cold and yummy!

Yep, you guessed it, I made an Ice Cream Cake and made it for under $10.00 PLUS it tastes just as good as ice cream shop bought!

What you will need to make this is
1. Spring form pan
2. 2 flavors of ice cream - the small boxed cartons work the best
3. Fudge frosting (or filling of your choice)
4. Oreo cookies (or other cookie for crust)
5. Whip cream
Optional:  Cake plate, cake box

We opted to make a chocolate and strawberry cake with fudge filling, it took us most of the morning to make it BUT the majority of the time was the freezing of each layer before making the next.
Here's all you have to do.

Line the bottom of a spring form pan with a sheet of wax paper, this helps at the very end to keep the crust together.

After lining the paper, I opened up the chocolate ice cream and let it soften, once able I sliced it in thin layers and add them to a bowl to prepare it to be stirred until smooth.

We used Oreo cookies to make our crust, we separated the frosting from the cookies and then crushed them with a rolling pin.

To make the crust stick together, mix 2 cups with 4 tablespoons of butter (I know, sounds strange to add butter to an ice cream cake but trust me...you don't notice it)

Line the bottom of the cake pan with the cookie crumbles, making sure that it is as level as you can.

After you have stirred the first layer of ice cream until it is smooth and easier to spread, pour it on top of the cookie layer.

Smooth out as much as possible and put in the freezer, I froze mine for about an hour to make sure it was completely frozen.  After the hour I warmed up a tub of Fudge frosting and spread that on top of the re-frozen chocolate ice cream.

You guessed it...freeze again for about an hour.

About 15 minutes before this layer is to be done, I pulled out the strawberry ice cream and again let it sit until warm enough to stir until smooth.

Add the creamy ice cream on top of the frozen fudge layer and smooth out.

Freeze this layer too for about 30mn to an hour, this is only to add any decorations if wanted.  Since I was adding whip cream puffs to mine I wanted to make sure that they did not melt into the strawberry layer.  I also added a few remaining cookie crumbles to each puff for a little color.

I froze the entire cake again until it was soon to be served, then loosened the spring pan to allow to slowly pull the ice cream out of the pan and peel the wax paper from the bottom of the cookie crust.

I also found a cake box to put the remaining ice cream in for storage.

This was a big hit at my house and I am sure it will be a cake that will be requested for birthdays.  The best part, is that it really only cost me less than $10.00!

-  Ice cream $1.99 each
-  Cookies $2.50
-  Frosting $2.50
- Whip Cream $1.50

Let me know what creations you made and send pictures of how you chose to decorate yours!

Happy baking everyone!

Raspberry Delight

Since I am already off this week, I figured I might as well just stick with it!
I purchased some mini spring form pans a few weeks ago to continue with personal deserts, I'm not certain if it is the idea of getting to make deserts, getting to work with the kids, or seeing how cute little deserts really look ( guess I like anything baby size!).  I think I will go with working with the kids.

My first attempt with the mini pans was to make raspberry filled chocolate covered cake.

Here is the mini cake pans - cute aren't they?

I started with a normal cake mix, we decided to do half marble and half chocolate...these flavors are favorites in my house.

After filling the mini pans half way with the yellow batter, I mixed up the remaining batter with the cocoa (as instructions say) and swirled the chocolate batter into the yellow to make the marble.

These baked for about 15 minutes, I then popped them out and cooked the chocolate batter the same way.

Here is what they looked like after cooked.

I then spread the Rasberry filling on the

After topping the raspberry covered cake it was then topped with the chocolate cake to form the layers.

Here came the hard part, I made the mistake of adding a little too much filling on a few (see above) which made spreading the frosting a little challenging...but of course with a little patience it can be done.

I then garnished each mini cake with fresh raspberries making an almost picture perfect desert!

Mom, what's for dinner?

Today I thought I would share with you a very simple chicken meal that is deeelicious (even the kids like it!) and most of the ingredients you would have in your cupboard on a regular basis. 

Ingredients

- 4-5 Chicken breasts

- 1 1/2 cup Rice

- 2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup

- 1 bag/can Crispy Onions

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, mix together rice and both cans of soup

2. Grease casserole or 9x13 baking dish

3. Spread the rice and soup mix to bottom of dish

4.  Sprinkle half of the package of onions on top of mix

5.  Lay the chicken breasts on top of the rice

6.  Sprinkle the remaining onions on top of the chicken

7.  Bake for about an 1-1.5 hours at 325 degrees

8.  Enjoy!

So, start with these ingredients...

Mix all together so it looks like this, it doesn't look real appetizing here, but trust me...it will be!!

When you pull it out of the oven to serve, it will look like this...

I have found that there are a few substitutions that sound great and probably have a whole different flavor, I haven't tried this one myself but I think I will be soon.

- 4 to 5 Chicken breasts

- 1 1/2 cup Rice

- 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

- 1 can of broccoli cheese soup

- 1 package of dry onion soup mix

Mix and bake as the directions listed above, I would think you could mix and match the ingredients to get the combination that you like best.  Let me know if you give any of them a try and what you think!

Dessert anyone?

Raspberry Cheesecake Dessert Cups

Over the Forth I searched a bit for a dessert that would go along with the Red White and Blue theme and still be a tad on the healthier side.  I came across this recipe that was originally written for a mini dessert fit for Shot Glasses. Cute, but I only own one shot glass and didn't really see the need to purchase more; so I doubled the below recipe to fit our sundae dishes and found it made more than enough.

I was a little hesitant on what the crust would taste like with honey but surprisingly enough found that my household found it to be better than the normal graham cracker crust recipe. 

Ingredients
1/2 Cup fresh/frozen raspberries
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tsp honey
1/2 cup light whipped cream cheese
1 cup light whipped cream
1 tsp lemon juice


Berries
- Heat rinsed and dried berries in a small skillet over medium heat
- Add sugar and lemon zest
- Let the berries burst, you can squish them down into the sauce
- Allow berries and juice to reduce a bit, stirring occasionally until the sauce begins to thicken

Crust
- Microwave cracker crumbs and honey in a bowl for about 10 seconds
- Stir together to moisten all of the crumbs, set aside

~ My berries looked like this when it was done cooking

Cream Mixture
- Whip the Cream Cheese and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl, until smooth
- Add about double the volume (about a cup) worth of whipped cream
- Whip together

Putting it all together
- Add the crumbs to the bottom of dessert cup to create the crust
- Add the cheesecake mixture
- top with cooled berries and a little dollop of extra whipped cream

Time:  15 minutes
Makes:  About 4 shot glass mini desserts

This was a huge hit at my house, and when I said I was looking for a healthier option, I was meaning it was better than the normal recipe for Cheese cake and it had limited portion sizes. 

I will definitely be making these again and trying different types of fruit!

Best Monster Cookies EVER!

C is for Cookie and these are good enough for ME! 

 I wouldn't call myself a cookie tasting expert, but....I have had my fair share of them and found these 'Monster Cookies' to be rated one of the best I have made.  These will be going into the recipe box with a gold star label.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon corn syrup
2 large eggs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips
1 cup mini M&M's

Directions
Preaheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.

In a small mixing bowl stir together flour, baking soda, salt and oats. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, turn mixer on medium and add the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix until creamy. Add vanilla, corn syrup and eggs until well combined, then beat in flour-oat mixture until well combined.  Fold in the chocolate chunks and mini M & M's.

Drop large balls of dough onto the cookie sheet or use a cookie scooper.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  After removing from oven, leave cookies on tray for a few minutes before transfering them to a cooling rack.

Store in an airtight container.
Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies (depending on how large or small you make them)

Enjoy!

Fourth of July Dip

If your looking for a festive dish to bring-along to your Fourth of July celebration, I found a cute and easy one this week.  It's really quite simple and can go along with any light colored dip of your choice.  I used an easy chicken spread dip that goes great with crackers or with cucumbers.

Chicken Dip
- 8oz cream cheese (softened)
- 1 cup Miracle Whip
- 1 tsp fresh lemon
- 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 (12 oz) can chunk chicken breast





Directions:
Beat cream cheese, Mircale Whip, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce and chicken together usnig an electric mixer.
Spread mixture into a round serving dish (or pie plate)

Cracker Crumb Stars
- 8 crackers (Town House works best)
- Red and Blue food coloring

Directions:
Crush crackers in food processor OR add 4 crackers into two separate zip lock bags and crush crackers with a rolling pin.  Add a few drops of food coloring into each bag (1 red bag / 1 blue bag) and shake until all cracker crumbles are colored.

Putting it all together:
Top the dip with the star shaped cookie cutters (different sizes would look great but I could only find these two).   Cut the corner of the zip lock bag coloed red and shake the crumbs into the center of the stars you want colored red, being careful not to add too much or when you remove the cutter your crumbles will lose their shape.  Spread the crumbles while still in the cookie cutter with a small utensil.  Repeat the process with the blue crumbles.  Slowly remove the cookie cutters to reveal your colored stars.

Refrigerate the dish until needed.  You can also bake at 350 for about 15mn or just until the dip is warm.


Serve with crackers or cucumbers.

Have a great Fourth of July!