Angel Strawberry Bavarian Cake

Good morning everyone! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! I stayed busy in the kitchen and have the recipes and pix to prove it! LOL...someone hide my scale!!

First up is a sweet treat made with strawberries and cool whip. MmmMmmm, cool whip!

Go from this....

 
What you need:

1 - box Angel Food cake mix
1 - 10oz package frozen strawberries, thawed
1 - 3oz box of strawberry gelatin
2 - 8oz containers Cool Whip

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375. Make cake as per instructions on the box. After it has cooled, cut into small 1" cubes/pieces.

Make gelatin as per instructions on the box. Drain thawed strawberries, reserving the juice. Add water to juice to measure 1 cup. Stir it into gelatin. Refrigerate gelatin until slightly thickened. Beat gelatin until foamy.

Fold together 1 container Cool Whip, gelatin and strawberries.

Alternate layers of cake cubes and strawberry mixture into a 10" tube pan. (I used a large pie plate.) Cover and refrigerate 4 hours. Frost cake with remaining whipped topping.

To this!!!

Get in mah belly!!

Frutti Di Mare, Cheeky-style

Happy day my friends! It's another bright, sunny AND chilly day out there so bundle up! Ok, so who here likes pasta? Who likes seafood?? Well today is your lucky day! I got all fancy last night and made this italian dish called Frutti Di Mare..."fruit of the sea." Paired with a white wine you know you can't go wrong!

Great flavor!

Just about ready...

What you need:
1/4 cup olive oil
6 large mushrooms, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 jar vodka sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 dozen littleneck clams, cleaned
1 dozen mussels, cleaned
1 pound scallops
1 pound small salad shrimp
1 box wheat spaghetti, cooked and drained

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat and cook mushrooms, onions and garlic, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
2. Stir in vodka sauce and chicken broth.Bring to a boil on high heat.
3. Reduce heat to a simmer, covering pan and stir occassionally for 20 minutes.
4. Add clams and mussels, simmer covered for 5 minutes.
5. Add scallops and shrimp and simmer for 3 minutes or until done.
6. Serve over hot spaghetti.

BareFoot Moscato...cheers!

One Busy Lil Bee...

Hello my cheeky friends! I do hope you all had a wonderful weekend! The time change has been messing with me a little bit but so far no major issues. :) On Saturday I made it a point to visit my new local international market, Fresh World. It took over the space vacated by my beloved Giant grocery store. I am very happy with the new shop since it offers a variety of grocery items I have never seen before! Live fish in huge tanks, frozen squid and octopus...barracuda anyone? The produce section is wonderful with offerings of dragonfruit, longan, guava and sugar cane. I came upon a food demo station where they were making a mushroom tempura. I was taken by the ease and low cost of the products used. So you know I just had to try it at home!

Mushroom Tempura

I used the bagged asian fry mix $1.89

I have no idea what the brand name would be so I'll have to keep the white polar bear as my visual clue. It is a rice and wheat flour blend with starch added. After using it on the mushrooms and liking it, I will definately try it on other veggies and shrimp.

I used 1 cup of the fry mix and added water to make a thin but not runny batter. I added some season salt for a bit of flavor and color.

large mushrooms $1.59

I cut up these large musrooms into small, toothpick-picking sized pieces. There were about six mushrooms in the bag.

SIZZLE!

I used a generous amount of GOYA olive oil in my wok, enough oil to almost cover the mushrooms. I kept it on medium high heat.

my first batch

I fried both sides until lightly golden brown. I fished them out of the oil and set on a paper towel lined bowl to drain. Trust and believe these treats were gone mere moments after cooling.

 

Happy Monday!

Welp, I survived another weekend! I got in two housewarming parties on Saturday. Lovely homes and kitchens to-die-for!! As for my lil ole rinky dink kitchen, I did manage to create some fun concoctions...

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Friday evening I roasted some pumpkin seeds. Big E gutted a pumpkin for me and then was off to carve a frightful face. I rinsed off the seeds and spread them onto a foil covered cookie sheet. I added a little water and then heavily sprinkled salt over top. I baked at 350 for about 20-30 minutes. I wanted them crunchy but not overdone.

Vanilla Milkshakes

Sunday was a pretty nice day! Sun was out shining, kids were out playing basketball and riding thier bikes. After some playtime, Lil Man and I decided to have a vanilla milkshake. MMmmMMmm, milkshakes...
I used 1/2 cup milk, lots-o Breyers vanilla ice cream and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Put it all in my blender and mixed it for about 10 seconds.

Add a straw for fun!

SWAMP JUICE

Now I did try one other drink for especially for Halloween. It's called Swamp Juice. Yeah, I know, not the most refreshing sounding drink BUT...check it out.

I used some seltzer, lemonade and some tapioca pearls. I garnished with a red gummy fish in the drink and a gummy worm wrapped around a crazy straw. Oh, the mug is a jelly jar.