Tag Archives: desserts

Food

A Tasty and Good-For-You Treat from #SafewayDairy

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B & L's Smoothie as part of our healthy lunch!The weather heating up around here means 1 thing: berry season!!! That means that the 4lb bin of strawberries were only $3.99!!! So of course we just had to get them! But that was a lot of strawberries at once to eat just plain, even for us. So while I was making my list off of the Vons.com site I decided to look for a great and easy recipe! I have been having a hard time filling up my kids lately and didn’t want a dessert. So I started looking at milk! I mean between the protein and the fact it would be cold, can’t go wrong with that right?

So I found a super easy and not to desserty recipe called B and L’s Strawberry Smoothie. Most of the ingredients are things we keep on hand (an essential point for new and untried recipes in this house) and they were all something I could buy at one store (Safeway)! I also knew that I could substitute local, raw honey for the sugar! I have been looking for more vehicles for raw honey because we all have horrible allergies and eating local, raw honey is supposed to help!

It was going to be a delightful end of the week treat to go with lunch! What can I say, I like to do something a little fun on Fridays when the school work is done. And it was so simple that at least 1 kid could help!

First off we went and stocked up at Vons! We needed yogurt for our smoothies and I needed Greek yogurts for breakfast! And of course we needed strawberries. My kids love grocery shopping with me. But that might be because they bribe them with a cookie;). Seriously, while I might grocery shop for a small army they all really do help and enjoy helping. They even carry everything in and help me put all the bags away.

So when Friday’s lunch time came around I assembled all the ingredients! Kids who were done with homework for the week got to help! The 7 year old got my crushed ice while the 5 year got to cut strawberries for the first time!!! This is the perfect recipe for kids to practice their cutting because the pieces are all going to get blended anyway! So after I assembled all the ingredients, I just blitzed it with my stick blender! And even though it was dessert, I topped it with a little light whipped cream. It made the kids feel extra spoiled! Paired with PB &J, it is a super good for you and filling meal!!!

B and L’s Strawberry Smoothie

  • 8 strawberries, hulled
  • 1/2 cup skim milk
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 3 tablespoons white sugar (subbed in equal amount of local, raw honey)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 6 cubes ice, crushed

(This post’s existence, but not the content, was sponsored. This shop was compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias to celebrate National Dairy Month.)

 

Food

Instant Food for Instant Fun

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Last week was a long and hard week here in the NerdFamily House. Anyone who reads my Twitter or personal Facebook know that by Thursday I was ready to pop. So when this weekend got here NerdDad and I knew that we needed to have a fun family night!!! We had just checked out Megamind from the library but for a truly fun family night there needs to be food too!

While I could cook up a storm and the kids would love it, that would not be a fun night for me. Either during the cooking or during all the cleaning that would have to happen after would not be fun for me or for NerdDad. So we decided to go to our traditional Saturday night pizza. But that wasn’t very special because we usually do pizza once a week;).

So NerdDad and I decided to step up the fun a huge step. We needed a couple of things for this week and thought a fun dessert would make family night special.  So NerdDad volunteered to bath all the kids while I went to Walmart alone to shop! Yes, you all heard me, alone!

So my MP3 player and I went to Walmart! I know you all think I am crazy to go to Walmart to relax on a Saturday afternoon but it is all about choosing the right one! The Walmart SuperCenter in Sanger is always clean and calm. Walmart had some great clearance (clothes for the girls, Kaiser rolls, and so much more;) but I had to decide about our special dessert. I looked at doing ice cream sundays but I didn’t want to have to buy a bunch of different toppings just to have 1/2 used jars sitting around for a while. I ended up picking out some Nestle Sprinkled Drumsticks. I have always been a huge Drumstick fan but haven’t bought them for a few years. Y’all were holding out on me. When did they start putting cherry in the middle? Yummy!!!

A Little Chillin'

Armed with my Sprinkled Drumsticks, I stopped by Little Caesars for pizza and arrived home the conquering hero. Then we have a fun night of pizza, ice cream and a hilarious movie! It was just the break I think we all needed! Getting instant food really helped to make our night really fun. Now go away while I eat another Sprinkled Drumstick while the kids aren’t around;).

(This project has been compensated as part of shopper insights for #collectivebias. While the generated the subject, I generated the opinions. 😉 ) You can check out my This Moment post below to see more about the actual trip!

 

 

Food

Peppermint Bits

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Ok, I love that this is the season of peppermint! I love peppermint in my cocoa, chocolate chip cookies and in my biscotti! And of course I have a great way to get peppermint bits super cheap!

The first thing to remember is that candy canes keep for a very long time;). So I buy the mini candy canes on the 75% off sales after Christmas. And yes always the mini candy canes because they are so easy to crush then!

So open them all up and put them into a gallon size ziplock bag. Make sure you put the bag in an easy to clean place. As you crush the candy canes they will make small punctures in the bag and leave a little sugar dust where ever it was sitting. Then hand a child a rolling pin and let them whack away!

Then you have a bowl of peppermint bits! You can add them to all kinds of delicious things. But keep them in an airtight bowl or bag because otherwise they will clump!

Food

Snickerdoodles

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I love snickerdoodles! Not only and they yummy, they are a perfect recipe to make with your kids. Even if you don’t have them actually mix up the dough, they can roll the balls to shape them and roll them in cinnamon sugar!

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
cinnamon and sugar (in a 1/2 ratio)

Process:

1. Mix shortening, sugar and eggs.  Then blend in the dry ingredients.
2. Roll into balls the size of walnuts and then roll in the mixture of cinnamon and sugar.
3. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Food

Chocolate Whipped Cream

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Homemade Chocolate Whipped Cream. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. This is an easy accompaniment that wows whoever sees it. I always feel a little guilty how impressed people get;). Here I just have a dollop of Chocolate Whipped Cream on top of a Sweet Wonton Crisp with 3 raspberries. (I could take it a notch further with a sprinkling of sweet cocoa or powdered sugar.)

Very Sweet Version (NerdDad likes it very sweet and chocolaty)
1 cup heavy whipped cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
3 tablespoons sweet cocoa powdered (I use Ghiradelli’s)

Start whipping your heavy cream (I have a stand mixer that I use) on high. Then sprinkle in the powdered sugar and continue whipping. 30 seconds later add the cocoa powder. Continue whipping until it is in stiff peaks.

For a slightly less sweet version (how I prefer it) only add 2 tablespoons of cocoa.

Which ever version you make it will rival anything you have seen in a fancy restaurant’s dessert;).

(Part of WFMW and Delicious Dishes)

Food

Sweet Wonton Crisps

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I love making these super easy Sweet Wonton Crisps. I use them as the base for napoleons, bite sized desserts and just as a chip. I use the square wontons for full size dessert napoleons and I cook them the same way.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Then lay out premade wonton skins (found in the Asian section of the grocery)  on cookie sheets. Then take a spray bottle of water and mist the tops of the wontons. Then sprinkle sugar over the top. Pop the cookie sheet in the oven for 8 minutes or until the wontons crisp start to brown around the edges.

Then transfer them to a cooling sheet with a spatula (they will still be bendy) and let them cool completely. If you cool them on the sheet they can be a little gummy on the bottom.

Then throw them in a zip top bag and they will keep for a few days!

Food

Butterfly Cake

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So I made the NerdPie a butterfly cake for her 7th birthday. It didn’t turn out as smooth as I hoped. Doesn’t it look nice from a distance (just ignore the messy counter;). But seriously, here is a close up picture.

My frosting was a little goupier than I wanted. I have to quit making them chocolate cakes! It would make my life easier, who cares what they like to taste;). It is a round cake that was cut in half. Then I put it round sides together and then cute a triangle out of each straight side. I used some tubed red and pink icing that I got on 75% off clearance at Valentine’s Day. The yellow triangles are sugared grapefruit with sour fruit tape in the middle of the grapefruit and as antennae. Then I used cotton candy jelly bellies in the middle. I guess it wasn’t a failure because she knew what it was on the first guess;).

Food

Bargain Peanut Butter Cookies

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I love peanut butter cookies with chocolate in the middle. But that chocolate is pricey! So for years I have always bought Hershey Kisses on holiday clearance. No one can taste the price difference.

But I have been faced with a problem. Hershey Kisses are getting harder and harder to find on clearance. At least the normal flavors that my husband will eat (he just won’t do things like raspberry filled;). So in the after Christmas sales I decided to branch out. These are the Butterfinger bells that I found on a huge clearance and then used a Walgreens coupon on;). So I paid less than a dollar for a bag.
But I was hesitant to make them for other people because I thought it would look to much like Christmas and Butterfingers aren’t traditional. Well, I don’t care anymore. These were super yummy!!! And, frankly, I think they look great for any time of the year!
So the lesson: Buy that clearance candy! Use it in your cookies and where people will see it! You will save $$ and come up with a new, great tasting combo!
(This is listed in Kitchen Tip Tuesday)