Strawberry Cookie Cake

What You Need:

1 (18 oz.) pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough
2 tbsp of sugar
1 qt. of fresh strawberries, washed, stems removed and sliced
1 (3.4 oz.) box of instant vanilla pudding and pie filling
1 C of cold milk
1 1/2 C of frozen whipped topping, thawed

How to Make It:

Allow the oven to preheat to 350 degrees.
Turn two nine inch round cake pans upside down and cover them both with foil.
Remove the foil, turn the pans over and carefully line each pan with the fitted foil.
Remove the cookie dough and cut in half.
Fit the dough pieces into the prepared cake pans and press it out with your fingers to cover the bottom of the pan all the way to the edges.
Sprinkle the sugar evenly over both pieces of dough.
Bake the dough for 20 minutes or until a light golden brown.
Place the pans on a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes.
Carefully remove the baked dough from the pans using the foil as handles.
Place them back on the wire racks and cool for 20 minutes.
Place the pudding mix into a bowl.
Add the milk and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes or until thickened.
Fold the whipped topping into the mixture well.
Remove the foil from 1 cookie layer and place the cookie layer on a plate.
Spread half of the pudding mixture over the cookie layer.
Top with half of the sliced strawberries.
Repeat the layers again using 1/2 of the remaining pudding mix and all the strawberries.
Top with dollops of the remaining pudding mixture.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Makes 8 servings

This shortcake can be a little messy to make. Be sure to teach your children about being clean in the kitchen. It’s important they learn food handling, washing their hands and keeping a clean working space. Let them fancy up their cake by adding a few whole strawberries as garnish.

Preparation Time: approximately 30 minutes
Baking Time: approximately 20 minutes
Cooling Time: approximately 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: approximately 2 hours 20 minutes

Frozen Chocolate Malt Cake

What You Need:

1 qt. sugar free vanilla ice cream, softened
1/4 C malted milk powder
1 qt. sugar free chocolate ice cream
1/3 C fat free fudge topping
1 C malted milk balls, chopped

How to Make It:

Mix together the vanilla ice cream and malted milk powder until well blended.
Evenly spread the chocolate ice cream over the bottom of a spring form pan.
Drop the fudge topping by spoonfuls over the top of the chocolate ice cream.
Evenly sprinkle half of the malted milk balls over the top.
Carefully spread the vanilla ice cream mixture over the malted milk balls.
Place in the freezer for at least 4 hours or until firm.
Remove the sides of the pan and sprinkle the top with the remaining malted milk balls.

Makes 16 servings

With this recipe you can have your cake and eat it too. Don’t deprive yourself of the finer things in life just because you want to eat healthy. This dessert is low fat and sugar free and it’s a great way to incorporate some of the good stuff into a nutritious diet.

Preparation Time: approximately 10 minutes
Freezing Time: approximately 4 hours
Total Time: approximately 4 hours 10 minutes

Nutritional Information: (approximate values per serving)
Calories 204; Fat 4g; Saturated Fat 3g; Carbohydrates 35g; Protein 6g; Fiber 1g;
Cholesterol 26mg; Sodium 109mg

Almond Cranberry Croissants

croissantcookie

What You Need:

1 1/3 C of flour
3 1/2 oz. almond paste, cut small
2/3 C + 2 tbsp light brown sugar, packed and divided
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 C almonds, toasted and chopped very fine
1 C of fresh cranberries, chopped very fine
3/4 tsp cinnamon, divided
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp sugar

How to Make It:

Put the flour, almond paste, 2 tbsp of brown sugar and the salt into the blender.
Blend until the almond paste is blended into the flour well.
Place the butter and cream cheese into the mixture and pulse until a moist crumb forms.
Place the mixture onto a flat surface and knead until a soft dough forms.
Divide the dough into thirds and place on a lightly floured surface.
Shape the pieces into a 1/2 inch thick disk.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.
Line a baking sheet with foil and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the almonds, cranberries, remaining brown sugar and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon into a bowl and toss to combine.
Place the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface.
Roll each disk out to form a 9 inch circle.
Place 1/3 of the cranberry filling onto each circle, pressing into the dough with your fingers.
Cut each dough circle into 12 wedges.
Roll the wedges into croissants beginning at the wide end and rolling to the point.
Place the croissants point down on the foil line baking sheet.
Toss together the sugar and remaining cinnamon.
Brush each croissant with egg and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Bake the croissants for 22 minutes or until a golden brown.
Cool on wire racks before serving.

Makes 36 croissant

These cookies make a great snack in the middle of the afternoon or as a dessert at the end of a delicious healthy meal. Mix up your filling by using cherries and pecans or peaches and walnuts or any type of fruit nut mixture that you like.

Preparation Time: approximately 15 minutes
Chilling Time: approximately 1 hour
Baking Time: approximately 22 minutes
Total Time: approximately 1 hour 37 minutes

Nutritional Information: (approximate values per cookie)
Calories 105; Fat 5g; Saturated Fat 2g; Carbohydrates 12g; Protein 2g; Fiber 1g;
Cholesterol 14mg; Sodium 28mg

Slow Cooked Kielbasa Bites

sausage

What You Need:

2 lbs. kielbasa sausage, fully cooked and cut into pieces
3/4 C of brown sugar
1 C chunky applesauce
2 garlic cloves, minced

How to Cook It:

Lay the sausages into the bottom of the crock pot.
Sprinkle the sausages with the brown sugar covering them well.
Stir in the applesauce and garlic until blended in well.
Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours or until heated through.

Makes 12 servings

The ideal slow cooker size is 3 quarts but they can be made in a 4 or 5 quart cooker just be sure to watch them carefully so they don’t over cook. These tasty little bites make a great get together appetizer. Even the kids will love them. The garlic is optional.

Preparation Time: approximately 15 minutes
Cooking Time: approximately 6 hours
Total Time: approximately 6 hours 15 minutes

Bow Tie Chicken and Cheese

bowties

What You Need:

2 C onion, chopped
2 C of whipping cream
8 oz. American cheese, cubed
8 oz. Swiss cheese slices, torn
1 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp pepper
4 C of cooked chicken, chopped
1 (16 oz.) box of bow tie pasta, cooked and drained

How to Make It:

Whisk together in a small mixing bowl the onions and whipping cream.
Stir in both kinds of cheese, the sage and the pepper.
Place the chicken into the crock pot.
Pour the cheese mixture over the top of the chicken coating it well.
Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 4 hours.
Stir the chicken mixture well then add in the cook pasta, stirring to coat.
Recover and cool 5 minutes or until heated through.

Makes 6 servings

It is not recommended to cook this recipe on high. High heat will cause the cheese to scorch. This is an economical meal that even the kids will love. Leftovers should not be frozen but will remain fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator of up to 3 days. T freeze do not add the pasta. Freeze the chicken mixture for up 2 months. Reheat on the stove then add the pasta and cook until heated through.

Preparation Time: approximately 20 minutes
Cooking Time: approximately 4 hours 5 minutes
Total Time: approximately 4 hours 25 minutes

Nutritional Information: (approximate values per serving)
Calories 755; Fat 43g; Saturated Fat 25g; Carbohydrates 49g; Fiber 2g; Protein 43g; Cholesterol 186 mg; Sodium 886 mg

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Baked Cinnamon Crunch Poppers

cinnamonpoppers

cinnamonpoppersWhat You Need:

2 T of sugar
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 (10.2 oz.) can refrigerated home style biscuits
2 T of margarine, melted
3/4 C of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, crushed fine

How to Make It:

Allow the oven to heat to 400 degrees F/
A cookie sheet is sprayed with a non stick cooking spray.
Blend together the sugar and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
The biscuits are separated into 5 pieces.
Each of the biscuits is cut into 6 pieces.
In the bowl with the cinnamon put the biscuits pieces and coat well.
The melted butter is poured over the above pieces and stir until well coated.
In a plastic bag put the crushed cereal.
The biscuit pieces are put in the bag a few at a time, seal the bag and shake to coat.
The coated pieces are put on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 32 poppers

Kids love to pop these little treats into their mouths. The leftovers can be stored in an airtight container. Warm them by putting in the microwave for about 30 seconds. These make a very good breakfast treat.

Preparation Time: approximately 10 minutes
Baking Time: approximately 12 minutes
Total Time: approximately 22 minutes

Nutritional Value per 4 bites: (approximate values)
Calories 70; fat 4 g; sodium 95 mg; carbohydrates 9 g; sugar 4 g; protein 0 g

Lil Smoky Snake Snacks

What You Need:

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
4 (11 oz.) cans refrigerated bread sticks
2 pkg. cheese smoky links
1 t of processed cheese spread
48 small raisins

How to Make It:

The oven is set to preheat to 375 degrees F.
Cut the bell pepper into 24 small pieces to look like a tongue.
The bread stick dough is removed from the cans but not unrolled.
Each bread stick roll is separated into 6 pieces.
1 roll of the dough is unrolled and press to seal the center perforation.
The dough is wrapped loosely around a smoky link with 1 1/2 in dough extending from each end.
Do this until all the smoky links have been wrapped.
On an ungreased cookie sheet put the wrapped links.
Place small balls of foil under the extended ends of the dough to form the heads and tails while baking.
Make a mouth by making a small slit in each piece of dough.
Put in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until dough is a golden brown.
Place a dab of the cheese spread on the head of each snake where the eyes and tongue are to be placed.
On each snake put two raisins for the eyes and a piece of the bell pepper for the tongue.

Makes 24 servings

These sneaky snakes are loved by kids. In place of the smoky links you may use regular hot dogs.

Preparation Time: approximately 30 minutes
Baking Time: approximately 15 minutes
Total Time: approximately 45 minutes

Nutritional Information per serving: (approximate values)
Calories 290; fat 16 g; sodium 910 mg; carbohydrates 29 g; sugar 6 g;
protein 9 g

Fudge Topped Chocolate Cookies

cookies

cookiesWhat You Need:

1/2 C of peanut butter chips
1/2 C whipped ready to spread chocolate frosting
1 (18 oz.) pkg. refrigerated chocolate chip cookie mix

How to Make It:

Set the oven and allow to heat to 350 degrees F.
In a saucepan put the peanut butter chips.
Stirring constantly over low heat cook for 5 minutes or until the chips are completely melted.
Take form the stove and stir the frosting in the melted chips until blended well.
Cool the mixture 10 minutes in the saucepan.
On an ungreased cookie sheet put the cookie dough pieces 2 in apart.
The cookies are baked 12 minutes or until set.
Shape the cooled peanut butter mixture into 20 even shaped balls.
The baked cookies are removed from the oven.
Press l peanut butter ball into the middle of each cookie while still hot.
Cool on the cookie sheet 2 minutes then finish cooling on a wire rack.

Makes 20 cookies

You may use any type of chips in these cookies.

Preparation Time: approximately 20 minutes
Baking Time: approximately 12 minutes
Cooling Time: approximately 12 minutes
Total Time: approximately 44 minutes

Nutritional Information per cookie: (approximate values)
Calories 180; fat 8 g; sodium 110 mg; carbohydrates 23 g; sugar 14 g;
protein 3 g

Vanilla Applesauce Dip

applesaucedip

applesaucedipWhat You Need:

2 C of applesauce
6 T of vanilla yogurt
1 t ground cinnamon

How to Make It:

In a serving bowl put the applesauce.
The yogurt is folded in until combined well.
Stir in the cinnamon and mix well.
Put in refrigerator covered tightly for at least 1/2 hour before serving.

Makes 8 servings

Serve this to the little ones who can’t handle the other snacks and appetizers. For the little ones use animal crackers, graham crackers or vanilla wafers for dipping.

Preparation Time: approximately 10 minutes
Chilling Time: approximately 30 minutes
Total Time: approximately 40 minutes

Nutritional Information per 1/4 C serving: (approximate values)
Calories 170; fat 4 g; sodium 115 mg; carbohydrates 33 g; sugar 21 g;
protein 2 g