Ice Cream Cake

I made an ice cream cake this weekend for the family and it turned out so well.

I started out with this recipe and the girls helped me choose the ice cream flavor. We decided on cookies and cream ice cream with Hershey's cookies and creme candy bars. How could we go wrong, right?

Basic Ice Cream Cake Recipe

15 3 Tb 2 2 quarts 12 oz

Chocolate crème-filled sandwich cookies Butter or margarine Favorite candy bars Flavored ice cream (your choice) Frozen whipped topping, thawed

Multicolored sprinkles or small candy decorations

On a cutting board, finely chop cookies, 2-3 at a time. Place butter in small microwave-cooker. Microwave on HIGH 30 seconds or until melted. Mix in cookie crumbs. Press crumb mixture onto bottom of a springform pan. Freeze 15 minutes.

Cut candy bar into 4-5 pieces; wrap in plastic wrap and freeze 10 minutes. Chop into small pieces.

Cut ice cream container apart to expose block of ice cream. Cut half of ice cream into 1-inch-thick slices. Arrange ice cream slices over cookie crust, cutting pieces to fit. Spread into a smooth layer. Sprinkle with chopped candy bar. Top with remaining ice cream prepared the same way as first layer. Smooth top with spreader. Cover with aluminum foil. Freeze 3 hours or overnight.

Attach open star tip to a decorator. Fill tube with whipped topping and set aside. Run knife around edge of ice cream cake. Release collar from pan. Lightly frost top and side of ice cream cake with remaining whipped topping. Decorate with whipped topping using decorator. Top with sprinkles. Freeze 1 hour or overnight. Once whipped topping is frozen lightly cover cake with plastic wrap.

To serve, cut into wedges. (If cake was frozen overnight, place in refrigerator 10 minutes before slicing.)

Yield: 12 servings

Baked Beans

Our poor abandoned blog needs some new recipes!! So here's just one. I hope to add more, because it's not like I haven't been cooking! I've just been to busy to mention it here!

I made this recipe for one of the family Easter lunches. Everyone who likes Baked Beans really liked this recipe and told me to make sure I save it! So here I am.

I used the recipe that I found here. Except for a couple changes noted below.

• 4 slices bacon
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 (28 ounce) cans baked beans
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1/2 cup chopped cooked ham
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place bacon and onions in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain and set aside.
3. In a large bowl combine beans, molasses, mustard, salt, tomatoes, brown sugar, dry mustard, ham, onions and crumbed bacon. Mix well and transfer to a 2 quart casserole dish.
4. Bake in preheated oven, covered, for 1 hour. Uncover and bake for 1 hour more.

Ok, my friends. Confession time. I totally skipped cooking the bacon and onion on the stovetop and substituted onion powder and pre-packaged crumbled bacon. I know, I know. BUT have one who lives in my home who (I don't use this word lightly) hates the smell that lingers in the house for the next 2 days. SO, I made the adjustment for him and like I said above, everyone still loved it. Oh, and I also cooked the whole mixture on the stovetop for 1 hour and did the second hour in the oven.

And I'm adding a new category: summer food!! Let's make it a yummy season!