Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Therapy is Sweet

We had snow last weekend. Yes, I said snow. I keep seeing pictures on other peoples blogs of flowers growing in their gardens or windowsills with their cut flowers and I'm starting to get a little jealous.

I love winter. Love living in the Northwoods. Enjoy the fact that our winter lasts at least six months. Don't mind that it usually snows in April. Well, not until recently, when I felt the need for some sunshine and brightness, some pretty flowers.
I prefer not to whine about what I don't have and make do with what I do.
Here's some sweet therapy I put together for me to drive out those common winter blues that occur in this part of the country.
Don't have flowers (or anything for that matter) growing in the garden/yard, so I headed to the store and found some bright smiley flowers. They help cheer things up around here.
I decided that the flowers were pretty in the kitchen, but could look prettier next to a pretty cake. So, I borrowed the recipe that AngryChicken had made, and whipped up (seriously, this is soooo easy of a recipe) a Almond Cake. Yum Scrumptious!
Last weekend I whipped up a quick no bake pie that has become a family favorite. I've made it three times already. A Banana Caramel Pie. I've made it a couple of different ways.

The first time I made it by melting 24 caramels with a couple of tablespoons of milk to make the Caramel layer. It turns out very nicely.

You can also make the Dulce de Leche (much better than regular caramel) by boiling a can (still in the can) of Sweetened Condensed Milk for three hours and it becomes magically Dulce de Leche. You feel rather clever doing this method and might feel the need to call your mum long distance and tell her how clever you are, but I wondered about how much money it actually cost to run the stove for three hours, and then I went for the best method....

I ran to the store and bought some Gourmet Dulce de Leche and this turned the pie from good to truly heavenly without all the work. (10 minutes tops to make it)

Recipe:

Make or buy one 9" graham cracker crust (or you can make a crust by crushing up one of those many girl scout cookie boxes you have, or in our case, gluten free cookies)

2 banana's, sliced

1 cup Caramel (you decide which kind you want to use.)

1 Vanilla Pudding Instant Pudding

1 cup milk

1 cup of thawed Cool Whip

Layer one banana on the bottom of the pie crust. Then cover the banana's with the caramel. Top caramel with the other banana slices.

Mix pudding mix with one cup of milk. When thickened, fold in the Cool Whip.

Cover the banana/caramel layers with the pudding mixture.

Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Can decorate pie with banana's and whipped cream, if desired.

The flowers on the counter wasn't quite enough flora for me, so I whipped up some quilt squares for a rag quilt with lots of flowers on.

I no longer feel gloomy and have a spring to my step, if not in the chilly Northwoods air.

We'll see how long this tides me over before the real Spring shows up.

2 comments:

Denise said...

It looks so festive over in your neck of the woods (no pun intended). All springy and colorful. I love the flowers and the quilt squares but those desserts....YUM!!!!!!
Happy Easter to you and the family!!!

Carrie K said...

That quilt is really cute!

I am so whipping up a Dulce de Leche for Easter. Yum.