Pink Yink Ink Drink & Popcorn Fantasy(Hannah's Cooking Classes)

Pink Yink Ink Drink
no picture, Hannah was sick this class

1/2 pint fresh or 1/2 cup frozen blackberries, thawed
1 cup milk
6 fresh strawberries, green tops removed, or 1/2 cup frozen, thawed
1 tsp honey

Put the blackberries in a blender and puree them. Pour into a large glass. Put the milk, strawberries and honey in the blender and blend. Strain the mixture (optional). our the strawberry mixture carefully on top of the blackberries. Makes one serving.

Popcorn Fantasy

Pop microwave popcorn and remove carefully from microwave.  Gather "extras" of your choice and place in large bowl with popcorn.  Mix together, share and enjoy.

Suggested extras:

• craisins
• yogurt covered raisins
• mini pretzels
• chocolate or butterscotch chips
• popcorn toppers (shake-on flavors)
• grated cheese
• Other dried fruit- cherries, blueberries, etc
• Gumdrops or other chewy candy (gummy worms, gummy bears)

You can also drizzle on any favorite ice cream topping.  The idea is to change the taste and texture of the snack, providing a "popcorn fantasy."

Sugar Cookies and De-Pinkalicious Punch (Hannah's Cooking Classes)

Sugar Cookies

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 TBSP light corn syurp
1 TBSP vanilla extract

In a medium-size bowl, mix the flour and salt. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar, stir in the egg, then the corn syrup and vanilla extract. One third at a time, add the flour mixtures until thoroughly mixed. Pat the dough into two disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours, or until firm enough to roll. If it is too firm, soften at room temperature for 5 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll one disk of dough between two pieces of waxed paper or plastic wrap, 1/4 to 1/2 thick. Remove the top sheet and cut out the cookies with cookie cutters. Using a metal spatula, transfer the shapers to baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until bookies start to brown lightly around the edges. Remove the baking sheet to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to racks and cool completely before frosting and decorating

Tip #1: Don't use margarine. Use the good 'ol fattening BUTTER.

Tip #2: Don't use the microwave to soften the butter. Let it sit out on the counter at room temperature until it is softened. If you use the microwave, you may melt it too much, which will impact the texture of your dough and make it too sticky.

Tip #3: I roll out about a third of the dough at a time so that I can carefully gauge the thickness of the dough. I like mine to be on the thick side (about 1/2 inch thick).

Tip #4: Do NOT overcook. They may not look done, but they are.

Tips from All Things Thrifty

De-Pinkalicious Punch

1 cup pink lemonade
1 cup raspberry sherbert
12 oz can of lemon/lime soda

In a pitcher, combine the sherbet, pink lemonade and soda, stir and serve.  Makes 3 cups

Fruit Smoothie and Campfire Taco Salad (Hannah's Cooking Classes)

This Saturday, Hannah started cooking classes at the local recreation center.  She loves classes and loves sharing her creations with us.

Fruit Smoothie

2 ripe small bananas
1 cup unsweetened whole strawberries, frozen
1 cup vanilla low-fat yogurt
3/4 cup milk

Remove the peel from the bananas.  Using the table knife, cut bananas into chunks.  Put banana chunks, frozen strawberries, yogurt and milk into the blender.  Cover blender with the lid and blend on high speed about 1 minute or until mixture is smooth.  Turn off blender.  Pour drink into glasses.  Use rubber scraper to get all of the drink out of the blender.  Makes 2 servings.

Campfire Taco Salad
by Taste of Home

6 snack-size bags (1-1/2 ounces each) corn chips
1 can (15 ounces) chili without beans
3 cups (12 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup sour cream
1 jar (8 ounces) mild salsa
1/2 medium head iceberg lettuce, shredded

Cut the top off each bag of chips; set aside. Place chili in a saucepan; cook on a grill over medium heat for 10 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of chili into each bag of chips. Top with cheese, sour cream, salsa and lettuce.

Cocoa Blocks

I made this recipe last night for a couple of my hot chocolate loving friends. Of course I had to test it out first. The hot chocolate was great, although for just one or two cups I'll make the Williams-Sonoma Hot Chocolate. This recipe makes a lot of blocks and I don't think I'd eat/drink them all up quickly enough.

Cocoa Blocks
from King Arthur Flour

½ cup heavy cream
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (1 1/4 cups)
3 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (chopped chocolate bars or chips)
4 (1 oz) blocks unsweetened baking chocolate
wooden sticks

Line an 8" x 8" pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Heat the cream and condensed milk over low heat until steaming. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate; allow it to gently melt. After about 10 minutes, return the chocolate mixture to low heat to completely melt the chocolate. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is thick and shiny. Add a few drops of flavoring oil if you like; hazelnut, coffee, or vanilla are popular flavors. Pour the chocolate mixture into the pan; shake the pan gently to level. Sprinkle with cocoa, if desired. Set aside overnight to slowly set up. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and turn out onto a clean cutting surface. Slice into 1 ¼" cubes. Heat a knife in hot water and wipe dry before each cut, for smoothest cuts. Stick a wooden stick into the center of each block. Roll in cocoa or crushed peppermint candy, if desired. Wrap in waxed paper, parchment, or plastic wrap to store. These store at room temperature 3-4 days, in the fridge about 10 days, in the freezer up to 30 days.

Yield: about 3 dozen blocks. (I only got 16 blocks, but I did cut off the edges so that it would look prettier)

Best Hot Chocolate

No more Starbucks hot chocolate for me, this recipe is the best!

Best Hot Chocolate
recipe from Williams-Sonoma

4 cups whole milk
6 oz Williams Sonoma Hot Chocolate
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2-4 TBSP granulated sugar (we only used 1 TBSP and it was plenty sweet!)

Pour the milk into heavy-bottomed saucepan and place over medium-high heat, and heat to just below boiling. Whisk in chocolate, vanilla and cinnamon and continue to shisk until milk is frothy and chocolate is incorporated. Whisk in sugar to taste.

Pinkalicious Drink

Pinkalicious

Pinkalicious is Hannah's favorite story right now and we have the perfect drink to go along with her book.

Pinkalicious Drink

7up (or other lemon-lime soda)

Raspberry or Strawberry Sherbet

Put 2 scoops into a large glass or 1 scoop into a small glass. Fill with 7up and let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes. If you are making this for a crowd, put about 8 to 12 scoops of sherbet into a punch bowl. Add 4 cups of ice and a 2 liter of 7up. Serve and enjoy!

You could also make this with lime sherbet for a green drink on St. Patricks day.

You can see it gets pinker when you let it sit and allow the sherbet to mix into the 7up.