Category: Desserts

Carrot Tomato Cupcakes

7/31/2017

I am a firm believer that if kids grow it they will eat it.
However, it’s still fun to find “sneaky” ways to disguise vegetables into tasty treats. A healthy dose of carrot cupcakes is always a fun way to use the root vegetables and actually a common cake flavor today. However, topping it with a tomato frosting is a bit shocking and surprisingly yummy!

Try serving the carrot cupcake with tomato frosting as a side dish at dinner and surprise them when you tell them it’s their side of vegetables. Of course, I would also include the raw versions of the vegetables on the plate too and ask them to compare and contrast the flavor profiles between them. But that’s me!!!

Ingredients:
Cake
1 box pound cake (I like the Betty Crocker mix) – plus ingredients listed on box
1 bunch of grated carrots (about 1 cup)
1 tsp ginger spice
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Frosting
2 packages cream cheese
½ cup whipped cream
1/2 cup pureed tomato (remove skin first)
2 cups sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place paper baking cups in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. Mix cake mix as listed on box. Stir in ginger spice, pumpkin spice and carrots.
Cook cupcakes as directed on box and let cool.
While cooling, combine all frosting ingredients in mixer or with spoon. Mix until light and fluffy.
Using a spatula, add frosting to cupcakes.
Garnish with fresh basil leaves, if desired.

For more fantastic and fun recipes, check out our Recipe for Fun page

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Fruit Cookie Pizza Pie

7/2/2017

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(Like how I incorporated everything yummy?)
There are so many tasty ways to celebrate America’s Independence Day! Fresh fruit straight from the garden (or even market) is topping my family’s list. It’s colorful, sweet, and always refreshing on a hot summer day!
Throw the word “pizza” onto the dessert menu and you’ll have everyone running, including the cat, to get some! Can you blame Kitty? This looks so good and is such a cute picture! Mmmmmmmm!
Here’s how you can make your own yummy bite!

What’s Needed:

1 roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough

Fresh strawberries (approx. 2 cups)
Fresh blackberries (approx. 2 cups)
1 package of light cream cheese (8 ounces)

1/4 cup of powdered sugar

2 teaspoons of grated lemon peel
Melted apricot jelly (peach works too)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, or whatever is listed on the cookie dough package. Then spray a 12-inch pizza pan with nonstick spray.

The first real step is a lot of fun.
You get to play with dough. Break the roll of cookie dough into small cookie sizes and place on the pizza sheet. Once the pan is covered, press the dough out until the entire pizza pan is covered. We’re using the already made sugar cookie dough because it doesn’t crumble as much as homemade dough. Of course, either way will work. It’s up to you.

Once the pan is completely covered with cookie dough, stick it in the oven to bake. Be sure to watch the clock and don’t let it burn. Pull it out of the oven when it’s a golden brown. It took me about 20 minutes to bake this one.

Don’t eat the cookie yet. It’s too hot and we still need to cover it with our fruit toppings.

While it cools, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and lemon peel. Stir it until it’s nice and fluffy. Probably about 2 minutes will do it. Now spread it on top of the baked cookie. Cover the entire thing.
If your kids don’t know how to draw a star yet, give them a hand. Err, I mean a finger. Trace the star out into the dough. This is going to be your guideline for placing the fruit.

We used fresh red strawberries to make the star. You could use your blackberries if you want to make a blue star instead. Just plop the strawberries on there until they’ve formed a star.
Now, use the other berries to cover the rest of the cookie. Raspberries with blueberries is a great option. Our strawberries are fresh and sweet so I wanted to use them for this cookie pizza.
Once the fruit is placed, melt apricot jelly and pour it right on top. This creates a yummy glaze.

Enjoy your Fourth of July with this amazing treat!

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FRESH BERRY POPSICLES

6/29/2017

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Frozen popsicles are a summer “must-eat” in our house. (Honestly, we eat them every season but we're able to make them with fruit from our garden now!)

So, while the BBQ is heating up, games are being played, and you’re waiting patiently for fireworks to fly, try making a batch of your own fruit frozen pops!

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh berries from your garden, sliced
1 banana
5 ice cubes
1 cup yogurt (strawberry flavor is my favorite)
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of berry juice
Cup or fun freezer molds

Directions:
To begin, be sure that the fruit you use is washed and all the stems are cut off of the berries. Place all ingredients in to a blender and pulse to mix. We like to start with the banana, then added in milk and a cup of strawberry yogurt. Next, we added fresh cut strawberries and 1/2 cup of cranberry-grape juice. You can substitute blackberries or blueberries as a tasty choice if you don't have any strawberries. Add in a few pieces of ice get to a "smoothie" consistency and blend for about 30 seconds until mixture is smooth. Then, pour the mixture in to the pop molds. Try to leave about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of space at the top of the mold because the pops will expand as they freeze. Place the molds in the freezer and try to keep your hands off them for at least 4 hours (or until they're frozen enough to eat! I know! It’s extremely hard to do!

You may have to run the popsicle mold under warm water to loosen the sides before eating!

For an extra bonus, pour a few mini-chocolate chips on top of the smoothie mixture before placing it in the freezer. This is an extremely healthy snack so a couple morsels of chocolate are okay and they’re a really yummy surprise!

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Also, these rocket popsicle molds are made by Tovolo (www.tovolo.com).
I love the variety of the mold shapes available and the ease of the popsicles release from the molds. Plus, who doesn't like a rocket pop?

Carrot Tomato Cupcakes

Fruit Cookie Pizza Pie

FRESH BERRY POPSICLES

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