Grape Salad - August 26, 2012

 My husband's grandma made these one summer and my husband came home raving about them so I had to get the recipe to make him happy.

Grape Salad

Ingredients:

1 lb seedless red grapes

1 lb seedless green grapes

8 oz cream cheese (softened)

8 oz sour cream

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup pecans (or walnuts) chopped

Directions:

Combine cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, and brown sugar until creamy. Add *washed & dried* grapes and nuts and stir until everything is well coated. Let chill for at least an hour. Serve chilled and store in fridge.

Husband Rating:

Like I said before, he loves these. I think a lot of it has to do with his grandma making them, but that's ok. :) I made them for a potluck of sorts and they were a big hit. I really like the crunchiness of the nuts, so I like to use more. Play around. You can use walnuts or pecans or change it up and use whatever you'd like. Toss in other fruit favorites too.

Berry Trifle - August 19, 2012

This recipe I got from a good friend. It's delicious and perfect for summer.

Berry Trifle

Ingredients:

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
1 cup cold water
1 tsp Almond Extract 

1 pack (3.4 oz) Instant Vanilla pudding (I used Lemon pudding because my father-in-law is a big fan)
2 cups of heavy whipping cream
2 Angel Food Cakes 

Fruit of your choice (I used 1 pack of blueberries, 2 packs of raspberries and 1.5 packs of strawberries)

1. Chill 2 large bowls for 20-30 min.
2. In 1 Large bowl, beat sweetened condensed milk, water, and extract until blended.
3. Stir in putting, let it sit 2 min until soft set, cover then chill until set (usually its set by the time your done whipping the cream)
4. In the other bowl, whip the whipping cream with an electric mixer until whipped.
5. Fold whipping cream into pudding mixture, don't over mix, but make sure it's well blended.
6. In a clear bowl or trifle dish layer Angle Food cake (pulled apart into bit size pieces), pudding mixture, and berries. Repeat layers until bowl is full or the goodies are gone. *My trifle dish was WAY full before my goodies were gone... shucks, I had to eat the angel food plain ;)
7. Refrigerate 2 or more hours to let the trifle settle and flavors blend
8. Enjoy!!!

Husband Review: 

He thought it was a nice light dessert. I would prefer it with all strawberries because I'm not a fan of blueberries or raspberries, but I made this for a family gathering so I put all the berries in it. Our family loved it. I've made it before and they really go gaga over it. It's pretty tasty, and perfect to make for a summer event.

Betty Crocker's Fun da-middles - August 12, 2012

I'm in the baking aisle quite a bit, and I've been running across this box of cupcake mix and honestly, I've been avoiding it. For some reason, the packaging of these cupcake mixes really turn me off and I never thought they'd taste very good. Well, we had a party at our house this past weekend and I wanted something really quick to make that would be easy for kids to grab and eat and I didn't have time to make cookies, so I grabbed a box... here's my review.

Betty Crocker Fun da-middles

Ingredients:

1 box of the Fun da-middles of your choice. I believe there are 3 different flavor combinations. (I used the yellow cake with chocolate filling.)

oil, water, and eggs per recipe on back of box

1 can your flavor choice of frosting (I used milk chocolate)

Directions:

Mix the ingredients per box instructions. Fill each lined cupcake tin about 1/3 full with batter. Grab the filling pouch from the box and snip off the end. Squeeze a small blob of filling into the center of each cup making sure not to have the fillings touch the sides of the cupcake cup. Divide the remaining batter over the cupcakes making sure to cover the filling in each cup. Bake as directed. Let cool completely and frost with desired frosting.

Husband Rating:

The husband dug them and so did everyone else at the party. I don't know why I would have doubted it, I mean Betty Crocker's name was on the box so they weren't going to be crappy. I didn't try one because I'm not a fan of cupcakes and if I would have ate one the little one sharing my body would have made me a very unhappy person for the rest of the day. But, as far as my review goes, I'd give the Fun da-middles two thumbs up. They were easy and apparently quite delicious.

Green Eggs and Ham (Bacon and Eggs) - August 5, 2012

Summer school is finally over, and I thought I'd share a cute little idea for some teachers or parents of youngins out there. I taught a Dr. Seuss summer school class and every year I make green eggs and ham to go along with the book. I don't make actual green eggs and ham because that's a lot of work, and frankly, I don't like eggs - and I don't think the kids would care for it either... so I make these instead. They're a pretty big hit.

Green Eggs and Ham

Ingredients:

1 package vanilla almond bark

green M&M's

Lattice pretzels

Directions:

Melt the almond bark as directed on the package. While the almond bark is melting, spread out a bunch of pretzels on wax paper. Put a small blob of the bark onto each pretzel and let set for a few minutes. Add an M&M to the center of each pretzel/chocolate blob with the "M" facing down. Let the Green Eggs and Ham sit until they have completely set. Store in an airtight container.

 I apologize for the pictures... they turned out a little wonky. I have no idea why.

 

Husband Rating:

He tried so hard to dip the pretzels in the melted bark when I wasn't looking. I had to slap his hand away many times. These aren't really something you'd crave when you wanted a dessert but they're cute and bite size and taste pretty yummy. Use the stick pretzels with almond bark and yellow M&M's to make bacon and eggs. My mom always did that when my sister and I were younger.