Toffee Butter Brickle Ice Cream – a perfect way to celebrate almost anything. This year it was the star of the ice cream spread on Independence Day. Every July 4, sister Bee and family host a Big Bash. Family, friends, neighbors start trooping up the drive in early evening laden with food and drinks. Pete has a pile of things for the grill and plenty of fireworks on hand. Then a friend roars up with another pickup load in his specially made fireworks launcher. The neighbor across the street is in competition with them both. After potluck dinner, they will be lighting up the sky for hours. Until 11:55. Everything comes to a halt, brooms and containers roll out of the garage and everything is cleaned spick and span before midnight. It is truly a festival! Somewhere in the ... [Read More]
desserts
Skinny Chocolate Cake
Super moist Skinny Chocolate Cake is a quick to make decadent dessert. Five minutes and it is in the oven and twenty five minutes later the cake is cooling on the rack. That's the longest part of the process -- waiting for it to cool down. You can pass the time by stirring up the frosting -- another couple of minutes -- and setting it in the refrigerator until the cake is room temperature to touch and you can spread the frosting without making it separate into liquid and less liquid. Most recipes say the cake should be cool -- but this is a cake that was in a hot oven and is setting in a room that is somewhere in the 70 degree range. It's not gonna be cool! :-) I used a dark chocolate cake mix with 24 carbs per serving, water is zero carbs. Dump both in your mixing bowl, Add ... [Read More]
Strawberry Rhubarb Bars
Rhubarb can be fresh or frozen. Cut fresh rhubarb into one inch slices; frozen is usually already cut. Fresh strawberries can be washed, stemmed and cut in half; frozen just need the package opened and the amount measured. Let frozen fruit thaw somewhat so you aren’t starting with a solid chunk of ice. Using the microwave is fair, if needed, to de-ice quickly . Cook fruit until it is just tender, about 7 or 8 minutes. Then quickly stir in the sugar and cornstarch mixture and cook until thickened. It’ll take about a minute to return to a boil so stir gently until the mixture does boil. Then boil for another minute until the mixture thickens, stirring intermittently. When thickened, remove from the heat. If you are a learning cook, it is sometimes hard to see how you can make ... [Read More]
Apple Butter Crumb Cake Mix — Gift in a Jar
Rich, buttery streusel surrounding flavorful apple slices –mmmm. Apple Butter Crumb Cake is delicious as a coffee cake for brunch. It is heavenly as a dessert with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream. Your friends will love this mix! Add the can of apple pie filling to the gift bag and they will love you, too. To make the mix: Measure the ingredients in the order given. Pour each one into a quart jar and tamp gently to keep them from shifting. Tie gift instructions for Apple Butter Crumb Cake to the jar and decorate as you wish. If you don’t have a funnel, see this post Potato Soup Mix for directions on how to make one with a disposable cup and for other hints on filling the jar. Making the butter crumb crust is simple. Melt ¾ cup butter. Pour the contents of the ... [Read More]
What Shall I Make for Holiday Dinner?
Searching for holiday dinner recipes? Me too! We’re unexpectedly hosting festivities since the originally scheduled host can’t. If you’re in the same boat – vs my usual boat of waiting till the last minute -- here’s a helpful list of some ideas from past A Pinch of Joy posts. You can find more ideas in the index above. Don't forget to pin and share!!! Main Dish Cornish hens serves four Moist and Tender Turkey for a crowd Sides Classic cheesy potatoes -- Everybody loves creamy, cheesy potatoes. Easy to make and transport. Sweet Potatoes A lower carb alternative recipe Sweet potato Struesel topped classic Crunchy struesel topping ( no marshmallows :-) ) Baked Corn Chowder -- Bread, casserole, vegetable, delicious, classic in one dish Vegetables Maple ... [Read More]
Magic Pumpkin Spice Bars
A variation on one of Wheel's favorite dessert, Seven Layer Magic Bars, and Bytes favorite dessert, Pumpkin Pie. Magic Pumpkin Spice Bars are a delicious compromise! The pumpkin filling is just right spicy on a base of crushed vanilla wafers and topped with coconut, pecans, crushed toffee and white chocolate. You can crush the vanilla wafers in the food processor. Or put them in a zipper bag and crush them with the rolling pin. Or pull the bag out of the box, cut off one corner to allow air to escape and beat the cookies into crumbs with whatever weighty object is at hand -- a heavy glass or a jar of peanut butter, say. Which method do you think I used?? Yep, peanut butter works well. By the time the butter was melted in the microwave -- about 45 seconds -- crumbs were forming ... [Read More]