Tag Archive for Ice cream

A Sweet Little Valentine Dessert

Yes it’s a few days after Valentine’s Day, but I wanted to share our sweet dessert with you all.  Travel Man was lucky enough to be home for this Valentine’s Day, and cooked me a great dinner that included steak, shrimp, au gratin potatoes, and green beans.  A yummy treat.  The food was great, and I’m sure tasted so good because  I took a back seat in the kitchen.  Travel Man made the dinner, and I made the dessert.  A great team effort.

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Our dessert was some brownies I baked from a box mix.  I watched the pan carefully while it was baking because I wanted the brownies to turn out extra ooey and gooey.  And they did.  I made these in the morning right after breakfast so they had plenty of time to be completely cooled.

For serving, I dug out my little heart-shaped cookie cutter and  sculpted the brownies that you see here on the plates.  Then we added some creamy, delicious, french vanilla ice cream, and enjoyed a sweet dessert feast.  Just a simple little dessert made with love, and lots of  chocolatey goodness.

Did you bake any special treats for your Valentine?

A 50th Birthday and All the Surprises!

1-IMG_0053-001A few Saturday’s ago my loving, wonderful family celebrated my brother’s 50th birthday, Party House style.  The theme for this party was,  You’re Our #1 Son, Brother, Dad, Oinkle (uncle to those of you who have never been here), and Boyfriend.

1-640801This theme was originated by my Mom because of this picture.  And we made these cool decorations to go along that theme.

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Each #1 had pictures of Son,Brother,Dad,Oinkle,Boyfriend

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Everyone signed this for the #1 Birthday Boy!

 We also recreated an elementary school event that my brother always enjoyed called “Hot Dog Day”.  He had told his girlfriend, Elaine, what a great childhood memory this was quite awhile ago.  Elaine made sure to email my Mom and I so we would not forget the idea.  We all agreed this would be a great theme to include for this festivity.  Here’s the awesome banner our resident Cricut department created (thanks Erica & Mary!):

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Hot Dog Day happened once a month or so.  On Hot Dog Day we did not have to bring our own lunches to school.  We would get fill out our own order blanks for hot dogs, chips, and a cup of ice cream.  Of course you could order as many as you could pay for, and that was a treat unto itself.  The hot dogs and buns were steamed, and tasted oh so good.

For our party we got a nifty hot dog steamer, some authentic Jays potato chips,  and the vanilla ice cream cups with wooden spoons.  And my niece recreated the little order blanks for all the party goers to fill out so they could get their dinner, served by an original “Hot Dog Day” lady, my Mom.

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When my brother walked in and saw the hot dog day sign.  He let out a whoop!, and filled out an order blank!  3 hot dogs and 3 ice creams.  He was so surprised, and it was so much fun to see how excited he got.

We had a terrific party filled with lots of laughter, fun, pictures, and wonderful DVD montage that my sister and her husband put together. Then there was the sweet, loving toast from my Dad to my Mom.  My sister and I got all teary eyed. (tissue please)

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This was also a weekend filled with surprises.  Let’s see it went something like this; my sister and her husband from Montana arrived here at the party house Friday night (total surprise, no clue they were going to be here). So when we were getting phone calls from family members on Friday night we had to keep this all hush, hush.  Then Saturday came and the surprises kept on rolling.  My sister and her husband surprised my parents, my nephew from San Luis Obispo surprised his Dad (aka the birthday boy), and then we came in the house, and my brother got surprised by my sister and her husband.  Jim jumped so high in the air when he saw Laura it was like he just started as the center for a Millburn Mustangs basketball game!!

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For me the best surprise of the day was when my brother arrived.  He was the last one to arrive (he planned it that way), and when he got out of the car he had on a tuxedo with a bright blue vest and bow tie.  He made a grand entrance.  There was lots of clapping and whoops and hollers.  He really made his party day special.  I’m not sure how this can be topped.

We’ve had lots of family surprises over the years, but the surprises that happened at this party will go down in the history books for many years to come.  The only thing missing from this page in the family history book was my Travel Man.  (A tissue for me please.)

My sister wins the prize for the most family surprises.  She always shows up at a family event when you least expect it, but you’re wishing she was there with you.  Thanks for making the trek Laura and Steve.  An epic party like this would not have been the same without you here.

Peach Crisp – A yummy summer treat.

 

Last week while Travel Man was home I made a Peach Crisp with fresh peaches of course.  This is a nice treat for my Travel Guy, as he really misses the home cooked meals when he is on the road.  I saw the recipe on my Facebook news, and it was a post from recipe.com.  This was a really delicious dessert.  A yummy summertime treat.  And just a little bit different because the crumbliness has graham crackers in it, and not so much oatmeal.  That made the crunchy crustiness extra yummy.

The Ingredients:

  • 1/4 c. sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 7 cups 1/2 inch fresh or frozen peach slices (8 peaches – about 3½ lbs.)
  • 2 Tbsp. honey
  • 2/3 c. coarsely crushed graham crackers (5 squares)
  • 2/3 c. packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tbsp. oatmeal
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/3 c. butter

The Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2) For the filling; in a bowl stir together sugar, the 2 Tbsp. flour, and 1 tsp. cinnamon.  Add peaches and toss to coat.  If you are using fresh peaches peel and slice the peaches first,  and then coat with this mixture. 

3) Spread the peaches in a 2-quart rectangular baking dish.  Drizzle honey over peaches and set aside.

4) For the topping; in a bowl stir together crushed graham crackers, brown sugar, 1/3 c. flour, oatmeal, and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. 

5) Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 

6) Sprinkle topping evenly over the peach mixture.

7) Bake, uncovered, for 40 to 45 minutes or until topping is golden brown. 

8) Serve warm with you favorite vanilla ice cream on top.  Makes 8 servings.

Now go to the store or your favorite farmer’s market, get your peaches, and get your crisp on.  A nice summertime treat.  Enjoy!

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