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No-Bake Eclairs | Recipe

November 9, 2010 By Laura 6 Comments

No-Bake Eclairs

I’m going to be quite honest with you here: This dessert of no-bake eclairs is quick, easy, and sooooo good.

I’m going to be even more honest than that: It’s not quite like real eclairs. It’s more of a…. fun spin-off, of real eclairs. But you know, everyone is going to eat them all up, just like that, anyway. So does it really matter?

I’m thinking, ‘not really’. So here we go….
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No-Bake Eclair(s)

002 Participating Ingredients:

*Graham Crackers

* The kind we actually prefer is the Nabisco Grahams Original, in the red box.

2 boxes Instant Vanilla Pudding
8 oz. Cool Whip
1 can Chocolate Frosting (Milk Chocolate of Chocolate Fudge), and 2 Tbs. Milk
3 1/2 cups Milk
(tad of Butter, if making in cake pan)

Now there’s 2 ways you can make this no-bake eclairs dessert. It’s all just layering of pudding mixture and cracker until the topping, either way.

The original recipe I got was made in a 9″ x 13″ cake pan. This is the easiest and fastest way to make it. If you make it this way, just coat pan with a rub of butter first.

But we had another idea that we are sharing with you here. It takes a bit more time, but we didn’t mind.

We wanted to make cute little individual servings, in the 4 oz hard plastic clear cups.

First step: Mix all of the pudding and the milk with the blender in a good sized bowl, let it get thick. Then add the container of Cool Whip in and mix.

Over a little bowl, break graham crackers into roundish pieces, to fit the bottom of about 11 4 oz cups.

They don’t have to be perfect.
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As you do this, save the crumbs and little pieces you are breaking off. They will not go to waste!
(You need ’em….so don’t eat ’em!)

006 ….because you are going to put them on top of that cracker circle, like this.

Next, on top of the crumbled crackers in each cup, add a few plops of pudding/Cool Whip mixture to less than half way up the cup…

007

….and then add a good layer of just crumbled graham crackers.

Then more pudding/Cool Whip mixture.

For the top layers, you do want to use another circle of graham cracker fitting for the larger tops, and then just use up the crumbled cracker you have to put on top and fill in the sides, etc.

Now in a separate little bowl, add the chocolate frosting and 2 Tbs. of milk, mixing it all together to make it nice and creamy, and easily spreadable.

Using a spoon, carefully put some on the tops of every cup, and spread it around a little.

Now if you wanted to make the cake pan version, it can be a lot easier and faster. The layering is all the same, but any crumbling is really not necessary, since there is not a lot of custom fitting to do with the crackers! So you just lay crackers in a single layer, all over to cover the bottom of the pan, and start your layers.

So whether the cups or the pan, the layers go as follows, with the 1st layer being at the bottom:

6th layer – frosting (w/ 2 Tbs milk) mixture
5th layer – graham cracker
4th layer – pudding / cool whip mixture (the rest of the mixture, for the pan)
3rd layer – graham cracker (flat in pan, crumbles only in cups)
2nd layer – pudding / cool whip mixture (about 1/2 the mixture, for the pan)
1st layer – graham cracker (& crumbles in cups)

The layers look really nice in the clear cups. When the cups are all filled, put them in the fridge to chill and set a little, until you are ready to serve them.

They are ready to serve and enjoy!!

(Go ahead and lick the cup when you get to the bottom. We won’t tell. ; )

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3 All-American Treats, for Your All-American Weekend | Red, White and Blue Recipes

May 27, 2010 By Laura 8 Comments

If you are looking for some all-American, red, white and blue food ideas, you’ve come to the right place!

With Memorial Day here, and the 4th of July not too far away either, I thought I would share 3 very easy red, white & blue treats, that are perfect ideas for your all-American weekend celebrations and gatherings.

BOWL OF STARS

This is more than an easy, refreshing, cool treat. It’s a decoration, and a festive item on the menu your family and/or guests will be impressed with!

All you do is cut the watermelon in 1/2 the long way, completely cut up one half into thin (about 3/8″) slices, and cut out stars with any star shaped cookie cutters! I had stars in 3 sizes. With the other 1/2 of the watermelon, scoop it out as much as a whole piece as you can. You should then be able to cut that into a few more slices too, and get more stars out of it.

When the 2nd half is all scooped out, you use it as your bowl for all of the stars!

I put a few stars on bamboo forks, to stand up. You can also use skewers, if you lop off the very sharp end, and cut them to a good size. I stuck some stars on sticks, into the bowl edge/rind, and even stuck in other pieces in the bowl. Kids love them on a stick! I had some on a stick too.

So put some star-spangle in your summer!

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Red, White & Blue Fruit Parfait

Here’s another fresh idea, I pulled from our archives.

It couldn’t be any simpler to make:

1) Rinse some strawberries and blueberries in the sink.

Last year, since our strawberry bed was new, we had to use store bought berries. But this year, with our strawberries established, we’ll be getting them from our garden!

2) De-stem and slice the strawberries.

3) Go through the blueberries real quick , just to make sure there are no smooshy ones, : ) , and also take off any tiny stems still on.

4) Get out your can of Redi-Whip.

5) In clear cups, layer strawberries, whip cream, blueberries, and more whip cream on the top.

It’s perfect ‘light-little-something’ to hold every one over until dinner. Or have it breakfast! Or dessert!

Sprinkle some Grape-Nuts cereal, or granola, on the top, for some crunch!

Simple. Pretty. Tasty.

And simply pretty tasty.

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American Sparkle Cone

This one is an ordinary treat, with a couple special twists.

Scoop some vanilla or chocolate chip ice cream, onto a sugar cone. Sprinkle on some red and blue sugar crystals.

What kid…..errrr, ….person….doesn’t love ice cream? Nothing creates quiet, like ice cream cones,….on a warm day. Know what I’m saying? Silence I tell you. ; ) Just a whole lot of rapid licking going on!

I’m full of tricks. And I’m not afraid to use them!

Here was a surprise, no one was expecting….

I put an upside down Hershey Kiss, in the bottom of the cone. Because I’m the coolest mom on earth. ; P

(Not counting yourself, of course.)

As they were out on the deck, licking up a storm, Michael was peeking out the window at them. I said, “What are you doing?” He answered….”I don’t want to miss it when they get the Hershey Kiss in the bottom.” I said…”Are you kidding? We’ll HEAR it, when they find the Hershey Kiss.”

Sure enough, the whole dang neighborhood heard their cheers!

I hope these ideas add a little eatin’ fun to your weekend! I know when I think of long summer-like weekends, I think of FOOD. Ohhh….just add some protein and veggies here and there, and you’ll be all set too!

Have a safe, fun, relaxing, TASTY All-American long weekend, Everyone!

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Banana Cream Cocoa | Hot Drink Treat Recipe

March 17, 2010 By Laura 5 Comments

If you love chocolate and bananas, you just might love this hot sweet treat, in a cup: Banana Cream Cocoa.

I do love chocolate. Don’t all women? I also love bananas. But somewhere along the way, I saw a pattern, and realized eating raw bananas is not a good idea for me. My stomach goes to hell and back, trying to digest it. Lots of pain involved. (Does anyone else have this issue?). But, I can eat bananas cooked in all other forms: banana bread, banana nut crunch, banana pancakes, Banana Hannah, (just kidding. Wasn’t me. Swear.) And once upon a time, I loved eating chocolate covered bananas. Oh how I loved those. So Banana Cream Cocoa sounded good to me! We made some yesterday.

banana-cream-cocoa-2 Participating Ingredients:

3 cups milk
1 chopped banana
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 oz. chopped milk chocolate*
1 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate*

*This time, we chopped chocolate bars with a serrated blade knife.

Bring 3 cups of milk…..

1 chopped banana….
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2 Tbsp. sugar….
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…and 1 tsp. of cinnamon to a boil, whisking frequently.
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Add 4 oz. chopped milk chocolate, and 1 oz. bittersweet chocolate….
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….and mix some more.

…until all of the chocolate is melted nicely.

Remove from heat, and let sit 1 minute.

Pour mixture into blender….
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….and puree.
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Divide into 4 mugs, and go bananas!

Note: My kids and husband loved it, but a couple of them did think it was very strong in banana, and maybe cinnamon, so you may want to cut those amounts-but of course it’s a personal taste. I found, when it cooled down enough in my mug, it was delicious!

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Cocoa Colada | Hot Drink Treat Recipe

March 8, 2010 By Laura 13 Comments

If “sometimes you feel like a nut“, and could go for an Almond Joy, this delicious Cocoa Colada hot drink treat recipe, just might be a quick fix for you!

If you bake quite a bit, you may already have all of the ingredients. Or you may not. But the few things you need are worth running to the store for. Of course, then you could just pick up an Almond Joy, I suppose. But, that’s beside the point.

Here’s a super simple easy recipe, for a little coco-nutty twist on hot cocoa! Like most of my recipes, this one too is ‘kid approved’ by our kids.

Participating Ingredients: 2 14oz. cans of coconut milk, a cup of water, 1/2 cup of sugar, 8 oz. of chopped milk chocolate and coconut flakes, for garnishing. (How easy is this?!)

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We needed to pick up the coconut milk, but we already had milk chocolate chips, and decided to use them. They need to be chopped up pretty well.

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If you have one of these handy choppers, you can use it instead of a knife and cutting board.

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Take a couple handfuls of coconut flakes, spread them out on a pan, and lightly toast them in whatever way is easier for you. We used our toaster oven. * Warning: you really need to keep an eye on it while toasting. Once it starts to toast, it can burn very fast due to the coconut oil of the flakes. (I forgot to take a photo of ours after toasting.)

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Bring the 2 cans of coconut milk and 1 cup of water, to a simmer over low heat.
Whisk now and then to keep from sticking at the bottom.

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Add 1/2 cup of sugar…..

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…and the 8 oz. of chopped milk chocolate….

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…and whisk until melted.

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Divide cocoa evenly into 4 mugs, and garnish with the toasted coconut. (If you didn’t burn it. ; )

You can also spike it with a little coconut rum, if you’d like!

*But in that case, please don’t serve it to the children. 😉

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Our kiddos loved it!! Not much conversation. Lots of sipping.

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There was only enough made for 4 servings, and my kiddos had been playing out in the cold for a long time.

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So I let them have it all.

Because I’m thoughtful like that.

Even with chocolate.

I know. Call me a saint. ; )

My kids all loved me enough, too, to each let me have a sip of each of theirs.

See? Love that goes around, comes around.

I had a plan to make and share a Banana Cream Cocoa recipe as well, with this one. But since it was 60 degrees out today, I thought maybe I should just hurry up and share this one.

Wishing you just one more chilly day, to try it for yourself!

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Christmas Gift Jars and Baked Good Ideas

January 1, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

For those who have been visiting our blog long enough, you’d probably know that we usually get very crafty for Christmas gifts for loved ones. But unfortunately, some years we were low on both time and money, to really craft as much as we would like to for gifts. Still, we prefer to show our love to our loved ones at Christmas, with more homemade sort of gifts, if we can. So we had the idea this year of sending some Christmas gift jars and baked goods. It would be simple, inexpensive, yet appreciated we were sure. Who doesn’t love food…right?

You should know, this post is not sharing the actual recipes we used. We are just sharing with you the idea of gift jars, and some presentation ideas, as inspiration, for your own gift giving. Gift jar recipes are very easy to find though! You can just do a web search, or….check Pinterest for a wealth of jar recipe ideas! Here though, we just want to show you what we came up with.

So some jars we made up with most of the ingredients to make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
All they needed to add was the butter, egg and vanilla!

Most of our gift recipients got a jar just like this, with the measured dry ingredients and directions. But we knew my 2 bachelor brothers, and my Dad, were not going to be baking anything. lol. So…..we baked theirs for them, and filled up the jar with the cookies. Cookies in a jar! So there is another idea for you!

We also gave some people the dry ingredients for this Curried Lentil Soup. What a big project THIS turned out to be. Because the recipe calls for red and yellow lentils. After visiting 6 stores all over town, over the course of a week, we settled for red and green. Maybe you know better where to get them? If not, don’t toss the idea all together, if you like the idea of soups. Again, search for recipes, and you’ll find more than you can shake a . . . . . . a . . . . . . spoon at. 🙂

Initially, we could only find tan, and made some soup ourselves to test the recipe. Not being lentil experts, we thought only the color was different. But ummm….not so much. We HOPE the red & green works out alright for everyone.

We also made loaves of fresh homemade bread (not pictured) , and included those in most packages.

And homemade donuts! : D

We got calls and messages from everyone, and they all seemed to really enjoy our tasty gifts! We think they probably ‘tasted the love‘. But one did tell us the bread and donuts were kind of hardish, or heavy, when they arrived. Now….the bread crust is. You can knock on the loaf, but it’s soft on the inside. It makes excellent toast, it’s great for sandwiches, and it goes well with soup, too!

But the donuts, being fried, we really weren’t sure HOW they would fair in shipping. So I guess they arrived….a little dense. Now, we take these things very seriously. So, we asked ourselves what we may have learned from that outcome, and this is what we came up with:

Don’t share our donuts anymore!!
No, seriously, we’ll be working on our recipe, to make them a little lighter. 😀 For the rare occasion we make them again, because they aren’t the healthiest regular food to eat. But they are a real treat, and that’s in part what make the holidays so special.

Some pretty ribbon on your jars, with an attached tag that shares the recipe or directions, is a very warm and thoughtful gift, for anyone who eats!
Your tag can be hand-written as well. It actually makes it all the more handmade-appeal.

We hope these ideas make your Christmas gift-giving season fun, delicious, and budget-friendly.

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BOWL OF STARS

Red, White & Blue Fruit Parfait

American Sparkle Cone

Have a safe, fun, relaxing, TASTY All-American long weekend, Everyone!

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