Homemade-ish: Strawberry Cheesecake

strawberrycheesecake

No I’m not just going to say buy a cheesecake and strawberries! I’m not that lazy! I have a recipe…somewhere!

WARNING: I’m an awful cook…but hey this is one I’ve done in the past for Christmas parties!
I promise…there were no fatalities!
 
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (can use as little as 4 tbsp. I like my graham cracker)
8 ounces of cream cheese
1 cup of white sugar
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. water
4 cups of FRESH strawberries
  • Pre-heat oven to 325
  1. Put the graham cracker crumbs into a greased pan.
  2. Mix the cream cheese and sugar together, make sure it’s well blended.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time I MUST STRESS SOMETHING HERE….NO SHELLS IN THE MIX!
  4. Mix in the vanilla extract and toss it pour it into the pan.
  5. Bake for about 50 minutes Be sure the oven is on…and the cake is in it!
  6. Let it cool off before you remove it from the pan…seems like a duh but hey you never know!
  7. Arrange 2 cups of sliced strawberries on top of the cake! Now gracefully toss it in the trash!
  8. MOST IMPORTANT STEP: Now that your house smells and looks like you cooked a cheesecake…pull out the one you bought from a professional…add some strawberry syrup and the last 2 cups of cut up strawberries on top and VOILA a beautiful, edible, home-made-ish cheesecake! hehe Shhh don’t tell my secret!

**This really is a cheesecake recipe…if you know how to cook feel free to skip step 8 🙂

Kid Friendly Ice-Cream In A Bag

icecream in a bag
Kid Friendly
Ice-Cream In A Bag
 
WARNING: I’m an awful cook…but hey this is one I’ve done in the past with Emalee!
I promise…there were no fatalities!

2 tablespoons of sugar
1 cup of half & half
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup of salt
Frozen water…better known as ICE

2 gallon-sized Ziploc bag PER KID
2 pint-sized Ziploc bag PER KID
  1. Mix the sugar, half & half and vanilla extract together in a bowl.
  2. Pour into a pint-sized Ziploc baggie. MAKE SURE IT IS SEALED TIGHTLY!! Trust me on this one…you DO NOT want to hand over that bag without checking the seal!
  3. Now take the gallon-sized Ziploc bag and fill it up halfway with ice and pour the salt over the ice.
  4. Put the sugar mixture filled bag into the ice filled bag and seal. Again…be sure that you seal it well! Duct tape may be appropriate here! Explosions happen and messes are made! Make no mistake…you will end up with “ice-cream” everywhere!
  5. Now for the “fun” part! Shake the bags for 5 to 10 minutes (after 5 minutes open the bag and check to see if the ice-cream is hard, if not keep shaking.)! HAHAHAHAHA every mom out there is laughing now! Yeah right how many kids are going to shake that bag for that long?!? Guess who ends up shaking the bag???
  6. IMPORTANT STEP: Once your kid gives up and asks you to shake the bag while they go do..well whatever…quickly take out the extra set of bags that you haven’t used, dump the ice into the big one, take the ice cream out of the freezer, fill the middle bag, holler for the kids to come back! Voila! Now you have Kid Friendly Ice-cream in a bag!

PS: If you kid really does make it the entire time, congratulations! Young kids tend to be AMAZED by this process…so if you can keep them shaking it is well worth it! Plus they are wearing off some of the energy they are about to gain from all that sugar!

This recipe really will make ice-cream! We have done it a few times! It is delicious with some fresh fruit cut up and added to the baggie! I recommend using a towel of some sort to protect your and your little ones hands form the cold.