Posted in Quick and Easy, Recipes, tagged Labor Day, Savvy Entertaining, Shanna Hatfield, Summer Recipes on August 29, 2014| 1 Comment »
Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone!
To me, this weekend is the last big hurrah before everyone’s schedules settle back into a routine and fall is upon us.
I don’t know about you, but summer flew by at warp speed and I’m not quite ready for it to end. Although I love the fall season, I’d like to put off its arrival for just a while longer.
Here are a few of my favorite summer salad and dessert recipes, to help prolong the fun!
Posted in Quick and Easy, Recipes, tagged Labor Day, Savvy Entertaining, Shanna Hatfield, Summer Recipes on August 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone!
To me, this weekend is the last big hurrah before everyone’s schedules settle back into a routine and fall is upon us.
I don’t know about you, but summer flew by at warp speed and I’m not quite ready for it to end. Although I love the fall season, I’d like to put off its arrival for just a while longer.
Here are a few of my favorite summer salad and dessert recipes, to help prolong the fun!
Posted in Desserts, Easy Recipes, Pie, Puddings and Custards on August 22, 2014| 2 Comments »
I made these fast, easy, and unbelievably scrumptious lovelies for a dessert potluck last week. Judging by how few were left I think they were a hit!
If you like coconut, you’ll love these simple to make bites.
Ingredients
Mix the pudding with milk and set aside.
Whip the heavy cream, adding in powdered sugar at the end. You want it to form fairly stiff peaks.
Add softened cream cheese to the pudding and blend.
Divide the whipping cream in half and add pudding mixture to one half. Blend carefully.
You can cover and refrigerate the filling overnight or serve immediately.
Fill mini tart shells. These came in a package of 12 – so you’d need four boxes. You can also use a graham cracker pie crust. Either way is tasty! Just fill tarts with filling and top with whipped cream.
If you like, you can toast some coconut to put in the top. I nuked this for 12 seconds and it got a little too crispy, so 8 would probably be sufficient.
Coconut Cream Pie Bites
1 small box Coconut instant pudding
2 cups milk
3-4 ounces cream cheese
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
coconut
48 mini fillo shells (or a 9-inch graham cracker pie crust)
* Note – You can use tart shells or a pie crust, your choice.
Mix the pudding and milk together. Let pudding set.
Use softened cream cheese (if you have a small package, great, if not, use half of a large package) and mix it into the pudding until thoroughly blended in medium speed. (You don’t want to beat the pudding to death). Set aside.
Whip the heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks, add the powdered sugar and stir it in. Add half the cream to the pudding mixture and carefully blend.
My preference is to cover this tightly and refrigerate overnight before serving. If you are in a hurry, you don’t have to wait.
Fill tarts or pie crust. Top with remaining whipped cream.
Sprinkle with coconut. You can toast it or not, whatever floats your boat. You could also add slivered almonds or a drizzle of chocolate. I chose to add dark chocolate curls. That turned out to be a good decision.
Makes 48 mini tarts or one yummy pie.
She Who Loves Creamy, Cool Coconut Treats
Posted in Cake, Captain Cavedweller, Desserts on August 15, 2014| 2 Comments »
We have a dessert potluck (I know – how fun is that!) to attend this weekend so I wanted to make something that would be easy for people to pick up and eat. Cupcakes are always yummy and simple to transport.
This is a new recipe I experimented with after successfully using root beer to make cupcakes a month or so ago.
The cupcakes have a surprise dollop of strawberry jam inside while the frosting – oh, my, the frosting – it has strawberry flavoring and a liberally dose of strawberry pop.
Ingredients
Make the cake mix according to package directions. Fill paper-lined muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full of the cake batter.
Drop about 1/2 teaspoon of jam into each cupcake center. If you don’t have enough batter in the cup, the jam will sink to the bottom. Top with batter and slide into preheated oven to bake.
While the cupcakes are baking until they are a light golden brown (about 15-18 minutes), mix up your frosting.
It will be perfectly pink and pretty. (Ha, say that 10 times in a row.)
You can add some festive sprinkles to the top if you so desire.
Take a bite and enjoy the sweet, strawberry surprise in the middle!
Strawberry Filled Cupcakes
1 box cake mix (can be white, vanilla, yellow)
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup jam
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup strawberry soda pop
2 tsp. strawberry flavoring
1/4 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the cake mix with eggs, oil and water until smooth.
Line the cups of a muffin pan with papers and fill each cup about 3/4 of the way full.
Spoon about 1/2 tsp of jam into each cup. If you don’t get enough batter in the cup, the jam will sink to the bottom.
Pour more batter over the top and bake until a light golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool completely.
For the frosting, mix powdered sugar with softened butter, salt, flavoring and soda pop. You can add more flavoring if you want a stronger strawberry flavor. The frosting will be a pretty shade of pink.
Accent with your favorite sprinkles or fresh strawberries. If at all possible, act pathetic and pressed for time so the big manly man of your house will help put the sprinkles on.
She Who Will Be Making These Again
Tomato Caprese Salad
Savvy Entertaining 