Lemon Cream Cheese Bars

These little bars are seriously a little piece of heaven.  They actually taste a lot like cheesecake.  It doesn't have the classic graham cracker crust.  It's made out of a cake mix, but I like this crust even better.  That could be the new excitement talking. Cheesecake is my favorite dessert, and this made it even better!  I sampled some when it was fresh out of the oven, which you're not really supposed to do, but I was too excited about them!  I liked it better hot.  It's amazing after it's chilled too, but there's something about warm cheesecake that melts your insides. Mmmm!  I promise you'll love every luscious bite.  And it's pretty easy, too!  I got the recipe online.


Lemon Cream Cheese Bars

1 box lemon cake mix (I used white, and it was wonderful)
1/2 cup oil
8 oz (1 package) cream cheese
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs

Mix cake mix, oil, and one egg.  Hold out 3/4 cup of mix.  Put the rest in an ungreased 9x13 pan.  Pat all over the bottom.  Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.

While this cooks mix cream cheese, sugar, egg, and lemon juice with mixer.  Spread over cooked portion in pan.  Sprinkle reserved 3/4 cup of cake mix over the top.  Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Cut into pieces and serve.

Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

I love these brownies!!! They're fun to make, but I had to wait until cream cheese went on sale to make them. I got the recipe online.
Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Filling:
4 oz cream cheese (1/2 package)
1 egg
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Brownies:
Brownie mix and all that goes with it

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom only of 9-inch square pan. beat filling ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
Make brownie batter as directed on box. Spread 3/4 of batter in pan. Spoon filling onto batter. Add remaining batter. Cut through mixture with a knife for marbled design. Sprinkle with chocolate chips if desired.
Bake 40-44 minutes. Cool. Store in fridge.

Candied Popcorn

Popcorn may just be the best thing ever invented. If I had to choose one food to eat for the rest of my life, I'd probably choose popcorn. But I'm glad I don't have to do that, because I love lots of different foods. Anyway, with this popcorn, I made it patriotic by adding food coloring. I used two different colors, so I made two batches. You don't have to make it patriotic if you don't want to. You can make it for different holidays, birthdays, or for fun. I made it for Activity Days. The girls loved it. They went back for seconds. Then, I was babysitting my niece and nephews, my niece tried the leftovers and said that it was the best popcorn she had ever tasted. Now, realize that she's five, and every experience is the best ever. It also was sugary, and she loves sugary stuff, but it is really good. I got this recipe from another blog that I'm following. Here you go!

Candied Popcorn

1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups popcorn (popped)
Few drops of food coloring (optional)

Boil sugar, salt, and water to 235 degrees F (soft ball stage). Remove from heat. Add vanilla and food coloring. Pour over popped popcorn and stir until glaze sugars.

Cherry Cobbler

I made dinner for a family in our ward the other day (they had a baby), and for dessert I made this. I wanted to get rid of my frozen cherries from last year, and this was how I did it. I looked up cherry cobbler online, and found this one by Emeril. It was the first one on the list! It was pretty easy, and I had the perfect amount of cherries to use. I'm not sure how it turned out. Hopefully it was good! It sure smelled and looked delicious!

Cherry Cobbler

Filling:
6 cups cherries, pitted
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Topping:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a saucepan combine filling ingredients and cook, stirring until bubbling and thickened. Pour into an 8-inch square baking dish. Meanwhile, stir together flour, sugars, baking powder, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until it is crumbly. Mix together egg and milk. Add to flour mixture and stir with a fork just until combined. Drop topping by tablespoonfuls onto filling. Bake 25 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

Chocolate Pudding Dessert

I know the picture isn't "chocolate," but you can use any flavor of instant pudding you want, and it works out nicely. I personally, used vanilla this time. This is one of my favorite desserts. Growing up, we only had it for special occasions. I thought that was because it was hard to make. I was wrong. It's actually pretty easy to make. It takes a little time because the crust has to cool, but it's definitely worth it. This dessert is nice and cool, so it makes a great summer treat, especially if you're having a little garden party or something. I got this recipe from my mom, but it originally came from the Lion House cook book.

Chocolate Pudding Dessert

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Combine flour, butter, and nuts. Cut together like with a pie crust, until they resemble coarse meal. Press into 9X13 pan. Bake 30 minutes. Cool.
*There are many people I cook for that don't like nuts or are allergic to them, so I used my lemon bar crust recipe. I'm sure you can find your favorite crust to use as well.

Cream Cheese Filling:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 8 oz package cream cheese
1 9 oz carton frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip or a generic form)
Beat together sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Add 1/2 of whipped topping. Spread over crust.

Pudding:
2 3 oz packages instant pudding
3 cups milk
Make pudding as directed, using 3 cups of milk. Spread on cream cheese layer. Spread remaining whipped topping on pudding layer. Sprinkle with chopped nuts or shaved chocolate if desired. Chill several hours or overnight. Makes 15 servings.

Smoothie Idea

During summer time, I'm all about ice cream and smoothies! Yum!!! So, last night, I whipped up a little something that turned out quite delicious, actually. You can use any kind of variation you like. So many different fruits can go together, and even if you haven't heard of combining those fruits together, try it out if you're feeling adventurous! So here is what I combined and blended up.

Frozen cherries (I froze cherries from our trees last year. I haven't really had many recipes for them, so that's why they're still around. This also substitutes for the ice that goes into a smoothie, since they're frozen.)
1 peeled kiwi
2 individual containers of yogurt (I chose vanilla, and one container would probably have worked well, too)
a splash of milk

That's it! Enjoy! Get creative and blend away! It's super healthy, too! Real fruit, nonfat yogurt and milk! It's a perfect treat for those of you who want something tasty but don't want to regret it later.

Allie's Zucchini Fritters

Well, zucchini season is almost here! I'm still trying to get rid of the zucchini I shredded and froze. I looked up shredded zucchini recipes online, and the easiest recipe I found (which could easily be topped because I only looked at two sites) was this one. The hardest part is cooking them all the way through without burning them. It's an art. I still haven't mastered it yet, but maybe next time. If you're a good pancake cooker, then you'll be good at this. I'm not really the best at cooking pancakes (although I love them anyway), so there's my problem. They're really a lot easier than I'm making it sound. Well, here you go!

Allie's Zucchini Fritters

3 cups shredded zucchini
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine ingredients in a bowl. Heat pan, lightly sprayed with nonstick spray. Spoon a heaping spoonful in a pan. Heat until lightly brown, turning once.

How much easier could it get? I topped mine with cheese. You can decide what you like to top it with. If you find something delicious, let me know! I'm always up for suggestions.