Strawberry-Lemonade Icebox Cake

Layered icebox cake dessert

I'm surprised I like the idea of icebox cakes, it's cookies layered with pudding/whipped topping that you pull together ahead of time and let it sit overnight to allow the liquid parts to soften the cookies.  Usually I think pudding is gross and soggy cookies don't sound like my idea of a good time, but I really like this dish. 

One reason I like this dish is because I like things you can make ahead of time since it gives you time to focus on other things. And this dish you HAVE to make ahead of time, it needs time to work it's magic.

Plus the icebox cake concept can be used as a base for a lot of different flavor variations. When you think about it, this is pretty much just the Midwestern version of Italian tiramisu.

Inspiration

Cooking Light Chocolate-Eclair Icebox Dessert

I've made the chocolate version of this recipe but this time I used the recipe as a guide for making a totally different flavor.  I based it on the box of instant pudding I had at home, which was lemon.  I went with a strawberry-lemonade concept since I had a few fresh strawberries left.

I modified the recipe to make a half-size batch since we didn't need a full 9x13 pan of dessert for our family of three.  An 8x8 pan is approximately half the size of a 9x13 pan, but I experimented and found that my 9x7 pan was a better fit for the graham crackers.  I prefer more "cake" layers than pudding, so I always add an extra layer of graham crackers.

Ingredients

• 12-14 sheets (about 1/2 of a 14-ounce box) honey graham crackers
• 1.5 cups almond milk 
• 1 (3.4-ounce) package lemon instant pudding mix
• 3 ounces fat-free cream cheese (I used three wedges of Laughing Cow strawberries & cream spread)
• 1/2 (8-ounce) tub frozen whipped topping, thawed
• handful of strawberries, cut into flat slices

Directions

Put a layer of graham crackers down in a 9x7 pan. 

first layer of graham crackers

In a large bowl pour the almond milk and sprinkle the instant pudding mix on top.  Mix it with your blender.  When that is combined, add the cream cheese and blend until smooth. Mine never really got completely smooth, but no big deal.

Some ingredients of the pudding layer

Mixing up the pudding layer

Gently incorporate the whipped topping into the pudding mixture.  Spread 1/4 of the mixture on the graham cracker base you already laid down in your pan. 

Pudding mixture on the grahams

Add more graham crackers on top and add more pudding mixture. 

Add more grahams

Add another layer of graham crackers and layer your strawberries on top. 

Add a layer of sliced strawberries

Add pudding mixture and cover with grahams.  Keep going with another layer of grahams and another layer of pudding mixture.  End with pudding on the top for however many layers you want. 

More pudding mixture

Verdict 

I liked the flavor combo of strawberries and lemon but felt the strawberries were a little out of place since they were too firm in the middle of this super-soft dessert.  But I also don't like nuts in my brownies since it's a different texture, so this was probably the wrong choice for my preferences.  In the future I would not use whole fruit but whiz it up into the pudding layer. 

The taste was really good.  The cream cheese never got smoothly incorporated, but that's fine since it was sweetened and wasn't huge chunks.  I personally don't think you need the cream cheese, maybe next time I'll go without.    

Other flavor variations I'd like to make in the future:

• Strawberry shortcake - Strawberries, graham crackers, and vanilla pudding.  or cheesecake pudding for a strawberry cheesecake.
• Chocolate-banana - banana slices, graham crackers, and chocolate pudding.  could also add some regular or powdered peanut butter
• Mocha -  chocolate cookies, and chocolate pudding with decaf coffee crystals
• Oreo - Oreo cookies, chocolate pudding or Oreo pudding since they make that, but it might be hard to find.
• S'mores - add marshmallow fluff to the pudding mix, grahams, chocolate pudding.  some chocolate sauce or shaved chocolate would be welcome here.
• Chocolate-covered strawberries  - strawberries, chocolate pudding 
• Peaches & cream - peaches, vanilla pudding with peach schnapps

Making My Own Vanilla Extract

Only ingredients

I decided to finally make my own vanilla extract the other day since it was on my list of food goals for 2013.  It's kind of an involved process, takes a while to fully develop, so I smartly started it now, rather than when my bottle of vanilla runs out.  I don't have much left, so hurry up and become vanilla extract!

I bought the vanilla beans from Arizona Vanilla Company based on a recommendation from my sister-in-law.  Thanks, Theresa!

Inspiration 

Akshayapaatram Home-Made Extracts

I increased the vanilla beans from 3 to 6 because the original recipe used 3/4 cup vodka and I was using a 375 ml bottle (1 1/2 cups), plus I wanted it to be stronger since I always use twice the regular amount of regular vanilla since I like a lot of flavor.

Ingredients

• 375 ml vodka - I opted for Svedka, I think it's a good brand
• 6 vanilla beans

Directions

Slice the vanilla beans lengthwise and put them in the vodka.  I'm glad I only went with 6 beans, there was no more room in the bottle, the vodka would have come over the top.

Sliced vanilla beans.

Shake the bottle every day for a week.  

Immediately after putting the beans in.

Morning of the fourth day.  Already looks good!

It should be strong enough to use in two weeks, but I'm going to let it marinate for as long as possible for maximum flavor. I have six more vanilla beans so I can add more beans as I use it up and add more vodka to replenish it. 

"BLT" Pesto Pasta

BLT pesto pasta - I add sliced raw mushrooms
to my bowl because I'm kind of addicted to them right now.

I love basil pesto, it's so easy to make and flexible  enough to customize based on what you've got in the house.  Like my recipe doesn't use pine nuts because I don't buy them (they're too expensive!), instead I use chopped almonds from the bulk bin.  I buy about a cup's worth and keep them in the bag in a Tupperware container in the freezer. I also add spinach if I've got it to stretch it out to make more pasta and add some nutrition, the basil is a strong enough flavor to carry it through the whole dish. 

Another beautiful quality about pesto is that it freezes well. Some recipes mention leaving the Parmesan cheese out if you're going to freeze it and then add it when you defrost it, but I think it turns out fine to make the full recipe and put any extra in an ice cube tray and freeze it.  For me, I find two ice cubes is enough for a 1-person serving on 2 ounces of pasta. I'll pull out a couple cubes and have pesto pasta for lunch when the feeling strikes me.

The only disappointing thing is that basil wasn't available at my local grocery store until recently so I was only able to buy it at the farmers' market during the summer.  But then the other day while I was shopping I saw that they started offering packets of organic basil next to the tomatoes. Yay!  I immediately started planning my next pesto meal.

One caveat: I don't know how you make pesto without an immersion blender, that's the only way I've ever made it.  Does it work in a regular blender if you're working with such a small batch? 

Inspiration

This is my own regular recipe for pesto, all I did was add some bacon.  It's not really "BLT" since there's no lettuce and no mayo and no bread, but I think the spinach stands in for the lettuce well enough and the pasta counts as bread. 

If you want to make this gluten-free, be sure to put it on a gluten-free pasta.

To make it vegetarian, you can sub out the bacon for any bacon-flavored vegetarian product such as Bac-O's or veggie bacon strips.

Ingredients

4-5 servings depending on how hungry you are

• 6 oz. pasta - I used elbow mac
• 3/4 oz basil (this is the size container they've got at the store, I would say it's a small handful?)
• 2 small handfuls spinach
• 2 handfuls chopped almonds
• 1.5 T olive oil
• 1/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 slices bacon, cooked then finely chopped
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
• tomatoes - I used 5 cherry tomatoes for my bowl

Directions 

Boiling the pasta and blanching the basil and spinach

Start your pasta water in a covered pot over high heat.  When it comes to a boil add the pasta and give it a stir right away so it doesn't stick.  Then put your basil leaves and spinach in a small mesh strainer and dip it into the boiling pasta water.  Supposedly this prevents the pesto from oxidizing later, it probably also makes it easier to pulverize.  I also like that it flavors the pasta water with basil.

Adding almonds

Then dump the blanched basil and spinach into a container that works with your immersion blender.  Our immersion blender comes with a blending cup, but I don't know if it's heat-proof so I use my 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup.  Add the almonds, olive oil, salt and parmesan and blend until smooth.

Whiz it up

You can also make this into creamy pesto sauce by adding some sort of cheese -- cottage cheese, little wedges of Laughing Cow, etc. 

Smooth finished product.

When your pasta is done, you can either let each person put their own pesto and bacon chunks on or mix it into the entire batch.

Add the tomatoes and a sprinkle of Parmesan on top if you like.  I used a little less pasta in my bowl and add some chopped raw mushrooms.  

Verdict

Bacon makes everything better!

Husband Jeff and Sonny D don't eat tomatoes, so I only added them to my own bowl rather than the whole batch.  This is already really close to the way I make pesto for myself, I add tomatoes to my bowl because it's so perfect with pesto and sometimes I'll add mushrooms if I've got them.  Adding bacon adds that little extra sumthin' that makes it special.

Husband Jeff likes pesto occasionally, and this was the first batch of the summer, so he was pretty receptive.  He even commented that the pesto itself was really good, and of course adding bacon made it even better.  

Aside from avocados, pesto is the only green food Sunny D will eat, and he loves it. I felt only slightly bad for hiding spinach in this, but you really can't tell it's there. 

Menu Plan: Week of May 27

Monday is a holiday so we've got a short work week. I like that!

•  Monday - grillout with Husband Jeff's best friend's family
• Tuesday - my parents are coming over and so I need to run the menu past them first, but I'm thinking sweet potato tots, two-timin' pasta (marinara and alfredo sauce mixed), turkey meatballs, a vegetable, and grapes
• Wednesday - our exercise class is over, so we might convince my in-laws to watch Sonny D like usual and Husband Jeff and I go out for dinner by ourselves.
• Thursday - We've got a parent-teacher conference at Sonny D's daycare and he has a haircut afterwards, so I was thinking french toast cooked up in the waffle iron, scrambled eggs, and grapes
• Friday - polenta pizza rounds and a veggie
• Saturday - Korean-flavored tempeh (fermented soybean cake) with rice stir fry
• Sunday - no idea what to do, so we'll go with my standard soup and sandwiches. 

What's Inside My May Goodies Box?

Here are the food products I received in my Goodies Co box for May, starting clockwise in the back row.

• Zico coconut water. I've tried coconut water before and I don't like it so I don't know what I'm going to do with this big container.  I'd like to use it in a recipe that makes good use of it's delicate coconut flavor.  I looked around online and my best bets are using it for smoothies or as the liquid for making angel food cake. 
• Dorval sour straws candy. We ripped into these right away, they were great!  They weren't tooth-achingly like most candy.  I attribute it to them being from Europe, in my opinion, Europeans really know how to make candy.
• Wholly Guacamole chip-clip and coupon for free package of guacamole.  A chip-clip is always good, we use these often at our house. 
• 2 mini California Olive Ranch olive oil packets.  Not sure what I'm going to do with these since it's such a small amount, hopefully the opportunity will present itself.  Maybe camping?
• Kathie's Kitchen Super Seedz pumpkin seeds with sea salt. I love pumpkin seeds!  Buying pumpkins at Halloween is awesome mainly because I love the seeds, carving them is totally secondary. I prefer them in the shell because I eat the whole thing, but these will be good too.
• Beanitos snack-size bag of chipotle BBQ chips.  We've tried the plain version of Beanitos and they weren't impressive, maybe a flavored version is better. 
• Bronco Bob's roasted mango chipotle sauce.  I would be clueless on how to use this, luckily the package says to pour it on top of cream cheese and serve with crackers. Sounds like a great idea! I'll use this
• Numi Moroccan organic mint tea and a coupon.  Yay, I'm glad to get more herbal tea!  Love it. 

Brownie Mix Cookies

Chewy cookies with the standard crinkly brownie top

I love brownies made from a box mix.  If there was one food I could eat as much as I wanted and the calories didn't count, I would want box brownies.  So, with that love of brownies going on, I typically ensure I've got a box of brownie mix in the cupboard at all times since you never know when you'll need to bring a treat for work or a dish to pass for a potluck.  Well, those sort of things never spring up on me since I plan ahead... so I guess I'm admitting sometimes I just want to make myself a pan of brownies. 

But I decided to change it up a bit and see what else you can make with a box of brownie mix, so here's a recipe that uses the mix to make cookies. 

Inspiration

Six Sisters' Stuff Double Chocolate Brownie Mix Cookies

I originally started with a different recipe but the mixture was so dry I couldn't stir it, possibly because we were using different size boxes of brownie mix.  I referenced this recipe and I ended up the adding 2 tablespoons of water they called for, and it worked perfectly. 

Ingredients 

makes approximately 45 cookies using a medium cookie scoop

• 1 box brownie mix - I used the Betty Crocker dark chocolate fudge brownie mix, 13x9 size (19.9 oz)
• 2T water
• 1/4 c oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 c chips - I used white chocolate chips since I had the remnants of a bag in my baking container in the pantry, but you could add regular chocolate chips, mint chips, caramel chips, nuts, etc.  

Add a little water and now things look right.

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.  Using a medium cookie scoop, place plops of batter (yes, plops is an official baking term) pretty far apart on the lined cookie sheet because the batter spreads quite a bit. 

a plop of batter.

Bake about 8-9 minutes.  I found that the original 10 minutes was a little too long, I wanted to ensure the cookies weren't hard as rocks, so I took them out at 9 minutes.

Cooling cookies

Let them rest on the pan for about 3 minutes because otherwise they're really delicate.  Then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Verdict

Chewy brownie edges -- as a cookie. 

This is the perfect cookie if you like the chewy brownie edges.   I'm more of a middle-of-the-pan gal who prefers her brownies all soft, so these aren't my favorite cookie.  Nothing wrong with them at all, I just want a different texture. 

Sonny D liked the one we shared after they came out of the oven, but he didn't get any more since I took the rest to work to treat my coworkers. 

Making Berries Last Longer: or Vinegar is your Friend

strawberries taking a swim in a vinegar solution

Do you ever buy berries at the market and feel like they turned all moldy and gross in less than a day?  I hate it when that happens!  I figured I'd look on the internet for some help on making my berries last longer.  It turns out a vinegar wash is in order.  I typically use a vinegar spray to clean my produce, so this made sense to me.  

My resource was the Food Lush website that told me to use vinegar.  The ratio is 10:1, water to vinegar.  I measured out vinegar and water in a cake holder and gently swished the berries around.  And they lasted a long time, I don't remember when I bought them, but I know they lasted more than a couple days.