Strawberry Whipped Sensation (a.k.a. Strawberry Ice-cream Cake)

You may have noticed that this blog was a little more than boring this summer since there were never any posts. It's because me and my roommate were so busy whipping up some amazing creations in the kitchen, there was just no time to post them all. Okay, so maybe that was a lie, but we did make a few things and this was one of them. My strawberries finally had an amazing year and produced a lot of fruit (sometimes more than I could pick). This recipe came in handy. Hope you enjoy it!
Cast of Characters: Strawberries, Sweetened Condensed Milk, Lemon Juice, Cool Whip, Oreos and Butter!
Line the inside of an 8x4-inch loaf pan with foil.
Mash two cups of strawberries in a large bowl. Yum!
Pour in one can of sweetened condensed milk and 1/4 cup of lemon juice.

Stir! Mix it all together.
Add two cups of cool whip............
and stir again.
Take 8 oreo cookies and finely chop them.
Combine the oreos with 1 tablespoon of melted butter.

Take your foil lined pan and pour in the strawberry mixture.
Spoon the oreos over the top of the pan.
Press the cookie mixture into the strawberry mixture to form a nice crust.
If the spoon doesn't cut it for ya, just use your hands, who cares! (Thanks, Shauna, for being my hand model!)
Fold the ends of the foil over the dessert and cover entirely with another piece of foil. Place it in the freezer. It will take about 6 hours to freeze (hopefully you weren't needing it anytime soon).
Once frozen, unwrap the top of the dessert. Once the top is unwrapped, place upside-down on a platter and remove the rest of the foil.
At this point you can frost the entire cake with cool whip with strawberries on top. There were only two of us to eat this so we cut a few pieces off.......
Yum!
Your final product!!!! Its great, nice and cool, yummy and full of strawberry goodness. Enjoy!

Strawberry Whipped Sensation

4 cups fresh strawberries, divided

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 to 2 tubs of cool whip

8 oreo's

1 Tbsp. butter, melted

Shape foil onto outside of 8x4-inch loaf pan. Line inside of pan with shaped foil, with ends extending over sides of pan. Mash 2 cups of the strawberries in large bowl. Stir in condensed milk and juice. Stir 2 cups of the whipped topping into strawberry mixture. Pour into prepared pan. Finely chop cookies. Combine cookies and butter. Spoon over whipped topping mixture in pan. Cover cookie mixture with ends of foil and gently press cookie mixture into whipped topping mixture. Freeze 6 hours or until firm. Invert dessert onto serving plate when ready to serve; remove pan and foil. Spread remaining whipped topping onto top and sides of dessert. Slice remaining 2 cups strawberries; arrange on dessert. Store leftovers in freezer. Makes 12 servings.

Asian Chicken Noodles

Sorry for waiting for such a long time to post. Summer has been a busy time for me and I honestly haven't really been cooking! :( I'm starting to get back into the swing of things and wanted to share a recipe that my roommates and I have enjoyed making a lot. It uses the Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing and since we made it the first time, we have always had the dressing on hand. If someone uses it all, they have to go to the store and get some more! It's as important to us as making sure we always have milk on hand. I found the recipe inthe food and family magazine I get from Kraft each quarter. Here it is:


The Cast of Characters: Angel hair pasta, broccoli, chicken, Kraft Asian Sesame Dressing, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, crushed red pepper, and peanuts.

To begin, cut your broccoli into small florets (thanks, Shauna, for being my hand model). You will want about 2 cups of broccoli florets.

Defrost the chicken and slice it into thin strips. You could get really fancy if you like and make them super thin. Use one pound of chicken (which is about three chicken breasts).

But never mind the broccoli and chicken, lets get down to the nitty gritty and start making the sauce!!! Sauce is one of my favorite words on this earth, probably because its one of my favorite things to eat! I typically use fresh ginger and garlic, but you are welcome to use ground ginger and garlic powder as well.

To start your sauce, dump in 2 Tablespoons of soy sauce. I only ever use the Silver Swan brand. It's what I grew to love while living in the Philippines. You can buy it here in Utah at the Mabuhay Mini-Mart in Taylorsville on 1750 W. 5000 S. Okay, thats the end of my commercial break, lets move on to the ginger.


If you've never used fresh ginger, here is how to use it: We want about a 1/4 of a teaspoon, but since I love ginger I'm going to add more. So I make a small slice that will equal the amount of ginger I want to use.

Next step will be to peel the ginger. Just use the knife and slice it right off, and breath deep while you do it, it just smells so GOOD!

Here's the fun part: You want to get as much flavor out of the ginger as possible, so go ahead and give it a nice good wack with the wide side of your knife - if that wasn't good enough for you, go ahead and give it another wack, or just pound it with your fist - whatever you need to do. This gets the juices goin and will add more flavor. It also makes it easier to mince it.


Ginger can be pretty stringy or hard to mince, so start by slicing it in one direction.

Then slice the other direction. Once you have done this, you can go ahead and mince some more, just for fun, or to be sure you don't have big chunks of ginger in your dish - if you aren't used to it, you might not be prepared for a big, hot chunk of ginger in your mouth. Add the minced ginger to the soy sauce.

Next is the garlic, which I love. Again, you only need about 1/4 of a teaspoon of garlic powder, but since I LOVE garlic I am going to use fresh garlic cloves and one clove isn't enough for me, so I use two. Did I mention that I love garlic? I do! If you don't have a garlic press, prepare it the same way as the ginger - remove the peel, wack it, then mince. A garlic press does all of that for you in one moment - it's so great and your hands don't smell like garlic for the next two days.

Next you will want to add 1/4 of a teaspoon of crushed red pepper. Again, this stuff is great and since i've added more of the other ingredients, I figured I should add more than what was called for of the red pepper.

Once you've dumped it all in, give it a good stir and set it aside. You will be adding this in later along with the asian toasted sesame dressing.


You will want to start cooking the chicken, so turn the stove onto a medium-high heat and add your oil (I always use olive oil).

Once the pan is heated add the chicken and cook for about 6-8 minutes stirring every so often. I'm using my Wok but you can feel free to use just a regular pan.

Once the chicken is finished cooking add 1/2 a cup of the Kraft asian toasted sesame dressing.

And after that add your sauce (if you would like to throw in some sesame oil as well, that is a great addition, I added about a teaspoon to this). Sorry for the not so appetizing picture.

Give it a good stir and cook for only about a minute. Now you are done with your asian chicken. On to the noodles:

I should have mentioned it earlier, but at some point in cooking the chicken, you would want to begin cooking your noodles. I use 8 ounces of angel hair pasta. Half way through cooking the noodles, add the broccoli florets to cook them as well.

Its a great way to kill two birds with one stone by boiling the broccoli with the noodles and you only have to drain once.

Once the noodles and broccoli are finished draining put them into your serving bowl and add the asian chicken.

Stir everything together and sprinkle on a 1/2 cup of peanuts or slized almonds to the top.

And enjoy! I couldn't get a good picture to turn out of the finished dish since the lighting in the kitchen is just too dark, so we end up with this silly picture proving how much of an adventure it can be to cook with Shauna helping you out and modeling. Thanks ma'am!

Complete Recipe:
Asian Chicken Noodles
8 oz. angel hair pasta, uncooked
2 cups broccoli florets
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. each groun ginger, garlic powder, crushed red pepper
1/3 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts or almonds

Cook pasta as directed on package, adding broccoli to the boiling water for the last 3 min. of the pasta cooking time. Meanwhile, spray large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 6 to 8 min. or until cooked through, stirring occasionally. Stir in dressing, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and crushed red pepper; cook 1 min., stirring occasionally. Drain pasta mixture; place in large bowl. Add chicken misture; mix lightly. Spoon evenly into 4 serving bowls; sprinkle with the peanuts. Substitute; Use whatever vegetables you have on hand, such as snow peas, sliced bell peppers, sliced carrots or chopped red onions, instead of the broccoli.

Onion Straws/Rings/Fingers/Shoelaces - whatever you want to call them

This post is dedicated to the moments in life when you just can't get enough fat and grease in your diet (to quote from Steel Magnolias). Today was my day for that :) I'm surprised there were any left to even take this picture - my roommate and I made these today and couldn't stop eating them. We'd put them in the oil, take them out, and put more in. When those were ready to come out there weren't any left from the batch before. You marinate the onions in buttermilk for at least an hour or two before you fry them up (as for me, I marinated them for two days - a little unnecessary, but oh so good). Here's the recipe:

PW’s Onion Straws
1 to 2 large onions
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 scant tablespoon salt
Lots of black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
Canola Oil

Slice the onions very thin (you should be able to see the knife through the onion as you are slicing). Place in a baking dish and cover with buttermilk for at least one hour. Don't worry if they aren't completely submerged in it, but be sure they are coated. Next add flour to a bowl, add a scant of salt (which is just a little less than a tablespoon), then add your pepper - add a lot of pepper - don't restrain yourself. Next add the cayenne pepper - this is the ingredient that makes it taste so great - so don't be scared to add it - you won't even feel the burn with this amount. Heat oil to 375 degrees. Grab a handful of onions, throw into the flour mixture, tap to shake off excess, and PLUNGE into hot oil. Fry for a few minutes and remove as soon as golden brown. Repeat until onions are gone. Eat before your family sees them. Repeat with another onion, because they’ll be really mad they didn’t get any.

Trans Fats

I have been learning a few interesting things lately about trans fats and since I haven't had time in my busy life to put on my beaner baker apron I thought I would share with you a few of these things. I mean, why not - maybe one of you has been thinking a lot about trans fats wishing you could know more. Who knows.
To quote my Fitness for Life book (Concepts of Physical Fitness 14th Edition, Corbin&Corbin, Welk&Welk) there has been a change in labeling laws in 2006 which has "led to some additions to labels. Food manufacturers are now required to list trans fat content on the Nutrition Facts portion of food labels. This action was prompted by the clear scientific evidence that trans fats are more likely to cause atherosclerosis and heart disease than are other types of fat...The FDA estimates that, through greater awareness and changes in food products, the labeling regulations will help prevent 600 to 1,200 cases of coronary heart disease and 250 to 500 deaths each year." Fairly interesting I thought. I was surprised I didn't know this earlier. Did anybody else know that they began to label trans fats on food labels? Who knew!
Well, if you had me beat and already knew this, here is a fact that you may not know: if your food label says that there are zero grams trans fats per serving in your favorite bag of Gardetto's or spoonful of Crisco, it doesn't necessarily mean that there are NO trans fats in them. It means that there is less than one gram per tablespoon. Okay, so 1 gram is about the weight of a paper clip - less then one gram may not seem like a lot - but is it??? They are allowed to round up or down so there may be 1/2 a gram of trans fats in a serving still being able to say it is a trans fat free food. If you are not sure if your food item is TRULY free of trans fats then check out the label - another word for trans fats is hydrogenated fats. So that is the trick to knowing if your food item is truly trans fat free.
Here are examples of what this means. I took a bag of handy dandy Scooby-Doo baked graham cracker sticks and clicked away:

A food company can market a product saying it is trans fat free

Yet it still contains trans fats - the serving size was just adjusted so that the math added up to 0 grams in that serving. So watch your serving sizes - if you are eating way more than the recommended serving size - you are more than likely getting your unrecommended daily dose of trans fats.
If you really want to be sure your food is completely free of trans fats, check out this link http://www.lilorbits.com/unimatic/ where you can get your very own Unimatic Machine - now who doesn't need one of those. Just give Shaq a call and he'll have it shipped to your door in no time. What a nice guy! Just be sure to call the right number if you live in Minnesota - they might mistake you for being a part of the U.S.A.

Yema (pronounced yea-ma)

If any of you like sweetened condensed milk, this post is for you. Yema is one of my favorite candies from the Philippines. They would sell it on the streets and I could never resist buying some. It's fun to make with my neices and nephews who like to call it White Rabbit since it tastes similar to another Philippino candy. The recipe is very simple:
Yema Ingredients:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
sugar

On medium heat, pour milk into a large non-stick pan (add cooking spray before if it's not a non-stick pan). Stir constantly, as it will burn easily, until it reaches hard-ball stage. If you're not sure when that is, take a small glass of cold water and pour a small amount of the milk into the cup with a spoon. If the milk stays in a ball when dropped into the milk and feels like it has a shell around it, then remove from the heat. Immediately pour milk onto a non-stick surface (I use a baking sheet). Form into balls (use a spoon to do this as it will be hot) and roll in the sugar. You can eat them now or after being chilled for a bit. They are a great way to give the kids a sugar high too since they ate half the plate of sugar before I finished making the candy!

Molten Chocolate Cake

Molten Chocolate Cake is my favorite recipe. As a health educator, I've learned that it is important to enjoy your diet and that is why I include this recipe - how can I not enjoy CHOCOLATE. I tried to look for some good information about the health benefits to justify eating chocolate in this form but I was not very successful (obviously), but I did find some really interesting information on this website: http://www.allchocolate.com/health/nutrition/ and it spoke very highly of the antioxidants, minerals, and fats in dark chocolate and cocoa. So I guess I can't help you justify any kind of health benefit by eating these cakes, but I guarantee that you will have the benefit of happy tastebuds.

Ingredients:
4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate (Baker’s brand)
½ cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
6 Tbsp. flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter 4 (3/4-cup) custard cups or soufflé dishes. Place on baking sheet. Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on high 1 minute or until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Stir in flour. Divide batter between prepared custard cups. Bake 13 to 14 minutes or until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 minute. Carefully run small knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto dessert dishes. Serve immediately. Can be topped with whipped cream or powered sugar, raspberries or candy canes. This cake forms a pudding in the middle.

I show this picture because I normally don't take the cakes out of the ramekins I bake them in. I like to serve them in the ramekins and pile a nice big blob of Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream on them. Too bad I don't have any today. Ramekins are fairly inexpensive to buy if you don't have any of your own. I got mine two-for-a-dollar at Target, I just wish I had bought more since I can't find them there anymore.

FACT

"The earliest reference to salt is in The Book of Job written about 300 B.C. At one time, it was the custom to rub salt on newborn babies as a symbol of purity and to ensure their good health. Salt was once so scarce that it was used as money. Caesar's soldiers received part of their pay in common salt. This part of their pay was known as their "salarium", and from this came today's word "salary". The expression "not worth his salt" meant that a man did not earn his wages." - Contemporary Nutrition 6th edition by Wardlaw & Smith, p. 293
Now wouldn't Ceasar's soldiers think we were crazy if they found out that in the future we would be dumping their income all over our roads, driveways and sidewalks in the winter to melt the snow!