Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

I love this simple cake mix cookie recipe.  It is definitely kid friendly!  My kids had a lot of fun making homemade ice cream sandwiches! I got this recipe idea from  Cake Mix Cookies @ Our Best Bites.  I altered the recipe by adding another egg.  For whatever reason, the dough was too dry for me.  The cookie batter was better for me with three eggs instead of two.  So try it out with two eggs first to see how the dough reacts then add another egg if you need to. :D  This would be a fun and easy Family Home Evening treat!

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

1 chocolate cake mix

1/2 cup shortening

2-3 eggs

Your favorite ice cream

Yield 15-20 ice cream sandwiches (depending on how small you roll your cookie dough).

Preheat oven 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine cake mix, shortening, and eggs.  Mix well (will be stiff). Then roll the dough into small balls and drop onto a baking sheet.  Bake for 5-7 minutes.  Allow them to cool on the baking sheet DO NOT PUT THEM ON WIRE RACK to cool.  The cookie will fall through the cracks or fall apart (trust me on this because I made the mistake)! You could place the cookie sheet in the freezer to speed up the cooling process.  Once the cookies are cool on the flat surface of the cookie add a spoonful of your favorite ice cream and add another cookie on top of the ice cream gently smashing them together.  We had the following ice creams: chocolate, vanilla, and chocolate chip mint.  I am sure it would be great with neapolitan, strawberry, or any ice cream!  You may eat them right away or freeze them for later.  They are great the next day!  Yum and enjoy!

Fruit and Almond Salad

Fruit and Almond Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup romain lettuce, sliced.
1/4 cup baby spinich, sliced
1/4 cup fresh rasberries
1/4 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup mandarine oranges
1/2 oz. sea salted almonds (about 12 pieces)
1/2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp. Italian Dressing

Directions:

Crush almonds into small pieces and then mix almonds and brown sugar together. In bowl place lettuce and baby spinich, rasberries, blueberries and mandarine oranges. Pour salad dressing over salad and sprinkle almond and brown sugar mix on top. Enjoy! Serves 1.

Kielbasa and Shells

Yield:

This recipe is basically like mac and cheese but better.

1 package of pasta (shells of any size, you can use others a well)
1 turkey kielbasa or polish (beef/pork) sausage
1 package of Swiss cheese slices
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of milk

Chop the kielbasa into bit size pieces.  Boil the shells with the kielbasa (no need to add salt or oil due to having the meat boiling with the shells).  Drain the water and add the slices of Swiss cheese, milk, and butter.

Ice Cream Jello

 

 

Yield: lots of yummyness

We have done all the colors of a rainbow.  You may do a 4th of July theme of red layer, cream red layer, blue layer, cream blue layer repeating over and over.  We then put a layer of white whipping cream or Cool Whip layer on the top.  We think doing a cranberry theme with ice cream and sparkling cider would be good for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  It is really an easy recipe, just time consuming, but definitely worth it because it tastes so good!

INGREDIENTS:
Jello boxes (suggestions: strawberry, cherry, cranberry, pineapple, blueberry, grape, mango, peach, apricot, orange, lime, watermelon, raspberry, lemon, strawberry/banana, strawberry/kiwi, tropical punch and so forth)
Water and ice
Gallon of ice cream (vanilla)

DIRECTIONS:
Follow the directions on the Jello box for the first layer (adding hot and cold water).  To speed the process up, we use ice with cold water.  Make sure you measure accurately on what the directions say on the Jello box.

Next is the cream layer.  Instead of measuring cold water we substitute ice cream in its place.  The cream layers usually set up quicker than the normal layers.

Then add another regular Jello layer (hot water, cold water with ice). Carefully ladle the next layers in so that you don't put holes in the previous Jello layers.

Fruit Pizza

Yield:

Crust:
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Stir together sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt.  Cut in shortening, add milk, egg, and almond flavoring.  Knead flour enough for a rolling consistency.  Grease pan very lightly and press down onto it evenly.  Be sure there are no thin spots. Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown.  Set aside to cool.

Frosting:
4 oz of cream cheese
1/2 cup of whipped topping

Combine the cream cheese with the whipped topping.  Spread onto cool cookie crust.  Top with fruits (strawberries, grapes, kiwis, bananas, mandarin oranges, pineapple, blueberries, raspberries, apples, peaches, and so forth).

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Yield: one dozen meatballs

Meatballs:

1 pound of ground beef
1 egg
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoon chopped onion
dash of pepper

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together with your hand.  It will be some what sticky.  Form into balls and brown in a small amount of oil.  Drain all but 1 tablespoon oil.  Pour the meatballs and 1 tablespoon oil in a dish and set aside.

Sauce:

1 __ oz can pineapple tidbits, with the juice (the smaller can)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons vinegar
6 tablespoons water
1/2 cup sugar

In a frying pan, mix the above ingredients and heat until it thickens.  I usually mix the water and cornstarch separately and then put it in the frying pan so it doesn't make dumplings!  Put meatballs back in sauce and heat through.  Serve over rice and thoroughly enjoy!

Key Lime Pie Cheesecake

Yield: 1 pie

Crust
2 cups of graham cracker (crushed into crumbs)
1/2 cup of melted butter
1/3 cup of sugar

Combine all three ingredients and press firmly in a lightly greased (cooking spray) nine-inch pie dish.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.  Let the crust cool while you make the key lime pie cheese cake filling.

Key Lime Pie Cheesecake
1 (8 oz.) package of softened cream cheese
1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 oz.) container of frozen whipped topping
1 cup fresh lime juice (about five limes)
Lime slices and mint for garnish

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and whipping topping.  Stir in the lime juice until well blended and mixture is thick and smooth.  Immediately pour lime filling into cool pie shell.  Chill for at least two hours.  Garnish with mint and fresh lime slices.  Enjoy!