On the Menu

Lemon Raspberry Cake with CakeVase

April 23, 2013 By Virginia 4 Comments

My sister is getting married in May. As her Matron of Honor, I am in responsible for throwing her Bridal Shower (thankfully, two of her besties have stepped up to help me with planning and all that jazz, since I have a new baby in the house). CakeVase offered to send me a CakeVase for review, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect, since I’ve been looking at bridal shower cake ideas.

I decided I needed to bake a cake to practice (wink, wink) and was in the mood for lemon cake. I picked up a Betty Crocker Super Moist cake mix from the grocery, along with some raspberry preserves, lemon pudding, and Cool Whip Frosting.

After baking two eight inch rounds (according to package instructions), I stuck them in the fridge to cool, then leveled them both. I applied a layer of raspberry preserves to the top of one level, then layered lemon pudding on top of that.

I added the second eight inch round to the top, and then broke out the Cool Whip frosting.

I slurped a bit of the raspberry preserves on the Cool Whip frosting by accident, but I didn’t really care, since it would soon be covered by flowers. I separated the CakeVase pieces and placed only the smallest round on top of the cake, since I used eight inch rounds. Then I filled it with water, as per the instructions.

I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous about pouring water over the top of a freshly baked cake. I took the advice to only fill the prongs to the top, lest I end up with a waterlogged cake. LOL.

I had picked up a bouquet of yellow and green flowers, since I thought they would be pretty on the lemon cake. Boy, was I right! It was easy to decorate the cake with the CakeVase, I just started in the center and started working my way around. I used the smaller buds to fill in some holes, and waa la, a beautiful floral cake with CakeVase.

Mom and Dad came over for dessert, so the floral décor didn’t sit atop the cake for long. The cake didn’t last that long, for that matter. LOL.

CakeVase is available on Amazon, at Cheftools.com, at Kitchenkrafts.com, and Sugarcraft.com. For more great CakeVase cake decorating ideas, check out CakeVase on Facebook, CakeVase on Twitter, and CakeVase on Pinterest.

What is your favorite cake filling?

Filed Under: Food, On the Menu, Reviews Tagged With: Cake, cake decorating, CakeVase, ohmyyum

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Cascade Ice Review plus Giveaway

February 28, 2013 By Virginia 15 Comments

I really don’t like the taste of water. Tap water, that is. I drink it, because I have to, but I am not a fan. I like a little flavor with my water.

Cascade Ice is a sparkling flavored water beverage that is available in 31 flavors. They even have an organic line. It is sodium free, gluten free, and caffeine free. It has zero calories, just like water should.

We received an assortment of Cascade Ice to try out. Hubs is not a fan of carbonated water, so he let his sit out with the lid off for a while before he drank it. Once the fizz died, he liked the flavor just fine. Mister wasn’t sure what to think. Sister and I are fans. Sister especially enjoyed it when I recently used the Cascade Ice to flavor freshly fallen snow. I let her have the orange mango flavor, because I don’t like orange flavored anything.

She begged for more. LOL. I used the Acai Blueberry Pomegranate flavor in mine and enjoyed it.

I like that Cascade Ice doesn’t have unnecessary sugar in it.

You can purchase Cascade Ice on Amazon, at Walmart, Sav-a-lot, and Safeway. You can also win a case of assorted flavors by entering the Rafflecopter Giveaway below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Find great recipes by liking Cascade Ice on Facebook and following Cascade Ice on Twitter.

Filed Under: Giveaways, On the Menu, Reviews Tagged With: @cascadeicewater, Beverage, giveaway, Review

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Banana Mango Sorbet #Vegan

January 9, 2013 By Virginia 12 Comments

As I mentioned the other day, I’ve been having some digestive issues and have had eliminated dairy and grains from my diet in effort to determine the culprit. Last night, I had an overwhelming craving for ice cream. I finally gave in and ate about a half cup of ice cream on a cone.

Big. Mistake.

I am still sick.

I don’t know if it’s the sugar or the lactose, but one of them has my intestines in knots.

Trouble is, I like ice cream and frozen treats.

So, I decided to try to make my own. A friend told me (on Facebook) that she uses bananas to make “ice cream” by freezing them and them putting them through the food processor. I can do that. I have quite a few bananas in the freezer, since my kids were eating a banana a day, and then suddenly decided to boycott bananas.

I thought I’d start with a banana mango mix, since I had both on hand.

Note to self… slice bananas before freezing them in the future, it’s easier on the food processor!

Banana Mango Sorbet Vegan

This banana mango sorbet with almond milk is easy to make and delicious.

Ingredients

4 frozen bananas (in chunks or slices)
2 cups frozen mango chunks
1 1/2 cups almond milk (I used vanilla)

Instructions

Combine frozen bananas, frozen mango, and one cup almond milk in food processor and process for about two minutes and turn off.
Using spoon, or spatula, push fruit chunks into the mixture now forming.
Add remaining half cup almond milk.
Process another two to five minutes, until desired consistency.
Serve immediately or place in freezer safe container.

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Simple (and easy) to make, and it is beyond delicious!

Do you have a favorite sorbet recipe?

Filed Under: Food, On the Menu Tagged With: dessert, eatclean, Recipe, vegan

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Cucumber Pizza

January 7, 2013 By Virginia 3 Comments

I’ve been having some *eh hem* digestive issues lately and have eliminated (at least temporarily) dairy and grains from my diet. I don’t know whether I’ve become lactose intolerant, gluten intolerant, or something else entirely. I do know that I have made some real diet changes. Right now, if it can’t claim to have once been alive, I am not eating it. Whether it’s Eating Clean or Paleo, I am not certain. I do know that after a few weeks without dairy and grains, I will reintroduce dairy and grains individually to try and determine which has been bothering me.

In the meantime, we had pizza on the menu for dinner last night. I didn’t want to tell the fam that they couldn’t have pizza just because I can’t have it right now. So, I baked their pizza and made myself some cucumber pizza’s.

They were actually pretty good!

Cucumber Pizza

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Cucumber Pizza

Cucumber pizza - gluten free, dairy free, and delicious!

Ingredients

1 medium cucumber
3 small yellow sweet peppers (or 1 large)
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1-2 Tbsp Stevia
1-2 Tbsp pizza seasoning
4 ounces chicken breast (cut into chunks)
Olive oil spray

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425F.
Spray baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray and set aside.
Slice cucumber into 1/4 inch thick pieces.
Slice yellow sweet peppers.
In a small bowl, combine 8 ounces tomato sauce with 1-2 tablespoons stevia (to taste) and 1-2 tablespoons pizza seasoning (to taste)
Arrange cucumber slices on baking sheet.
Top each cucumber slice with 1/2-1 teaspoon seasoned tomato sauce.
Top with slice of yellow sweet pepper and a chunk of chicken breast.
Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until tomato sauce starts to darken.
Serve warm.

Notes

I had 4 ounces tomato sauce and about 2 ounces of chicken breast left over. If I'd had another cucumber on hand, I would have made more cucumber pizzas. Yum.

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While I had these for dinner, they would make great appetizers as well. I want to try them with zucchini and yellow squash, too. If you can handle the dairy, you can add some cheese to make these delicious bites even more delectable. They would be good with sausage also.

Before Christmas I did two weeks of no grain and no dairy. I felt pretty good. Then came the holiday sweets, and I binged on all kinds of tasty treats… and felt sluggish and mentally obtuse. So, here we go again.

Do you have any grain free, dairy free recipes I should check out?

Filed Under: Food, On the Menu Tagged With: appetizer, dairyfree, gluten free, pizza, Recipe

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Cinnamon Saltine Chocolate Toffee Crunch

December 20, 2012 By Virginia 1 Comment

I was just sitting here, minding my own business, wondering what in the world I should do with the Hershey’s Cinnamon Chips I had picked up recently. Suddenly, I remembered the saltine toffee bars I had wanted to try a few weeks ago and decided I would modify the recipe.

Ermagerdness!

It barely made it into the refrigerator!

Shhh… you didn’t notice the missing corner, did you? These bad boys are supposed to chill in the fridge for two hours before serving. I’m not that patient, so after checking their consistency twice (in ten minutes) in the fridge, I rearranged my overstuffed freezer to fit the pan in there for about 40-45 minutes.

When I served them, my sister-in-law said they should be called Magic Cookies.

Oh, yah. They are THAT good!

I’ve had these type of bars before and enjoyed them, but the cinnamon chips really gives it that special something!

Alright, here’s the recipe…

Cinnamon Saltine Chocolate Toffee Crunch

Rating: 51

Cinnamon Saltine Chocolate Toffee Crunch

This simple and easy saltine toffee crunch bar recipe combines semi-sweet chocolate and cinnamon chips to yield a scrumptious treat that you can share, gift, or gobble up.

Ingredients

Saltine Crackers
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
10 oz bag Hershey's Cinnamon Chips (measure out 1 cup or 8 ounces)
8 oz bag of Heath Bits o' Brickle Toffee Bits

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line an 18 x 13 sheet pan with parchment paper.
Layer Saltines (salt side down) in a single layer to cover parchment and set aside. I used about a sleeve and a half.
Over medium heat, combine brown sugar and butter in a sauce pan and stir until mixture thickens and starts to boil.
Pour mixture over Saltines and use a spatula to spread evenly over crackers, working quickly as the mixture stiffens as it cools.
Place pan in oven and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture is brown and bubbly.
Remove pan from oven.
Immediately sprinkle 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips and 8 oz Hershey's Cinnamon Chips evenly over the crackers.
Let sit for 5 minutes, then smooth the chocolate cinnamon mixture over the crackers.
Top with 8 oz bag of Heath Bits o' Brickle Toffee Bits
Refrigerate for two hours (or freeze for 45 minutes to an hour).
Remove from refrigerator (or freezer) and break into pieces and serve.
If gifting, wrap in cello bags and tie off. Otherwise, store in an airtight container.