Strawberries & Cream Pie

I first made this pie about two years ago.  My Husband has been begging for one ever since.  I am not sure why I haven't made it for him since then, it's super easy and very delicious.

The first time that I made this I think I used a graham cracker crust. However, this time I used the pie crust that it calls for and I thikn it definitely needs the pie crust. 

Also, the recipe that I followed says to leave the strawberries whole but I don't think that it looks very attractive that way so I sliced up my strawberries.  As I was slicing the strawberries, I thought about layering the cream mixture on top of the pie crust, then some sliced strawberries and then more cream, repeat.  But by the time I assembled the pie, I forgot about that.

I made this pie and gave my Husband a Father-To-Be Father's Day card as his Father's Day presents. He was a happy man!  Since it makes two pies, we brought one up to my Father-In-Law as well.  I was going to bring it to my Parents house for Father's Day but I had some leftover cupcakes from something else that I brought down there.

I definitely plan on making this again, perhaps I'll make it annually for Father's Day for him.

Strawberries & Cream Pie

From: The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Originally from: Pillsbury's Complete Cookbook



Serves 8-10

1 cup cold heavy cream, divided
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup (2.33 ounces) sugar
¼ to ½ teaspoon almond extract
1 pie crust for a 1-crust pie, completely baked and cooled
2 pints fresh whole strawberries, hulled
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
I melted some chocolate almond bark that I had leftover and drizzled that on the pie

1. In a medium bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment), beat 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon of the cream on medium speed. When the cream is frothy, increase the speed to high and whip until the cream holds firm peaks.

2. In a separate large bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), beat the cream cheese on medium speed until it’s soft and creamy. Add the sugar and extract and continue beating until combined.

3. Fold about 1/3 of the whipped cream into the cream cheese to lighten the mixture, then add the remaining cream and continue folding until it’s incorporated. Evenly spread the cream mixture in the pie crust. Arrange the strawberries over the filling.

4. Melt the chocolate with the remaining 1 tablespoon cream over very low heat, stirring constantly, or in the microwave on medium power, or in a double boiler. Drizzle the chocolate over the strawberries. Refrigerate the pie until set, about 1 hour.

My version of a Green Monster Smoothie!!

This afternoon I was going to have some fruit as a snack.  I had mangoes, bananas & apples available.  I didn't feel like eating them seperate (aka: cut up in a bowl) so I decided to make a smoothie out of it.

There is no real recipe to this, smoothies are very versatile and you can make them as you wish with whatever ingredients you want.

I cut up a mango, added a banana and a couple splashes of orange juice.  Mixed it all up in my Magic Bullet and then added the last of the spinach we had in the refrigerator to get a dose of veggies! :)

Matt came home from work and said "What the heck is that!" I made him try it and he actually liked it. I've purchased those frozen smoothie packs from the grocery store before, but I like this because I know exactly what is in it.  No added sugars, preservatives or anything.  Just fruit & a little juice.

I definitely want to make more smoothies for breakfasts, snacks or even as desserts!

Pantry Organization!

In the last few months, we revamped our downstairs closet/pantry.  We had a nice closet area under our stairs but it wasn't really functional for hanging coats and such.  Our kitchen also lacks some functional cupboard space so I decided to make the closet work for us!  We had a bookcase in there that we were using as a pantry but it was small and unorganized.

So, I was at Target one day with my Mom and we picked up a shelving system on sale.  I'd been eyeing it up for awhile and then when it was on sale, I finally made my purchase!

Fast forward a couple of days and we've got the shelving system all set up.  I love having more storage options and we can even store our garbage bags, paper towels and some larger cooking items like our pizza oven in there.

We've now come to the point where our pantry is chock full and the organization seems to be lacking. Since I am a Thirty-One consultant, I decided to use some of our products to help me spruce things up.  So far, I only have one organized area but I plan to get many, many more so that I have a complete & fully stocked pantry!

I purchased a Square Utility Tote in Lotsa Dots and had it embroidered in purple font, style 13. I then purchased two Littles Carry-All Caddys to put inside.  The tote will actually fit four, I just need to get a couple more!

I plan to put some of my small baking items in the Littles Carry-All Caddys.  I'm thinking about putting my piping bags in one of the Littles, my cupcake wrappers & decorations in another, my food colorings in another and I'm undecided so far on the fourth.  I'll be sure to update when I figure it out!

My next purchase will be more Square Utility Totes and I plan to label one "snacks" for all those breakfast bars, granola bars etc.  I am thinking about one that says "veggies" and one that says "fruits" as well for all of those canned items.  I'll always know when I need to purchase more or when I've got plenty based on how full my tote is!

If you're unfamiliar with Thirty-One, here are a few facts!

Thirty-One is more than just a company. We are people who believe in celebrating, encouraging and rewarding others for who they are. Through God’s strength, we’ve built a family of individuals who feel women deserve to treat themselves and those around them to something special. Our commitment is to provide women with a fulfilling, enjoyable and rewarding experience one person at a time.    -Source

Thirty-One offers purses, accessories, storage organizers (like I'm using) and more!  There really is something for everyone and our products make great gifts!

Don't know a Thirty-One consultant in your area?  We can do a virtual party and you'll get free products, half price products and Host Exclusive products just for hosting.  As host, all you need to do is advertise your party to friends & family using the link I provide you.  Super easy!

ALL of the free, discounted and exclusive products you could get for having a $1,200 show!!

How cute is this outfit paired with our Cindy Tote in Black Parisian Pop?

Eggs for breakfast sandwiches

Thank you Pinterest! (Click that link to follow my boards)

I saw this floating around on Pinterest awhile back and finally decided that I needed to make some eggs for quick and easy breakfast sandwiches.  I definitely need to eat breakfast in the mornings and I need something substantial.  I can't just have a yogurt or apple or something, I'd be hungry a half hour after eating it!

This is the perfect solution.  The eggs are ready to go each morning and I just need to grab an english muffin, a slice of cheese and I'm out the door.  I usually eat at work so I bring all of my supplies to work and am able to make a hearty, tasty breakfast at work!

As you can see, I put some spinach in a few of the egg wells. It was a little tricky getting the spinach to stay under the egg, so that it would cook IN the egg and not float to the top.  It took a little maneuvering with a fork but it all worked!

Spray your muffin pan with some non-stick cooking spray. Crack one egg into each well.  Sprinkle the eggs with a little salt & pepper or whatever seasonings that you'd like.  Bake in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes.  You could cook them for a bit less if you wanted a runny yolk.  However, I wanted to be sure that the eggs were fully cooked.

Store your cooked eggs in a tupperware container in the refrigerator for about a week.  Use your judgement though.  If they look/smell bad, I wouldn't eat them. I made a dozen of these, so that lasted my Husband and I only 6 days, which was perfect for our work week.

Taco Salads with Rice

Here's a great recipe for the upcoming Cinco de Mayo weekend or any large gathering!  You can make this to feed two people, five people or 25 people!  Make a big batch for your next tailgate party, Birthday or even those "Quick! Company is coming!" situations.

The idea is super simple and the preparation is even easier.  You can tailor this to your personal taste as well.  Don't like white rice?  Skip it.  Want spicy salsa? Use it.  Want to use Doritos instead of Fritos? Go for it.

The recipe below is what we used for the ones I made.  We made enough so that we had leftovers for the next day.

Taco Salads with Rice
AKC original recipe
Ingredients:
1 lb cooked, drained ground beef
4 servings of cooked instant white rice
Fritos chips

Your favorite toppings such as:
Shredded Lettuce
Shredded Cheese
Salsa
Sour Cream
Guacamole

Cook your ground beef and drain when cooked.  While the ground beef is browning, cook your rice. When both your ground beef and rice are cooked, assemble your plate (or bowl if you choose!)  I started with rice, added some fritos, ground beef and then my lettuce, cheese and sour cream.

Mix it all up, add some salsa and enjoy!!

It's really silly to have a recipe for this since it's SO easy.  It's really all about what you want on your taco salad and how you want to prepare it.

The Best Chocolate Cake You'll EVER eat!!

Seriously.  This cake is good.  I made this cake in a 9x13 pan for a dinner get together at my Parent's house.  There were four kids and eight adults and there were maybe 6 pieces left.  The kids enjoyed it, the adults enjoyed it, it was even good as leftovers!

As you can see, everyone was eager to get a piece of this deliciousness!

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Cake
Recipe from: Hershey's

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar

1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

1 and a 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 and a 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350*.  Prepare two 9-inch cake pans.

Stir together all of your dry ingredients.  Add eggs, milk, oil & vanilla.  Beat on medium speed for about two minutes. Stir in your boiling water.  Mix until the water is combined thoroughly.  The batter will be very thin.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick/knife inserted in the cake comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then allow to cool on a cooling rack.

On the website there are directions for making this as cupcakes, bundt cake or 8inch cakes. I've made it as cupcakes before and they've been just as tasty but I still think the cake reigns supreme!

The cake is so moist.  My only complaint is that the cake is so moist that it's sticky which makes it a little tough to handle.  I wonder if reducing the amount of hot water added would help that a little? Maybe I'll try that next time!

Frosting
Recipe from: The Little Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 cup of milk
1 (3.4oz) pkg vanilla instant pudding
8 oz of cream cheese at room temperature
1 (12oz) container of Cool-Whip

Mix the dry instant pudding mix with the cup of milk until incorporated well and the pudding begins to settle.

In a seperate bowl, whip the cream cheese up a little bit and then add the Cool-Whip.  Mix well.  Add the pudding mixture to the cream cheese mixture and whip until everything is incorporated.

Frost the cake when completely cool.  I would suggest make either a double batch or 1.5 batches of frosting if you want to do a layered cake.  Because the cake is so moist, you don't need much frosting in the middle of the layers. However, you might like a little extra to cover the cake.

Tip:  Be sure you let your cream cheese fully come to room temperature. When I made this as the 9x13 cake I allowed it to fully come to room temperature and the frosting was a smooth, velvety texture.  When I made it to frost the 9-inch layered cake, I wasn't patient enough and there were small lumps in the frosting mixture.  Since this 9-inch cake was just for fun, I didn't care enough to try and fix it. That's why you don't see a picture of the cake frosted as a whole.

Red Velvet Cupcakes, again!

I've made Red Velvet Cupcakes before and have posted them here.  I made these for Valentine's Day this year and brought them into work.  I made about five dozen cupcakes, took four dozen to work and shared the other dozen with my Parents, Sister & her Boyfriend as well as a Friend of mine and her Daughter. 

These cupcakes are definitely a crowd pleaser and they're honestly so simple to make! 

Aren't these cupcake boxes cute?  I think I got them awhile back at Target in their Dollar Spot.  The heart decoration on the bottom left, is from a candy melt mold.  I've never used candy molds before but they didn't exactly work out nicely when you tried to pop them out.  The top two cupcakes, I did those decorations freehand on wax paper with melted candy melts.  Once they were dry, I plucked them off the wax paper and adorned my cupcakes with them. 

Once again, my coworkers went gaga for these cupcakes.  I was happy to share them and they really made my day with their sweet compliments about the presentation of the cupcakes.  My local Target gave me some plastic cupcake carriers that made transportation to work so easy! 

Product Review: This review is not compensated or sponsored by Reynold's.  Their new "Baked For You" cupcake liners are amazing.  They are foil lined and they keep their vibrant color and design.  They don't get oily or greasy like other cupcake liners.  I've only ever used the Black Damask design since I found them at a grocery store at a mega discount!  I hope to find them again for a decent price (maybe with a coupon) so I can continue to use them.  They really work well and add a little oomph to your cupcake presentation!  I can't wait to use the Pink Damask, Tiffany Swirl and Dots liners! How cute would those Monkey liners be for a child's Birthday Party?

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

At work, I am in charge of ordering the food for our monthly staff meetings.  The hardest part about it is staying within the $7/person budget while maintaining variety.  There are a lot of meetings at work for a lot of different groups so I don't always want to fall back to old favorites.  It's hard enough to order the meal within budget, so it's rare that I can also order dessert and still stay within the budget. 

One day, a coworker asked me if I could order dessert too.  I told her that I had just found a really great  recipe so I would bring some homemade cookies.  It would keep us within budget and I'd get to do some baking! So, the night before the meeting, I went home and baked about six dozen batches of cookies. 

Everyone raved and raved about these cookies.  They were thankful for a dessert option and so many people kept asking and saying "How did you get them so soft?" "What's the secret ingredient?" "Did you really make these?" "Can I have the recipe?" "I can't make a Chocolate Chip Cookie to save my life!" 

Needless to say, they were happy and so was I!  I was able to do something that I love [baking] and I didn't let them go to waste or have six dozen cookies sit around my house. 

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe from: Annie's Eats

Ingredients

2 cups plus 2 tblsps all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1.2 teaspoon salt
12 tblsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325*

In a medium bowl, whisk your dry ingredients together.  Set them aside.  With an electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined.  Beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla until combined.  Add the dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

On Annie's blog, she says to roll a scant half cup of dough in your hands, pull it apart and put the jagged edges up on your baking sheet.  I skipped this and just used a Pampered Chef cookie scoop.  Much, much easier.  They turned out just fine. 

Bake for approximately 11-14 minutes, rotating your cookie sheets halfway through the baking time. 

Be cautious to not overbake the cookies.  They're going to turn out crisp enough to hold their shape and form but yet, ooey, gooey and chewy.  That's just how I like my cookies!  I am happy to say that I've found my go-to recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies! . 

Tuna Noodle Casserole

This recipe is pretty self explanatory.  I don't have real measurements for things but I based it off of Carrie's recipe.  It turned out really great.  I know some people might completely turn their nose up at this but it was a delicious, warm, meal and tasted great after long work days and commutes.

Tuna Noodle Casserole
Recipe from: Carrie's Sweet Life

2 cups egg noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of tuna
1/2 cup shredded cheese, divided into two 1/4 cup servings
Plain potato chips, crushed up
Peas and/or corn (I used canned)

Cook the noodles to your preference. Prepare an 8x8 baking dish. (I always spray my baking dish with a little non-stick cooking spray.)

While the noodles are cooking, mix together the soup, tuna, peas and 1/4 cup of shredded cheese. 


Mix the soup mixture with the noodles.  Put into a baking dish.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and crushed potato chips. 

Bake about 30 min at 350 or until done.

Note: I doubled this recipe and put it in a 9x13 pan so that we'd have plenty for leftovers the following couple of days. 

Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

There are really no words that can accurately describe the taste and presentation of this cake.  I have never used my Deep Covered Baker from The Pampered Chef.  I've had it for over a year.  It has sat its beautiful, ceramic, cranberry colored self on my counter or pantry shelf for that long without so much as a second glance. I'm so...so...sorry DCB.

I was highly skeptical when I saw this recipe on Pinterest.  However, I thought I had nothing to lose to give it a shot! Plus, I thought it looked like a delicious way to break in my DCB.

Molten Lava Cake
Recipe from: The Recipe Roundup

1 box chocolate cake mix
Eggs, oil & water as directed on the cake mix box
1 can prepared chocolate frosting

Prepare the cake as directed on the box.  Pour the cake mix into the Deep Covered Baker.   Open your can of frosting and using a regular spoon, scoop six big scoops of frosting and plop them onto the raw cake batter that's in the Deep Covered Baker.  As you can see, I had a little bit more than six scoops. It was fine.

Here's the crazy part.  You're going to microwave, yes, microwave this cake.  Set your microwave for 10 minutes first, let it cook and take a peek at it. At the ten minute mark, mine was still pretty gooey. I put it in for another five and it was perfect.  When it's done in the microwave, let it rest for a few minutes.  When it looks cake-like and fluffy, it's done. 

As you can see, it will pull away from the pan. You'll see the frosting all melted on the bottom of the pan in ooey, gooey liquidy goodness. When you first take it out of the microwave, it's going to be too liquidy. Letting it set for a bit will help it firm up a bit, but still be thin enough to be the lava to your cake!

 Grab a spoon & enjoy!

Like my sundae dishes?  I got them at Walmart for less than a couple bucks! Super cute and they definitely make eating dessert more fun :)