Orange Julius

From the awesome Karen, thanks for sharing!
serves 8-10

1 can frozen orange juice (12 oz)
2 cups ice water
2 cups unsweetened almond silk
1 cup granular splenda
2 tsp vanilla
Blend together in your blender.. We place 4-6 ice cubes in the magic bullet/ blender, cover with juice mix & blend away. We always enjoy one fresh then I put away the extras for snacks throughout the week. Juice mix stores in the fridge for about 1 week. Enjoy!

Nutritional Jazz: 192 cal; .8 g fat; 46 mg sodium; 409 mg potassium; 46 g carbs; 26.6 g sugar (unless you use splenda from above); 120% vitamin b-6; 6% vitamin D; 12.5% vitamin E; 7.5& thiamin

Paula Deen's Mint Iced Tea

makes 1 gallon

Ingredients:
1 quart water
4 family size tea bags (recommended: Luzzienne)
2 c sugar
1 bunch mint leaves
1 lemon, slices for garnish

Directions:
n a large pot bring the water to a boil. Remove pot from heat, add the tea bags, cover with a lid, and allow tea to steep in water for 20 minutes. Take a 1 gallon jug and pour the sugar into the jug and cover with some hot tap water. Stir the sugar around to dissolve while the tea is steeping. Once the tea has steeped, remove the lid and the tea bags. Pour the tea into the jug with the sugar, stir, and place the tea bags back into the jug. Stir the tea well, making sure the sugar dissolves. Fill the jug with cold water to yield 1 gallon.

To serve, pour each glass of tea and garnish with a slice of lemon and mint leaves.

Frozen Pudding Pops!

You can find molds for these at Target/ Walmart for pretty cheap.

Mint-Chocolate Cookie Pudding Pops
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 3/4 C half and half
10 Oreo cookies, crushed (about 1 heaping cup)
1/4 t peppermint extract

Blend pudding mix, extract, and half and half in a blender until smooth. Stir in crushed cookies by hand. Place in molds and freeze.

Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Pudding Pops
1 small box cheesecake instant pudding
1 3/4 C half and half
1 C blueberries
1 t lemon zest (or more if you like your lemon!)

In a blender mix cheesecake pudding mix and half and half until smooth. Add in lemon zest and blueberries and pulse a couple of times to break up the blueberries. Place in molds and freeze.

Cherry Almond Fudge Pudding Pops
1 small box instant Chocolate Fudge Pudding
1 3/4 C half and half
about 20 cherries ( 1 1/4 C) pitted and halved
1/4 t almond extract
1/3 C mini-chocolate chips

Blend pudding mix, half and half, and almond extract in blender until smooth. Add in cherries and pulse 2-3 times. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Place in molds and freeze.

PB Banana Pudding Pops
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1 3/4 C milk
1 ripe banana*
1/4 C Peanut Butter

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Place in popsicle molds and freeze. *Bananas that aren’t quite ripe yet tend to taste especially bitter when frozen, so make sure you use a sweet, ripe, banana.

Strawberries and Cream Pudding Pops

1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1 C milk
6oz vanilla yogurt (strawberry is great too)
12 medium strawberries (about 1 3/4-2 C roughly chopped)
2-3 T sugar

remove stems from berries and pulse with 2 T sugar in a food processor until completely smooth. Taste and add more sugar if needed. You should have just over a cup of puree. Set aside.

In a blender combine pudding, yogurt, and milk and blend until combined. Layer or swirl the pudding mixture with the strawberry mixture in popsicle molds and freeze until solid.

Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
1 lb tri-color pasta
6 T olive oil
1/4 apple cider vinegar
4 t dried spaghetti spice (I like Tone's but any Italian spice would work)
1-2 c cooked, diced chicken (optional)

Assorted diced veggies. We like: cherry tomatoes, diced cucumber, diced (red or green) bell pepper; diced carrots, and sometimes a few black olives for my kiddos.

Directions:
1. Cook pasta as directed on the package.
2. In a large bowl mix cooked pasta and veggies [& chicken]
3. Add oil, vinegar, and spice. Mix well.
4. Refrigerate at least 30 mins to marinate. Can reheat if you prefer it warm. Enjoy!

Chips Ahoy Ice cream loaf

From Kraft


Ingredients:
1 pt (2 c) strawberry ice cream, softened
1/2 c hot fudge ice cream topping
1/2 c mini-marshmallows
10 chewy chip ahoy cookies, coarsely chopped
1 pt (2 c) vanilla ice cream
1 c thawed cool whip

Directions:
Spread strawberry ice cream into plastic wrapped 9x5 inch loaf pan; top w/ layers of 1/2 c fudge topping, marshmallows and 3/4 c chopped cookies. Freeze 30 min. Cover cookie layer w/ vanilla ice cream; cover with plastic wrap. Freeze 6 hrs or until firm. Unmold dessert onto serving platter. Remove and discard plastic wrap. Frost top and sides with cool whip. Sprinkle with remaining chopped cookies; drizzle with remaining fudge topping.

Strawberry Whipped Cream Dessert

From Kraft.com


Ingredients:

4 c fresh strawberries, sliced and divided
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c lemon juice
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip thawed, divided
8 Oreo Cookies, finely chopped
1 T. butter, melted

Procedure:

Line 9x5-inch loaf pan with foil, with ends extending over sides of pan. Mash 2 c berries in large bowl. Add milk, juice and 2 c Cool Whip; mix well. Pour into prepared pan.

Mix chopped cookies and butter; spoon over COOL WHIP mixture. Cover with ends of foil; gently press cookie mixture into Cool Whip mixture. Freeze 6 hours or until firm.

Invert dessert onto plate when ready to serve; remove pan and foil. Frost dessert with remaining Cool Whip. Slice remaining berries; arrange over dessert.