Blueberry Jello Salad Dessert

Sometime ago, I was browsing around and came across this Blueberry Jello Salad at Jamie Cooks It Up. Having had that Strawberry Pretzel Salad for the first time just weeks ago, I thought this would be the same sort of thing and since I already had a can of blueberry topping in my pantry this would be perfect to use it for.

Now some may argue that these sorts of jello creations are to eat along with dinner (they are called 'salads' after all, but I think because of how sweet and rich they are, they're perfect for dessert. Please note this needs extra chill time, 5 hours or more.

Blueberry Jello Salad

Filling:
1 large package raspberry jello
2 C boiling water
1 large can crushed pineapple
1 can blueberry pie filling
Topping:
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1 8 oz container of sour cream
1/2 C sugar
1 t vanilla

1. In the morning, pour the jello powder into a 9x13 pan. Pour the boiling water over the powder and stir it in until you can't see any more of the little grains. Be sure to mix it well. You don't want it to be sandy!
2. Add the pineapple (do not drain any of the juice...be sure you are using "crushed pinapple") and blueberry pie filling and stir it all together.
3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
4. Combine the topping ingredients in a small mixing bowl. With your mixer or your hand held beaters, beat the ingredients together until smooth and silky.
5. Spread over the set jello.
6. Refrigerate for 1 more hour.

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enjoy,

Oreo Cheesecake Bars

I recently met up with two of my High School friends I haven't seen in 21 years. We all lived in Hawaii at the time (Go Rams!) but we've talked a lot of Facebook over the last couple years. We met at my place for dinner and dessert as we flipped through my year books wondering where so and so was now. It was great seeing them again, and didn't seem like it had been 21 yrs.

I grilled some steaks and grilled corn on the cob and had my baked beans for dinner. I wanted to keep dessert fairly simple, something I could make ahead of time. I choose these Oreo cheesecake bars. YUM! I mad them the night before so they had lots of time to chill and become even better. I read the reviews of other bakers, saying it needed more Oreos, so I used about 1 1/2 pkgs all together (using a little more for crust and mixing into the batter and topping). It's a good thing are just bars, you can cut them to whatever size, but I'll warn ya, these are rich! A little slice is all you need.

Oreo Cheesecake Barsslightly adapted from Kraft

1 1/2 pkg. (1 lb. 2 oz. pkg size) OREO Cookies, divided
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 cup Sour Cream
4 Eggs

HEAT oven to 325ºF.

LINE 13x9-inch pan with parchment paper, with ends of parchment extending over sides. Process 40 cookies in food processor until finely ground. Add butter; mix well. Press onto bottom of pan.

BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each. Chop remaining cookies; stir 1-1/2 cups (or more) into batter. Pour over crust; top with remaining chopped cookies.

BAKE 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil handles to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve.

sharing a bar at:



*please note all product reviews and giveaways are posted here now http://ldylvbgr.blogspot.com/

enjoy,

Southern Baked Corn Casserole

In the past couple weeks, I've grilled probably a fields worth of corn on the cob! This time we had some leftovers, so I wanted to try a new recipe. I was going to make everyone's favorite, creamed corn, but decided on this corn casserole instead. I thought it was great! Mr. ate more than one serving and said he liked it, but the kids didn't really touch it. Check out my tip below on how to get the kernals off the cob.

Southern Baked Corn Casserole
adapted from here

2 cups fresh grilled corn (see tip for removing kernals)
¼ cup onion, diced
½ cup red bell peppers, diced
2 TBS butter
2 TBS flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp ground mustard powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
¾ cups whole milk
1 egg (beat lightly)
1/3 cup Ritz cracker crumbs
1 TBL butter
1 TBL dried parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put 2 TBS butter in skillet and melt. Stir in onion and bell peppers and cook until the onion is cooked and clear looking.
Take skillet off burner and mix in flour, salt, paprika, mustard powder, and black pepper. Stir well and put back on burner until the flour/seasoning mixture is lightly bubbly.
Slowly add milk while stirring. Continue stirring until the mixture boils and keep stirring constantly for one minute.
Remove mixture from heat and stir in corn and egg.
Put the corn mixture in a one quart baking pan or casserole dish.
Melt 1 TBS butter and blend with cracker crumbs and parsley in a small bowl.
Sprinkle the cracker mixture on top of the corn casserole.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F or until the crackers are lightly browned.


*I once saw this tip on Michael Chiarello's show, how to get cut the corn off the cob. Place the cob in the bundt pan hole and slice away. It worked great!



*please note all product reviews and giveaways are posted here now http://ldylvbgr.blogspot.com/

enjoy,

Homemade White Cake with Fluffy Frosting

We had another Birthday in our home last week. She turned 7! She requested a gumball cake so I thought a white cake with fluffy frosting (remember these cones?) would be great. The frosting is similar to marshmallow taste. I made these Valentine cupcakes using a white cake batter so I went with it again. This time I made two 8" rounds, the sort of puffed up at the end of baking, but once you cool them on the rack (and then upside down) they flatten out.
Let me be honest here, I found this cake to be a little on the dry side, even baking it at 25 minutes it was not done so another 5 it went. I'll probably keep looking for a homemade white cake recipe. The frosting recipe is best eaten the same day, since it kind of melts away after time.

Heavenly White Cake
adapted from Allrecipes

2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk (I used 1 C milk + 1/2 C heavy cream)2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Measure sifted flour, baking powder, and salt; sift together three times.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add 1/2 cup sugar gradually, and continue beating only until meringue will hold up in soft peaks. Remove from mixer bowl, transfer to another bowl and set aside.
3.Cream butter in mixer. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add sifted ingredients alternately with milk a small amount at a time, beating after each addition until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Add meringue, and fold thoroughly and gently into batter. Pour into prepared greased pans. (I made two 8" rounds)
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Cool cake in pan for 7 minutes, then remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Fluffy Frosting
as seen at Allrecipes

1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

food coloring

1. In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, water and cream of tartar. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbly.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and vanilla to soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar mixture and food coloring while whipping constantly until stiff peaks form, about 7 to 10 minutes. Frost the cake of your choice.

White cake & fluffy frosting with TWD chocolate ice cream!

 

*please note all product reviews and giveaways are posted here now http://ldylvbgr.blogspot.com/

enjoy,

Please Note!

So, I have decided to change things again with my 2 blogs. I am moving my recipes to this URL and keeping my product reviews and giveaways over there at http://ldylvbgr.blogspot.com/ . I really want to keep the two separate. So, may I ask any of my recipe blog followers from there, please follow me here at this new URL in my Google Friend Connect and Facebook too if you don't yet.

I am trying to work on a direct URL from this one to a domain addie, but it's giving me troubles. I'm not skilled in puter issues like that, lol. Would anyone know out there?

I will work on adding some of the most recent recipes to here as well as new ones, so please bear with me. I will keep older recipes there, so you can still find them. I decided to do this on a whim. lol

*please note all product reviews and giveaways are posted here now http://ldylvbgr.blogspot.com/

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Tuesdays with Dorie: Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart

This TWD week, we're baking along with Rachel of sweet tarte to make Dorie's Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart. Fresh peaches, one of my favorites of Summer!

You know I was invited to the Baking with Betty blog event in MN these past couple days, but because of busy times around here (having to enroll kids in new schools this week, school shopping, Mr's busy work schedule, etc...) I had to sadly decline my invitation and instead I stayed home and baked with my TWDers yesterday. And eat this peach tart! =)

Let me warn you, there are steps to making this tart. You'll need to par bake a crust, let it cool a little, peel the peaches and slice them, make a streusel and bake according to special directions. I also didn't cut and slice/lay my peaches out like Dorie mentioned. Mine were too ripe I guess, more of a mess I'd say. Silly me, I got a little confused by the baking directions and added my streusel after the first 10 minutes, then baked 20 minutes. Then realized it needed another 20 minutes like Dorie mentioned, but my tart was looking pretty dark by then. After I let it cool all day I removed my spring form (sorry still no tart pan here, but it works just as great!) and really saw how dark the crust was. Bummer. I sliced it up for photos and tried a piece. I was reminded back to Dorie's French Pear Tart (which I love!), but this is a little different. It has a baked custard in it. I wasn't too crazy about the custard, the cooked down peaches and the over baked crust. I'm sad to say, the only crunchy part of this tart was the over baked crust.

I think this would be great as a more cold pudding like custard with fresh raw slices of peaches and whipped cream. That'd be a whole other recipe then wouldn't it? Anyways, here is my tart photos...

oh yeah, here's how to peel a peach video here incase you need to know. It's easy but like me, you may need to do it a couple times to get the peel off.

*please note all product reviews and giveaways are posted here now http://ldylvbgr.blogspot.com/

enjoy,