Lemon Meringue Dip with Pie Crust Dippers

What's not to love about heart shaped "pie crust dippers" dipped in a lemon meringue dip? If you answered "NOTHING" than you are 100% correct. I have not had any sugar in my diet now for almost 5 months, so I can't honestly give you my opinion of this, as I am not having any. But I can tell you that my hubby loved it and I think I gained 5 lbs just smelling it and looking at it. I'm hoping that all the family that will be together tomorrow will also love it!

*Original recipe found here: Lemon Meringue Pie Dip

14 oz	can sweetened condensed milk
3 lg	eggs, separated
1/2 c	fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp	light corn syrup
a pinch	cream of tartar

1. Whisk egg yolks and juice over medium heat in small saucepan, heat and stir until custard like. This will take about 5 minutes.
Place this mixture in the refrigerator to chill. 

2. In a mixer bowl whisk egg whites, corn syrup, and cream of tartar on high until stiff peak form. Set this aside to use later.

3. Remove yolk mixture from fridge and whisk in the sweetened condensed milk. Blend well. Pour into a pie dish.

4. Using a spoon, pile and spread meringue on top of lemon sauce.Use the back of your spoon to pull up some of the ends of the peaks to make it pretty. 

5.Turn your broiler onto high. Place in oven and broil 1 to 2 minutes until meringue is slightly browned. Refrigerate to chill.

7 Up Pie Crust Dippers:

*Original recipe found here: Pie Crust Dippers

1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 Tbsp salt
1/2 cup Ccrisco
5 Tbsp ice cold 7-up

1.Stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 

2. Add the ice cold 7 up, gradually to the flour mixture, then blend together until moist.
Place pastry in plastic wrap, flatten slightly. Chill 30 minutes.

3. Remove from fridge and roll out like you are making pie crust on a flour dusted surface or between 2 pieces of waxed paper to about 1/8 inch thickness. Using your favorite small cookie cutter, cut out the shapes. (Or you can cut into circles or strips)

4. Spray cookie sheet with Pam or use parchment paper and place the cut out dough pieces. Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for bout 6-12 minutes or until golden. (This really varies from oven to oven. The original recipe said 5 minutes, mine took almost 12)
Cool completely before using so that they are crisp.

S'mores Dip

After a few restless nights of sleep, I finally fell asleep last night at 7:45. Wow, I haven't been to bed that early in a very long time. There are just two words I have for myself...."old much?" I used to be able to not sleep and make it easily through the next day. Not so much anymore! That's ok....this dip is what happens when you wake up a couple of hours before you need to start getting ready for work. Besides, the students are going to be so glad I am bringing this in for them today. I usually bring what I make, to share with the staff, but this time the students get the benefits. Maybe the sugar that's in this dip will keep them going all day long. Ha Ha! Also, this dip is sssssooooooo sweet and I'm pretty sure it will satisfy those pesky, junk food cravings that hit high schoolers about every 10 minutes. Who am I kidding? Those cravings hit me at the same rate! 

1- 1/2 cups chocolate chips
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp marshmallow creme

In a medium size bowl, melt the chocolate chips and condensed milk together in the microwave, for about 1-2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds.  (mine only took 1 minute) Stir together to mix thoroughly. Spread the dip evenly into a pie tin or any other microwave safe container. Using a tablespoon, place dollops of the marshmallow creme all over the top. Place in the microwave for 40 seconds and use a knife to marble the marshmallow creme through the dip. I used my knife to pick up some of the chocolate from below to stir it back into the top. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cheesecake Dip

I saw a recipe on Pinterest at (http://crumbsandchaos.blogspot.com) for "Brownie batter dip" and loved it, just by hearing the name. Now  that I have made it, I think I would call this "chocolate cheesecake dip." It is reminiscent of a chocolate cheesecake batter. If there was ever a time that I wanted to retreat to a place all by myself with a spoon and no one watching, this just might be it. But of course, I have NEVER (wink, wink) even considered that idea! This really is quite fantastic. I only had animal crackers at the house to dip in it, but clearly this could be eaten with ANYTHING dipped in it, and I mean anything. Trust me when I say anything, because even my finger dipped in it tasted great! ;)
Not that I ate my finger, haha, but if there had been much more dip on it, I just might not have stopped at licking it off my finger. All kidding aside, this would make a great dip to take to any party or pot luck. So to the girls at the crumbsandchaos website who created this dip.....my hats off to you. Good job!!

 

Original recipe can be found at: Crumbs and Chaos

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

2 to 3 cup powdered sugar

5 Tbsp flour

5 Tbsp cocoa powder

2 Tbsp brown sugar

3 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Beat together the cream cheese and the butter. Add 2 cups of the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, and 1 Tbsp. of the milk until thoroughly mixed. Add the flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, vanilla, and 1 more Tbsp. of the milk. Beat until smooth. Add the remaining powdered sugar and milk alternately until dip reaches a good smooth consistency.

Lemon Cheesecake Cheese Ball

Have you ever had one of those days when everything and everyone just "rubs you the wrong way?" This was one of those days for me. As if that wasn't enough, if I continued to eat anymore of this amazing cheese ball, even my thighs would be rubbing me the wrong way....oh wait...they already do! ;)
When I first saw this recipe on Pinterest, I just knew I had to try it. So who better to try it on than co-workers? That way if it didn't taste good, I could make up some lame excuse as to why it went wrong, but my family....they would know better.
As I read the recipe, I saw that the instructions said "mix everything together in a bowl with a spoon". Well....given the fact that this usually takes brute strength like Popeye, and I can't stand spinach, I decided to whip this together in my food processor. Best decision I made all day. I know that's not  saying much, but it's been a strange kind of a day.

The original recipe is from Annie's Eats, but like always I adapted the recipe. I just can't stand to leave recipes as they're supposed to be ;)

10 oz. cream cheese
4 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
Zest of 1 large lemon and one small lemon
4 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
3 graham crackers, crushed

Combine the cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla in a food processor until smooth. Place the mixture into a piece of plastic wrap. Shape it into a ball, the best you can, and refrigerate it for at least 3 -4 hours. Once it's firm roll the entire ball into crushed graham crackers until evenly coated. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Serve with: Apple slices, graham crackers, animal crackers, vanilla wafers etc.

Strawberry Fruit Dip

Just walking through the produce department in the grocery store this time of year is completely amazing. The array of colors and variety of fruits and vegetables to choose from just astonishes me. I wish I could grow all of it in my own backyard, but living in the city does not allow that to happen. So I am content with picking out all the beautiful fruits at the store. Normally I love to eat my fruit plain, but every once in awhile you just have to splurge and break out a good old fruit dip. I mean, how can you go wrong dipping fruit into something sweet and yummy? I had never made this kind of fruit dip before and the original one I had tasted awhile back only called for two ingredients, but I decided to try adding to it and I liked the outcome.

1 tub strawberry cream cheese, softened
1 jar marshmallow creme
1/2 container light cool whip, thawed
5-8 fresh strawberries, blended till completely liquid

Mix all ingredients together. Stir well. Enjoy with a variety of cut up fruit.

Sugar and Spice Fruit Dip

I love the combination of sugar, spice and salt. When my girls were growing up, they always loved to put spicy chili powder on some of their fruits. Now we are all grown ups and it still tastes great. You can mix this combo of dipping sugar to suit your individual taste. Tonight I only had pineapple to serve it with, but next time you can be sure I will be cutting up some watermelon and mangoes to dip in it also.

 1/4 - 1/3 cup sugar
3/4 - 1 tsp salt
1- 1 1/2 tsp chili powder
Fruit cut up

Mix the sugar, salt and chili powder in a bowl. Serve with cut up fruit to dip in it.

Delicious Fruit Dip

I have been re-making some of my dinners this week that are already posted on this blog. I seriously hardly ever make the same foods twice, but sometimes I just crave a food I've already made. So because of that, I've been lagging on the blog this week with  new foods. Today I made a fruit dip that I haven't made in years. It's so light and creamy and goes perfect with seasonal fruits. I suppose if it had been a hot summer day as opposed to a dreary, stormy day, it might have tasted better, but hey when you're craving something, weather truly doesn't matter ;)

1 (8 oz) block cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1-2 Tbsp maple syrup

Combine all dip ingredients with mixer until very smooth. Enjoy with fresh fruits.

Fiesta Shrimp Skewers with Cool Cilantro Dip and Apple Charlottes for dessert

Today we got our Christmas tree. I would love to tell you that I put on Christmas music, made hot cocoa and put on my favorite winter sweater and scarf, but that would be far from the truth. Instead, we got home with our tree, I quickly changed into a tank top and shorts. I guzzled some ice water to cool off from our trek out in the 85 degree weather and felt like I should be playing some Beach Boys surfer music in the background while I hung ornaments. Gotta love a Southern California Christmas! Anyway, I decided to make a light refreshing dinner tonight to "beat the heat." I made Fiesta Shrimp Skewers over brown rice and made Apple Charlottes for dessert. This was my first time making Apple Charlottes and I really thought they were yummy! I have made the shrimp skewers before and we always love those.

Fiesta Shrimp Skewers
1 lb large shrimp (approx 24)
1/2 cup Newcastle Amber Ale
1/2 tsp shredded lime peel
1/4 cup lime juice
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 fresh Poblano peppers, seeded and cut into pieces for skewer
2 limes, cut for skewer

Peel Shrimp. Rinse shrimp and pat dry with paper towels. Place shrimp into a plastic bag that is set into a baking dish. In a small bowl, combine ale, lime peel, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeno, cumin, red pepper and garlic. Stir together and pour into bag containing shrimp. Marinate for 30-60 minutes, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the shrimp but reserve the marinade. Onto a metal skewer (or if you use wood skewers make sure you soak them thoroughly, 30 min. in water before placing over the fire) thread alternately, shrimp, poblano pieces and lime pieces. Brush with the reserved marinade. Discard any unused marinade. Grill the skewers for 8-10 minutes on your grill or until shrimp turn opaque. Turn them once while cooking. Serve with cool cilantro dip. *Recipe following
** I didn't want to grill tonight so I placed my skewers into my broiler set on high. They cooked in approx 6 minutes.


Cool Cilantro Dip

8 ounce carton light sour cream
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp salsa
1/2 tsp shredded lime peel
1 garlic clove, minced

Stir dip ingredients in a bowl until mixed thoroughly. Cover and chill for at least until ready to serve.


Apple Charlottes


This is the link to the Apple Charlotte recipe. It was a really good dessert and fairly easy to put together. I will definitely make these again!!     http://www.womansday.com/Recipes/Mini-Apple-Charlottes

Here is a link to a "how to" site for the Apple Charlottes  
http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Food/Mini-Apple-Charlotte-How-To.html