Tag Archives: Dessert

Aside

Oh my gosh, do you need to make this. No kidding at all, you really do need to make this. I bought a quart of buttermilk because I needed some to make a ranch dipping sauce (a different post) and … Continue reading

Independence Mango Pineapple Cream Pie

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Happy 4th of July, fellow food lovers! This year, our family decided to do a Hawaiian theme for the menu and since my sister in law was bringing Haupia and my mom the Guava cake, I decided to go a different route. Mr. Foodie and I decided on this Mango Pineapple Cream Pie.

I was a little leery about the fresh mango in this because I’ve been less than impressed with all the mangoes I’ve gotten this year. Luckily, I ended up with a decent one and chopped it really fine so it ended up working quite well.

The family really enjoyed this pie, Mr. Foodie was a big fan. It’s a very light, refreshing dessert which was a nice top off to a very heavy meal. It took no time to put together as most of the ingredients are store bought and used as-is. A great thing to bring to a last minute get together or potluck. I would also note that making your own crust and whipped cream would be awesome and I will go that route next time!

Have a very happy and safe Independence Day! I’m off to set off some fireworks!

Mango Pineapple Cream Pie

Ingredients:

-1 Pre-made Shortbread Pie Crust
-1 8 oz. Can of Crushed Pineapple
-1 Mango, seeded, peeled and finely chopped
-1 3 oz. Package of Instant Vanilla Pudding
-8 oz. of Sour Cream
-1 Container of Cool Whip
-Fresh Mango and Pineapple for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. In a medium mixing bowl, mix mango, sour cream, crushed pineapple (do not drain) and dry pudding mix until well combined.

2. Spread mixture into pie crust and chill at least a half hour before serving.

3. Spread top of pie with Cool Whip and garnish with fresh fruit (optional) before serving.

Dole Whip Float

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As you can tell, it’s been a while since my last blog post. Someone told me that there are three parts to a school year – the beginning, end and the month of May. This is so true. May was so busy with all the commitments I had for Foodie Jr.’s school coming to a head. June has flown by between the school year ending, Foodie Jr. turning seven and summer camps. I am on the go quite a bit so I have decided to try my hand at mobile blogging. Please hang in there while I work out the kinks!

This non-recipe is sort of two-fold. First, Mr. Foodie loves Dole Whips. These are the ice creamy treat you can get in Hawaii at the Dole plantation and at the Tikki room in Disneyland. Second, we die laughing every time we see the Family guy clip when Stewie keeps saying, “hwhip.”. You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lich59xsjik&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This is more like a Dole hWhip float. So simple and I think Mr. Foodie has had one daily this summer. When the ice cream melts into the pineapple juice, it is delicious. To me, it almost tastes piña-colady. (Coladish? You know what I mean.). Just make one and enjoy.

DOLE WHIP FLOAT

Ingredients
-Favorite Vanilla Ice Cream
-Dole Pineapple Juice

Directions
1. Scoop 2-3 regular sized scoops Imogene vanilla ice cream into a tall glass.
2. Pour pineapple juice over the ice cream.
Note: play with the ratios to your liking.

Very Pinteresting…Recipes I’ve Actually Tried

Unless you are being held prisoner in a basement or something, I’m sure you have either heard of Pinterest or have already started pinning your heart out.  I admit it, I’m a serial pinner.  Like a pin hoarder.  But, I am happy to report that I have actually made some things I’ve seen on there.  I’m even happier to report that I’ve only had one REALLY EPIC FAIL:  dehydrated strawberries in the oven.  Don’t believe the pictures, people!  Anyway, I thought I’d share a few of the ones I have tried and liked.  I’ve linked to the pin on my board so you can check out the recipes if you like.

LEMON BROWNIES

We really liked these.  Mr. Foodie doesn’t like brownies (I know, right?) so these really worked for him.  They are really heavy and rich, which, in this case, is a good, good thing…

MONKEY BARS

Let me just say that I’m ALWAYS on the hunt for the best banana bar/cake.  I think this is my favorite banana anything recipe.  I loved this and if you like banana stuff, you will too!  Try it, it’s a keeper!

EGG CREAM

Pictured is a strawberry egg cream I made for Mr. Foodie, which he loved.  I made a chocolate one for myself.  I personally think they are kind of weird.  It’s not that they taste bad or anything, it’s just a weird mouth experience to me.  I’m expecting creamy, milky goodness and am met with sparkly, carbonation.  It’s unexpected so I’m not sure how I feel about Egg Creams.  Mr. Foodie is sold on them, however, so they will be making appearances in the house!

GRANDS DONUTS

Donuts out of canned biscuits?  Say it ain’t so?  Oh, it is.  And they are really good!  We tried some dipped in sugar and some in cinnamon sugar.  We much preferred the ones dipped in plain sugar.  These make some tasty, light donuts.  Foodie Jr. and I gobbled them up.  They are a little reminiscent of malasadas to me, a Portuguese donut.

I’m sure I’ll be posting about more winning Pinterest finds in the future, I just wanted to share a few with you today.  Head on over and follow me – I’m on there as Foodie Interrupted!

Thin Mint Milkshake

I’m a Cub Scout Mama but way back when, I used to be a Girl Scout.  My little guy sells popcorn, which is all well and good, but it’s definitely not Girl Scout cookies!  Foodie Jr.’s little buddy happens to be a Daisy and since her mom bought popcorn from him, it was time to reciprocate.  (Who am I kidding, I would have bought Thin Mints from any little girl pedaling them at the store.)  Since you can only eat so many Thin Mints (really?) I thought it was time to make something with them.  So, I made a milkshake for Mr. Foodie, he’s big on the milkshakes.  Plus, I wanted to use the old school, beat up, green aluminum cup my mom gave me in the picture so it all matched nicely.  Make these, you will be happy.  And so will those little girls at the grocery store you bought them from.

THIN MINT MILKSHAKES

Ingredients:

6 Thin Mint Cookies, plus one for optional garnish

1 Cup Milk (your choice, I used almond milk for Mr. Foodie’s needs)

2 Scoops of your favorite Vanilla Ice Cream

Whip Cream

Directions

1.  Throw all ingredients in the blend and blend away until you reach desired consistency.

2.  Garnish with whip cream and whole cookie and serve!

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies – The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

A little bit about ‘The Swap”…

I was hanging out on Twitter late one night when I happened upon Love and Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen‘s tweets about their Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.  I was in luck as it wasn’t too late to sign up, which I immediately did.  I used to attend a local mother’s group cookie swap every year and it was a lot of fun.  I am no longer a member of that club and while I still participate in smaller swaps, I wanted to do a bigger one.  At the time I had signed up, they had about 550 bloggers from around the world signed up to swap cookies.  I thought that was pretty darn cool and it was fun being a part of it.  I got to exchange 3 dozen of my cookies with 3 other bloggers, blogs I had never read before!  They estimate that over 22.000 cookies were swapped across this big ole world!  That’s a lot of cookies and I’m happy I got to be a part of it!  If you missed it this year and would like information on how to participate in the next one, sign up here.

A little bit about the cookies I received…

1.  Sisters’ Snacktime ( AJ & Jas Hwang) provided me with my first cookies.  They sent me two kinds (!) –  Peach and Crisp Salted Oatmeal with White/Dark Chocolate.

2.  I got my second set of cookies from Lana Watkins at Bibberche.  They were called Roses and were Serbian recipe from her Grandmother.

3.  My final set of cookies arrived from Chrissy and Dana Marie DeCapite at Sorelle e Cibo.  They were a really yummy white chocolate macadamia and cranberry cookie.  (Mr. Foodie ate them all.)

Thank you to all of my Cookie Swappers!  I enjoyed the different cookies and stories.

A little bit about the cookies I swapped…

I wanted to make a cookie I had never made before and I wanted it to be a little bit different.  Don’t get me wrong, I love your standards like chocolate chip or peanut butter, but I definitely wanted to go in another direction.  When I was pregnant with Foodie Jr., I became part of an internet message board for moms delivering in the same month and year.  I immediately made friends with a gal named Jen and we’ve been friends ever since.  And although we haven’t even met in person, I still consider her one of my best, dearest friends.  One thing we have in common is a love of food.  I sooooooooo trust her taste in food and have not disliked any recipe she has ever passed along.  She gave me this recipe for her favorite cookie a few years back and I’ve never gotten around to trying it.  I have no idea why I waited so long because these are definitely on MY list of favorite cookies now!  This recipe came from her father’s mother and I just love that – recipes that are passed down from one generation to the next.  These cookies are pretty simple to make and generally are things you would normally (well, I would) have on hand.  These cookies can be made chewy or crunchy.  While I think everyone here preferred them on the chewier side (my friend Jen included) the crunchy ones are good too and great for having with coffee or tea.  I adore this recipe and am going to make it several more times this holiday season – my new go-to cookie.  These would be great iced too so I might have to try that!

LEMON OATMEAL COOKIES

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Shortening

1/2 Cup White Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 1/2 Tsp Grated Lemon Rind (I used the rind of an entire lemon)

1 1/2 TBS Molasses

1/2 Tsp Vanilla

3/4 Cup plus 2 TBS Flour

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 1/2 Cups Rolled Oats

Directions:

1.  Preheat Oven to 400 Degrees (once dough is done chilling.)

2.  Mix the first seven ingredients (shortening, white sugar, brown sugar, egg, lemon rind, molasses and vanilla) thoroughly.

3.  Sift together the next three ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) and add to the first mixture.

4.  Stir in rolled oats and mix thoroughly by hand.

5.  Press and mold into a long smooth roll about 2 1/2′ diameter.  Wrap in wax paper and chill until stiff (several hours or overnight.)

6.  With a thin, sharp knife cut into thin slices 1/8′ thick.  Place slices on an ungreased cookies sheet and bake until lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes.

A few notes:  These overcook really quickly so if you prefer them on the chewy side, they won’t look quite ‘done’ when you take them out.  Just let them sit on the sheet for another 5 minutes before moving to a rack to cool.  Also, this recipe doesn’t double well, so make each batch individually.

Dessert Three Ways

I really enjoy being a part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.  I was recently picked to try out Duncan Hines and Comstock products for this go round.  I was given some coupons for myself and to share with others for free products.  All my friends and family were very happy!  I chose several products to try:  Duncan Hines Decadent Triple Chocolate Cake with the Amazing Chocolate Glaze, Duncan Hines Brownie Mix and the Comstock Lemon Pie filling.

I made the Decadent Triple Chocolate Cake with the Amazing Chocolate Glaze as- is for my mother’s birthday party.  This cake was to die for!  We all really enjoyed it.  I made it as a bundt cake and it was so moist and rich.  The Glaze was so, so easy to use and I personally think it is much more yummy than regular frosting.  This is definitely a must-try, even if you are partial to scratch baking.

I used the Brownie mix to make a peppermint mocha brownie by just adding one tablespoon of instant espresso powder and 1 cup of chopped white chocolate peppermint bark.  I based this around popular holiday drinks as I thought the brownie would lend really well to the flavors.  I used a lot more instant espresso than I normally would as I really wanted to drive the mocha flavor home and it worked!  The brownies were very easy and turned out just as I had planned so I was really happy with them.

For the Comstock Lemon Pie filling, I made a bread pudding.  It was my first time making bread pudding but I really thought that lemon would go well with the texture and mild flavor.  Again, I was really happy with the result!  It came out creamy with a mild lemon flavor, our family really enjoyed it!

I really urge you to try any of these products, whether to bake as-is or to experiment with putting your own twist on them!  Thank you to Foodbuzz, Duncan Hines and Comstock for giving me the opportunity to try these great products!

LEMON BREAD PUDDING

Ingredients:

12 Cups of Croissant or Butterflake Rolls, cubed

6 Eggs

1 Cup Sugar

2 Cups Whole Milk

1 Tsp Pure Maple Syrup

1 Cup All Purpose Flour

1 Can of Comstock Lemon Pie Filling

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Generously grease a 9×13 pan.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and maple syrup together.  Gradually mix in the milk and the flour until well blended.

3.  Add bread cubes to the mixture and stir until all bread cubes have soaked up the liquid.  Add half the can of lemon pie filling to the bread mixture and mix well.

4.  Add half of the bread cubes to the baking dish.  Spread half the can of the lemon pie filling over the entire the layer.

5.  Add the remaining bread mixture on top of the lemon pie filling.

6.  Bake for 45 minutes, toothpick inserted should come out clean.

The Pumpkin Pie Post

Some say it might be obligatory, it being Thanksgiving and all.  Either way, here it comes:  my pumpkin pie post.

Recently, I’ve been pinning the heck out of things on Pinterest.  (I’m on there as Foodie Interrupted – follow me and you will see proof of my obsession.) I kinda feel like I’m a serial re-pinner.  I oogle over peoples boards of food dishes and fun  crafty projects and re-pin away.  I do this, of course, because I will make every single one of those dishes and crafts one day.  I swear.  No, really…  Well, one of the things I pinned recently was a cinnamon roll pie crust.  With this pie heavy holiday upon us, I thought this was a perfect fit, so I went for it.  I also needed something to take to the in-laws and who better to experiment on?  (Besides, I was asked to bring the pumpkin pie.)  My crust didn’t look as pretty as the original one I pinned over at Pinterest, but I was still very happy with it.  Here’s a pic of the cinnamony goodness:

The cinnamon roll crust only goes to the top edge of the pie plate so I decided to get all fancy and make a nice leaf crust around the top.  You don’t have to do this at all but I thought it looked better and there may be some crust lovers in the crowd that this move would please.  Please note that I sort of did the fancy schmancy leaf thing as an afterthought, so when you read my directions for adding it – BE CAREFUL!

I have not actually made pumpkin pie in a few years, somebody else is usually in charge of that!  I generally don’t have a set in stone recipe, either.  I know, who doesn’t have a pumpkin pie recipe, right?  Well, this girl doesn’t.  I contemplated doing something different with the pie filling but since I had already done the cinnamon roll crust, I didn’t want to mess too much with the filling.  Sometimes, less is more.  I was already sweating bullets debating whether or not to add more cinnamon to the filling with the given crust and concerned about serving a ‘cinnamon pie with a hint of pumpkin’ to my in-law family.  Well, what I ended up making worked, it was a good pie.  Foodie Jr. and Baby Foodie woofed this pie down.  Baby Foodie even screamed at his big brother to share more.  Brothers fighting over pie, who woulda thunk it?

This could be one of the worst iphone food pics in the history of the world.

CINNAMON ROLL PUMPKIN PIE

Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie shell, pre-made or homemade is fine

1 TBS Butter, melted

Cinnamon, enough to sprinkle all over single pie crust

15 oz. of Pumpkin (canned or fresh – I used canned Organic)

1 Cup Evaporated Milk

1/2 Cup Whole Milk

2 Eggs

3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/2 Tsp (scant) Cinnamon

1/4 Tsp Ground Ginger

1/4 Tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/8 Tsp Ground Clove

Directions:

1.  Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Place pie crust on a lightly floured surface and brush with melted butter.  Sprinkle cinnamon all over the entire crust – as if you were making cinnamon rolls.

3.  Tightly roll the pie crust up and cut into 1/2 inch segments.  Line a 9 inch pie plate with the cinnamon rolls by placing them flat side down and pressing them into the dish, all the way to the edge.

4.  For the pie, place all remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl and blend together very well – I used a hand held egg beater and it worked great.

5.  Pour the pumpkin mixture into your pie shell and bake in the oven for about 40-45  minutes (ovens will vary.)

6.  Remove pie and cool before serving.

NOTE:  If you wish to make the additional leaf crust: Use any extra pie crust you have and cut leaves out (I used the Wilton cut-outs.)  Keep them refrigerated and then dip them in an egg wash and add to the edge of your pie, the last 10-15 minutes of cooking.

Easy Strawberry Trifle

We recently had a new grocery store open up close to us and they had a special on strawberries.  Never one to pass up a deal, I purchased a whole bunch of them!  Foodie, Jr. is a big lover of the strawberry but even with his voracious berry appetite, I still needed to find a use for the strawberries overflowing in my refrigerator.  Enter Fourth of July.  We were headed to a family get together and I decided to throw together something to bring, involving – you guessed it – strawberries.  I threw together this very easy trifle.  So easy, it will make your head spin.  Everyone really seemed to like it a lot, it was gone anyway.  So, if you find yourself needing to use a bunch of strawberries or hard pressed to bring a potluck dish, I highly recommend this!

EASY STRAWBERRY TRIFLE

Ingredients:

4 Cups of Fresh Stawberries, sliced plus a few whole for garnish

1 Box of Instant Vanilla Pudding

1 Tub of Whipped Topping

1 Angel Food Cake, cubed

Directions:

1.  Prepare instant pudding then fold in whipped topping until well incorporated.

2.  In a trifle dish, or similar, start with a layer of about 1/3 of pudding mixture.  Next a layer of angel food cake and then a layer of strawberries.  You should be able to repeat this twice and then end with a layer of pudding mixture on top.

3.  Garnish with strawberries, whole or sliced, as you desire.

Shortcut Chocolate Guinness Cake

In an effort to use up some of our St. Patrick’s Day Guinness stash so Mr. Foodie did not drink it all, I thought I would make one of my most favorite cakes – a chocolate Guinness cake.  Pictured above is one of my best gal pals at a Girls Night Out Baby Shower.  She requested a post baby shower so she could have a beer  –  the cake went well with the theme.  (Excuse the beautiful iPhone photo!)  You can make this cake from scratch or from a box mix.  Honestly, it is good either way and people will gobble it up.  I’m including the recipe for a doctored cake mix because, well, it’s that kind of day around here…
CHOCOLATE GUINNESS CAKE – THE SHORT CUT WAY
Ingredients:
For Cake

1 Box of Dark Chocolate Cake Mix (extra moist with pudding preffered)
1 Bottle of Guinness Stout
1/2 Cup Canola Oil
3 Eggs
1/2 Cup Bittersweet (or Semi-Sweet if you prefer) Chocolate, chopped
For Ganache
6 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate
6 TBS Heavy Cream
3/4 Tsp Instant Espresso
Directions:
1.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and coat a bundt pan with cooking spray.
2.  Combine cake mix, stout, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl and use electric mixer on medium to beat until combined.  Pour evenly into bundt pan.
3.  Bake 35-40 minutes until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
4.  Remove from oven and allow cake to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
5.  To make ganache, heat chocolate, cream and espresso in a double broiler and combine until smooth.
6.  Drizzle ganache over cooled cake.