Strawberry Lemonade Frozen Pie

I love making frozen pies during the summer.  These are the perfect for a hot summer's day.  I decided to make this frozen pie the flavor of one of my favorite summer drinks - - strawberry lemonade. This is similar to the Strawberry Margarita Frozen Pie, I previously made.  I also have made a Frozen Reese's Peanut Butter Pie that was delicious.  

This frozen pie was so delicious.  I really loved the pretzel crust with the strawberry lemonade flavor.  A great thing about this pie is that you can make this earlier in the day and then stick it in the freezer and serve when you are ready.  I can't wait to make this tasty treat again!!

Strawberry Lemonade Frozen Pie

1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 block cream cheese (8 ounces)

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/3 cups strawberry lemonade

2 tablespoons lemonade concentrate

1 cup crushed strawberries

1 tub whipped topping (8 ounces)

1.  Mix the butter and pretzels together and press firmly into the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate.

2.  Beat the cream cheese and the sugar in a large bowl on medium speed until well blended.  Gradually add the strawberry lemonade and beat after each addition.  Then add the lemonade concentrate and beat again until combined.  Stir in the crushed strawberries.  Gently add the whipped topping and stir with a wire whisk until blended.  Pour over the pretzel crust.

3.  Freeze for several hours or until firm.  Remove from the freezer and let stand for about 10 minutes before serving.  

*Alyssa*

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Yellow Squash Penne in a Butter Parmesan Sauce

My mother-in-law gave us a yellow squash from her garden and we weren't sure what to do with it.  I found this pasta recipe, and had to try it.  This pasta is so delicious!! We bought more squash just so that we could make it again.  The squash with the butter and parmesan sauce is fantastic!!  Even my son loved it.  This is a great and delicious way to make sure you eat your vegetables.  This is so delicious and easy to make, I hope you love it as much as we do!!

Yellow Squash Penne in a Butter Parmesan Sauce

(Recipe adapted from The College Culinarian)  

2 cups whole-wheat penne pasta

1/3 cup butter

2 whole small yellow squash, shredded (or 1 medium squash)

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1.  Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  

2.  Heat 1 tablespoon of  the butter over medium heat in a pan.  Add the squash and saute it until it is tender, about 3-4 minutes.  

3.  Once the squash is tender, add the penne, remaining butter, and parmesan cheese.  Stir until the cheese and butter is melted.  If desire add more parmesan cheese to the top.  

*Alyssa*

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Strawberry Fool

Did everyone watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics yesterday?  I love watching the Olympics, both winter and summer. I always look forward to it.  When it is on, I always try to watch as much of it as I can.  My favorite sports in the Summer Olympics are swimming and gymnastics.  

To celebrate the London Olympics, I decided to make an English dessert for the opening ceremony last night.  I made my own version of fool.  Fool is a traditional English dessert which is made using whipped cream and fruit.  I used fat free whipped cream to try to make it a little healthier.

The fool is so easy to make and it is delicious!! This is a great summer dessert or will be perfect to eat while watching the Olympics.  This is so easy to make, it can even be done during the commercials, so you don't miss any of the Olympics action.  

Strawberry Fool

1 1/2 cups strawberries, mashed

1 tablespoon sugar 

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 tub (8 ounces) fat free cool whip topping

1.  Mix the mashed strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice together in a bowl.

2.  Gently add in the whipped cream to the strawberry mixture and serve.

*Alyssa*

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Showcase Your Talent Thursday #17

Welcome to 

Showcase Your Talent Thursday!!

I hope that everyone is having a great week! I really can't believe that summer is almost halfway over. The fall will be here before we know it.   Thanks to everyone that linked up last week! Everyone has so many creative ideas!! I can't wait to see what you have to share this week!!  

The most viewed link: 




How to Freeze Blackberries by A Little Nosh.  She has great tips for freezing blackberries.  I will have to remember these for the next time I plan on freezing fruit!


My Favorites:




Cinnamon Roll Cookies by Making Memories With Your Kids.  I love cinnamon rolls and I love cookies, but I never though to combine the two.  These look amazing!!!!




Manicure and Tutorial by Hairspray and High Heels.  I love the colors that she used and I really like the idea of using tape to create fun designs on your nails.  This is really fun!!




Grilled Bacon Wrapped Chicken Tenders by Now Things are Cookin'.  These chicken tenders look delicious! I can't wait to try these!!




How to Make Flower Cookies by Sugar Kissed.  These cookies are so cute!! She gives a great tutorial on how to make them.

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Chocolate Chip and Walnut Zucchini Bread

Last summer, my mother-in-law gave me a bunch of zucchini from her garden. I had no idea what to make with it.  I knew I wanted to do something sweet because my husband claimed he didn't like zucchini and I wanted to hide it within a bread.  I found this recipe for zucchini bread and have been making it ever since.  I was excited when my mother-in-law gave us more zucchini this year. I already made 2 batches of this bread and plan on making more. 

What I like best about this recipe is that you can make bread or muffins using the same batter.  The original recipe states that it makes 2 loaves of bread.  Since I only have one loaf pan, I split the batter in half and made one loaf of bread and 12 muffins.  I love that this recipe is so versatile, that you can make bread, muffins, or both.

These muffins are so incredibly moist.  This is the best zucchini bread that I have ever had.  I really like the addition of the chocolate chips and the walnuts.  Those ingredients give a lot of flavor to the bread.  However, they are optional and it can be made without both of them or with only one.  This is a great way to sneak vegetables to your kids, they will never know that there is zucchini in this bread.  I hope that you try this recipe.  Everyone raves about this delicious and moist zucchini bread.  

Chocolate Chip and Walnut Zucchini Bread

(Recipe adapted from food.com)

2 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups zucchini, grated (I usually remove the skin, but that is optional)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons cinnamon 

1 cup walnuts (optional)

1 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl.  Adding the walnuts and mini chocolate chips are optional and they can be added to only half of the batter, if you want.  

3.  Pour the batter into greased loaf pans or cupcakes tins with liners.  This recipe makes 2 loaves of bread or 24 muffins, or half of each.

4.  Bake the bread for one hour and the muffins for 20 minutes or until done.  

*Alyssa*

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1st Birthday Puppy Party: Decorations

The last few weeks I have been posting about my son's 1st Birthday themed Puppy Party.  This is the last post about the party, I promise.  Today I am going to talk about the decorations and other non-food items that we had at the party.

This is the invitations for Aaron's party.  My husband works at a vo-tech school and the students in the Art & Advertising shop designed this for us.  

Aaron's outfit and hat for the party were made as a gift for Aaron from my friend Sharyn at K's Closet Custom Boutique.  She will custom make any outfit and makes so many cute things! I love the outfit she made for Aaron.  

I made this Photo Bunting Banner for the party.  It included pictures of Aaron from every month. I used scrapbook paper I already had and both some puppy themed scrapbook paper.  I got the idea from the blog Becoming Martha.  

My husband helped to make this collage using pictures from Aaron's first year.  We now have it Aaron's room and he loves looking at all the pictures.

Here is Aaron's cake smash, we used a dog blanket we had around the house for him to sit on.

For the kids, I bought stuffed animal dogs at the dollar store and used these dog adoption kits for the kids to fill out for their stuffed dogs. 

We got the plates and some other supplies from Birthday Express.  

See my other post on the party:  Puppy Party: Food

*Alyssa*

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Showcase Your Talent Thursday #16

Welcome to 

Showcase Your Talent Thursday!!

I hope that everyone is having a great week! My week is going well! This weekend we are going to visit our friends that lives in Washington D.C.  We plan on taking Aaron to the zoo and going to some of the museums there.  It should be a fun weekend! I hope that everyone is enjoying summer and that you all have a great rest of the week!


Thanks to everyone that linked up last week! I can't wait to see all the great ideas that you have to share this week!!  

The most viewed link: 

Sausage Pasta and Broccoli Bake by The Ease of Freeze.  This pasta looks delicious!! This is such an easy dinner, perfect for a weeknight! 

My Favorites:

Fudgey Nutella Brownies by Addicted to Recipes.  Oh wow, these brownies look amazing!! I love anything with nutella, but the cream cheese frosting also looks great.  

Starfish Coasters by Sweet Yarns.  I love the colors in these coasters and I really like that she made them from napkins. 

Strawberry Pie by Pint Sized Baker.  This strawberry pie looks great! This is perfect for a summer picnic.  

Frozen Hot Chocolate by Cheese in my Macaroni.  I have heard about the frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity, but I have never tried it.  I can't wait to try this recipe!






Chocolate Chip Lip Balm by Living a Blessed Life.  I have never thought about making my own lip balm before, but I need to try this! What a great flavor!

Thanks for linking up and feel free to grab a button if you were featured.

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Link up as many of your recipes, crafts, tutorials, ideas, projects, or fun posts as you would like to share.

Please do not link up any etsy shops, giveaways, or advertisements.

Link up to your post and not your main blog.

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Puppy Party: Food

 

Over the last week I have been posting about the food I made for my son's puppy themed 1st birthday.  Today I am going to do a round up of all the food at his party and then next time I will do a post on the decorations I had at the party.

My friend Courtney made this cake for Aaron's birthday.  It turned out really great! On the top is Aaron and his puppy Homer.

This is the dessert buffet we had at the puppy party.  I used dog bowls that I got from the dollar store to put the food in.  I made these Chocolate Mocha Cake Pops and put them in a styrofoam flower holder I got at Michaels.  

Biscoff Puppy Chow

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bark.  I made these table tents to label the food.  

We also served these Scooby Snack bone shaped graham crackers.  

We had a Hot Dog Bar at the party, where everyone could make the above hot dog recipes.  

*Alyssa*

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Hot Dog Bar

I have been posting about my son's puppy themed birthday party  I already shared Biscoff Puppy Chow,  Chocolate Chip Cookie Bark, and Chocolate Mocha Cake  Pops.  Today I am going to post about the Hot Dog Bar that we had.  

I got this idea from Pinterest.  I created signs listing different variations of hot dogs from throughout the United States and set up all the ingredients so that everyone could make their own hot dogs.  I thought hot dogs were a good idea for a puppy party.  My mom's friend works at a concession stand, so we borrowed a hot dog cooker from her, but if not we were going to cook all the hot dogs in a slow cooker using this recipe. 

This is most of the ingredients lined up before the party started.  The hot dog above and below is the Boston Hot Dog, made with baked beans.  The Hot Dog bar was a big hit.  Everyone loved using all the ingredients to make their own hot dogs.  This was a really easy idea for a party too without much effort except for getting all of the ingredients together.  I recommend this for your next party.

Sources for Hot Dog bar and recipes:

Summer BBQ - Hot Dog Station

20 Ways to Hot Dog Your Hot Dog

America's Regional Hot Dog Styles

City Dogs: Hot Dog Styles from Across the U.S.

Hot Dog Variations

Here are the Hot Dog recipes and signs that I used:

*Alyssa*

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Chocolate Mocha Cake Pops

This week I am sharing recipes that I made for son's first birthday party.  His party was a puppy themed.  I already shared Biscoff Puppy Chow and Chocolate Chip Cookie Bark.  I also made these Chocolate Mocha Cake  Pops.  

These cake pops were so delicious.  For the frosting I used the Mocha flavor of the Duncan Hines frosting creations.  This frosting is so cool, you can stir a frosting packet into the frosting to create different flavors.  These cake pops were really moist.  These would be great for any celebration.

In honor of my son having a puppy party, I turned some of these cake pops into puppy cake pops or Cake Pups.  I used directions from Bakerella and from Seven Year Cottage and combined the two.  Mine came out okay but they did not keep well in the packaging that I put them in, the pieces kept coming off.  So, if you make these, do not put them in any packaging.  They are so cute and perfect for a puppy party!

Chocolate Mocha Cake Pops

(makes about 45 cake pops)

1 box devil's food cake mix (bake as directed on the package for a 13x9 cake)

1 can of Duncan Hines Frosting Creations with Mocha flavor packet

3 cups Semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

1.  After the cake is baked, cool completely.  Once cooled crumble into a bowl.

2.  Mix together with the mocha frosting, using your hands to mix.

3.  Roll the mixture into balls and then freeze for about 20 minutes or refrigerate for a couple of hours to set up. 

4.  Roll the balls into the melted chocolate and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  Use a little bit of vegetable oil stirred into the chocolate chips before melting to get smoother chocolate. Only melt about 1 cup of the chocolate chips at a time because it will cool and harden.  

5.  Refrigerate or freeze until the chocolate is set.  

6.  Then slide the lollipop sticks into the cake pops.  You can also do this before dipping in the chocolate, but I found it easier to do at this point.

Cake Pups

(Recipe adapted from Bakerella and the Seven Year Cottage)

Cake pops

Chocolate candy melts

Edible ink pen

Mini M&M's

1.  Cut the chocolate candy melts in half and glue onto the cake pops with a dab of left over frosting from making the cake pops.

2.  Cut the Mini M&M's in half to make the nose and glue on with a dab of leftover frosting.

3.  Draw the eyes and mouth with a black edible ink pen.  

*Alyssa*

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