Would You Like Chocolate With That? ~ Chilled Desserts

Another busy week is coming to an end.  School is almost over and summer will soon be here.  That calls for a little chocolate celebration!

I had hoped to share a new recipe with you today, but didn't have time to try either one that I had planned.  So I thought I'd remind you of a few past chocolate desserts.  Since many of you are experiencing warm weather and the rest of us will feel it soon, here are some chilled chocolatey desserts to keep you cool!

Cookie Salad

Cookies & Cream Dessert

Chocolate-Almond Pie

Frozen Chocolate Mousse

No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Chocolate-Raspberry Cookie Trifle

Hopefully at least one of those will work for you!  What are your favorite chilled chocolate desserts?

Don't forget to link up YOUR chocolate posts now!  Any family-friendly old or new chocolate post will do.  I'd love it if you would share!

Have a lovely chocolate-filled day friends!

Thursday's Thoughts

Just some random thoughts for the day...

~ The end of the school year is very very busy and I am really looking forward to June - well after the 4th anyway!  When does school finish for you or do you have school or home school through the summer?

~ Though I know we need it, I am SO tired of rain!  It's raining again and I sat through another chilly baseball game last night.  I'm ready for some sun and 80's!

~ I'm on my 3rd week of doing Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred!  What doesn't kill me will make me stronger, right?  RIGHT??  It's a tough workout but I've kept at it and am feeling stronger!  I joined up with The Shred Sisters who inspire me to keep going!

 ~ I confess - I haven't been doing much blog reading lately.  In fact, I haven't been spending a whole lot of time on the computer.  So my reader is FULL of unread posts!  I will try to stop by when I can and hope all is well with you my friends!

~ McDonald's caramel frappes are really yummy.  Just in case you were wondering.  Or in case you were wanting to buy me one.  :)

~ It's Chocolate Friday tomorrow!  Come on by and link up your favorite chocolate post to share!

What thoughts would you like to share today?  Have a terrific Thursday friends!

Artistic Memories

Shortly before leaving a friend's house after a lovely tea party this weekend, it was discovered that her bathroom had been "redecorated."  The attempt to make the bathroom prettier had been done with a variety of nail polish colors in many areas!  It turned out that her youngest daughter was the artist.  When her daughter was explaining how she was trying to paint the toilet seat purple, I had to walk away to hold back my laughter (so not funny as the mom, but amusing for the observer)!

This incident got me thinking about my son and I was trying to remember if he had done anything artistic like that.  He never did anything with nail polish, thank goodness!  But I finally remembered his big artistic moment (I had completely forgotten about it) when he was about 3 years old.  He had taken his colored pencils and drawn on every single door on the second floor - that would be 6 doors...both sides!!  He sure was a cute little artist though - aren't they all?  :)

Found a pic of my son at that age:

Very hard to be mad at such a cutie - LOL!

You've probably seen some cute little artists in action!  What's your favorite artistic memory?

Have a blessed day friends!

Would You Like Chocolate With That? ~ Chocolate Malt Ice-Cream Cake (Rerun)

Well if there is a chocolate-deserving sort of week, I say it's this one!  OK - every week deserves chocolate in my opinion.  :)  I have had a very busy week (still busy actually) so I decided to rerun an old yummy recipe for you.  This cake is definitely work, but it's fun for a special occasion like a birthday or maybe the end of the school year! 

Post originally published 6/19/08:

Yes, that is a picture of the ice-cream cake, and, yes, I made it, and YES...you can do it, too!! I made it a couple of years ago for my son's birthday and again recently for a church thing. My son declared it his favorite cake ever.

The last couple of weeks had easy recipes, so now you can tackle this one. I found it on the internet somewhere a couple of years ago. Obviously, this is something you try for a special occasion, maybe once a year? It has a few steps, but isn't too difficult and looks so impressive and...it's...y.u.m.m.y!

Chocolate Malt Ice-Cream Cake

1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate fudge topping
1-1/2 quarts (6 cups) vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
2 cups Whoppers, coarsely chopped
1 cup whipping (heavy) cream
1/4 cup chocolate fudge topping

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom and side of springform pan, 9x3 or 10x2-3/4 (I used a 10 in. springform pan), with shortening; lightly flour. In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir vigorously about 1 minute or until well blended. Immediately pour into pan.

2. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

3. Spread 1 cup fudge topping over cake; freeze about 1 hour or until topping is firm. In large bowl, mix ice cream and chopped whoppers (Um...I do suggest doing a "quality control" check on those whoppers - better grab a handful and make sure they're OK...it's a sacrifice, but somebody's gotta do it); spread over cake. Freeze about 4 hours or until ice cream is firm.

4. In chilled medium bowl, beat whipping cream with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form.

5. Remove sides of pan; place cake on serving plate. Top with whipped cream. Melt 1/4 cup fudge topping; drizzle over whipped cream. Garnish with additional whoppers. (If pressed for time, you can cheat like I do and use whipped cream from the can - spray over the top and then drizzle from the Hershey's chocolate syrup bottle - not quite as pretty, but still tasty!)

**Note: This is a cake that cannot sit out, it should be taken out of the freezer; toppings put on and then served right away. As ice cream layer starts to melt, it will start to slide off top layer a bit. This doesn't work well leftover, so eat it ALL right away!! If you save it in the freezer, the ice cream layer will slide off, so best to just put leftovers in some kind of bowl and serve as cake & ice cream "glop" (still tastes good).

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Yum, right?  Are you having anything chocolatey this weekend?  Don't overdo it - have a little to treat yourself and give the rest away!

Do you have a chocolate post (old or new)?  Why don't you make it happy by bringing it over here to link up and hang out with other chocolate posts?  I know it would have a good time!  :)

 

Have a chocolatey and blessed weekend friends!

Just Busy

Too BUSY!!  That's my week!  How's your week?

I do hope you have a blessed week whether it's busy or relaxing!

Tropical Traditions Coconut Peanut Butter Winner

Well somebody had to win the delicious Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Peanut Butter!  Was it you?

The winner is...

sejotess (e-mail provided)

Congratulations!!

If you didn't win, you can always stop by Tropical Traditions to order some goodness for yourself!  They have great sales regularly and you can watch for free shipping offers too!

Have a wonderful weekend friends!

Would You Like Chocolate With That? ~ Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

Whew - made it to Friday!!  And that is a good thing since I've been doing The Shred this week!  I'm sure you've done something difficult this week.  Let's reward ourselves with some chocolate today!

I've got another cookie recipe to share with you today.  These cookies are actually good for you!  Normally I post healthier recipes on my other blog, but these cookies seem almost too yummy to be healthy!  I found the recipe in an old BH&G magazine.  I'm so glad I have them a try!

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup flax seed meal*
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 oz. dark chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In large mixing bowl beat butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.  Beat in flour.  Stir in rolled oats, flax seed meal, wheat germ, chocolate, cranberries, and walnuts (dough will be a little crumbly).


2.  Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until tops are lightly browned.  Let cookies cool on cookie sheet 1 minute.  Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.  Makes about 30 cookies.

*After looking at flax seed meal in the store, it seemed like ground-up flax seed that I could try myself.  I put my flax seed in the blender but it was such a small amount that it didn't work so well.  However it did end up finer and softer so I used it rather than spending extra money on a bag of the meal.

There was no nutritional info with this recipe, but I used the list of ingredients to at least estimate WW points.  My batch made about 35 cookies and I estimated them to be about 1.5 points each which is great!  You can feel good about having a couple of cookies in the afternoon with some tea or in the evening as dessert. 

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These cookies were yummy, hearty cookies with a nice bit of chocolate too!  I hope you get to try some - I must make some more to keep on hand!

Well?  Where's your chocolate post?  Better go get it or write it and bring it back to link up today!  The more chocolate we share, the better!  Don't forget to stop back later to check out some of the yummy links!

Today is the last day to enter my Organic Coconut Peanut Butter giveaway - it's yummy stuff!

Have a lovely chocolate-filled day!

Wordless Wednesday: Buster's New Trick

Hey, look at what Buster can do with a hula hoop!!

Hmmm...I don't think he's going to win any ribbons for that one.  :)

For more Wordless Wednesday pics, stop by 5 minutes For Mom!

Tropical Traditions Giveaway

**Giveaway now closed.**

Remember when I had a yummy Tropical Traditions coconut oil review and giveaway?  Well I got to try another Tropical Traditions product:  Organic Coconut Peanut Butter!  Oh so yummy!

The Coconut Peanut Butter is just 2 ingredients blended together - organic Valencia peanuts and organic unsweetened coconut.  It doesn't get more simple and natural than that!  The combination is great!  Both hubs and I enjoyed the flavor and honestly, we mostly ate it by digging it out of the jar with pretzels as a snack - LOL!  I did want to try a recipe with it though and I'm glad I did.

The Tropical Traditions site has several recipes listed and I chose Coconut Peanut Butter Meltaways.  Oh MY - melt in your mouth sweetly delicious little candies!  Good thing I made them and sent most of them out of the house because I would have eaten every one!  Here's my pic, but I didn't do the best job making my first batch pretty:

You should definitely check out the pic at Tropical Traditions to see what they really should look like!  Make sure you follow her recipe exactly (as in don't over mix the "dough" until it gets sticky like I did)!

Guess what?  One of you will win your very own jar of the Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Peanut Butter!  I get to give one away!  Woo Hoo!

**Giveaway closed.**
How to enter:
 - Go to the Tropical Traditions website; come back and leave a comment telling me what products most interest you.

Bonus entries - optional (1 each, leave a separate comment for each):
 - Follow @troptraditions and me (@stop4chocolate) on Twitter
 - Sign up for Tropical Traditions e-mail newsletter to get updated about sales
 - Check out the free coconut recipes and tell me your favorite one
 - Promote this giveaway using your favorite form(s) of social media

This giveaway will last through Friday 5/14 and winner will be announced on Saturday 5/15.

The "fine print": 
 ~ Giveaway open to U.S. and Canadian readers
 ~ Must be 18 years or older to enter
 ~ Odds of winning depend on number of entries received
 ~ Winner chosen from comments using Random.org
 
Disclosure:  Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.


Have a wonderful day my friends!

Would You Like Dessert With That? ~ Jello Cookies

Well look at you.  You almost made it through another week!  Hey - I did too!  It was a tough week with my kiddo home sick the entire week (still home now) - that definitely calls for chocolate, doesn't it?  Why don't you get some chocolate and toast the end of the week with me!

Since this is the first Friday of the month, I like to make it Dessert Friday so the poor little non-chocolate desserts get their chance to shine!  :)  You can link up dessert recipes with or without chocolate or your usual chocolate posts.

Today I'm going to share some cookies with you that you can color to match your occasion.  The recipe came out of my Celebrating 100 Years of JELL-O that I got several years ago.  I forgot all about these cookies and remembered them on St. Patrick's Day when I was trying to think of a green dessert to make for my kiddo!  The official name is Gaiety Pastel Cookies.  Really??  You can just call 'em Jello Cookies like I do - LOL!  The fun part is that you can use any flavor of jello and get that color - I used lime for green.  The color is subtle, but sprinkling the jello on top helps enhance it.  They are yummy - like tangy sugar cookies!

Jello Cookies

3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1 package (4-serving size) JELL-O gelatin, any flavor
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Additional JELL-O gelatin (same flavor you used), for sprinkling

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix flour and baking powder in medium bowl.  Beat butter in large bowl with electric mixer to soften.  Gradually add sugar and 1 pkg gelatin, beating until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Gradually add flour mixture, beating well after each addition.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls.  Place on ungreased cookie sheets.  Flatten with bottom of glass.  Sprinkle with additional gelatin.  

Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Remove from cookie sheets.  Cool on wire racks.  Store in tightly covered container,

Makes about 5 dozen cookies **(I cut the recipe in half - a little tricky with the Jello - because I didn't want that many cookies and couldn't handle using up 3 sticks of organic butter in 1 shot!)

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Have you ever heard of these cookies?  What flavor/color of Jello would you use?

Now...it's your turn!  Go get (or write) those dessert or chocolate posts and bring them right back to link up!  I'm using the fun little thumbnail linky so we can see pics of the yumminess that's linked up!  I would love for you to share something, even if it's been buried in your archives - dust it off so we can get some new dessert ideas!

Have a lovely day friends - filled with chocolate and desserts (but not *too* much, OK?)!

WFMW ~ Backwards Edition: Housecleaning - Help?

Today is the backwards edition of Works-For-Me-Wednesday!  That means I get to ask you a question and you *get* to give me some input!  I love input from my readers - you all are so wonderful about sharing!

If you've read my blog for a while, then you know that I am a perfect homemaker and have an excellent system in place for keeping my house clean - HAHAHA!!  Oh I couldn't even keep a straight face there!  :)  Sadly, the housecleaning is my biggest struggle and I need a really good system/schedule that will keep me on track but not overwhelmed.

I would love to hear what works for you as far as housecleaning systems and schedules!  What do you do?  Is there hope for me??

Thank you friends!!  Hop on over to We Are THAT Family for more Works-For-Me-Wednesday! 

Tasty Tuesday ~ Slaw With Poppy Seed Dressing

It's Tasty Tuesday and I have a yummy recipe to share today!  I am happy to share this recipe with you as strawberries are in season and make this recipe delicious!  This is one of hubs and my fave recipes and is a great one to take to a picnic.  I found this recipe years ago in a Good Housekeeping magazine.

Slaw With Poppy Seed Dressing

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 small shallot, coarsely chopped
1 small head green cabbage (1 1/2 lbs), cored and thinly sliced ( I cheat and buy angel hair slaw in the bag)
2 cups seedless red grapes (about 1/2 lb), each cut in half
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1 pint strawberries, hulled and cut lengthwise into quarters (or eighths if large)

1.  Prepare dressing:  In blender, combine oil, vinegar, sugar, mustard, poppy seeds, salt, and shallot.  Blend until smooth.  Transfer dressing to large serving bowl.

2.  Add cabbage and grapes to dressing in bowl.  Toss until evenly coated with dressing.  If not serving right away, cover and refrigerate up to 4 hours.  Toss with pecans and strawberries just before serving.

Makes 11 cups or 16 accompaniment servings (close to 2/3 cup)
Per serving:  100 cal, 6 g fat, 2 g fiber, approx. 2 WW pts

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I do hope you get a chance to try it out - it's so yummy!  Be sure to stop by Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam where you can find all sorts of yummy recipes linked up!

Have a tasty day friends!

Monday Musings

I'm going to copy my friend Charlotte today by posting Monday Musings...

What I'm thinking: That I am so very far behind in so many things that I don't know where to begin.
What I'm reading: A daily devotional, my Bible, and A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens.
What I'm listening to: Computer hum, tree trimmer/shredder somewhere in the neighborhood, wind chimes, son clearing his throat.
What I'm learning: That even though I'm not a schedule kind of person, I need some sort of schedule to get me on track.
What I'm watching: Tree branches swaying gently through the window, the dog curled up on his bed.
What's cooking: Tonight we'll have Cheesy Chicken Carbonara With Fettucine and leftover Slaw With Poppyseed Dressing (recipe will be on my blog tomorrow).
What I'm buying: Need some t-shirts for the hot weather that will be here soon and more things to make up the tea party favors for an upcoming church ladies tea.
What I'm thankful for: Beautiful sunshine and that my kiddo is home with me (though it's because he's sick).
What I'm creating: Must come up with Mother's Day gifts to send to Mother-in-law and Stepmother.
What I'm praying: That the Lord would give me clear direction of what I'm supposed to be doing and that He would help me to be a better homemaker.
What I'm planning: Working on menu for ladies' tea, planning menu for the week, trip details for Summer, trying to work on some sort of housecleaning schedule, getting back into exercise routine.
What I'm looking forward to: Bible study with friends, my son getting over his illness, a baseball game, some thrift store shopping.
A picture to share:

 Camping trips and the dirt that goes along with them make us happy!  It's been far too long since we've gone and I'm really wanting to plan a trip!

What are you thinking about today?  Have a wonderful day friends!