Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

I had forgotten all about this cake until last week when I was scanning through pictures from 2 years ago.

My youngest son wanted an ice cream cake for his 3rd birthday (summertime). I had seen something about making a flower ice cream sandwich cake in a birthday idea book at one point and tried to come up with a way to make it un-girlie for my little man.

What I cam up with was cutting the sandwiches in half and laying them into a springform pan, cut side towards the center. Then I let my little guy pick what ice cream he wanted to fill the center. I was happy to oblige with some cookie dough ice cream. Allow the ice cream to warm up just a bit so it is soft enough to spread and fill. Cover and re-freeze.

If you look at it, it still kind of looks like a flower, but not so much that it was an issue. You will want to pull the cake out of the freezer about 5-10 minutes prior to using so it can warm up to cut and eat easily.

TIPS: After this experience I would recommend lining the bottom with some wax paper, and removing the sides of the pan before it warms up. Make sure you have a crowd to help eat it or serious damage to your waistline could occur.

Cucumber Cranberry Salad

This salad is definitely a new favorite. It has great texture. There are crisp veggies, smooth creamy cheese, and crunch from the sunflower seeds. The medley of salt and sweet leaves you wanting more. A double batch of this salad would work great for a brunch, picnic, shower/party, or family gathering.

2  Cucumbers, seeded & finely diced
1  Apple, cored & finely diced
1/4 c  Celery, finely diced
1/4 c  Crumbled Feta Cheese (optional
1/4 c  Dried Fruit (cranberries, cherries, raisins, etc)
1/4 c  Sunflower Seeds (or chopped nuts)
1/4 c  Poppy Seed Dressing (Start out mixing in 1 T at a time)

Finely dice the cucumbers, apple, and celery – then toss together with the other ingredients. Add the salad dressing just before serving so that it doesn’t get soggy.

This cool cucumber salad is a great pair for your summer time meals, picnics, brunch or parties.

Chip Supreme

No great recipe here, but rather one of my favorite snacks right now. I found these lovelies last winter in a random bin at Walmart and haven't found it since. That is until yesterday when I found them at Sydney's Health Market... Woo Hoo!

Let me introduce you to Chip'ins. If you love popcorn, you will love these. The light crisp texture of a chip, the salty flavor, the tender flavor of popcorn, and completely gluten/dairy/soy/egg free.

There are no artificial ingredients. I love when there are very few ingredients to read on the back of packaging... corn, sunflower oil, and sea salt.

That's it.

Warning, you may hate me for sharing this with you. Because once you start, you may not be able to stop.