How To Make Berry Cheesecake

This fresh berry topped cheesecake is a refreshing and delicious summer treat. It is also a big and beautiful show stopper; everyone will ooh and awe over your beautiful cheesecake. This recipe makes a 9 x 13 inch rectangle cheesecake, so there will be plenty of cheesecake for everyone at a summer cookout or potluck. However, this cheesecake is so good, you may choose to make it for a family dessert, and be able to have a little piece each night of the week for dessert.

Makes 24 servings

For the Crust:

2 cups Nilla Wafer crumbs (about 60 cookies crushed)
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar

For the Filling:

4 8oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 package (3.4 oz) JELL-O Lemon flavored instant pudding
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

For the Topping:

1 package whipped topping
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup each blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, sliced strawberries

1. Heat oven to 325ºF. Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with foil, with the ends of foil extended over the sides.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the wafer crumbs, sugar, and butter. Pour the crust mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and press into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

3. In a blender, food processor, or mixer, add cream cheese and sugar, blend until smooth. Add the sour cream, and blend until incorporated. Add the lemon pudding mix, lemon zest, and lemon juice; blend until combined. Now, add the eggs, one at a time, blending on low speed after each until just blended. Pour the cheese mixture over the crust.

4. Bake for 1 hour or until the center is almost set. Cool the cheesecake completely. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Use the foil handles to lift out the cheesecake from the pan. Move the cheesecake from the foil to a tray.

5. Add the vanilla extract to the whipped topping and mix in thoroughly. Spread the whipped topping over the top of the cheesecake. Now decorate with the fresh fruit.

6. Serve and enjoy!

There you have it, a big, beautiful cheesecake that everyone will love!

How To Make Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

This is a delicious twist on the classic pumpkin pie recipe, and even easier to make. The only baking in this recipe is for the crust. This is a great dessert to serve at a Halloween party, as dessert (or one of the desserts) at Thanksgiving dinner, or for any other time that you have a taste for pumpkin.

Ingredients:

CRUST

1 ½ cups ginger cookie crumbs
½ stick (4 tablespoons) butter, melted
FILLING
1 quart vanilla bean ice cream
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon ground ginger
(optional) assorted dried fruit for decoration

1. Heat the oven to 350ºF. In a 9 inch pie plate, combine the ginger cookie crumbs and melted butter. Once the butter is evenly distributed throughout the cookie crumbs, press the crumbs into the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a ½ cup measuring cup to press into the cookie crumb crust to even out the thickness of the bottom and sides of the crust.

2. Bake the ginger cookie crust for 5 minutes at 350ºF. After the 5 minutes, remove the crust from the oven and allow it to cool completely.

3. While the crust is cooling, take the ice cream out of the freezer and allow it to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Once the ice cream has become softened from sitting out, scoop it into a large mixing bowl. Stir the ice cream with a spoon until it becomes broken up, then add the pumpkin, brown sugar, and spices. Stir the the mixture until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the ice cream.

4. Pour the pumpkin ice cream mixture into the cooled crust. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.

5. If you are making this pie for a Halloween party or gathering, decorate the pie with a variety of dried fruits to create a jack-o'-lantern face. Let the pie sit out at room temperature for about 10 minutes prior to slicing, so it will be easier to slice.

6. Serve and enjoy this delicious pumpkin ice cream pie!

Makes 8 servings.

Spicing Up the Everyday Summer Garden Salad

Summer is the perfect time to have fun and get creative with salads, as they supply good nutrients without the extra-full feeling and calories. And who wants to feel stuffed on a hot summer day? Summer and salads just go well together. They also DON'T heat up your kitchen while preparing.

Garden salads are excellent appetizers before eating a full meal. It's also beneficial if you are trying to lose a few pounds. If you fill up on a light salad before a meal, you are likely to consume less calories. Makes sense right?

I know what you're thinking! "Garden salads are boring." Well...maybe so, if you let them be. But, guess what? They don't have to be!

There are so many things you can do to a salad to spice things up with both color and taste. Start with your basic fresh crisp greens. Iceberg and especially romaine lettuce provide lots of good nutrients. Then zip things up by adding a bit of color with some red lettuce, red tomatoes, and red bell peppers. You can even toss some red onions in to sweeten the taste.

Adding some veggies can significantly add a wide variety of color, taste, and texture which will instantly add a bit of zest to your typical mundane garden salad. Why not try some fresh steamed broccoli, or some asparagus? Maybe some cauliflower or fresh okra? Don't knock it until you've tried it! The idea is to make the salad more appetizing and appealing to your liking.

You can also make your garden salad into a hearty chef salad by adding grilled chicken, beef, or ham. Then toss a hard boiled egg into the mix. Meat and eggs both will also benefit you by adding some of your daily intake of protein. Protein gives you lots of energy. Bean sprouts and nuts also offer extra variety and protein.

Fruits also comes in many distinct colors and tastes. Chopping and tossing in some of your favorite fresh fruit makes for a delicious homemade salad. Try some mouth-watering strawberries, fresh peaches, or maybe even some apples and raisins. I'm getting hungry just thinking about these salad combinations. Main point here is...you don't have to settle for the everyday boring salad.

Below is a simple salad combination recipe

Chicken Apple Garden Salad

Ingredients

1 head iceberg lettuce
2 baked skinless chicken breasts, chopped
2 small red apples, thinly sliced
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup red bell peppers, chopped
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
salad dressing of your choice

Directions

Clean and chop up lettuce. Bake chicken breasts in covered baking dish @300 degrees F for 45 minutes. Cut up into chunks.

Combine ingredients. Mix well and top with salad dressing of your choice.

Listed below are just a few foods that you can add to salads to spice things up a notch or two

bacon
hard boiled eggs
celery
cheddar cheese
goat cheese
grilled chicken
beef
ham
tuna
pasta
raisins
nuts
mango
yogurt
sour cream
fruits
dried fruits
sprinkle parmesan cheese
pineapple chunks
bean sprouts
kidney beans
green beans
steamed broccoli
steamed cauliflower
grapes
apples
small animal crackers
croutons
any colorful veggies or fruits

I bet you can come up with some more. Get creative with your greens! Experiment with your taste buds. You can also get creative with various types of dressings to top off your masterpiece. There are no rules here, get your creative juices flowing and see how many variations of salads you can come up with. Try them out with your family and friends at all those summer backyard barbecues you will be having.

Thing To Know To Make a Homemade Birthday Cake

Birthday plans are always a nice thing to consider, especially when considering your own birthday every year! You will see plenty of well-liked birthday traditions to consider and numerous people use the traditional conventional birthday cake and ice cream as the dessert of their choice. Yet, more often than not many individuals merely determine to buy one at a local grocery store, possibly with a birthday message written on the top. It is safe to say that so this is how that over fifty percent of birthdays are celebrated. There certainly requirements to be a birthday cake revolution, though, because they are a fantastic way not just to give a gift to somebody, but to also celebrate your own birthday!

It is all in the Method!

Homemade birthday cakes are certainly the yummiest one on the planet and you will see literally an almost limitless amount of methods in which 1 can go about producing their own one. Even so, the simplest technique to do so would be to use a simple recipe that comprises of sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, and milk. Numerous people who make them do so with out a recipe, but for first-timers it may be necessary to really have a recipe in front of you. It truly is all within the technique, though, and the amount of of every ingredient you use inside your birthday cake! But this is certainly the most easy way to bake one for your self or someone else.

Add some sprinkles, chocolate, or other sweet ingredient!

One way to spice up your birthday cake is to throw in another ingredient that you like. This can range anything from chocolate chips to sprinkles and even cinnamon. As mentioned, you will find literally many ways to arrange yours. If your going to include cinnamon or sprinkles to your cake, though, 1 of the best things to do would be to search in a number of cookbooks for the kind of birthday cake that you are looking to bake! Experimenting, though, usually works and is a fantastic technique to get baking experience!

Give Away Your Cakes!

An fascinating thing to do together with your homemade birthday cake is to give it away to your friend or family who's having their birthday! You can bake the one in a little pan to ensure that it could be like a personalized cake or you could choose to make cupcakes out of the batter that you make. Either way, these gift ideas are fantastic if you're searching for an affordable but creative method to give a birthday gift to your buddies or family.

If you want to try some thing different rather than purchasing a cake at the local food market, selecting to go homemade is the best thing that you are able to do! Not only do they taste so great, but they also have that flavor and pride inside simply because you put your tough work and dedication right into it.

Healthy Foods For Kids - Train Your Kids to Eat Healthy

Training your kids to eat healthy is indeed a challenge for most parents, as they are often influenced by TV commercials about fast foods and other influences that may become more appealing to them.

Putting more vegetables and fruits in their diet will truly make a difference in their growth and in their eating habits. Training them to eat healthy at an early age will also lead them to lesser health problems in their adulthood.

If you want to start with healthy foods for kids, you can select vegetables and add them into their everyday diet. You can also serve them in variety of ways to make them appealing. Fruits and vegetables add a variety of colors and textures to recipes and meals, so you may want to take advantage of that too.

Starting out with the healthy foods for kids, vegetables and fruits, chicken without the skin, wheaties and whole grain, skim milk, frozen yogurt or non-fat ice cream are some healthy foods that you can serve your kids. You can also make your own recipes and make sure you include the healthy ingredients on it.


Breakfast is important not only for adults but for children as well. You can serve them breakfast that is high in fiber, and most likely, you will get this from vegetables as well as in whole grain bread. Cereals and low-fat cheese and skim milk are also good choices for breakfast. You can also give them the fresh fruit rather than canned fruit juices to get the most nutrients out of it and less the artificial coloring.

A healthy sandwich for lunch is also good for the kids. You can use whole grain bread or whole grain crackers. For your tuna salad, you can also cut and mix vegetables like carrot, celery and green peppers. You can also use fat-free mayonnaise together with chunks of chicken and don't forget to add the carrots, raisins or almonds for your chicken salad. Peanut butter and jelly are also good choices for sandwiches, or you can serve them with your celery sticks. You can always make healthier sandwiches by adding more vegetables in it and serve it with fresh fruit.

At times, you may need a lot of patience to make your kids love vegetables, so make sure also that you are letting them see that you are also eating them. You can also put a bowl of veggies and fruits like grapes or carrot and celery sticks nearby when they are playing so they will be more exposed to these kinds of food.

Organic fruits and vegetables are also healthier choices for your kids. Aside from being free from pesticides, they also have higher nutrient contents and antioxidants. Keep in mind too that if you want healthy foods for kids, refrain from bringing them to fast foods, of course this part may be quite difficult with all the colorful TV ads, but there is always a way to explain. You can also be creative. If they just love those chicken nuggets at the fast food, you can make your own at home less the fat and too much salt. You can grill chicken breast, cut it into smaller bite sizes and make a healthy dipping sauce.

You can actually make your own healthy foods for kids at home like making a healthier pizza and getting those carrot and celery sticks instead of those salty French fries.