Hello Homemade: Frozen Strawberry-Chocolate Terrine

Pictured: frozen yogurt I used, the chocolate mixture, the strawberry mixture, the recipe I used from Eating Well Magazine, and the final product before putting it in the freezer to harden.

It's been a while since I have posted anything, but I figured since I had some free time I would share this incredible frozen dessert that is sure to be a summertime hit, and a regular dessert in the Silva Household!

Now, I usually don't post about a recipe until I have tried the finished product, but I am so confident that is fool-proof recipe will be fabulous I decided to go ahead and share it!


This recipe came from this months issue of Eating Well magazine (which is ALWAYS on sale for $4.99/ 1 year subscription on discount magazine websites. I highly suggest getting it, we are also using a recipe from this months issue for dinner tomorrow!)

The original recipe calls for raspberries, but I already has strawberries in the freezer so decided to use those. I believe any fruit that you think will taste good with chocolate would work. Or, skip the chocolate and have the center be vanilla. Mmmm I may try peaches next time and have a vanilla center!! ;)

Ingredients:
4 cups Vanilla low-fat frozen yogurt (SOFTENED)
2 Tbsp coco powder (skip this if you prefer a vanilla center)
1 1/3 cup strawberries (or whichever fruit you desire)

Directions:
-Mash up strawberries until they are in small pieces, or however small you want them.
-Add in 2 cups softened frozen yogurt and mix well.
-In a separate bowl combine coco powder and remaining 2 softened cups frozen yogurt
-line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and spoon in half of strawberry mixture
-add the chocolate mixture
-top off with the rest of the strawberry mixture
-place in freezer to harden for at least 3 hours.
- once hardened invert onto a platter and slice. (Recommended to slice into 8 pieces)

As I said, I haven't tasted the finished product yet, but I did sneak a taste of each mixture and they were both super yummy, so I have high hopes! :)

Since this is made with fat-free frozen yogurt it is a pretty healthy dessert or snack at only 96 calories per serving (based on 8 servings per recipe)

It's cheap too!
Since I already had the strawberries and coco powder it only cost me $3.00 for the frozen yogurt! That's only $.43 per serving if you serve 8 slices!!! (And cheaper if you end up cutting smaller slices!)

Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade: Hello Homemade

Photo Credit to: funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com

One of my favorite summertime drinks is the passion tea lemonade (unsweetened) from Starbucks. I could drink a Trenta size everyday, but that get expensive!
So I was incredibly excited when I found THIS copycat recipe!
I decided that I just HAD to try it!
I am so glad I did! It is delicious, and bound to save me lots of money this summer!!

All you need is:
Passion Tea
Lemonade
sweetener of your choice (I used stevia)

To make the tea concentrate:
brew 2 tea bags for every 1 cup (8 oz) water.
The box of tea comes with 20 tea bags, so I decided to just brew them all, so I boiled 10 cups of water and steeped the 20 bags for 20ish minutes (to make sure it was extra strong, since I could always dilute it later)
After I brewed the tea I went ahead and added my stevia to it, so I wouldn't have to worry about sweetening each glass individually. (You can choose to skip this step and just sweeten each glass as you make it)
Then I just stored the passion tea concentrate in the fridge until I am ready to make a glass of passion tea lemonade.

To make the passion tea lemonade:
the original recipe called for lots of ice, then 2 parts passion tea concentrate to 1 part lemonade.
Since I made my concentrate strong, I ended up doing equal parts tea concentrate to lemonade.

I used the Minute Maid Light lemonade that is only 15 calories per cup, making this delightful summer drink only 15 calories/cup!!!! (Plus sugar, if you choose to use it)

The cost for me to make 80 oz of tea concentrate and have 56 oz of lemonade to mix cost me a total of $5!
$3 for the box of tea and $2 for the lemonade. That will make about 17 cups of this delicious drink!

Chocolate Jam Tea Cake

You may have noticed that my interest in making jam and canning/preserving it sort of came on rather quick.
You would be absolutely correct!
I became I the rested in jam making/preserving after reading this blog post and recipe on my new favorite blog!

It is a recipe for a simple chocolate cake made with homemade jam.
The blog post talks about preserving jam in the summer for the winter and it all sounded fabulous and I decided that I wanted to learn how to do it. (Especially if I could make a yummy cake out of it, right?!?!)

So as you know from my blog post yesterday I successfully made and canned my own mango jam!

Even though I only ended up with 2 jars of plain mango jam, I couldn't resist using one of them to make this cake, since after all, the jam wouldn't have existed if I had never seen the recipe!

This cake is super simple and delicious. Disclaimer: it isn't super sweet since it is a tea cake, but it is just sweet enough to satisfy.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cup self-rising flour (I used whole wheat)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used stevia)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla or chocolate extract
1 cup prepared jam (I used my mango jam)
3/4 cup whole milk (I used 1/2 regular almond milk and 1/2 chocolate almond milk)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
Sift together flour and cocoa, and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in jam and milk.
Stir flour into wet mixture until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving. Store in an airtight container.

NOTE
If you don’t have self-rising flour, simply swap in 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
(I wasn't sure if my flour was self rising or not, so I added this in just in case!)

Channeling My Inner Betty Crocker. I Made AND Canned Jam!

Earlier this week I made it my Summer's goal to learn how to can and preserve.
Well....I decided I couldn't wait that long to try my hand at canning!
Not to mention I had 9 beautiful mangoes sitting on my counter just begging to be made into jam!
So I made mango jam!

Since I wasn't sure if I would actually like mango jam, I only made two half pints of it.
But I did make 5 half pints of mango pepper jelly (well, technically it's mango pepper jam, I didn't know you had to strain it to make it "clear" and to technically call it jelly, oh well, it still taste yummy!)

So, at first I was all gung-ho about getting a pressure canner, but decided to start my canning journey by getting a water bath canner.
Note: water bath canners are only safe for high acidic foods. (Fruits) so do your research if you want to start canning before you buy a canner!

And let me just tell you, canning is SO MUCH EASIER than I ever expected. It actually isn't hard at all.
The worst part (for me) was the prep and cleanup of making the jam. But I always hate the prep and cleanup of any type of cooking, so that's not surprising.

For this jam, I took two different recipes and made my own.

Ingredients:

4-6 cups chopped mango
2 tsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp pectin (I used no sugar/low sugar pectin)
1-2 cups Stevia, based on personal taste (called for sugar)
1-2 cup water

For mango pepper jelly/jam just add peppers (any type you like. I used jalapeños and Serrano peppers).

Directions:

Peel mangoes and mash with a potato masher (I just threw mine in the blender to purée)
Bring water lemon juice and sugar to a boil
Once water is boiling, stir in puréed (or mashed) mango and pectin
Stir as the mixture begins to bubble.
Let boil for 5 minutes, or until mixture is thick enough for you.
Ladle jam into hot jars
Process in a water bath for 10-15 minutes.
Set jars on towel lined counter and let sit for 12-24 hrs until cool then check the seal.

Yay rah! All of mine sealed right away!!

For pepper jelly add peppers when you add the mango and pectin.

That's it. Super simple! And I tasted both batches as the jam was cooking and boy oh boy they were both yummy. Definitely better than I expected!! ;)

I can't wait for the Pontchatoula Strawberry Festival next weekend to get some strawberries to make strawberry jam! YUMM!!! :)

I will definitely be canning all summer long!
What will you be canning?!?!