Jersey Belle and Ice Cream Cake

I really like Bravo reality TV. I've been a follower of the Real Housewives franchise for years. Much like ice cream, they are a guilty pleasure. Just as I know eating ice cream is not particularly healthy, the reality TV shows I so enjoy are not particularly intelligent. Yet, you will still find me watching Real Housewives while eating ice cream. So much for health and intelligence!

Every now and then, Bravo reality surprises me. I recently started watching Jersey Belle. I hadn't planned to add another show to my reality TV repertoire (Real Housewives of New Jersey and Don't Be Tardy are currently on--a girl only has so much time in a week), but it was on demand, and I needed something to watch at the gym. Jersey Belle is essentially Real Housewives of Alabama with a head housewife from New Jersey, Jaime Primak Sullivan.I got hooked. Like all of my Bravo shows, it's a little silly. But unlike the other shows, it spotlights real issues: single moms, working moms, playing moms, and most notably, fertility challenges.

In the first episode of Jersey Belle, Jaime's friend Danielle openly discusses her fertility challenges. She has been married 11 years and indicates that she wants to become pregnant. Subsequent episodes show her going in and recovering from surgery for her endometriosis. Many women and couples struggle with fertility due to endometriosis and bevy of other causes. I was pleased to see these issues brought to light in a forum usually focused on gossip, flipping tables and lavish vacations. I know reality TV isn't real, but these episodes dealt with a very real issue. (Jaime also mentions her high risk pregnancy. With her third child, she had placenta previa, a serious condition where the placenta covers some or all of the mother's cervix.)

Maybe as a new mom, I am hyper aware of all things having a baby, and I wish there was more openness about these things on TV. Women should know that, to paraphrase Danielle, everyone has their thing. But it is also okay to be sad about that thing or seek support. I've already written about being a working mom, but I am sure I have a post in me about all of the parenting issues shown on Jersey Belle (I'll spare you). I value privacy, but sometimes, things need to be said out loud. Or on TV. So thank you Bravo execs, producers, Jaime and Danielle.

On a related note, I made an excellent ice cream cake for my birthday. (Reality TV is like ice cream, and the cake recipe came from my friend Sari who worked at Bravo.) Sari's recipe uses an Oreo "cake" base, two flavors of ice cream and chocolate syrup. With her recipe as a starting point and inspiration, I made this cake in celebration of my birthday.

 

It's not as much a recipe as a concoction. Here's what I did (there are lots of opportunities for substitutions):

1. Line a spring form pan with wax paper.
2. Take half a package of Birthday Cake Oreos (or any other type), place in a plastic zipper bag and crush. Press into the bottom of the pan.
3. Spread ice cream over the Oreos until they are fully covered. It helps to let the ice cream soften a bit, and it is up to you how much you use. I used about 2/3 a container of Edy's Slow Churned Fudge Tracks.
4. Crush the rest of the Oreos and press over the ice cream.
5. Put down another layer of ice cream. I used the rest of the Fudge Tracks and about 1/3 a container of Edy's Slow Churned Peanut Butter Cup (my new favorite since Edy's doesn't seem to make the Birthday Cake flavor anymore).
6. Spread about 1/2 a container of Cool Whip on top of that.
7. Top with chocolate syrup, melted peanut butter (microwave for about 30-40 seconds), rainbow sprinkles and Peanut Butter MMs.
8. Place in the freezer for at least three hours to set.
9. Enjoy!

On secret salad dressing ingredients and food processors

Happy 2013!

I made a variety of truffles to ring in the new year. From left to right, cookie dough truffles, peanut butter balls (also known as buckeyes), cake batter truffles and white chocolate peanut butter balls (white chocolate buckeyes?). (Sorry, no recipe for the cookie dough truffles because I can't remember what recipe I used!). I think they are very pretty. By the way, they are nestled in black and white polka dot mini-cupcake liners. So festive and classy! My favorite was the cake batter, but the white chocolate peanut butter balls were pretty amazing, too!

My mom bakes a lot. When I was in elementary school, she often made peanut butter balls or peanut butter bars (similar to the balls, just with one layer of peanut butter and then one layer of chocolate). She rarely makes those recipes anymore. . . maybe because my dad isn't such a fan of the pb-chocolate mixture, while my brothers, who no longer live with her, are. Peanut butter balls are for winners, and I wouldn't mind them becoming a freezer staple in my house.

On to salad dressing secret ingredients. Okay, not so secret but new to me, but I love adding a pinch of sugar to my salad dressings. When I am making salads for Seth and me, I tend to leave out the fat. Seth and I like the tart taste of vinegar, and I have concocted a wide range of dressings using balsamic, apple cider and rice wine vinegar. But, a pinch of sugar (maybe 1/4 to 1/8 a teaspoon) takes the dressing to a new level, cutting the tartness just a bit. 

Today, I had an unremarkable but tasty salad for lunch with a remarkable, easy and low-calorie dressing.

I hadn't planned on posting this salad, so I didn't even attempt to eyeball measurements. (Is that an oxymoron? To eyeball measurements?) I'll try my best to guesstimate. 

In the salad:

• 1/3 head of romaine
• 1 carrot
• 1 stem from a head of broccoli
• 1/4 can of black beans
• 1 Dr. Praeger's veggie burger

In the dressing:

• 2-3 pours of apple cider vinegar
• generous squirt of sriracha 
• a few shakes of granulated garlic
• a few shakes of onion powder
• pinch of sugar
• pinch of salt

Directions:

Chop and toss romaine, carrot, broccoli stem and black beans. Add dressing ingredients, toss. Microwave veggie burger and toss in. 

After lunch, I was craving one of the leftover cookie dough truffles (they keep well in the freezer) for dessert but knowing Seth and I will likely have a few for dessert tonight, I wanted something a little healthier. I decide to make this cookie dough dip. I made it once before using either my mini-food processor from college or the immersion blender (which is really more of Seth's kitchen tool). The dip was good, but not quite the texture I wanted. Given that we have been married nearly two and a half years and have had a beautiful 10-cup food processor off our registry even longer, I decided to take it out for a spin. I've used it a few times before, but unlike my stand mixer, it isn't in my regular kitchen appliance rotation. And wow, it is amazing. The cookie dough dip is so smooth that even Seth who gets nervous around chickpea-based desserts sampled it (only because he couldn't identify what it was, but that means the dip came out really smooth).

The food processor worked like magic, and I want to use it again. I just need a tutorial (why are there so many blades?) and some food processor friendly recipes.

I'm going to dig into the cookie dough dip now!

Thankful for Dessert!

Since it is Thanksgiving weekend, and I have consumed more than my fair share of calories, I decided to make dessert. I've already started digging myself into a caloric hole, so why not jump in belly first. On Monday, I will begin the digging out process.

A few weeks ago, I made a variation of Avalanche Bark for my husband. I subbed Cornflakes for Rice Krispies, since that is what I had in the house, used full size chocolate chips and cut the amount of white chocolate to about eight ounces. (Even I, a lover of all things white chocolate, was taken back by the idea of using an entire bag of white chocolate chips in a recipe with only nine servings. I also cut the bars smaller than Brown Eyed Baker recommends, so I got 16 servings out of the recipe.) The faux-Avalanche Bark turned out really well, so today, I wanted to try a mash-up of unhealthy granola bars, Avalanche Bark and Liz-style haystacks (instead of chow mein noodles + peanut butter + butterscotch chips + marshmallows, I use either crushed pretzels or Fiber One cereal).

Haystack Granola Bars

• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup crushed pretzels (measure before you crush)
• 3/4 cup butterscotch chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup mini-marshmallows
• 1 cup chocolate chips (would work well) with mini-chips

Microwave butterscotch chips and peanut butter in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each interval until melted. Combine pb-butterscotch mixture with oats and pretzels. After the mixture cools, add marshmallows and then chocolate chips. Once everything is mixed, flatten into an 8 x 8 pan. I lined mine with wax paper for easy removal. I also used a piece of wax paper to flatten the mixture into even bars. Refrigerate for an hour and then cut into bars. If you are like me and like small pieces, you ca get 16 bars out of the recipe.

Warning: they are a little bit crumbly. Thankfully, the crumbs still taste good!