Category Archives: Sweet Tooth

5 Dolla Pie

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So lately because my friends are all snooty cheese mongers my grocery bills have been astronomically high, buying all the real imported quality jazz. Plus, you all know about our truffle obsession and how that sh*t isn’t cheap either. Anyway, my dilemma was to eat good for you, tasty food, for a reasonable price. Not everything has to be gourmet! Not everything has to be full of fat & sugar to be yum! You can have a tasty dessert that doesn’t taste like cardboard & won’t break the bank. Check out this no-bake, super inexpensive pie. I debuted it for dinner when my parents were in town & it was a hit! Hope you enjoy it as well.

  • 1 box sugar free Jello (I kept as sugar free as my dad is diabetic, but if you don’t like the after taste some sugar free stuff has regular works as well).
  • 1/4 cup of boiling water
  • (2) 8 oz. containers of Greek yogurt (I used strawberry*)
  • 8 oz. low fat or fat free cool whip
  • (1) 9 inch low fat graham cracker crust (I used store bought/pre-made so sue me! I needed to save time for cooking the rest of the meal).

Dissolve the Jello in the boiling water. Cool slightly & then stir in yogurt. Fold in the cool whip & pour into crust. Chill before serving.

*Note: you can do it in a plethora of different flavors, just make sure the Greek yogurt flavor matches the Jello flavor. (Original recipe was for key lime pie).

*For a fancy tip: Add sliced fruit on top. Since I did strawberry, slicing some of those up will add a nice flair to the pie.

*P/S its called $5 pie because that’s how much the ingredients cost! So affordable I could make it every week 🙂

Breakdown: $ 1.52 for the pie crust; $1.00 each for the Greek yogurt; $ .82 for the Jello; $1.40 for the cool whip. Totaling: $5.74 (whatever I rounded down, relax math police).

photo

Happy Eating, XO.

Homemade Ice Cream

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Remember that healthy kick I told you about in the green bean fries post? Well I’m still on it! But as you all probably know by now, I also have a real sweet tooth. I couldn’t stay away from it for long! The solution? Homemade ice cream. What’s even “sweeter” about this recipe is that it’s only three ingredients! (Get it?! Sorry…I can’t help myself sometimes.)

  • 2 Bananas
  • 1/2 cup of cocoa powder (I promise we’ll give you more recipes with cocoa powder in it since it’s probably not something you use very often.)
  • 3 spoonfuls of creamy peanut butter

Freeze the bananas for at least an hour (the longer you freeze them, the thicker the ice cream will be). When they’re “done” drop them in to a food processor or magic bullet (the thing for food people!), along with the peanut butter. Once the bananas and PB are blended, slowly mix in the cocoa powder.

I suggest serving it immediately. But if you have leftovers like I did (score!), you can store them in the freezer for later. I put them in individual cups so I could “grab them and go”.

Homemade Ice Cream

Happy Eating, XO

Quinoa fruit parfait

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They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If anything Dr. OZ says that breakfast should be eaten like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. So if those are the expectations: What better way to kick off your morning than with a healthy quinoa breakfast parfait? This recipe calls for enough to share with others.

  • 2 (6 oz) containers yogurt (I like to use fat free french vanilla, strawberry or peach flavors)
  • 1/4 cup quinoa
  • 2 cups fruit (mixed berries or chopped peaches)

Optional yummy items:

  • 1/4 cup coarsely chopped toasted almonds or pecans
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

*Before we dive in to the instructions, I need to add my two cents. I’m not a morning person and typically don’t like to do a lot of cooking for my breakfast. Because this recipe calls for cooked and cooled quinoa, I suggest making it the night before and letting it cool in the fridge. This way there’s even less prep time involved.

If you took my advice above, you’ve got it made (literally) – now all you need to do is layer. Otherwise, cook the quinoa per the instructions on the box and let it cool. Spoon your yogurt in to a glass and layer the quinoa and fruit on top. For the optional ingredients, sprinkle in the almonds or pecans throughout and top with cinnamon.

Happy Eating, XO.

Rise & Shine Puddin’

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Ok so I have special place in my heart for bread pudding. It was my paternal grandfather’s favorite dessert. So I feel as if I am doing the family a disservice if its on a menu at a restaurant and I don’t order it. Having said that, this is a dessert that can either be amazeballs or really really crappy. I just don’t get it to be honest, however since that is the case I have always been afraid to make it in fear of the fact that I will end up making the crappy version (or that I should have gone to culinary school because I don’t know what the freak “place in a water bath” means? I mean don’t all baths have water? Whatever, I digress). Alas, I came across a recipe that not only seemed easy enough for a home cook to make, but also seemed fool proof at not sucking. I tried it out and just loved it. So much so, that I served it for brunch & looked like a culinary wizard (you know one that bathes their food & such).

Have at it and comment below. Jess and I just don’t have enough reading to do…so write us something! STAT.

  • 7-8* slices day-old bread (I am lazy and didn’t wanna have to buy raisins and cinnamon per the recipe’s instructions so I just used Pepperidge farm raisin cinnamon swirl bread. Best short cut ever, I’m a genius!)                                                  
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted                                                                     
  • 4 eggs, beaten      
  • 2 cups of half & half                            
  • 1/2 cup (white or brown) sugar (original calls for 3/4 cup & that was way too sweet for brunch, but if making as a dessert you can always increase the sugar, but again I left it at 1/2 cup).                                             
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup chopped (candied or regular) walnuts (optional since I know some of y’all have nut allergies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If using, sprinkle with the nuts now. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped. Top should look golden brown.

* the bread quantity varies only because I don’t know how custardy or solid you like your bread pudding. Everyone’s preference differs, so just eye ball it.

Happy Eating, XO.

I <3 You, Cupcakes

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It’s no secret by now – I love food, and I especially love baking. So it’s only right this Valentine’s Day I bake some yummy cupcakes! Some people go for chocolate covered strawberries, I go for chocolate on chocolate cupcakes. #NoShame. I bought a chocolate mold a few years ago just for the hell of it (shout out to Michael’s!), and as it turns out it makes perfect little hearts for cupcake toppers!

Chocolate Heart Toppers

  • 1 cup melted white chocolate
  • 2-3 drops of red food coloring (add more or less depending on the color you want)

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1⁄4 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 packet chocolate pudding powder (I replaced this with unsweetened cocoa powder bc, let’s be real, you’ll never use unsweetened cocoa for anything after this recipe.)
  • 1⁄8 tsp salt
  • 6 Tbsp butter, softened
  • 1 1⁄2 cup white sugar
  • 2 egg
  • 3⁄4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk

Icing

  • Pillsbury’s frosting in a can = no mess and just as good

Start on the chocolate hearts about an hour before hand so they have time to harden. Melt the white chocolate slowly in a sauce pan. Once it’s liquidy, add in the food coloring. (If it starts to score/harden after it’s already melted add a tiny bit of water to it and it will smooth right out again.) Pour in to the mold and stick in the freezer.

For the cupcakes, do the usual prep work: preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line the muffin pan with cupcake liners. Then sift together all of the flour, baking powder & soda, chocolate pudding powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Follow up with the eggs and vanilla. Then slowly add in the flour mixture and milk until completely combined. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Valentine's Day cupcake

Happy Eating (and Valentines Day!), XO