Strawberries and Cream

Local strawberries have been rocking recently. I've had an abundance of chocolate dipped strawberries, but was feeling something a little creamier for dessert tonight. I stumbled across the best cream filling recipe ever. Of course, I used it for dipping, as it requires less effort than using it as filling.

Strawberries and Cream

Excited for the recipe? Keep reading...

Crepes du Jour

I recently made a very delicious, homemade treat! I was pretty impressed with myself for getting an unfamiliar recipe right the first time! I combined a few different recipes to create a delicious dessert crepe.

What you'll need:

Just Desserts: Watergate Cupcakes

Since I was young, one of my very favorite deserts has always been Watergate Salad. Nothing tops a rich, pistachio flavor! A friend introduced me to the best combination ever, Watergate Salad and cupcakes, after there were leftovers from a wedding reception. It took months to get a hold of the recipe, mostly because the cupcakes were referred to as Pistachio Cupcakes at the time. Finally, my sister tracked down a recipe and altered it to fit our taste, which obviously makes it better than ever!

Finished product, conserving frosting before I knew there was plenty.
I promise, very tasty! 

Just Desserts: Homemade Turtles

For Valentine's Day, I felt like doing something a little special for my husband [okay, maybe for my own benefit, too...]. Back around Christmas I stumbled across directions to make your own homemade turtles (the candies, yum!). The first time around, it didn't go as well as planned, but I decided to give it another try, lining up a few new techniques. I'm very pleased to announce that they came out great!!

Just Desserts: Coconut Rice Pudding

I stumbled across a bunch of coconut recipes one afternoon. My favorite (so far) is the Coconut Rice Pudding. It's come to be expected that when I cook something, I nearly always do something wrong, in some way. The first time I made this, I followed the directions perfectly, but I used sweetened coconut milk (the viscous kind, typically marketed for pina coladas, I found it on the cake isle) while the original recipe called for unsweetened milk. While checking out the "ethnic" food isle the other day I finally found a can of unsweetened coconut milk, got really excited, thinking Yes! Now it will be really awesome!! I was wrong. Come to find out, the "mistake" I made the first time was actually an improvement! So, here is what I consider the best recipe of coconut rice pudding ever!

Jalapeno Pinwheel Poppers

I found this awesome recipe on Pinterest [yeah, I'm sure you've never heard that before]. This recipe, which I will from here out refer to as Jalepeno Pinwheel Poppers, is great for many reasons. It's quick and easy. The ingredients can be bought well in advance and you don't have to worry about them going bad. They can be made [somewhat] in advance and cooked [somewhat] later.

Jalapeno Pinwheel Poppers, professional picture from recipe source

It takes about 15 minutes to get everything thrown together, and about 13 minutes cooking time. I've ever so slightly altered the original recipe to make it better.