Creamy Pomegranate Icecream

Tweet

Last November, POM Wonderful contacted me via e-mail and asked if I would be interested in trying some of their yummy Pomegranate juice.  I had never been contacted by a major beverage company to sample some of their products, so this was definitely a first for me.  I was honored and flattered when I read the request and I delightfully agreed to it. 

 A few weeks after they contacted me, I received these cute little babies in the mail:

Granted, there were more bottles that arrived in the package...at least around 8 or 9 more :)  The holidays came and went, visiting house guests came and went, and now....a few months later...I am finally getting around to experimenting with these cute little things.

Up until recently, I have never been an avid drinker of pomegranate juice.  The only other time I tried it was 2 years ago at a Christmas get together that my family attended.  My friend, who threw the get together, made the most wonderful punch as the main beverage.  When I asked her what she made it with, she told me it was just half pomegranate juice and half Sprite...and that was it.  I was shocked at how easy it was and have remembered this concoction eversince.  This was one way to use up all our lovely juice. 

Last week, I came across this wonderful icecream recipe and I wanted to try it. 

It is super simple and very quick to make.  You just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, pour it into your icecream maker, and let the appliance do the rest of the work.  Not only is this easy to make, but it tastes VERY rich and smooth.  When you eat it, you are reminded of hot, sunny days spent outside watching your children play.  The addition of the pomegranate juice makes the icecream have a certain 'cherry zing' flavor to it.  This one is definitely going to be a keeper at my house.

Creamy Pomegranate Icecream

(adapted from Allrecipes.com)

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup white sugar

1 cup pomegranate juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pinch salt

Stir together the heavy cream and sugar. Stir in the pomegranate juice, vanilla extract, and salt. Add the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions...we made ours for around 40 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Tweet

Have an extra sweet potato or two?  

Why not make some of these yummy, melt in your mouth biscuits?  

Three words for y'all....oh. my. goodness.  These are so good that everyone in my family loved them!

You can't go wrong with this recipe.  You really can't. 

You start with your dry ingredients.....

.....minus the butter...

.....mix it all in a bowl....

be prepared to smell the aroma of fall....

....chop, chop, chop your butter..

....and along with the shortening...dump it in with your dry ingredients.  

Take a fork and mash, mash, mash until it is the consistency of cornmeal.  Sorry, no pictures for this step.

Then, take your 1 cup of sweet potato and your buttermilk and mix it in the bowl.  No pictures for this either.

On a lightly floured surface, take dough out of the bowl and knead it a few times.  Roll out dough and with a biscuit cutter, cut into 1/2 inch circles.  Place on an ungreased baking tin.  

Bake for a good 12-15 minutes.

Yummy!!

Serve with your favorite meal or eat them with some apple spice butter.  

Yes.  It's that easy. Your tummy will thank you for it.  

Promise :)

Sweet Potato Biscuits

(makes 15-18 biscuits)

Ingredients:

2 cups self rising flour

3 tbsp. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground allspice

1/4 cup butter

3 tbsp. shortening (we used Crisco Buttered flavor)

1 cup mashed sweet potatoes

6 tbsp. buttermilk

2 tbsp. melted butter

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and allspice in a bowl.

3.  Cut in the 1/4 cup butter and 3 tbsp. shortening with a fork until mixture is crumbly.

4.  Mix in the sweet potatoes and buttermilk.

5.  Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead a few times.  

6.  Roll out dough and with a biscuit cutter, cut into 1/2 inch circles.

7.  Place on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.  

8.  Brush tops of biscuits with the 2 tbsp. of melted butter.  

Recipe Source:  About.com: Southern Food

Bagel Coins/Chips

Tweet

I've been trying to watch my weight lately and have been cooking my way through various low fat recipe cookbooks that I have collected.  This recipe came from one of them.  This is a great way to use up all those left over bagels that you have just sitting around.  

I was shocked at how simple and easy this was to make.  The original recipe calls for those big onion-type of bagels, but I could not find those anywhere so I just resorted to using some little mini whole grain bagels.  Once you see how easy these are to make, you will be hooked as well :) 

Bagel Coins/Chips

(makes one whole bag of mini bagels)

Ingredients:

1 bag of whole grain mini bagels (we used the plain ones)

A couple of tablespoons of Italian Seasoning

A couple of tablespoons of Grated Parmesan Cheese or Mozzeralla Cheese (we used shredded)

A couple of tablespoons of garlic poweder (I added this for extra flavor)

Non stick cooking spray

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a cookie sheet or baking tray with non stick spray.  Open each bagel and place on top of the sheet.  Spray the bagels with more spray. 

2.  Add the Italian Seasoning, garlic powder, and cheese to each one.

3.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Serve with a low fat marinara sauce or eat by itself as a snack. 

**Libby's Notes:  Play around with the types of seasonings and cheese to top it with.  Makes a great appetizer for parties and get togethers :)

Recipe Source:  From the book, "Prevention's Quick and Healthy Low-Fat Cooking Featuring All American Food."

Snickerdoodle Icecream

Tweet

I haven't posted a cooking tutorial in a long time, so this post will be exactly that.

I try to clean out our fridge every payday before we do our big grocery shopping..."try" being the key word...lol.  I don't always get around to it and this recipe is a result of that.  This weekend, I was actually able to clean out the fridge and imagine my shock when I found 3 pints of heavy whipping cream!  My only explaination was that I had bought it for this recipe Chocolate Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Bars and unknowingly kept purchasing pint after pint thinking that the previous ones were expired.  Tsk, tsk, tsk...this is what happens when I don't always get around to cleaning our fridge....lol. 

My hubby suggested that I just throw all the cream out.  But of course, I had to do the opposite and did a little research into what I can make with it.  I was looking for a recipe that would allow me to use as much of the whipping cream as possible, so there wouldn't be much left over.  I came across a few recipes that I really wanted to try, but then when I saw this one, it totally clicked.  Since I'm on a low fat diet, I figured I could make this and freeze it for later consumption.  Unlike the other recipes where I had to eat everything then and there.  Not only that, I haven't made homemade icecream in a loooong while so this was the perfect excuse to do it :)

Step 1:

 Combine 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. of ground cinnamon, and

1/8 tsp. of ground nutmeg in a medium bowl.

Step 2: 

Stir in 2 cups of whipping cream, 1 and 1/2 cups half and half, and 1 and 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract.

Step 3:

Stir really good :)

Step 4:

Place cream mixture into the icecream maker freezer bowl.

Step 5:

Turn on the icecream maker and let it do it's thing :) Ours was on for a good 40 minutes. 

I tried to get my kids to help me with making it but they refused.  They did, however, have no problems eating it ;)

This recipe gets a thumbs up from everyone in the family :)  If you really want to go all out, top it with some whipped cream and chocolate syrup :) Yummmm!

Snickerdoodle Icecream

(adapted from LandOLakes.com)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 cups whipping cream

1 1/2 cups half and half

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in medium bowl. Stir in whipping cream, half & half and vanilla.

Pour into 1-quart ice cream freezer. Freeze according to maufacturer's directions (40 to 60 minutes).

Easy Italian Stew

Tweet

This recipe has been saved in my "recipes to try" file for quite some time.  It's another recipe from Kraft.com.  What a great one this is too. I made this for the family this past weekend.  This is the perfect dish to make when it is 20 below outside and there is a certain chill in the air.  One taste of this stew and it will warm you up in a heartbeat :) 

The original recipe calls for Italian sausage or ground beef, but we used Turkey Italian Sausage instead, to cut down on the calories.  I also couldn't find frozen peppers with onions, so I just chopped up my own and cooked them with the meat until they became soft and tender.  What I found most interesting about this stew is how the recipe has you cooking the sausage/meat with the Italian Dressing.  It's interesting and gives the meat just the right amount of "Italian flavor" to last through the whole entire process.  I've never heard of browning meat in dressing before so this technique was new to me.  It came out wonderful though.  So wonderful that my husband took some to work the next day and as it was heating up in the microwave, his co-workers were telling him that it smelled really good :)  He looked at them, gave them a huge grin and said, "Ohhhh...you should taste it!  It tastes just as good as it smells!"  And.......it also got rave reviews from my almost-2-year old son :)  Which is great!

Rating System:

The Hubs:  Double Thumbs Up

Libby:  Double Thumbs Up

Our kids:  My 3 year old wouldn't try it, but my almost 2 year old son was loving this stuff! 

Easy Italian Stew

(adapted from Kraft.com)

2 tbsp. Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing

1 lb. bulk Italian sausage (or ground beef or turkey sausage)

 2 cans (14-1/2 oz. each) fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen stir-fry vegetables (white onions; sliced green, red and yellow peppers)

1 can (15 oz.) cannellini beans, rinsed

1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained

 1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese

Heat dressing in large saucepan on medium heat. Add sausage; cook 8 to 10 min. or until done, stirring occasionally to break into small pieces.

Add broth, stir-fry vegetables, beans and tomatoes; bring to boil. Stir in macaroni; simmer on medium heat 8 to 10 min. or until macaroni is tender, stirring occasionally.

Top with cheese. Serve with Ritz Crackers (or any other kind of crackers).

Chocolate Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Bars

Tweet

Yes....this is a dessert.  Yes...other then the fact that I made it on a weekend, it goes against all the guidelines I made for my weight loss journey.  But I haven't baked anything since Christmas...and I have been itching to get back into the kitchen and play with the sugar and flour.  Or in this case, the chocolate and cream cheese.  I did make this on a Sunday though, so that my hubby can take it all into work on Monday and we wouldn't be left to graze on it for the whole week.  So I am giving myself kudos for that :)

If you LOVE chocolate and peanut butter....AND cream cheese...you will absolutely LOVE this dessert.  After reading about how Kim over at Stirring The Pot made it...and before that, reading how Donna over at My Tasty Treasures made it, I have been wanting to try it for quite some time.  I'm so glad I didn't postpone making it any longer because it rocked!  Chocolate and peanut butter are great combinations to begin with.  When you add the cream cheese and whipping cream into the mix, you have an insane level of instant, decadent gratification :) 

To lessen the calories a little, I did use the lighter version of cream cheese.  You know, the one that says 1/3 less fat?  So the cream cheese part of my dessert is a little softer then it should be.  Other then that, all I can say is........yummmmmmmmmm!  Make this for your family, your friends, your neighbors, co-workers, or for your next get together.  People will hound you for the recipe :)  Promise :) 

Chocolate Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Bars

(adapted from my fellow foodie bloggers and Betty Crocker.com)

Cookie Base and Topping

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® peanut butter cookie mix

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon water

1 egg

Filling:

1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup crunchy or creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup whipping cream

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie base and topping ingredients until soft dough forms. Shape 6 (1-inch) balls of dough. On ungreased cookie sheet, place balls 2 inches apart; flatten in crisscross pattern with fork.

Press remaining dough in pan. Bake cookies and base 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 10 minutes. Reserve cookies for topping.

In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and butter uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and stirred smooth. Spread evenly over bars. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar and whipping cream with electric mixer on low speed until blended. Beat on high speed about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Spread over chocolate layer.

 Crush reserved cookies; sprinkle over cream cheese layer. Press in lightly. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

My List of Cooking/Baking Goals

Tweet

There are so many things that I would love to learn as I plow through this culinary journey.  I think that the most wonderful thing about cooking and baking is that the learning never stops.  And when you make a dish or dessert that is just out of this world, it gives you a great sense of accomplishment and motivates you to do more. 

Throughout my lifetime both as a Military Brat and Military Wife, I have had the pleasure of living in quite a few places, ranging from up and down the East Coast, to the Deep South, to Overseas.  I was a little girl when we lived in some of these places and continued to move throughout my childhood years.  When I was in the 7th grade, we finally settled down and I was actually able to stay in one state until I graduated college ;)   Then I met Husband Man and became a transient once again.  Not only do I have plenty of Military moves on my side, I also was raised in a Multi-Cultural Household, where Chamorro (foods from the Island of Guam) dishes were made alongside traditional American Dishes.

As a foodie, I have compiled a list of foods and dishes that I would like to learn how to make and share with y'all on here, based on where I have had the pleasure to live throughout my life  ;)  They have been broken down by state/region so it makes it easier for me to remember what each is known for.  As I accomplish each one, I will cross them out and provide the link to the post. 

New York

How to Make Canolis

How to Make Authentic New York Pizza

How to make New York Style Cheesecake

How to make New York Bagels

Alabama

How to make Fried Green Tomatoes

How to make Alabama Fried Pies

How to make Bread Pudding

How to make peanut butter pie

North Carolina

How to make Authentic North Carolina BBQ (Vinegar Based)

How to make Fried Chicken

How to make Hush Puppies

How to make Baked Apple Dumplins

Louisiana

How to make Pralines

How to make Jambalaya

How to make Authentic Gumbo  (completed)

How to make Beignets  (completed)

How to make a Roux 

Germany

How to make Crepes

How to make Spaetzle

How to make German Potato Salad (Kartoffelsalat)

How to make German Pretzels (Bretzeln)

How to make Apple Struesel

How to make Baverian Cream Pie

Guam (Chamorro Food)

How to make Poto

How to make Pancit (completed)

How to make Chicken Adobo

How to make Empanadas

How to make Rosketti

How to make Bonelos

Misc

How to make the perfect pie crust

How to make Creme Brulee

How to make the Staple Sweet Tea of the South

How to perfectly frost a cupcake

Learn the art of canning and make homemade jam

Make homemade bread WITHOUT the help of a bread machine   (completed)