Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries..Best Dessert Ever!

Ingredients: 

20 - 25 large strawberries

1 8 oz. package cream cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar (tip: you can make your own!)

1/2 tsp. vanilla

a few graham crackers

First thing's first, wash the strawberries and cut off their little hats.

The next step is to core them. For this all I used was a paring knife. This may seem daunting at first, but after the first three you really develop a system, and it's all down hill from there.

Next, just beat the cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar until it looks fluffy.

To fill the strawberries you can use a piping bag, or if you don't have one just snip off the corner of a ziplock baggie, fill and squeeze.

You can use another one of those little bags to crush the graham crackers in (I didn't have these, so I used a graham cracker crust). I think it's best to crush them until they're pretty fine.

Once all of your strawberries are filled (with just a tad coming out of the top), gently roll the tops in the crushed graham crackers. Then BAM! You're done...unless you feel the need to drizzle melted chocolate on them : )

These are the perfect afternoon snack! Or dessert. Or whenever you're hungry.

P.S. If you don't have powdered sugar on hand, like me, no worries this is how you make it. It's so simple you'll never want to buy powdered sugar again! All you do is blend granulated sugar with cornstarch (1 tsp. of cornstarch for every cup of sugar) until very fine and powdery. BUT, make sure that the lid for the blender is on tight, and you may want to give it a minute to settle after you turn the blender off or you'll end up with a powdered sugar kitchen!

why buy a diaper cake when you can make one?

So I'm going to a diaper shower in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to do something fun with the diapers. Last Fall I made a 'conventional' diaper cake for my sister-in-law, but this year I decided to step it up a little and make something a bit more adventurous...a motorcycle cake! This is so easy and fun, there's no reason anyone should have to order one. Here's a step-by-step, enjoy!

What you need: 34 infant diapers, 3 receiving blankets, 2 washcloths, 2 bibs, 1 pair infant socks, 1 10oz bottle, rubber bands, scissors, pins, decorative ribbon, a stuffed animal & an 8" bowl or cake pan.

 To Begin: In the bowl or pan, begin assembling the wheels as follows, using 17 diapers:

 Once all 17 diapers have been placed, secure with a rubber band

 Repeat.

 Add the ribbon of your choice so that the rubber band on each tire is hidden. Secure with a pin.

 The Next Step: Fold the first receiving blanket in half, then roll it up (To make the next steps easier, you may want to secure each end with a pin).

 Feed the rolled blanket into the center of the front tire and pull through so that the tire is in the center of the blanket.

 Pull each loose end through the hole of the back tire, secure by pinning the ribbon to the diapers in the center of the hole and tuck loose ends back in.

 After That: Fold, roll and pin the second blanket, just as you did the first.

 Pull the blanket through the front tire as shown.

 The Mud Flap: Place the first bib on the front tire.

 Secure the handle bars with a rubber band, or a chain link teether toy.

 The Headlight: Place the bottle in the gap at the bottom of the handlebars (you can wrap it in a washcloth if you have one).

 Finishing Touches: Put socks on the ends of the handle bars, place second bib (just like the first), and tie a cute little ribbon to hide that rubber band, and fold the remaining blanket twice to make the seat.

 Put an adorable little stuffed animal on top, and you're ready to roll!

easy (fairly) healthy dessert!

"Chocolate" Covered Fruit

Ingredients:

1 package almond bark (about 3 squares)

1 orange
1/2 banana
1 package strawberries

Peel the orange

Wash strawberries

Peel banana

Throw the almond bark in (microwave safe) bowl, and microwave for about a minute, minute and a half, checking every 30 seconds or so. Stir.

Dip fruit in melted 'chocolate' until evenly covered, remove and set on foil to cool. 

Let cool about 15 minutes before eating.

So easy and yummy!

Be Yummy.

So, since it's fall now I think it's time to start baking! It's starting to get chilly outside, and what better to do when it's cold out than bake, right? So bust out those little baking pumpkins you had for decoration and get cookin! I made roasted pumpkin seeds, banana-pumpkin bread, and a pumpkin pie with my little pumpkins. It's so easy and delicious!

Make sure you have your ingredients...

(Banana Pumpkin Bread)

2 ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs

1/3 c vegetable oil

1 1/3 c pumpkin puree

1/2 c honey

1/2 c white sugar

2 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 c raisins - or - walnuts/pecans (I used both nuts in lieu of the raisins)

(Pumpkin Pie)

1 egg

1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 c white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 c pumpkin puree

1 1/2 c evaporated milk

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2 Tbsp light corn syrup

1 pie crust

I used two baking pumpkins (the little cute ones), and had a bit of pumpkin puree left over. 

The first thing you wanna do is preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Then cut each pumpkin in half and seed it. (this is great if you have kids to do it for you - otherwise it's a little gross)

You'll need 4 baking dishes of sorts, I used oven-safe bowls and a 9x9" brownie pan for mine. In each dish place the pumpkin halves cut-side down, and add about 1 cup of water.

 Now, they bake! ...for 90 minutes, until meltingly tender.

 Don't worry, this is what they're supposed to look like when they come out of the oven, but be careful, the stem will slide right out.

 So, now you just scoop all of the 'meat' right out, and dump it straight into the blender and puree!

 From here, for the bread, in a large bowl stir together the banana (mashed), eggs, oil, pumpkin, honey, and sugar. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pie spice and cinnamon. The stir the dry combination into the banana mixture until just combined. Now you can fold in the raisins/walnuts/pecans.

Bake at 350F in a greased 9x5" loaf pan for 45 minutes (or until a toothpick will come out clean, it took me a little over 45 mins I think). Cool the bread in the pan for about 10 minutes, put it on a wire cooling rack, and then enjoy!

 **This bread is fantastic, but if you don't think you're going to eat all of it within a few days, I would freeze half. The ripe bananas will make this wonderful bread awful after about 5 days.

For the pumpkin pie, preheat the oven to 450F.

Add the sugar gradually to the pumpkin puree. Beat well and stir in the flour, salt and spices. Stir in the corn syrup and beat well. Stir in the slightly beaten egg, slowly add the evaporated milk and mix well until blended. Pour the batter into an unbaked pie shell and bake at 450F for ten minutes, reduce heat to 325F and bake for 30 minutes. (It actually took my pie a lot longer than 30 minutes to bake, and I ended up turning the heat down to around 300F, but 30 minutes is a good time to start checking it - you'll know it's done when a knife or toothpick comes out clean).

This pumpkin pie is amazing, so hopefully you'll get a chance to try it!