mixer until the frosting is nice and smooth. (You can make the frosting as pink as you like and as thick or thin as you like....my family likes a thick frosting, but you do you) Spread the frosting over the bars and place in the fridge for at least 30-60 minutes which allows the bars to firm up.
To remove the bars and cut:
- I like my bars to be cut sharply so I lift them out of the pan using the extra parchment paper overlap and remove them from the parchment onto a cutting board. (I also use a very large pizza cutter so I cut the bars in one cut, so they will be fairly even....actually I make 2 horizontal cuts and 2 vertical cuts). I cut mine in 9 squares but they can be cut much smaller if desired.
Thank you for reading “Some Days The Color Pink Rules The Whole Day!”
Have a Blessed and wonderful day…even if your day isn’t pink.🩷
Genesis: 16-17 “The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
