Berried Delight

A friend of mine was looking for a lemon dessert recipe to take to a party last weekend and I remembered I had this one from a gal at church who made it for one of our Bible study brunches. It is so easy and just giving it to Ms. M, I realized that I needed to make it myself for today's Bible study. As a bonus, it's a no-bake recipe, so no heating up the house!

Berried Delight

Crust:
1.5 c graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c sugar
1/3 c melted butter

Filling:
8 oz. soft cream cheese
1/4 c sugar
2 T milk

Topping:
8 oz. cool whip
2 pkg lemon pudding
3.5 c milk

Combine crumbs with sugar & melted butter. Press into a 9x13 pan. Chill 15 minutes.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and milk until smooth.

Fold in 1/2 the cool whip to cream cheese mixture. Carefully spread over crust.***

Prepare putdding using 3.5 c milk (do not refrigerate). Pour over cream cheese layer. Chill several hours or overnight.

Before serving, spread remaining cool whip over pudding. Garnish with berries if desired.


***If you want, you can add a layer of fresh sliced strawberries or blueberries.

Tasty Tuesday - Strawberry Banana Sorbet

Welcome to Tasty Tuesday hosted by Angie.

On my plan, I am fairly limited in what "sweet" stuff I can have. Usually, I have to resort to a serving of sugar free jello. Otherwise, fruit has to suffice for my "dessert". Anyhow, I was flipping through the latest issue of Woman's Day Magazine and I found this tasty treat which really is technically just fruit in a different form, but when you want a healthy alternative to ice cream, this does the trick.

STRAWBERRY BANANA SORBET

2 medium bananas
1 cup sliced strawberries
2 T water
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

Slice bananas into 1" chuncks. Place in a pan lined with wax paper along with strawberries and freeze 1.5 - 2 hours. Combine frozen fruit, water and lemon juice in a food processor/blender and blend until smooth. Serve right away or freeze up to 2 weeks. Makes approximately 2 cups.

***Note: I used a blender but it would definitely work better with a food processor. If using a blender, maybe only freeze the fruit for a lesser amount of time. I also poured the sorbet into individual Ziploc take-a-long containers for the perfect individual serving.

Seriously, I am not trying to sabatoge myself!

If you were to walk into my house right now, you may think I have just thrown my diet out the window as there are the most wonderful smells emanating from my kitchen. In fact, I am making one of my all-time favorites: Carmelitas. But, even though these are oh-so-tasty, these puppies are headed for the Forest Lakes District Conference being held at Hope Community Church this weekend. Pastors and members of their congregations from our district will be headed to our church this weekend and we are trying to feed them all. I figured a little bit of sinfulness wouldn't hurt them!

Here's the recipe for those of you interested. It's super simple:

2 cups quick oats
1.5 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed firm
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 jar (12 oz.) caramel ice cream topping
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts or peanuts

Preheat oven to 350. Combine oast, flour, brown sugar and baking soda. Add melted butter and mix until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup of the crumble mixture and set aside. Press the rest of the crumble mixture in the bottom of a 9"x13" pan. Bake for 15 minutes. While the crust is baking, combine the flour and caramel topping. Remove the crust from oven and pour caramel mixture over the top. Use a spatula to spread it out if necessary. Top caramel with nuts, followed by chocolate chips. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of crumble mixture on top of everything else and return the pan to the oven for another 15-18 minutes. Remove when gold and bubbly. Cool completely. Makes about 24 decent size bars, but I usually cut them smaller because they are really rich.

Enjoy!