Strawberry Whipped Sensation...for your Valentine!

I can't help but keep thinking about the famous quotation..."A rose is a rose, is a rose"...some of you might have heard that famous quotation, by Gertrude Stein, part of a poem in 1913. Actually there is a meaning to the quote.
"Things are the way they are!"...yes, that is so true. The sooner we realize and understand how things are, we will understand what they are!

What I like to do is to see a recipe, especially one with a photo, and do my own spin on the final result. I can tell if the recipe will actually work out or not, and in this case, I totally did a different shape, form, but kept the ingredients... just added more strawberries, and crushed Oreo cookies to the crust! Even though I didn't make this cake for a "romantic significant other"...I did have plenty of raves from my wonderful family. How could you possibly resist the fresh strawberry mousse filling over the most favorite cookie crust, topped with America's all-time favorite Cool Whip topping, and surrounded by Dove heart shaped chocolate pieces!

A rose can say I love you and want you to be mine,

A rose can say I thank you for being so very kind,

A rose can say congratulations, whatever the occasion may be,
A rose can say I miss you and wish you were here with me,
A rose can say I'm sorry if I've hurt you in any way,
A rose can say get well soon, May God bless you today,
A rose can say I wish you happiness, and the best for you each day
A rose can say farewell when someone goes away,
A rose can say hello, I'm thinking of you today,
There's just so many wonderful things that a rose can say,
A rose can say goodbye when a love one is laid to rest,

No matter what there is to say, a rose can say it best. 

~Margie Drive

Linking to:#chocolatelove blog hop, @ Mis Pensamientos
http://mizhelenscountrycottage.blogspot.com/
                   http://katherinescorner.com/

                   Be my Valentine Challenge @Very Good Recipes

Strawberry Whipped Sensation

adapted from: Family Circle magazine, March 2003

4 cups fresh strawberries, divided

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tub 8 oz. Cool Whip Whipped Topping thawed, divided

8 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, finely chopped

1 Tbsp. butter melted

Line 8x4 inch loaf pan with foil. Mash 2 cups of strawberries in large bowl. Stir in condensed milk, juice and 2 cups of the Cool Whip; pour into pan.

Top with combined chopped cookies and butter; press into mixture. Cover.

Freeze at least 6 hours.To serve, invert onto plate. Remove foil. Frost with remaining Cool Whip. Top with remaining strawberries, Makes 12 servings.

My version of making this cake: I used 16 cookies, and 2 Tbsp. of melted butter, put them in the food processor, and pressed the crushed cookies into a heart shaped springform pan. I filled it with the filling, and topped it with Cool Whip.

I carefully folded my crushed up strawberries into the sweetened condensed milk

Now fold in half of the Cool Whip whipped topping.

Now, cover with aluminum foil, and freeze up to 6 hrs.

Gabby wanted to decorate the cake...instead of using sliced strawberries, she used the most amazing Dove chocolate heart shapes, and just one strawberry on the top. Extra box of strawberries came in handy, to add some halved strawberries on the side, to enjoy!

Beautiful slice of heavenly Whipped Sensation!

This is dessert devoured...before dinner:D

Your MOMENT...YOUR DOVE...saved for last...yumm!









HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
...with Love, to all my friends!

Blueberry Marshmallow No-Bake Torte...Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day is just around the corner, and with all the BBQ's planned hopefully all of you will have a beautiful and sunny day as we always have, here in South Florida. With all the preparations going on for this event, why would you want to spend hours in the kitchen baking pies, and cakes, when you can just whip up an "easy-breezy" spring/summer dessert, that will chill in 2 hours, and ready to enjoy!

Now, unless it's your mother's treasured recipes that were marked down in a handwritten book as in Claudia's @What's Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine from her dear departed mom's... you have got to mention that it's your own creation, or adapted from some source. As for your own creation, that really means you have memorized a recipe and are putting together by your own creativity and jotting the the instructions, and the step-by-step method, just as I have done in my last post about the Roasted peppers, which is a tried and true method from all the other failed ones I have used.

As in my case, I must confess, I steal ideas from glancing at pictures of recipes...being in the culinary profession for so many years have thought me just that...especially with request from my Private Chef experience when I literally had to plan, shop, prep, and throw together a quick gourmet meal from soup to dessert, and presented beautifully to serve for 2-4 persons (hopefully the same main course)...so, when I see a pretty photo of a dessert, I may not follow which is in most cases, the same exact recipe and will also re-name it, and will add to the ingredients, as well. Also, I do feel that most recipes require to be adapted with different spices, or ingredients to make it your way, and you should mention that when you are posting a recipe, that is copied. Adapted-literally means that you have modified, changed, and altered it for new use.

Before I take you to the step-by-step method, and recipe, I must remember to mention, that my granddaughter Gabby, age 9...decorated the entire Torte top, with the fresh blueberries, and the freshly picked mints from their next door neighbor Dr. Eric's yard....notice the bougainvillea in the background at my daughter's house, and the cute decoration by Gabby...also the sweet mint flower, and a tiny sprig of rosemary which also had purple little flowers. The flower on the platter came from Eric's yard of 2 beautiful blooming trees. Happy, Memorial Day weekend, to all!....just don't leave yet!  ...more to come. Click on read more...

Blueberrry  Marshmallow No-Bake Torte
Totally adapted from another recipe called
Blueberry Squares by TASTEOFHOME.COM

2 cups crushed vanilla wafers (see photo on right)
5 Tablespoons (1/3 cup) unsalted butter, melted
1 Tablespoon sugar

In a food processor, crush the vanilla wafers until they resemble fine crumbs. In a medium bowl, add the crumbs and melted butter, and sugar to incorporate using  a fork, until all the butter is mixed in. In a non-stick 9 inch spring form cake pan, press evenly on the bottom. It's not necessary to have it come up on the sides...just on the bottom.
In a preheated 325 degree F. oven, bake for 12-15 minutes. Set aside, and cool.

For the Blueberry Filling:

3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 - 3/4 cup water (start with 1/2 cup first)
4 cups fresh blueberries, divided
(I used a big container from Costco)
grated lemon peel from 1 lemon
juice of the same lemon, after grating it

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually add water, stirring, or whisking it until smooth .(see photo on right)
Add the grated lemon peel, and lemon juice and stir to combine.

Stir in the divided half 2 cups of blueberries...bring to a boil, and stir until thickened, adding the extra 1/4 cup of water if it gets too thick. You can see the thickness of consistency by seeing how the sauce coats the wooden spoon...show in the photo on the right.

Now, you are ready to fold in the remaining 2 cups of blueberries, and give it a good careful stir, and set aside to cool completely, before layering it with the whipped cream and marshmallows.

This is the consistency of the sauce, that will thicken even more as it cools in the fridge, for about 45 minutes before filling, and layering with the marshmallow cream.

For the marshmallow cream filling, and topping:

2 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows (Kraft is the best)
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tablespoons confectioners' sugar

In a medium bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken.
Add the confectioners' sugar, and beat until soft peaks form. (do not over beat, or you will end up with whipped butter...LOL)
Fold in marshmallows.

Spread half the amount of the cream with the folded marshmallows into the prepared crust.

Top with the entire prepared and cooled blueberry mixture. At this point, you can leave it with the blueberry topping to cool, an set completely in the fridge, or add the last layer of marshmallow cream for the last topping, chill for 2 hours either way, with the blueberry topping, or the final marshmallow cream topping, and decorate as you wish...or as Gabby decorated it.
note: if you don't use the last layer of marshmallow cream for the topping, and wish to leave the blueberry topping...you can use the marshmallow cream to spoon extra cream when you cut the slices.

At any rate, I want to share this with you to enjoy with your family, friends, and party guests as an easy, breezy special dessert!

Angel Food Cake and an Award for Angels

While I realize this is not Spring or Summer...but after all, this is South Florida, and we cannot deny how blessed we are, not to be trying to dig ourselves out of the snow, being stuck in our homes, or even worse, stranded on the highway because of the impossible driving conditions. I feel for all of you, who are in this situation. Almost hate to say..."been there, done that"...when our last snow storm in the seventies while still a very young couple, me still in my early twenties... with a tiny toddler, less than 2yrs old... visiting my aunt and uncle for the Christmas holidays, glorious Florida sunshine, and 75 degrees in December...pure heaven! Returning back to Cleveland to the snowstorms...at that point, we decided...
Florida, "here we come!"...and made the big move!...so, the rest is history!...over 35 years in the tropical climate, and would not change 1 minute of it, except for a "White Christmas."

This is all you do...1 ready made angel food cake, 1 container of sliced sweetened, frozen strawberries, 1 container of Cool Whip...we all know what Cool Whip is, sorry-but it may sound terrible, and unhealthy, but my children have grown up, and love...we all love the frozen whipped topping, that is oh, so good, and you can concoct it into so many dessert. I actually heavy whipping cream but saved it to use for another dessert, which is totally home made. I am not going to lie to you, but you will not regret making this wonderful light dessert, that will disappear within minutes. Cut the angel food cake in half, scoop out some chunks from the middle, and mix it with half of the frozen whipped topping (get the large size Cool Whip) mine is a med. size, did not have enough to spread the entire cake, but it's not too bad. Fold in the thawed out strawberries, and spread it on the bottom part of the cake.

This is the finished result...just add some fresh beautiful ripe whole strawberries...would be even nicer dipped into chocolate, which in this case does not require; like I mentioned, the cake will disappear...within minutes! Enjoy!


Note:

Cool Whip

Cool Whip created the frozen, whipped "non dairy"
 whipped topping... category in the supermarket and many Americans can't imagine a holiday without it. While pumpkin pie wouldn't be the same without a dollop, Cool Whip is very versatile and consumers use it in desserts, sweet dips and salads.

I happened to click over to Sandra's blog, from Sandra's Easy Cooking  a few days ago, and to my surprise, I noticed the beautiful widget, Called...Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. I said to myself..."hmm, I've never seen an award like that"...so I scrolled down to the meticulous alphabetical list, and my heart just skipped a beat! Wow, my name was on it! I really did get a bit emotional, because I saw all this list of talented food blogger ladies, and I am so honored to be a part of the list from around the world, but mostly so proud to have been chosen by Sandra, because she has such an amazingly beautiful blog, she is so, so talented, such a beautiful "SISTER" of the food blogs, that whatever she creates, makes you drool, her recipes are so clearly defined with beautiful photos, that you cannot miss, and do want to make all the fabulous dishes, and over the top yummy desserts she posts.


Thank you so very much, Sandra ...you certainly made my day, and I am so thrilled to pay the award forward to my favorite food blogger SISTERS around the globe, whom I would love to meet in person, to sit down...chit, chat, over a nice cup of tea, or coffee with a wonderful dessert, and just talk about whatever comes to mind, and share stories...sigh...this is such a nice dream, that could come true!

...and now; to my Award...SISTERHOOD OF THE WORLD BLOGGERS AWARD

Doesn't this sound beautiful?...I really wanted to call it the ANGELS AWARD...so, in my book, it is the
SISTERHOOD, (angels) OF THE WORLD!

"What a treasured gift to have a friend who knows how to empathize. She laughs with you when you're happy and cries with you when you're sad. A friend like this is a rare jewel indeed" 

Only one catch:...I'm compiling my list, so I'm really not ready with it yet, because there will be numerous SISTERS on it from all over the United States, Canada, England, Romania, Malaysia, India, Hungary, Bulgaria, Australia, Italy, France, Dominican Republic, Thailand, and several other countries (I think)...just please bear with me, and in the next two days, I will present the award, on a separate post!
Have a wonderful day my sisters, my friends!...try to stay warm...sending Florida sunshine, your way!
Hugs!