Pina Colada Ice Cream

I was feeling tropical today.

I'm guessing it had something to do with the thousand degree temperature and blazing sun.

What could be more tropical than pineapple, coconut, and rum?

Sue and I always used to order virgin Pina Coladas when we were little and felt pretty important drinking out of the tall glass with a slice of pineapple speared with a tropical paper umbrella on the side. Or else a virgin chichi which, we eventually came to learn, was exactly the same thing. (Chichi is vodka, pina colada is rum)

I wanted to make a simple (read - non-custard base) ice cream that reflected these tasty flavors. I got a few hints from the internet and then set about creating my own.

I think I was fairly successful recreating the taste of a pina colada but, if I'm going to 100% truthful here, this wasn't my favorite ice cream.

The texture of the coconut and pineapple in the ice cream was a little odd. I prefer my ice cream smooth and silky.

That being said....if you are looking for a tropical treat to enjoy then definitely give this a whirl. It is very summery.

Oh, yeah, and it's vegan - if that is a thing for you....

Pina Colada Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 can (13.5 oz) cream of coconut

1 1/2 cups coconut milk

3 Tbsp pineapple juice

1 cup toasted, shredded coconut

3/4 cup crushed pineapple, drained

1 Tbsp rum

1/4 cup caramel sauce

Directions

Mix all ingredients together, except for caramel sauce, in a medium bowl until smooth.

Chill in fridge for at least 4 hours.

Pour cream mixture into your ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.

After ice cream maker stops, scrape into a 9 X 9 pan and flatten with a spatula. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the ice cream. Use the spatula to swirl sauce into ice cream.

Scrape back into a covered bowl and freeze until solid.

 

I added the caramel sauce as I didn't find the ice cream sweet enough for my tastes. You can leave it out if you prefer.

I sense a lot of ice cream being made this summer if this heat continues.

Hmmm.....what flavors to do next?

Check out Carole's Chatter for more great pineapple recipe links!

Vanilla Chai Cake with Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and Toasted Macadamia Nuts

I wanted to make a fancy schmancy cake for a co-worker's birthday. She is a big chai fan so I knew I wanted to use the same flavors in her cake.

I searched and searched and searched online to find a chai cake that suited the picture I had in my head. I didn't really find anything so I decided to Frankenstein a bazillion recipes together to come up with this one. I'm not going to note any sources as there really was a bazillion different recipes involved here...plus my own touches thrown in to boot.

I'm going to take credit for the invention of this deliciousness.

Why?

Because I want people to think I am a super genius.

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself right now.

The moist spice cake, sweet honey cinnamon frosting, and the toasted macadamia nuts combine extremely well together. The flavors and textures really compliment each other.

Vanilla Chai Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whipping cream (heavy cream)

6 bags chai tea, cut open

1/4 tsp ginger

1 vanilla bean pod

2 3/4 cups flour

2 cups sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch sea salt

1 cup butter, room temp

4 eggs

1 recipe Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)

1 - 2 cups of toasted Macadamia nuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 3 - 8" cake pans with cooking spray, set aside. (I also cut a circle of parchment paper to line the bottom of the pans and then lightly spray the paper.)

Place the cream, contents of tea bags, and ginger in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring often, and let bubble for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and cover. Set aside to steep for 5 minutes.

Strain the cream through a small strainer into a small bowl. Make sure to press the pulp to get as much of the liquid as possible. Discard pulp.

Cut vanilla bean pod in half vertically. Scrape out seeds and whisk into cream. Discard vanilla pod or save for another use.

Set cream in fridge while you continue making cake.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Beat in eggs until well combined.

In the large bowl with the butter mixture, alternately beat in dry ingredients and chai cream alternately until just mixed, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.

Divide batter evenly amongst the 3 prepared pans.

Bake at 350 for about 25 - 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto wire rack to cool completely.

Chill for at least 4 hours before frosting.

Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 8oz brick cream cheese, room temp

1/4 cup butter, room temp

1/2 cup honey

1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 cups icing sugar

Directions

Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually beat in honey and cinnamon until well combined. Add icing sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until you reach desired consistency. (You may need more icing sugar than recipe states so be prepared!)

To assemble cake:

Place one layer of cake onto serving platter. Frost with frosting.

Place second layer on top of first layer and frost with more frosting.

Place final layer on top and frost top of cake.

Spread remaining frosting on sides of cake.

Chop up the toasted macadamia nuts until fairly coarse. Press gently around sides of cake.

Chill until ready to serve.

Oooooh! Pretty!

Look at those layers of yumminess!

Okay. First just let me say...this was one of the most flavorful cakes I have made in a long time. You really could taste the many layers of flavor going on. The chai, the cinnamon, the cream cheese, the honey, the toasted nuts...they all shine through!

Definitely not your average spice cake.

Secondly, let me say I know how sad my cake looks in the photo with the sides iced. It has been soooooo hot here lately that everything just melts.

Including my delicious honey cinnamon frosting.

What I should have done was beat in more icing sugar to stabilize it and make it thicker BUT I had already spread it between the layers and was commited to just getting the frosting on the cake. Instead I put the icing and cake in the freezer for 15 minutes and went from there. It worked - kind of.

It was really droopy and didn't cover the space between the layers very well. That's where the toasted nuts come in! They are great at hiding those melty imperfections.

See......looks pretty.

Tastes delicious too.

Plus, you sound really cool saying I made a Vanilla Chai Cake with Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting with Toasted Macadamia Nuts.

Blissful and Domestic has some great links! Be sure to check them out :)
Don't forget about Six Sister's Stuff and Feeding Big and Cookin and Craftin too!
And, of course, Kayla's Creations has fun links too.

Meatloaf and Sweet Potato Casserole

I really wish it weren't a bazillion degrees outside right now.

If it were cooler outside then I could make this scrumptious casserole for dinner again. I made it a week or so ago and it was really, really good.

Really.

But....as it stands, the sun is out to turn me into a pile of sweaty goo if I do anything more than open the fridge door. Therefore I will share the pretty pictures with you, and the recipe, and hopefully it is cool enough where you are that you can turn your oven on to make this.

Me? I'm waiting for fall now, thank you very much.

Meatloaf and Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients

2 medium sweet potatoes

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb lean ground beef

3/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

1 egg

2 tsp chili powder

salt & pepper

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1 TBSP butter

1 cup bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 can French's French Fried Onions (I think about 1 cup)

1/2 cup aged cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. Spray an 8 X 8 baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Wash the sweet potatoes and prick all over with a fork. Place in microwave and microwave until cooked - about 10 - 15 minutes. Peel the sweet potatoes and mash until no lumps remain. Mix in minced garlic. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine beef, onion, bread crumbs, BBQ Sauce, egg, chili powder and salt and pepper until well mixed. Gently press into bottom of baking dish.

 Bake uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cooked through. Carefully pour off any excess fat if needed.

Turn oven to broil.

Stir the evaporated milk, butter, bacon, and fried onions into the mashed sweet potatoes. Spread evenly on top of meatloaf and sprinkle with cheese.

Broil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until cheese is lightly browned and sweet potatoes are heated through. Serve hot with additional BBQ Sauce.

I don't know if it is just me...but.....I love eating orange food. It just looks so cool.

That being said - if you don't share my love of orange food, you can make this with regular, boring white potatoes.

This is a great way to present the usual "meat & potatoes" in a different way.

One note about this - I put 2 medium sweet potatoes in the ingredients because I wasn't sure how much I was going to use. I didn't end up using all of it. You just want enough for about an inch layer on top of the the meatloaf. You can, of course, do it thicker, but it will need more time to heat through in the oven.

I just froze the leftover mashed sweet potato for a later use.

For some more great ideas visit - Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons.

M & M Bark

It is hotter than Hades outside this week.

I think I could bake cookies in my car right now.

Seriously.

Ridiculous.

I am adamantly refusing to turn on the oven.

That being said....I still need some chocolately/caramely treats to help me survive the heat.

I would make ice cream but that would mean driving to the store to buy ingredients and....that ....is just not happening right now.

M & M Bark

Ingredients

enough pretzel sticks to just cover the bottom of an 8 X 8 pan

30 or so caramels (I use Kraft caramels)

1 Tbsp cream (or whole milk)

1 1/4 cup chocolate chips

1 - 2 cups mini M & M's

Directions

Line an 8 X 8 inch pan with parchment paper. Spray lightly with cooking spray.

Spread out a layer of pretzel sticks, enough to cover the bottom of the prepared pan.

In a small, microwave safe bowl, stir caramels with the cream and heat, in 15 - 20 second intervals in the microwave, stirring until smooth.

Carefully spread the caramel on top of the pretzels.

In a small, microwave safe bowl, heat chocolate chips in microwave, stirring after every 10 - 15 seconds or so until smooth. (Be careful not to overheat or chocolate will seize.)

Spread over caramel layer.

Sprinkle with mini M & M's and lightly press into chocolate. (I put 1 to 2 cups of mini M & M's because you can use as many or as little as you want.)

Chill in fridge until solid, about an hour or two.

You can either cut it with a knife dipped in hot water OR simply break up with your hands.

A couple of good things about this recipe:

1. No oven involved (yay!)

2. Sooooooo easy

3. So so so tasty

4.  You can use what you have on hand and sub out the ingredients. ie: don't have pretzel sticks? Break up the bendy pretzels or use chopped nuts. Don't have chocolate chips? use a chopped up chocolate bar. Don't have mini M&M's? Use any candy or nuts you have. The only thing you really need to have is the caramels BUT, if you are so inclined, you can make your own.

Seeeeeeee...you can still have yummy treats without completely melting in the heat.

UPDATE!
We made this with Reese's Pieces for Thanksgiving!

It looked very pretty....this would be great for Halloween too.

Because the Reese's Pieces are bigger than the mini M&M's it is a little harder to cut into bars. The Reese's tended to pop off. It wtill worked out and looked pretty....and tasted very yummy!

Check out My Turn (for us) for some great links!

Shrimp Stuffed Portabellos

I have only recently tried portabello mushrooms. I find this a little odd as Sue and my father is a mushroom expert.

True story.

The local hospital calls our dad if they have a patient come in who has ingested an unknown mushroom because they know he will be able to identify it.

When we were growing up our dad took us on many a mushroom hunting expedition in the mountains around Lillooet. We would come home with a bazillion different types.

Behind his big, comfy dad chair there is a library of a million mushroom books.

So...why then am I only now trying portabellos?

Hmmm...one of life's mysteries, I suppose.

Anyway... I had some delicious looking portabello tops to use and decided to stuff them for lunch.

It is a million degrees outside so I didn't want to turn on the oven AND we do not own a barbecue so I decided to go the stove top route.

Shrimp Stuffed Portabellos

Ingredients

12 large shrimp, cooked & diced

1/4 cup aged cheddar cheese, shredded

1 Tbsp almond meal

1 slice tomato, seeded, diced

1 Tbsp onion, finely diced

1 tsp Oh! So Garlic (optional)

4 portabello mushrooms

sprinkle garlic salt

salt & pepper

Directions

In a small bowl, combine shrimp, cheese, almond meal, tomato, onion and Oh! So Garlic (if you are using). Set aside.

Spray a large, non-stick frying pan with cooking spray. Place over medium heat.

Cut stems off of portabello mushrooms and place, stem side down, into frying pan. Dice up stems and mix them into your shrimp mixture.

Cook mushrooms, without turning over, for about 5 - 8 minutes. **I add a 2 - 4 Tbsp of water about half way through cooking to steam the mushrooms a bit.**

Turn mushrooms over and spread shrimp mixture evenly over the 4 caps. Sprinkle with garlic salt and salt & pepper.

Continue to cook until mushrooms are cooked through and cheese is melted.

Serve immediately.

Want to know the best part about these delicious looking morsels?

Okay...well, the second best part.... the BEST part is how yummy they are....

Per mushroom cap they are ONLY 86.5 calories!!

Holy heck!

Plus - carbs: 6, fat: 3.5, protein: 9.

Sue and I split the recipe - she had 2 and I had 2 - for lunch, and they were very filling.

Lunch for 173 calories.... leaves some wiggle room for cookies.

That's my favorite kind of lunch.

Stop by Ms. enPlace and Carole's Chatter for some great links!

Saskatoon Cookies

I did a blog a little while ago about Saskatoon Pie and promised to post the recipe for my Saskatoon Cookies. Well...here they are!

If you don't have access to saskatoons you can use blueberries instead.

These are a soft, cake-like cookie that are best eaten within a day or two of making. They fresh berries can get a little soggy after a few days.

Cookies laying around after a day or two is not usually a problem at our house.

Cookies lasting for more than an hour out of the oven is more of a problem....

Saskatoon Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temp

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup light sour cream

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1 cup saskatoons

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add egg and beat until combined. Beat in sour cream.

In a medium bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, flour, baking powder, and salt.

Beat dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just combined. Gently fold in saskatoons.

Drop by the tablespoonful onto prepared cookie sheet (or use a small cookie scoop), about an inch apart.

Bake at 350 for 10 - 15 minutes. Tops should be light brown.

Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

I have made these with blueberries before and they are just as tasty.

If you do use blueberries - you may want to add a tsp of grated lemon peel just to increase the flavor a little. I find blueberries to be milder than saskatoons and need a little oomph.

Maybe that's just me....

I love how unusual these are with the fresh berries instead of dried. The only down side is that they don't store as well. After a day or so they get soggy.

Like I said above though.....that's not really ever an issue at our house.