You're my angel

I can't deny that I have a sweet tooth. I love dessert. However, it isn't always the healthiest choice I can make. 

That means it's been reduced to an occasional treat versus a regular thing.

I can justify it with this, however.

Angel food cake.

Fresh blueberries.

Cashew cream.

Easy, elegant, less bad for you.

You Say it's Your Birthday

My birthday was earlier this week, so it's a lot to celebrate. Tomorrow my family and friends are going to serve lunch at the Banquet, the local soup kitchen, to celebrate all of our blessings. That doesn't mean we didn't celebrate earlier too! I decided to make a special cake and cupcakes to share with my coworkers and friends. I decided to make cherry poke cake.

I found this great recipe at Baking Bites (http://bakingbites.com/2005/10/happy-birthday-to-me/)which was the base.

Yellow Sheet Cake

2 ½ cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9×13 inch sheet pan with parchment paper, or lightly grease it with shortening or oil (butter will produce a harder “crust”).
Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add sugar and, using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed to blend. Cut butter into 4 or 5 chunks and drop into the bowl with the flour. Blend on low speed until mixture looks sandy and no large chunks of butter remain, 1-2 minutes.
In a large measuring cup, combine eggs, milk and vanilla. Beat lightly with a fork until combined. With the mixer on low, pour 1 cup of the egg mixture into the bowl. Turn speed up to medium and beat for 1 ½ minutes. Reduce speed back to low and pour in the rest of the egg mixture. Continue to beat at low speed for an additional 30 seconds, until liquid is fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for a few more seconds, if necessary.
Pour into prepared 9×13 pan and spread batter evenly with a spatula. Tap gently a few times to eliminate any bubbles.
Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool for 30 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a rack to cool completely. You can leave it in the pan if you’re serving it casually.
Serves 16 (or 12 birthday-sized pieces)

After the cake has cooled, poke holes into it. Mix 1 cup boiling water with 1 pkg jello and pour over cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Top with vanilla pudding frosting

1 pkg vanilla pudding
1 tub cool whip
1 c milk

Mix the pudding with milk, fold in cool whip. Frost the cake and top with sprinkle

Adams Apple

Tomorrow night is the Little Man's Boy Scouts crossover ceremony. I honestly don't know much about this because 1. We're new to scouting and 2. We're new to scouting. I was very involved in Girl Scouts when my sister was younger, plus I was in scouts too, so I'm more familiar with that. It's a chance for awards, and my kiddo has worked very, very hard in scouting. Plus, it's something he loves. He's grown so much and I know that will continue.
I got an email from the leader asking families to bring treats for tomorrow at 5 pm today. Cause for panic, since I didn't plan on this when I went shopping over the weekend. Plus, it's Monday. That makes creative thought harder. So, off to Pinterest I went, and found a great idea using stuff I had in the fridge.

Apple pie wontons

1 c chopped apples
1/2 c sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp apple pie seasoning
24 wonton wrappers

Preheat oven to 350. Line a mini muffin pan with wonton wrappers. Mix apples, sugar, vanilla & seasoning. Spoon into lined cups. Pinch closed. Bake 20 minutes.

They smell heavenly!

Above the Clouds

Our VBS theme this year was Sky-where our kiddos learned that everything is possible with God. Since I work full time during the day, as do most of my volunteers, we offer our program in the evening.
Most kiddos wouldn't get a chance to eat before coming, so we provide dinner. My parish has some pretty awesome cooks, and our kiddos were well fed.
I made, as dessert, clouds and sky jello.
To make you need:
4 boxes blue jello
Water
Cool whip

Make the jello, following the jiggler directions on the package. Pour into 9x13 pan, let cool & set. Cut into cloud shapes and put into cups. Top with cool whip and serve

Bunny Cake

I love Pinterest, and I've found a lot of things to try. One was a bunny cake that looked deceptively easy. While mine didn't quite turn out like the picture, my family didn't mind!

1 box white cake mix
Supplies to make cake
Food coloring to color cake (we made ours purple) and frosting
White frosting
Construction paper to make ears
Junior mints for eyes
Licorice for whiskers

Make cake according to box directions. Bake in 2 round pans. One pan will be the body. Cut a large circle from the other round for the head. Frost. Decorate and serve!

Peeps Sushi

I saw this on Pinterest and thought that the Little Man would just love them. I was right!
They are super easy and super yummy!

You need:
Rice crispies treats
Peeps
Fruit roll ups

Place the peep on the rice crispies treat bar. Wrap fruit roll up around it.

That's it! I told you it was super easy!

Peanut Butter dip

1 c vanilla yogurt
2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
Apple slices

Mix yogurt & peanut butter together for a yummy dip for apple slices!

Brownie sundae

1 c flour
1/2 c agave nectar
1/3 c cocoa powder
1 block silken tofu
1 c unsweetened apple sauce
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 tsp kosher salt
1/3 c chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375. Mix ingredients together until they are well blended. Pour into a greased baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool for 10.

Serve with 1 scoop tofutti ice creem and pureed frozen raspberries.

Apple Upside Down Cake

1 box cake mix + supplies to make cake
½ c brown sugar
1 c melted butter
Variety of apples, sliced


Spray a small oblong pan with PAM. Lay apples in, top with brown sugar and melted butter. Pour cake batter over and bake according to cake mix directions. Serve warm with ice cream

Baked apples

4 large apples, like gala or fuji
1 c heavy cream
1 tbsp all spice
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 400. Core apples and slice bottoms so they stand upright. Mix spices, cream, butter and sugar together. Pour into cored apples. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes

You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You

One of my all time favorite desserts is tiramisu. There is something about the cakey goodness, the ooey gooey cheesy layer and of course, anything with COFFEE has to be nectar from the gods.

A lot of people are intimidated by tiramisu recipes; with good reason. Here is mine, to demystify the dessert.

1 8x8 cake baked and cooled

2 c coffee or espresso, cooled

1 pkg silken tofu, beaten

2 c cool whip defrosted, seperated

Powdered cocoa for dusting

Cut cake into strips

Mix coffee with tofu and 1 c cool whip. Layer cake and coffee/cool whip/tofu mixture. Top with remaining cool whip, dust with cocoa.

Refrigerate for 4-6 hours before serving

Meatless Monday, 5/16: Grilled cheese, tomato soup and brownies a la mode

Meatless Monday this week is featuring grilled cheese, tomato soup and chips.

Grilled cheese offers endless possibilities for dinner. There are so many combinations and permutations: cheese, bread, fillings (tomatoes, lunche meat, bacon, etc) My favorite is either the traditional yellow American on (whole grain) white bread OR my Italian version (provolone on stick bread).
The best side with it is tomato soup.
Super easy dinner for a Monday.


Brownies a la mode for dessert, and I am salivating

Brownies a la mode
1 box brownie mix and all the fixings to make it
vanilla ice cream
chocolate sauce
caramel sauce

bake brownies according to directions on box. serve warm, topped with ice cream and sauces