Rainbow Fruit Kabobs

Posted on May 15, 2011 by jgisvold

Two things I’ve been noticing a lot on the internet lately. Rainbow this and Funfetti that. I’ve seen rainbow layered cakes, rainbow jello, rainbow cupcakes, and popsicles. I really like the look of them and have been noticing gradient colored cakes too. If you ate a rainbow cake for dessert would your urine be ty-dyed in the morning???

If you’re interested, check out my rainbow cupcakes and how to make your own food coloring.

These fruit kabobs are so fun and would make a great summer treat. Just make sure you have a different colored piece of fruit for every part of the rainbow. I used strawberry, cantelope, banana, kiwi, and bluberries for mine. I would have used pineapple for the yellow color, but none of the pineapples at the store were very fresh that day. Plus, if you’re doing Weight Watchers all fruit is 0 points!

Rainbow colored pancakes at Tablespoon (where I saw the kabobs)

Piña Colada Smoothie

Posted on May 13, 2011 by jgisvold

Our kitchen is getting close to being done. I’m getting really sick of our house being such a mess with card board boxes every where and appliances being out of place. The only thing we have left to do is pick a paint color and door knobs. We ordered some fancy oven vent and that still needs to go up too. We’re going to put a bright light underneath the vent, so that I can take some pictures of food cooking on the stove. It will be so awesome when it’s done.

When the kitchen is done, I decided that we’re going to celebrate with some pina coladas. Not the smoothie that I just made here, but the actual drink and with rum in it. That’s the only thing this recipe is missing. If you want to you can use light coconut milk to make this smoothie lighter.

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Calories 150 | Fat 6.29g | Carbohydrate 25.26g | Fiber 2.6g | Protein 1.06g

Serves: 2

Points Plus: 4

Ingredients from Paula Dean

1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 banana
1/4 cup ice cubes
2 teaspoons honey, optional
Pineapple wedges, for garnish

Directions

In a blender, combine the pineapple chunks, coconut milk, banana, ice, and, if desired, honey. Puree until smooth. Pour into 2 large glasses.

Chocolate Banana Bites

Posted on May 12, 2011 by jgisvold

I discovered a pretty awesome site this week. It’s called pinterest.com and I could spend HOURS looking at all the stuff on there. Some of the things I’ve found on that site are pretty amazing and I can’t wait to try everything. That site also has some good ideas for weddings too. I’m getting married in October and I found some ideas for how I want my hair to look, some decorations and my bouquet. I also found a new ring that can replace the current ring I have now. Not that there’s anything wrong with it….

These banana bites are little bites of heaven. After you eat one, you won’t be able to stop. My fiancee doesn’t like coconut so I didn’t put that on half of them. I like coconut and really enjoyed it on these. If you like these, then you should also try the banana ice cream.

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Makes: 12

Calories 124 | Fat 8.41g | Carbohydrate 12.83g | Fiber 1.7g | Protein 2.54g

Points Plus: 4

Ingredients from Seasaltwithfood

2 Bananas, peeled and sliced (about ¾ inch chunks)
1/3 Cup Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
1/3-Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
A Pinch of Sea Salt
Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

Method

Place the banana chunks on a large plate lined with parchment paper. Place in the freezer for about an hour.

Spread the shredded coconut on a large plate.

Combine the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and sea salt in a microwave saved bowl. Microwave on high for about a minute, stir until smooth.

Dip the frozen banana chunks in the chocolate-peanut butter mixture. Then place it on the shredded coconut and roll lightly to coat all sides. Repeat with the remainder banana chunks. Transfer to the freezer for another hour before serving.

Makes about 12 Banana Frozen Bites

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Posted on March 27, 2011 by jgisvold

Nutrition Info:

Calories 321 | Total Fat 11.74g | Total Carbohydrate 50.2g | Protein 5.61g | Dietary Fiber 1g

Points Plus: 9

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Adapted from Paula Deen (via “Paula’s Home Cooking,” Food Network)

Crust:

2 cups crushed pretzels (You want small pieces, but don’t pulverize them in a food processor.)

3/4 cup melted butter

3 tablespoons sugar

Filling:

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar

1 (8-ounce) container whipped topping

Topping:

2 (3-ounce) packages strawberry gelatin dessert mix (you can use sugar free if you’d like)

2 cups boiling water

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen strawberries

1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple

Whipped topping or whipped cream, to garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. For the Crust: Grab a medium bowl, add the pretzels, butter and 3 tablespoons of sugar, and mix them together. Press this mixture into a 9 by 13-inch pan. Bake for 7 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. For the Filling: In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and 3/4 cup of sugar. Fold in the whipped topping, and spread over the cooled crust. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until well chilled.

4. For the Topping: In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in boiling water, and allow to cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pineapple, and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time.

5. Serve slices with a dollop of whipped topping.

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I saw this posted at Ezra Pound Cake and thought it was weird that it had the word Salad in the title. It looked more like a dessert recipe to me. Whatever… that’s Paula Dean for you! I posted it on my facebook page and lot’s of people said that it brought back memories, of how their mom always used to make that salad. How come my mom never made me this salad?? Boooo hooo!!!

This recipe would be great to take to a pot luck for work, a baby shower, bridal shower, and heck even a family reunion! This was so yummy. Ben thought it could have used more pretzels in the crust and I agreed. Whenever I make this again, I’ll probably add 3 cups of pretzels. I did use light cool whip, light cream cheese, and half the amount of butter that the recipe called for.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Posted on February 4, 2011 by jgisvold

Awww Valentine’s Day. I used to hate this Holiday when I didn’t have a boyfriend. I’d go and cry in my room and eat junk food until I had to go to bed.

In college, I was interviewed for an article on Valentine’s Day once. I told the paper that Valentine’s Day should also be called “Single’s Awareness Day” for all the single people out there. That’s how I felt at the time anyway. Now, it’s just national Hallmark Card Day.

These strawberries were super expensive at the grocery store this weekend, but they were really sweet. I think we paid 4.00 for a whole container. Yikes. Is it warmer out yet, so strawberries don’t cost that much?

Ingredients

Fresh Strawberries

Chocolate

Melt chocolate in microwave. If you use candy melts, set the microwave at half power and melt for 2.00 minutes. Dip strawberries in melted chocolate. Decorate strawberries with whatever you like.

Pomegranates

Posted on November 6, 2010 by jgisvold

Ever had a pomegranate before? A pomegranate martini? Pomegranate juice? I can’t really think of what else has pomegranates in it other than maybe just eating them or putting the seeds aka arils on a salad. It’s kind of a hard fruit to work with. I was watching Unwrapped on Food Network one night and they were touring the POM factory. One of the guys on there showed you how to open a pomegranate. You slice off the top part where the pointy thing is at top. Don’t cut it directly in half, although you probably could do that. I think it is a lot easier to cut it towards the top. You will see some white membranes kind of like how oranges have and you can cut down the sides of where the membranes are.

It’s easier to take out the seeds in a bowl of water, because if you don’t you’ll get squirted with pomegranate juice. (Like I did.) When I went to take a picture of this pomegranate, I had it sitting on a cutting board and didn’t realize some of the juices had spilled on my pants. My pants have been soaking in water for half of the day. I was reading the best way to get rid of a pomegranate juice stain is to soak it in water, and use some Oxyclean. If I can’t get it out by just scrubbing my pants as hard as I can I might have to go out and buy some. Tonight I got a snuggie, it’s even the color of a pomegranate and is very, very warm!

Strawberries with Cream Cheese Filling

Posted on October 16, 2010 by jgisvold

32 fresh whole strawberries

12 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1/4 tsp almond extract

grated chocolate for garnish

Cut a thin slice from the stem end of each strawberry so that they stand upright, then cut each berry carefully into four wedges, cutting almost to, but not through, the bottoms. Fan the wedges just slightly, but be careful not to break them. Set berries aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, confectioners sugar and almond extract until light and fluffy. Pipe filling into strawberries using a decorating bag with decorative tip. Grate chocolate over top to garnish.

Cover and chill until ready to serve.

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The first time I had these yummy strawberries was the day I tried on my wedding dress. My Mom had invited everyone that was going to be there when I tried on wedding dresses to a lunch before we went. Everybody loved them and thought they were really good. I recently had some friends over for dinner and decided to make them for every one, and they were a hit. I didn’t have any almond extract, but I did have some amerreto liquor, so I used that instead. You could probably use almost any type of liquor to add flavor to the cream cheese or any kind of extract that you wish. Anything would probably taste good with strawberries!

Strawberry Cranberry Jam

Posted on December 11, 2009 by jgisvold

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Top jars of Holiday Jam with batting and fabric and decorate with buttons…great for sharing with friends & neighbors!

Ingredients

1 cup fresh cranberries
10-oz. package frozen strawberries, thawed
2 cups sugar

Preparation
Put cranberries into a blender, cover and chop by turning on and off, on and off, etc. Empty into saucepan; add strawberries and bring to a boil. Add sugar and boil until thickened. (It doesn’t thicken a lot.) Pour into jelly glasses. Jam may be stored in refrigerator for 2 to 4 weeks
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This is my second attempt at making jam. My first time I failed because the jam ended up burning to the pot. There was quite the mess in the bottom of the pan to clean up. I sterilized the jars in boiling water for about ten minutes. I used a huge pot and our steamer we got to get the jars in and out of the pan. It worked quite well actually. It is somewhat confusing about sterilizing the jars and touching them after. Like for instance can you put a spoon into the jar, or clean the condensation off of the jars? Lots of questions. The spoon I never put into the jars filled with jam because that was never sterilized. These are going to be gifts this year for people.

So, I checked this morning and my jam didn’t set. It is more like a syrup consistency. Does anybody know what I did wrong?

Chocolate covered bananas

Posted on November 16, 2009 by jgisvold

Chocolate Covered Bananas

1 1/2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup of heavy cream
12 Popsicle sticks

Peel bananas and cut in half . Place a Popsicle stick in the center of the banana. Put in freezer for up to 2 hours. After 2 hours, cover with melted chocolate and freeze.

These bananas make a sweet treat and almost taste like ice cream. They can get kind of messy making them, that is why some of the Popsicle sticks have chocolate on them. You don’t want to know what my boyfriend calls these.