No Bake Eclair Cake

Another great no-bake dessert!  Perfect for summer, especially with a glass of ice cold milk.

No Bake Eclair Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 package Graham Crackers
• 2 packages (3.4 oz) instant French Vanilla pudding
• 8 ounces Cool Whip (thawed)
• 3 cups milk
• 16 ounces chocolate frosting

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the pudding mix, Cool Whip, and milk. Beat well.
2. Arrange graham crackers in a single layer on the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.
3. Pour half of the pudding mixture over the graham crackers. 
4. Add another layer of graham crackers and pour remaining pudding on top.
5. Add the final layer of graham crackers and spread with chocolate frosting. You may need to soften the frosting up a bit in the microwave to help it spread easily.
6. Refrigerate for at least four hours before serving.

My changes:

• This is seriously so ridiculously easy that a five year old could make it.  Simply ingredients, simple preparation, everything is amazing simple.  
• Did I mention it was delicious?  I'll admit, it was a bit obvious sometimes that the chocolate was just chocolate frosting.  But if you mix everything up instead of leaving it layered as you eat it, then the flavors all blend together and meld perfectly.  To be as cheap & simple as it is, it's divine.

Frozen Lemon Cake

Love, love, love.  Highly reccomend.

Frozen Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup crushed graham crackers, divided
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 lemon (all juice and all zest)
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 4 tablespoons sugar, divided

Directions:

1. Combine 3/4 cup of the crushed graham crackers with the melted butter, stirring until a crumbly loose mixture forms. Line the bottom of an 8×8-inch pan with the mixture.
2. In a bowl set over hot water (not boiling) mix egg yolks, lemon juice, lemon zest, and sugar.  Stir constantly until the mixture thickens. At this point Nanny’s instructions say “Keep cool.” – this is because it will take about 10 minutes for the mixture to thicken. Cute. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool.
3. Beat egg whites until light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar and continue to beat until glossy, stiff peaks form.
4. Next, beat whipped cream until fluffy, and gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar.
5. Then, gently fold all three mixtures together.
6. Spread the mixture in the pan over the prepared crust. 
7. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of crushed crackers. 
8. Place in freezer for at least 3 hours. 
9. When you’re ready to serve, remove from the freezer, and cut into squares and plate them. Then allow to melt ever so slightly – about 4-5 minutes. Serve immediately

My changes:

• I'm pretty sure I never waited for peaks to form.  I just mixed some stuff together in a bowl.  It was still delicious.
• I stupidly forgot to wrap it before putting it in the freezer, so it had a weird freezer taste to it.  But good.  Just wrap it to prevent that from happening okay?

Mexican 6 Layer Dip

I'm going to link to several recipes in this post, because I used a basic recipe for dip (which can be found here).  But instead of using that avocado layer, I combined two recipes for guacamole (which can be found here and here).  So the setup here will be a little different.  I'll explain what I did for the guacamole, and then for the dip.

Guacamole

  

Ingredients:

• 3 Avocados (peel & pit)
• Juice of one lime
• 1/4 red onion (chopped)
• Small handful minced cilantro
• 1 small clove of garlic
• Salt & pepper to taste

 Directions: 

1. Peel & pit the avocados (I use a spoon to take the pit out, which is the hardest part IMO; then I slip the spoon under the avocado & scoop it right out- so easy).  Place avocados in a bowl and mash- I started just mashing with a spoon and then switched to a potato masher, worked like a charm.
2. Chop the red onion (you could add more, but my husband isn't crazy about red onions so I used a minimal amount), add to bowl and mix.
3. Juice the lime, add to bowl and mix.
4. Chop the garlic, add to bowl, and mix.
5. Chop the cilantro, add to bowl, and mix (you may want to add slowly & taste as you go alone if using fresh cilantro- it's much stronger than dried...but in a good way).
6. Add salt & pepper to taste.

6 Layer Dip

 

Ingredients: 

•  16 oz refried/black beans
• Homemade guacamole
• 1 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 pack taco seasoning
• 3 tomatoes 
• 1/2 cup sliced olives
• 16 oz shredded cheese
• Tortilla chips

Directions:

1. Chop the tomatoes & olives (if so desired)
2. Mix the sour cream & taco seasoning.
3.  Spread beans in the bottom of a large dish.
4. Add  guacamole.
5. Add sour cream/taco seasoning mix.
6. Add cheese.
7. Add tomatoes.
8. Add olives.
9. Serve with tortilla chips & enjoy!

My changes: 

• As mentioned, I used the above guacamole mixture instead of just mashing the avocados- it was AMAZING!  On it's on I thought it was okay, but mixed with the rest of the ingredients Oh. My. God. (said in the voice of Janice from F*R*I*E*N*D*S).
• The original recipe is for a 7 layer dip, but one of those layers is onions.  Since I already had red onions in my guacamole, I decided to skip this layer.
• While this was a great vegetarian recipe (even my husband, who is the ultimate "I am man, I eat meat" kind of guy, loved it), you could easily add a meat layer with ground beef or shredded chicken.  
• This recipe was SO easy to prepare, AND I didn't have to turn on my oven or even microwave (a big plus in the summer).  It's surprisingly filling & delicious- I'm sure I'll be making it again soon. 
• One thing- have a HUGE bag of tortilla chips.  The delicious salty chips with the cool, smooth taste from the guacamole & sour cream...my mouth is watering...