{ Summer Berry Pie }

Hey there!

So many things have happened in the last few weeks. Sorry I haven't been around, but to name a few: prom, graduation, anniversary, vacation, first day of college, etc, etc, etc. Now here we are, officially into the season of summer!

Soon I will be sharing the graduation party I had for Bean, so keep an eye out for that.

Today though, I'm posting the pie I made for Father's Day. Actually, this recipe makes TWO pies, so, huzzah!

This beautiful pie is all that is right and wonderful about summer. It starts with a graham cracker crust, then has a layer of cream cheese, then gorgeous summer fruits bathed in a sweet strawberry gel. Yum.

This is very simple. The hardest part is waiting for it to cool and gel.

This is a great recipe for all of your summer picnics and get togethers, make some up and never let them know just how easy it was. You deserve the accolades!

This is also a gorgeous pie for the 4th of July.

Enjoy!

Tina

Summer Berry Pie

by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

This makes two pies. You can also add all ingredients into one crust for a 'mile high pie'.

Ingredients:

2 premade graham cracker pie shells

2 pounds of strawberries- cleaned and dry

1 pint of blackberries- cleaned and dry

1 pint of blueberries-cleaned and dry

1 package cream cheese- softened

2 cups sugar- separated 

4 tablespoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons strawberry jello powder

1 cup water

To make the gel:

Add 1 cup of the sugar, 1 cup water, 4 tablespoons cornstarch, and 3 tablespoons jello power into a heavy sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, allowing to boil. Stir constantly. As the gel thickens, it will darken to a bright red. When thick and red, remove from heat and allow to cool for about 30 minutes.

To make the cream cheese layer:

Beat the other 1 cup of sugar into the softened cream cheese until creamy and well mixed. Spread 1/2 into each pie shell.

To make fruit layer:

Arrange fruit on top of cream cheese layer starting with the strawberries. Add the blackberries and blueberries on top of strawberries.

Slowly pour cooled gel over the top of the pies coating each pie evenly.

Place in refrigerator to chill and gel for several hours.

Place leftovers back in refrigerator. Will keep for about 3 days.

{Homemade Snow Cone Syrup}

It's finally feeling like Spring around here. Let me tell you, it was a long time coming. Winter seemed to start early this time and lasted well into April. As much as I love snow, cocoa, and cuddling up by the fire, I was ready to move ON.

The Bean's 16th birthday, as I mentioned, was in April. We wait until late May to have the party so I'm not over run by 20 teenagers in my house. No and thanks. Some years the weather around his birthday is perfect. This year? Yeah, totally glad we are having it in May. It was COLD. Now, I just have to wish the rain away for that weekend.

I'm having food 'bars' for his party. It's his 16th, it's going to be pretty major.

I will have a full report on his party later this month, but one of the bars is a Snow Cone bar!

Snow Cone syrup is pretty spendy, and I figure we'll go through quite a lot. I did some snooping around the internet and found homemade syrup.

ALL of it called for 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water. That seemed like a LOT. So, I tried it with 1 1/2 cups of water to 1 cup of sugar. Still SOOOO sweet. SOOOO sweet. I can't imagine the 2 Cups.

In the end, I settled at 1 cup sugar 1 cup water... and, it's good.

I have one of these

and it works great, but it's totally not necessary if you have a blender that will crush ice, or a fridge that spits out crushed ice. Bean won this in a costume contest at church (80's Party, whut's up!).

So, you need just a few things for this: Sugar, Water, Crushed ice, & Koolaid packets.

I recommend heating your water in the microwave instead of on the stove top. If you let it boil with the sugar in it, it will thicken. It's just easier to heat a cup of water in a microwave save bowl/mixing cup.

Once your water is boiling (takes under 3 minutes in my microwave), remove it (carefully, cause it's boiling!) and add sugar. Whisk until dissolved. Then add in 1 packet of Koolaid (or other drink mix). These are the little packets that cost like 20 cents. Whisk until dissolved.

Allow to cool.

That's it!

I like to boil/mix/cool mine in this. It's easy to pour into the bottles when cool.

Oh, and the bottles? Just water bottles with squeeze tops (I saw this idea online somewhere).  I dressed mine up with scrapbook paper.

To fill a water bottle this size (24 ounces), you will need two recipes per bottle.

This is super yummy & so easy. Not to mention inexpensive! Instead of $3 on a small bottle of syrup from the store, you are looking at around 75 cents for a large bottle. Woot!

An excellent summer treat, of course! Just think of all the different flavors you can make.



Can't wait to share the rest of the party with you, it's happening in a couple weeks!

UPDATE, the whole party is now posted here.

Tina


P.S. If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

Linked up at 30 Handmade Days Pity Party 

Homemade Snow Cone Syrup


1 cup white granulated sugar
1 cup water
.22 ounce packet koolaid drink mix
(store brands are usually .15 ounce and work fine too)


Bring 1 cup of water to a boil in a microwave safe bowl or large measuring cup. Remove it carefully and add 1 cup of sugar. Whisk until dissolved. Then add in 1 packet of Koolaid (or other drink mix).  Whisk until dissolved. Allow to cool fully. Serve over crushed ice. Store leftover syrup in refrigerator.

{ Layered Drinks: For the 4th }

Yessterday, the drinks I made were red, blue, and yellow,

Since the 4th of July is in a few days, I thought I should substitute the yellow for white!

I was out today, while the Bean was at his Summer Drama Troupe practice and grabbed a Mt. Dew White Out from the gas station.

This is Mt. Dew White Out- 30 grams of sugar

V8 Splash - 14 grams of sugar

Propel (with blue food coloring) 0 grams of sugar

There are also plenty of  Gatorade & Powerade flavors out there with the medium & no/low sugar contents, so they are great for the middle and top layers.

 Full instructions in my prior post here.

Tina

{ Layered Drinks }

I saw these drinks a long time ago. I want to say it was on a TV show, but I could totes be wrong.

I know, I'm just as shocked as you are, but it's been known to happen a time or two (or a thousand).

They are SO cool. Iknowright?

Easy and so much fun.

And yes, that is a jar. I love jars for drinks. This tall, skinny jar is from my favorite olives.

Mmmm... I love those things a big gooey lot. So much love.

But enough about those little green gems, on to the drinks!

All ya need is this: 

• Clear glasses- the taller, the better (or jars if you like)

• Ice, and lots of it

• drinks with differing sugar contents

You can use more than three, but these were what I had in the house at the time.

Just check the sugar grams on the label.


For these I used:

• Mt Dew - 46 grams of sugar (YOWTCH!)

• V8 Splash- 18 grams of sugar

• Propel- 0 grams of sugar 

The Propel is pretty much clear, so I added a dash of blue food coloring.

Then add your ice, allll the way to the top. 

Pour in your heaviest (aka most sugary) drink.

Mt Dew for me

Then pour in your second heaviest drink, the V8 Spalsh in my case, slowly, and through the ice.

Here is another I did with a tiny bit of the 2nd liquid it in so you can see the separation

I've found it's easiest to pour from something with a spout. I used a measuring cup.

Then, pour in your lightest drink (Propel here), again, slowly, and through the ice. You can add a little more ice before adding the last color if you need too. Make sure it's all the way to the top.

As I said, you can add more layers, just make sure each color has a significant sugar difference and ending with the 0 sugar drink. 

This drink has 100% Bean approval. He may have drank 2 of them.

These are great for summer get togethers, parties, holidays, or.. just whenev, ya know.

The Bean thinks I should make these for our Harry Potter party next month. I think I might could do that.

  Potions anyone?

Tina

P.S. If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

shared at:
Everyday Mom's Meals
Mandy's Recipe Box 
Sugar Bee Crafts 
Balancing Beauty and Bedlam 
Michelle's Tasty Creations

{ Sweet 'n Sassy BBQ Sauce }

I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but the Mr. in Sugar Bean Bakers is quite a picky eater.

This is the only BBQ sauce he will eat. 

Much to my annoyance.

Not that it isn't good, because it's lick the sauce off your fingers good.

It's just that I have to make it. Every. Time.

When we were first married, I started making this sauce, however, it started with a spice blend from what, to the best of my knowledge, was from Rawleigh. A catalog of products that people used to come around and sell. Does anyone remember this? 

Wow, I feel old. I, mean, I feel like I just said the milk man delivered to our door.

Uh.. he didn't. Just to be clear.

Shockingly, that place is still in business, and has an internet site. They still sell spices, but no BBQ sauce mix.

It took me a while to figure it out, but I finally did, and for the last umpteen years, I've been making it this way.

This is a SWEET BBQ sauce, not a smokey one.

Sugar Bean's Sweet BBQ Sauce

1 cup ketchup

1-2 Tablespoons prepared mustard 

1/4 Cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

a few shakes of black pepper

water to thin

Mix together, starting with 1 tablespoon of mustard. If desired, add the 2nd tablespoon.

Thin to desired. I make mine pretty thick, and probably add only about 3 Tablespoons water.

This makes quite a large batch. Recipe is easily halved.

Then, BBQ to your delight. 

Great on chicken, ribs, hamburgers, and more!

It's sweet & sassy.. like me. ;)

Tina

Printable Recipe

{Angel Fluff Cakes}

So, today… is the day when we are either showered in gifts by our husbands and children, or declared to that “you are not my mother”, by those we married.

I hope you got the former, not the latter!

My lovely 14 year old Bean took me out for lunch (the husband had to work). He laid out $25 in allowance money for it too. What a sweetie. :)

This evening, I had my inlaws (outlaws! ha), my grandmother-in-law, my parents, and my grandmother over for a cookout. I made these lil beauties for dessert.I’ve heard the recipe referred to as Angel Lush Cake. However, my grandmother used to made a dessert called Pineapple Fluff that contained the very ingredients as the topping I used here.

So.. to me, this makes them Pineapple Fluff Cakes.

But you know me, I’m all about compromise, so I declare these… Angel Fluff Cakes!

These are the perfect summer treat. They are light, they are fluffy, they are low in fat and calories- um.. if you are into that kinda thing.

Whatever.

You can eat these on a 93 degree, dripping hot, humid, sticky, gross Ohio (or wherever, I just type what I know people), and not feel like you just consumed a brick after.

Did I mention they are yummy?

So, what you need here, is

A. An Angel Food Cake recipe.

Or

B. An Angel Food Cake Boxed Mix.

I choose B.

Because I didn’t have a dozen egg whites and a mass amount of patience.

I’ve heard both are required for making an Angel Food Cake from scratch.

I would not know from experience. Hey, cut me some slack. I’m no Alton Brown!

Anyhoo…

Mix according to directions, then spoon into cupcake liners. Isn’t Angel Food batter pretty?

I got 45 cupcakes from my box. Crazy cakes, eh?

Note, I did not have enough fluff to cover all of these cakes. I had enough for about 32 of them.

While that is baking, mix up your fluff.

1 Box Instant Vanilla Pudding

1 20oz can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 1/2 cups Frozen Topping, thawed (aka Cool Whip)

Stir until well blended.

Place in fridge until the cupcakes are totally cooled.

Then, plop on top of your cupcakes.

Top with strawberries or with other fruit.

and.. that’s it! Easy… quick.. refreshing.

Here’s the printable.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mommies out there in cyberland!

~Tina

shared on A Well Seasoned Life's Sweet Indulgences Sunday #6