Candy Sundaes

Photo courtesy of the Cooking Corner

     Recently while watching some of my grandchildren, the spirit of bad grandma over took me. A child's nutritional intake is no longer my responsibility. I am a Grandma. I've paid my dues, done my time and when faced with the problem or what to feed them, I took the easy way out. I fed them ice cream. 

     We had 2 quarts of top-of-the-line vanilla ice cream in the freezer and I had just done some baking so there were leftover mini candy bars and sweet little candy bits. Voila!

     I thought everyone was quite happy until the little darlings threw me under the bus the minute their mother came to collect them.

     "Mom, grandma gave us ice cream for lunch!"

    That's OK, she had to take them home sugared up and all was well in my world once again.

Candy Sundaes

2 scoops ice cream per bowl

2 crushed small candy bars (like Butterfingers or Heaths)

2 T. candy bits (like chocolate chips, Heath bits or Reece's mini cups)

1 T. honey or butterscotch topping (optional)

Preparation:

Place ice cream scoops in bowl and top with candy bits. 

Drizzle honey or other topping over ice cream and serve immediately. 

Enjoy the children bouncing out the door. Makes 1 serving each.

Strawberry Ice Cream Cheesecake

Photos courtesy of the Cooking Corner.

     Food experiments are the norm at my house so no one was surprised that I tried a cheesecake made with strawberries. When those sweet red berries are in season, I'm all for it. They are one of my favorites. 
    This sweet summer delight is a combination of two great things - strawberry ice cream and cheesecake. It's made in a graham cracker crust but has the taste and consistency of strawberry ice cream. That means it melts and gets soupy like any strawberry sundae. (I didn't know that at the time.) I was expecting a strawberry cheesecake, but as the title reads, strawberry ice cream is the key.
    However this turned out to be a favorite. The the strawberry flavor balances just right with the creamy texture. I thought of adding more cream cheese to thicken it up, but was afraid that would dilute the strawberry flavor. As the saying goes, "If it's not broke, don't fix it." But you can always try.

Strawberry Ice Cream Cheesecake

1 sleeve (9 rectangles) graham crackers

3 tablespoons melted butter

2 cups strawberries

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup orange juice

1 T. lemon juice

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened 

1 cup powdered sugar

2 cups whipped topping

10-12 fresh strawberries for garnish

thin layer of whipped cream for topping

Preparation

Put graham crackers into a plastic bag and smash them until they are fine crumbs. 

Melt butter in small bowl and add graham cracker crumbs, stirring until well combined. Press into bottom of spring form pan and set aside.

In a blender combine 2 cups strawberries, sugar and orange juice. Blend until smooth. Set aside.

Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar in a medium bowl and beat until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Stir in strawberry mixture. Pour over prepared crust and cover with plastic

wrap.

Freeze for 6 to 8 hours or until firm.

Just before serving spread a thin layer of whipped topping on top and then dot with a few fresh strawberries.

Strawberry Bread

Photo courtesy Taste of Home

    One of our local farmers has fields of strawberries. During the early summer they are full of sweet goodness. The nice lady that has these strawberry fields also supplies people that come to pick the berries tips on how to take care of them and some recipes to try out. One of the recipes that caught my eye was a banana-style quick bread made with strawberries. It sounded just too good not to share. 

Strawberry Bread
recipe courtesy of Decker's Berries

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 T. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups frozen slice sweetened strawberries, thawed and mashed

1 pkg. (3 oz.) strawberry flavored gelatin (dry)

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup oil

Put all dry ingredients together into large bowl. Stir to mix. 

Make a "well" and add eggs, oil and strawberries. Mix until just blended. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake in two 9x5 pans for 1 hour. 

Makes 2 loaves.

*To make spread combine 1-8oz. pkg. softened cream cheese with 1/2 cup strawberry juice.

Peanut Butter Cup Freezer Pie

Photos courtesy of The Cooking Corner.

    Chocolate pies are always good, but those mixed with peanut butter cups are even better. It's just a perfect flavor combination. Adding some whipped topping to the chocolate is another way to make a pudding pie light and creamy. 
    This pie has all of those qualities. It has a light chocolate flavor with just a hint of peanut butter crunches and the texture is smooth and creamy with an occasional morsel of peanut butter. Adjust the amount of chocolate and peanut butter flavors to your liking. Because my hubby was raised by the queen of chocolate sweets, he says, "More."

Peanut Butter Cup Freezer Pie
1 chocolate cookie pie crust

1 small box of instant chocolate pudding

1 small box of instant vanilla pudding

1-1/2 cups of milk

1-8 oz. tub of whipped topping

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (15 regular sized candy pieces or 30 mini pieces) adjust as needed


In a large bowl, mix the pudding and the milk with an electric mixer. The mixture will be thick.

Fold in the whipped topping. 

Chop candy pieces into small bits, leaving some for topping.

Fold the chopped candy into the pudding mix. 

Pour into the chocolate pie crust. Top with more chopped peanut butter cups. 

Store in the freezer until about 30 minutes before serving.

Note - The recipe that this was based on called for 1 large box of instant chocolate pudding. However, I did not notice this until after I had gone shopping. Therefore I used what was on hand, 1 box chocolate and 1 box vanilla. This makes for a very light chocolate pie, which is not a bad thing.