Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

I got an ice cream maker courtesy of my sister in law and her fiance for Christmas and all I can say is where have you been all my life? It was honestly the best ice cream I have ever had. Maybe because it was all natural ingredients, no weird stuff you can get with the stuff in the store. Whatever it is, it was delicious and I am so happy to have one. Not to mention, easy to use! This recipe is one that came with the instructions for the ice cream maker and I am very happy with it. I probably should have let the ice cream set a little better before sampling it but too bad, it was so good I couldn't wait!

1 pint fresh strawberries, stemmed and sliced
3 TBSP lemon juice
1 cup sugar, divided
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

In a small bowl combine the sliced strawberries, lemon juice and 1/3 cup of the sugar. Stir it together and let it sit for 2 hours and allow the strawberries to macerate (my new favorite word) in the juices for 2 hours.

In a medium bowl, combine the milk and remaining sugar. Blend with a hand mixer or whisk until the sugar is dissolved, 1-2 minutes. Stir in the cream, vanilla, and the juices from the macerated strawberries. Turn the machine on and pour the mixture into the freezer bowl through the spout and let it mix for 25-30 minutes or to desired consistency. Add in the strawberries during the last 5 minutes of mixing.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Momma wants some oatmeal raisin cookies and a big glass of milk so out to the store went my dear husband for raisins and I whipped up a batch of this delicious cookies to satisfy my craving. Thanks honey, you won't regret the trip!!

Ingredients

• 1/2 butter
  
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a large cookie sheet with non-stick spray.
2. In a large bowl, with a mixer set on low speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until blended. Add egg whites, egg, and vanilla; beat until smooth.
3. With spatula, stir in flour, oats, raisins, baking powder, and salt until combined.
4. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons, about 2 inches apart, on cookie sheet. Flatten dough into 3-inch circles. Bake cookies 16-18 minutes or until golden brown. With a pancake turner, remove cookies to wire racks to cool for 15 minutes. Makes about 32-35 small cookies.
   

Cream Cheese Brownies

I was bored Monday night and needed something to do. So I pulled out my Best of Cooking Light cookbook and made these fabulous cream cheese brownies. Unfortunately my oven is a little hotter than what the temp says because the cream cheese topping got a little browner than I would have liked. They still tasted wonderful though!

Apple Crisp, Still Better Than Apple Pie

And easier too! It's fall and time to bring the apple crisp back. The family loves it, guests love it, I love it... Need I say more? This is easy to make and can be doubled/tripled or whatever if you wanted to make this and take it to a party. I will be doing that for sure this holiday season. But if you find you need to make this sooner and try it out, you really should.

Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

My friend at Cooking This and That made this cake for few of us at a get together about a month ago and I loved it so I knew I'd be making it. Perfect opportunity came when my sister-in-law hosted a meet and greet with our family and her boyfriend's family. The cake came out great and was a bit hit with everyone. Thanks Colleen!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Simply delicious. I never liked the store bought cookies. Way too hard and fake tasting. And today I had the motivation to make them. And they are... simply delicious.

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine salt

Evenly position 2 racks in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. on convection setting if you have it. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. If you only have 1 baking sheet, let it cool completely between batches.

Put the butter in a microwave safe bowl, cover and microwave on medium power until melted. Cool slightly. Whisk the sugars, eggs, butter and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon; take care not to over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips or chunks.

Scoop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared pans. Wet hands slightly and roll the dough into balls. Space the cookies about 2-inches apart on the pans. Bake, until golden, but still soft in the center, 12 to 16 minutes, depending on how chewy or crunchy you like your cookies. Transfer hot cookies with a spatula to a rack to cool. Serve.

Amish Friendship Bread

My friend Brooke passed her starters onto me and last night I got to make this super delicious "bread". I put it in quotes because it really tastes more like cake. I brought a loaf into work with me this morning and it's already gone! So thanks Brooke. And if anyone wants a starter, I have 4 at home. Just send me an email and you'll get the starter and the instructions. It's really easy too.

Marbled Chocolate Fudge

I'm not one to bake a ton of cookies every Christmas but I do love fudge and enjoy giving that away. It's less work and tastes just as good. Since today was a snow day, Emma and I whipped up some delicious marbled chocolate fudge. We'll be bringing some to our family Christmas get together and give some away to my co-workers.














3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can low fat sweetened condensed milk
dash of salt
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
10 oz. white baking chocolate (I used Ghiradelli), chopped

Melt the chocolate chips with the sweetened condensed milk in a heavy sauce pan over a low heat. When it is smooth, remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla and white chocolate.
Line an 8 inch square pan with wax paper and spread the fudge mixture evenly into it. Chill for 2 hours in the refridgerator. Remove from the wax paper and cut into bite-sized chunks. Store in a covered container in the fridge.

White Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

I was in the mood to bake tonight and to use pumpkin so of course pumpkin cookies came to mind. However, I didn't love the regular chocolate chips I put in the last time I made these so I turned to white chocolate chips. Tons better! Now we have yummy cookies to give to family this weekend, and better yet, eat a few ourselves.














1/2 cup margarine
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup white chocolate chips

Cream the margarine and sugar together with a hand mixer until light a fluffy.
Beat in the egg, pumpkin and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix together well. Fold in the chips.
Drop teaspoons of the cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet (I needed 3) and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.
Makes 3-1/2 to 4 dozen cookies.

Double Chocolate Bundt Cake

I was in the mood tonight to bake. I don't normally bake so this was definitely out of the ordinary for me. But since my Dad's birthday is tomorrow, then I figured I could bring my creation along. I don't own cake pans, only a bundt pan so I am a little limited but I did find this recipe on Cooking Light's web site and it really sounded so good. I haven't tasted it yet but the batter was delicious and the house smells great so I can't imagine it's bad. The only change I made was that I added in 1/3 of a cup of butterscotch chips along with a 1/3 of the chocolate chips just because I love butterscotch!

Better than apple pie...

Apple crisp! This may be very wrong of me to say this but I think I'm more in love with this than apple pie. All the yummy flavors... apples, cinnamon, sugar, butter (yes, real butter) AND crunch to go with it. Dave and Emma agreed, better than apple pie. I grabbed this off of allrecipes.com and based on comments, increased the baking time and used 1/2 cup of white sugar along with a 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar. Don't forget to top it with vanilla ice cream!

4 cups sliced apples
ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.
Place apples in prepared dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Pour water over all. In a bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Blend in flour. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.
Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes, until apples are tender and crust is golden.

Chocolate Chip Blondie's

I'm not usually a baker or a dessert person but every once in a while we bake around here and of course, my stepdaughter Emma pitches in. So yesterday we made blondies and they were great. We used Lovestoeat's idea of mixing white and milk chocolate chips. Great dessert. We really liked them!

This recipe originated from Cooking Light, although with the amount of butter in it, there's nothing "light" about them. This is definitely more Paula Deen-esque

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1- 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 large eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. In a bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and eggs and beat until well blended.

2. Stir in flour, salt, and baking soda until well combined. Stir in butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, and walnuts. Butter a 9- by 13-inch baking pan and spread dough level in pan.

3. Bake in a 350° regular or convection oven until top is browned and a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30 minutes. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then cut into 24 rectangles. Serve warm or cool.

Dinner Divas: Apple Pie!

I did it! I made my own crust! OK, it's not really that hard and having the food processor do most of the work really does help. Still, I'm really proud of myself that it came out so good. It's not the prettiest pie crust but my first time around, my worries were focused more on taste and texture than beauty. Thanks Dinner Divas! I am happy you picked this recipe this month and helped me to conquer my fears of homemade pie crust.

Here's the recipe and instructions at Food Network... I'm too lazy to repost it all (it's pretty long!)

I'm also submitting it for Joelen's September Tasty Tools: Bakeware

And some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Mmmm. Fruit Salad.

So simple, I sometimes forget to make it but since we got lots of yummy fruit at the farmer's market, I finally remembered.... Fruit Salad! Slice strawberries, grapes, blueberries, bananas (2) and sliced kiwis (2) and a little sugar mixed in, I can't wait to top this with a little Cool Whip Light and have it for dessert. I love the fruits of summer!

June/July Recipe Exchange: Bahama Mamas!

This is my first time participating in the What's Cooking recipe exchange and I am so excited. I hope I did my recipe justice. I was assigned Bahama Mamas from hornedfroggy (Jessica) and lucky for my family I did them on a night where we could all drink one. . I did reduce the ice by about half... because my blender wouldn't hold all that and we're big drinkers.I am not personally a sweet drinking kind of lady so I had one large glass and that was enough. It was very tasty. My sister and sisters-in-law also tried it out and I made a virgin version for my step-daughter. It worked out for everyone!

1/2 cup light rum
1/2 cup Malibu or Parrot Bay Coconut Rum
1/2 cup grenadine syrup
1 cup Dole orange/pineapple/banana juic
8 cups crushed ice (I used about 4 cups of crushed ice)
















Here are some pictures from our fun Bahama Mama night.  
Some relatives may have shown up in some and I'm too lazy
to edit.  Sorry!

My husband really liked these. He had 3! (I think)

Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

I got this recipe from Cooking Light. I've had a bundt pan since my wedding and never used it, so now I can say, I have. My lovely stepdaughter helped me make the yummy icing and we're having this cake for dessert tonight. Here's the recipe and a few photos, courtesy of Emma and myself.

Cake:
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour (I used 2 cups all purpose and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups granulated sugar (I used 1-1/4 cups sugar and 1/2 cup of splenda)
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) container reduced-fat sour cream
2 cups fresh blueberries (I only had a little more than 1 cup but it was plenty!)

Glaze: (I only used about half of the glaze this made. It was way too much.)
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, coat a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; dust with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Set aside.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, butter, and rind in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition (about 4 minutes total). Beat in vanilla and sour cream. Add flour mixture; beat at medium speed just until combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and lemon juice, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Makes 16 servings. Nutrition ingredients based on the original recipe CALORIES 299(23% from fat); FAT 7.8g (sat 4g,mono 2.7g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 5g; CHOLESTEROL 71mg; CALCIUM 68mg; SODIUM 172mg; FIBER 1.1g; IRON 1.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 53.2g

Rice Pudding

I have always loved rice pudding, ever since my grandmother would make it for us when I was a kid. I got this recipe out of Cooking Light and am so excited to have found a lower fat version of a favorite dessert.

2 cups Arborio rice
3-1/2 cups fat free milk (I used half milk, half Silk Light Vanilla soy milk)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk (I skipped this and it made no difference)
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs beaten (I used eggbeaters)
1/4 cup raisins
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Bring the milk, sugar and rice to a boil. Cook rice until soft and creamy, about 35-40 minutes. Continue to add more milk as necessary to prevent the rice from drying out or burning.

When the rice is done, gradually add half of it to the eggs in a separate bowl, stirring constantly with a wisk. Return egg and rice mixture to the rest of the rice in the pot and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add in the raisins and vanilla. Makes 8 servings.

Low fat Banana shake

This is a version based on my Mom's awesome banana shake growing up. I made it this morning and drank half, as the recipe is definitely two servings.

2 very ripe bananas
1/2 can of Fat Free sweetened condensed milk
2 handfuls of ice
1/4 cup milk

Blend it all together and have yourself a yummy, low fat shake!

Pumpkin Pie

Made my first pumpkin pie today. I used the recipe on the Libby's can except I didn't have ground ginger so I used nutmeg and it came out great! And I even bought a pumpkin pie plate. Kohl's had them on sale for 60% off and I thought it was a great idea. :-)

Here's the web site for the recipe!
http://tinyurl.com/3nw84