Fresh Strawberry Pie for Dad on Father's Day and a Recipe

Instead of buying Dad a gift that he can't use or don't need, we  got him a starwberry pie instead.  I asked  Dad if he want a slice  of the pie when he arrived and he said yes, so I cut him one.  I can tell that he enjoyed it because he didn't stop until he was done with it.  

  just wish that  the strawberries are cut up into  quarters because they are too big to fit in a kisser lol.

 We originally planned onbuying him a coconut pie but sadly, there's none.

My father-in-law has a sweet tooth so he enjoys this kind of treat.  I think he would live on dessert if he could lol.

I think I can make this one as  it looks very simple to make.  I found this recipe at tasteofhome.com (thanks Sue Jurack for posting the recipe):

Ingredients

1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)

3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 package (3 ounces) strawberry gelatin
4 cups sliced fresh strawberries
Fresh mint, optional

Directions

• Line unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Bake at 450° for 8 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack.
• In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and water until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in gelatin until dissolved.
• Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes or until slightly cooled
• Meanwhile, arrange strawberries in the crust. Pour gelatin mixture over berries. Refrigerate until set. Garnish with mint if desired.Yield: 6-8 servings.

Chewy and Delicious Double Chocolate Mocha Cookies

I am not  a baker and I am not fond of  baking but there are times when I am in the mood to face the challenge, I  would do it  especially if the recipe is easier to  follow.  I normally ask my husband to bake because that is his strong suit in the kitchen but with this one, I felt the need to do it.   Okay, this  chocolate chip cookie is so chewy and delicious. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Entire bag of Glutino  chocolate chip cookie mix
• 1/4 cup NuStevia Cocoa Syrup
• 1 tbsp  instant coffee  granules
• 2/3 cup softened, unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp NuStevia vanilla

Direction:

• Preheat oven to 350.  Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment or aluminum foil 
• Mix cocoa syrup with coffee granules. Set aside.
• In a separate bowl, beat butter until fluffy.  Add dry ingredients.  Beat until mixture is light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.
• Drop one cookie scoop  of dough into cookie sheets.  Leave about two inches  between cookies.

Bake for 12 minutes.  Cool completely and transfer to an airtight container

The coffee  in it makes it really smells heavenly.  

The sweet tooth of the family  would agree how  delicious these cookies are.  

 These cookies are "sweet tooth" approved.  If you want a little different from a cookie, try this Chewy and Delicious  Double Chocolate Mocha Cookies.  It is soooo good!!!!

"The founding mothers left an enduring constitutional  legacy for those of us with sensitive constitutions by sharing their secret chocolate chop cookie recipe.  Keep it yourself" Glutino.  Live Fully.  We are what we  eat.

Alcohol-Free and No-Carbs Natural Sweetener from #NuNaturals

I was very excited when I received an email from NuNaurals informing me that they have new products that  I can try.  I have worked with them before and enjoyed some of their  natural sweeteners do it made me happy to try their new products again.   NuNaturals  sent me three alcohol-free   liquid NuStevia flavoring including vanilla and lemon, I like using their  flavoring to pancakes and waffles.

The no-carb blends sweetener is great for coffee and other beverage. I love using them for Canning Tomatoes as well.  The one they sent me last year served me well as I canned a lot of tomatoes.  

 I have yet to try this Cocoa Mint syrup.  I would probably try this with  ice cream or  home baked goodies.  I have a  cookie mix that I need to bake next week so this would be a good  thing to incorporate in it.  

 I love this non-bitter premium natural sweetener for coffee or tea.  This is also good in cooking savory foods or dessert  as a healthy replacement for sugar.  I am glad they sent me the non-bitter because I have tried their  other sweetener before and I could not take it as it was so bitter for my taste.  

 This simple syrup is sugar free and has zero calorie which is great.  To be honest, we seldom buy sugar now because we are trying to live a little healthier so we are  using  products that we don't normally use before.  

I used it to make the blackberry coompote that I used for my rustic pie.

 I love this cocoa syrup. It is thick and  very chocolatey.

 That's what I used when I had my fruits on top of an angel cake.  I usually just eat the fruits  alone without anything else but since I have  a variety of syrup to try, I thought of incorporating it to my treat after  doing my cleaning.  

 Indulging into something rich is not bad once in a while especially when you deserve to have a special treat!

The cocoa syrup is a perfect balance for the tartness of the strawberry and kiwi, just yummy all the way in my tummy.  Thanks again NuNaturals!

Disclosure:  There is NO monetary compensation involved with this review.  I was provided the products for testing purposes in  return of my honest review.  Opinions expressed on this review is 100% o my own.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Roll or Hoho Cake Recipe

When it comes to baking, my 9 year old pastry chef wannabe is  fearless.  She is braver than me when it comes to that part in the kitchen.  I am not fond of baking,  maybe because I grew up  without an oven at our home so I have never done any baking when I was younger.  I am so glad that my daughter   is very interested in it.  My favorite dessert that she  makes  is the Chocolate Cake Roll or Hoho Cake.  

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 pkg.  Semi-Sweet Chocolate (6 oz.), divided
• 6 tbsp. butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4  eggs
• 1 cup gluten-free flour, divided
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar, divided
• 3 cups thawed cool whip, divided

Procedure:

• HEAT oven to 350°F.
• SPRAY 15x10x1-inch pan with cooking spray. Line with waxed paper and then spray with additional cooking spray.
• MICROWAVE 3 oz. chocolate and butter in medium microwaveable bowl on High 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Add granulated sugar and mix well. Beat the eggs in large bowl with mixer on high speed 3 minutes or until thickened. Blend in chocolate mixture. Add 1/4 cup flour and baking soda; beat just until blended. Add remaining flour alternately with water, beating well after each addition. Spread evenly into prepared pan.

• BAKE 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Immediately invert cake onto clean towel and remove the pan. Carefully peel off paper. Starting at one short side, roll up cake and towel together; cool completely on wire rack.

• Mix cream cheese and remaining powdered sugar in medium bowl with mixer until well blended. Gently stir in 1-1/2 cups COOL WHIP.
• UNROLL cake carefully; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture onto cake, completely covering top of cake. Roll up the cake and  place it seam-side down on a platter.

The second  time she  made it, she added a ganache or chocolate icing on it.  Here's how to make the ganache:

• Microwave the  remaining chocolate and remaining COOL WHIP (remember you have divided them from the start?) in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended.   
• Cool for 2 minutes and  spread onto cake. Then you have to refrigerate the cake for 1 hour.

Do you see the little man's   excitement?  Anticipating for that yummy piece that he will get when the cake is ready lol.

This recipe is from kraftrecipes.com but we  substituted the flour with the gluten-free flour that we got from Glutino.  The ganache is a great addition to hide the cracks from the cake when you roll it up but I like the one she made without the ganache.  The icing made it so rich.  

Peach Cobbler

The  cobller toppings mix is one of the goodies I have received from Krusteaz.  My daughter and I made it yesterday.  I used the canned peaches instead of fresh because that's what available at home.

 For this mix, you have to add an egg to the  mix.  Also needed is 6 tbsp of butter to drizzle over  the topping when it is ready to bake.

 Here's the peach cobbler ready to bake in a 350 degrees oven for 45 minutes.

 Love the toppings!  Will definitely buy it when I  need  a topping mix.

 The peach cobbler wasn't too bad.  I think  that if I could have used fresh peaches instead of canned, it could have been better.  Still good though!

Anything with fruit, I love!

Gluten Free, Whole Wheat, and more Delightful Surprises from Krusteaz

Disclosure: The author of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the products mentioned  in exchange of my honest  opinion which may differ from yours.  

Nothing can beat the  smell of delicious,   fresh-from-the-oven,  baked goodies right?  Although baking is not my cup of tea,  I  can certainly do it once in a while when I am in the mood.  Glad there are  easy to bake mixes available from the store lol.  I received five boxes of baking products from 

Krusteaz to review and we got busy during the snow days  when my kids were off from school.  I have two boxes of flat bread, one is an Italian herb and the other is whole wheat.   I also got two gluten free mixes, one is the double chocolate brownie mix and the other one is the blueberry muffin mix.

My husband and daughter baked the  the double chocolate brownie.  Aside from it's gluten free feature, it is also different from other mix you can buy because it has brown rice flour instead of a typical  flour incorporated in brownie mix in other brands.  As described in the box, it is thick and chewy, and so delicious!  Our daughter is not a  sweet tooth kind of girl but she love to bake so she had fun  baking this with her Dad.

This brownie is very rich.  My husband did not think that it would be that good because he only buys one brand  when it comes to mixes.  I, on the other hand, I don't mind trying different kinds because you never knew what you are missing if you don't try some brands right?

I am glad we tried this  one from Krusteaz because I love it and my son definitely was in heavben while eating his piece, and another piece, and another.. lol.

Our son is the the sweet tooth in the family so this was a real treat for him.  Believe me when I say that the pan of brownie only last  two days.

Yesterday, the kids were off again from school due to severe weather so I got busy in the kitchen while they were doing their homework.  

I made a lasagna yesterday so my  original thought was to make  flat bread only to eat with our lasagna but I remember that I have some mushrooms and  bell peppers in my refrigerator so I made half of the  Italian herb flat bread mix into flatbread pizza and the  the other half, pain flat bread.  This  mix needs 1 cup  very warm water and 1/4 cup oil.  You have to allow dough to rise  for 20-30 minutes before baking on a 475 degrees  heat,

I am so glad that I made pizza because  that's what my daughter ate for dinner.  She forgot about the  ravioli lasagna that  I made as soon as she saw the  toppings on the pizza.  I love how the flat bread turned out, it's not  saggy at all.  It was light and the herbs  just pops in your mouth  like a  perfume.  

Then I baked the gluten free blueberry mix for dessert.  I am not much of a muffin fan but I would say that I like this one.  It has  real blueberries that came in a can and all you have to add is add 1/4 of water, 1/3 cup vegetale oil, and 3 3ggs.  Then bake it for 14-16 minutes in 400 degrees oven.  

I am very surprised that my daughter like this so much.  I think, it's because it has real fruits in it and  the sweetness is not over powering.  In fact, she requested one of this for  her  dessert on school lunch today.

I haven't made the cobbler topping yet because I have to  buy me the fruit that I need but I will absolutely  update  this post once I  am done.  Update:  I made the peach cobbler and it was delicious! 

I am saving the  whole wheat flat bread when   my eaters are craving for some homemade pizza.  

The Whole Wheat Flat bread is equally delicious as the Italian Herb one.

Aside from the  superb tastes, I also love the fact that Krusteaz  put recipes  at the back of their boxes.  It gives you other option how to  prepare and serve them.  I would definitely buy their products on the store.  For those of you who prefer or have  gluten free diets,  you should check out Krusteaz.  They have  different varieties of baking goodies.