Posts Tagged ‘desserts’

We have had unusually cold weather here the last few days. Today it was just on the verge of freezing and very windy with rain all day. We live right near a road which is slightly elevated and we heard on the news tonight that it had iced and portions of the road were closed because of downed trees. It's a good night to stay home and get some things done around the house.

I've been wanting to post this recipe for baked fruit for a while. It's a nice recipe to have on hand because it can function as a dessert or a side dish. You can make it with either regular brown sugar or the Splenda brown sugar if you are cooking for a diabetic.

Pear-Apricot Bake

2 Tbsps. butter or margarine
1 16 oz. can of pear halves, drained
1 16 oz. can of apricot halves, drained
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Cream or ice cream

Melt butter or margarine in a shallow baking dish in a preheated 350 degree oven. Arrange fruit, rounded side up in the baking dish. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake for 30 mins. Serve warm with cream or ice cream as a dessert or plain as a meat accompaniment. Makes approximately six servings.

Enjoy and stay warm this weekend!

Becka

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Awhile back one of my readers, Roberta, asked if I could post some lighter recipes. Here is a light and tasty dessert that is also pretty in my humble opinion. It would be even prettier if you had the right kind of glassware to put it in. You can't see it from my picture, but the jello mixture forms layers. This would show up much better in a tall, slender container. I think this recipe came from a jello ad.

Layered Jello

3 oz. orange gelatin (sugar free works great)
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 carton Cool Whip (the Light kind works fine)
1 can mandarin oranges

Dissolve the gelatin in boiling water. Stir in about 2 cups of the frozen cool whip. Pour into clear glasses. Chill. This will form two layers. Before serving top with some of the now thawed cool whip and drained mandarin oranges.

You could also try this with other flavors of gelatin and fruits. We really enjoy this and it's a good recipe to know about if you are serving someone who needs to watch his sugar intake.

Becka

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Some Saturdays I putter around in the kitchen for most of the day, alternating between cooking, laundry, and cleaning chores in preparation for Sunday. I love these Saturdays at home since I am at work Monday through Friday. Some Saturdays (such as this past Saturday) I have an outside obligation which means I need to streamline my cooking for Sunday. This means I need to pull out some recipes which go together quickly. The following is such a recipe.

If you need a quick, easy dessert, this is the one for you. It can be made with light cream cheese and light whipped topping if you desire. It takes just five ingredients.

Karen's Cheesecake

1 prepared graham cracker crust
1/2 cup powdered sugar
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. cool whip, thawed
Fruit topping of your choice

Cream together the cream cheese and the powdered sugar. Add the cool whip and combine thoroughly. Put in the pie shell. Chill for several hours or overnight. Top with fresh fruit or canned pie filling, if desired.
Enjoy!

The finished cheesecake:

Topped with blueberry pie filling:

Becka

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I often run across recipes that I haven't thought about or made in quite a while. This Refrigerator Pecan Pie is one of them. I can remember my mother making it when I was a teenager. I'm not quite sure where Mom got all her "new" recipes. I know she got some from neighbors and friends and some from a recipe program on our local radio station. Whatever the source, this is a good one for summer. It is easy to prepare and very tasty.
I made it Sunday and one of our dinner guests asked for the recipe, so I'm posting it for him.

Refrigerator Pecan Pie

3 egg whites (room temperature whites will whip better)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
20 Ritz Crackers, crushed (put in ziplock bag and run over with a rolling pin)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, divided
8 oz. Cool Whip

Beat egg whites until stiff and then gradually beat in the sugar. Add the vanilla and baking powder. Fold in the crushed crackers and all but about 1 Tbsp. pecans. Spread the mixture into a greased and floured 9" pie pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 mins. Cool completely and then top with the Cool Whip. Sprinkle on the remaining pecans for a garnish. Chill at least two hours before serving.

When you add the Cool Whip the meringue will fall making it more like a pie with a filling. I made the meringue on Saturday and then added the Cool Whip on Sunday morning. It does need to be refrigerated with the filling for a few hours to soften the meringue so it cuts nicely, but if you do it too far in advance it might get a bit soggy.

When my mom served this we ate it just like this. Since we have had a bumper crop of red raspberries this year I topped it with this raspberry sauce:

Red Raspberry Sauce
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsps. sugar
1/4 cup cold water
2 cups frozen red raspberries

In a saucepan combine the cornstarch and sugar. Add the cold water and then the raspberries. Bring to a boil and simmer until the berries soften and the sauce thickens slightly. Pour the sauce through a sieve to remove the seeds. Chill the sauce before serving.

So, if you need an easy dessert idea, keep this one in mind.

Becka

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I wanted something different for dinner today and I remembered this recipe for Crockpot Lasagna:

Crockpot Lasagna from Taste of Home magazine

1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4-5 cups spaghetti sauce
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 cup water
7-8 no cook lasagna noodles (oven ready)
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Brown ground beef, onion, and garlic. Drain off any accumulated grease. Combine with spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning, and water. In a greased crockpot (mine is 5 quart size) spoon 1/4 of sauce. Layer in 1/3 of the noodles, 1/3 of the cheeses. (I used two whole noodles and half a noodle for each layer. I broke the half noodle in half again and put a piece on each end.) Repeat the layers ending with sauce and cheeses. You can assemble this ahead and refrigerate overnight. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. My family really liked this.

Sorry there are no pictures, but you probably know what lasagna looks like. By the time I thought about taking a picture we had eaten about half of it and it didn't look very photogenic, as you can imagine. It does make a pretty good casserole and it's nice because you can assemble it ahead of time.

I bought this crockpot about a year ago and I really have enjoyed it.

You can program the time and after the cooking time it automatically switches to warm so your food does not get overdone. If you have an older crockpot without this feature I would highly recommend purchasing a new one. I still use my older one for soups, beans, etc., but this one works great on Sunday when I am often cooking meats or the occasional casserole.

I did try a new dessert from a recipe I found in the summer edition of Kraft Food and Family. It, too, was very tasty and is something that can be made ahead.
If you need a cool, refreshing dessert, keep this one in mind.

We have berries ripening in the backyard and we were discussing that this might be nice made with raspberry sherbet and fresh raspberries on top.

Becka

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