Today was our weekly milk run. I bought 4 gal from United. Some members of my family are resistant to organic milk. ::snort::
We picked up 12 gal at Sams - a few gallons less than usual as Mike is gone.
Cashier - Big smile. "You must have a daycare."
Me - "No, I have a family."
Cashier - "Get a cow!"
We laughed hard.
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
I apologize. We had a big United co-op last night. That took time in the afternoon to prepare for....
Our late hours were filled with phone calls to family and looking for plane tickets.....today has been school, drama, getting a passport application signed for Jared before Mike leaves, recyclying (all those boxes) and PWOC Bible Study tonight. I'll pick winners tonight and get them posted.
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
I first heard about this dessert from online friends long before I lived near a Bennigan's restaurant. When we were assigned in San Antonio, Mike and I would often drop by Bennigan's for this dessert. Imagine my surprise to hear that the restaurant has gone bankrupt. I began to search for the "official" recipe when Nolan asked for it for his birthday. We had attempted to make this at home before with varying degrees of success. Mike and I pooled what we'd learned. We are happy with these results.
I'm in a quandary about how to post this.....The recipe is from the Bennigan's cookbook - but some of the ingredients are things we couldn't easily find in town (fudge packs, ice cream cone dip), and the amount of ingredients in the recipe didn't add up....so here is the link to the recipe on line and below is what we actually did. Jared and Arielle pulled this off while we birthday shopped.
Gather Ingredients
1/2 gal Rocky Road Ice Cream
1/2 gal Dutch Chocolate Ice Cream
6 oz Hot Fudge (we used Smuckers)
Twix Candy bars (3 C chopped)
Magic Shell (couple bottles - we used whichever one it is that has pure vanilla and no preservatives)
6 oz Fudge Covered Graham Crackers (we used HEB cookies, Keeblers would work)
4 oz Newman O's (Famous Chocolate Wafers/Oreos)
1/3 C Butter
Steps:
Chop Twix bars.
Make Crust Mixture (below - I'd double what they say).
Let Ice Cream soften for 15 min.
Line big Pyrex bowl with plastic wrap!
Use 1/2 - 2/3 of crust mixture to line Pyrex bowl.
Layer into bowl in following order:
1 C Rocky Road
1 C Dutch Chocolate
1/4 C Hot Fudge
1/2 C diced Twix
Repeat until all ice cream is used or bowl is full.
Cover with plastic wrap, use your hands to press down firmly to push out all air pockets.
Place bowl in freezer for 30 minutes.
When ice cream is firm, remove plastic wrap, cover with fudge and hard shell, top with remaining crust mixture, press to form an even layer.
Cover with plastic wrap. Freeze for 12 hours.
{In the original you now slice the cake, dip each slice in cone dip and crust.... we found the above easier}
Invert bowl on platter.
Let sit until you can remove the ice cream/crust - this is where having lined the bowl in plastic wrap pays off BIG TIME. We tried it years ago with no wrap and the crust wouldn't come out nicely.
Put each slice on a plate and drizzle hard shell over it.
Death By Chocolate Crust Mixture
In food processor or blender crush the chocolate covered grahams and Newman O's.
Melt butter and add to the cookie mixture.
Use 1/2 - 2/3 mixture to line Pyrex bowl. Reserve some crust mixture to top dessert.....as mentioned above, I think we'll double this in the future. BUT it was VERY rich as is. LOL BTW none of us eat or like Twix bars - but they were the missing touch in our past attempts. LOL
For more recipes check my Recipe Index.
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
Please check the text box above for updates on Mike's father. He has had a small stroke. We had hoped he'd be home by now. He's currently in the ICU and I believe we are all waiting to hear what the doctor has to say tomorrow.
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
Yesterday morning Stacia climbed into our bed and proceeded to give us her birthday shopping list for her brothers.
Josiah - Chocolate
Nolan - Needs a book
Zander - Boy princess
Jamin - Teddy Bear - We told her that we didn't think that last choice was a good one. She then went to Jamin and told him, "Jamin, you need a Teddy Bear, don't you?" His birthday isn't until the 20th, we have some time to see if she changes her mind.
Today we FINALLY celebrated all the birthdays that we've been having in the midst of flu, pneumonia, college classes and WORK. ::snort::
Stacia was VERY interested in helping Cy with his bags of DOVE chocolate
Nolan seems to think his Jerry Jenkins mystery is going to be o.k.
That leaves Zander...
Zander's Boy Princess? Well, we don't really DO Barbie, but Stacia has some Princess like Barbies - and so she evidently has been thinking that she needed a MAN in the house....however, there are no KEN dolls on the shelves. Ye Gads in the 15 years since we've done Barbie they've made Ken obsolete. (Yes, I DID work up a lather on this one and I DID let folks in toy aisles all over town know what I thought). We figured a nice GI Joe would work - Mike being military and all. Zander has an AMAZING imagination and always has all manners of rubber animals lined up fighting in his room....a man to the mix seemed like a good idea. AND...Stacia was determined.
There are NO normal looking GI Joes either. WHAT? All military men must look like goons with terribly scary faces????? We finally settled for an Indiana Jones that at least had a normal face - and two removable swords...on CLEARANCE.
Zander liked it, promptly had him fighting dinosaurs. ::snort::
Look at this Death By Chocolate that Arielle and Jared made!
Not bad at all for a first attempt! Nolan took one bite and lost a molar...but he was due.
We ended the night playing laser tag. This ended when Zander tripped over a cart in the dark living room. Josiah went home. Mike's on the phone with his brother Earl and his Mother.
I DID destroy another digital camera. Never fear I have the Nikon D70 to use until my family is terrified enough to tell me to buy another pocket camera. I really like the way it handled the above food photo. I will admit that I'm spoiled now not carrying the BIG camera around.....
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
Thanks for all the well wishes.
I got an email that told me that Jamin had stirred up some controversy in our town. Jamin wrote a letter to the editor in which he stated some pro-life sentiments. The main gist is that we don't need more public funding, in a time of economic woes, for abortion. Wow.....I wish I knew who LD was...it seems that our family has been labeled and discussed...and LD - bless you, whoever you are, for knowing us and jumping into the fray.
If any want to read Jamin's letter, feel free. You have to register to comment. We thought he did a good job.
Unfortunately, it's degraded to the point now where a pro-lifer is calling the pro-choice member pond scum and the pro-abortion is calling the pro-lifer "nut jobs who should have been victims of abortion". I think THAT may constitute a threat.....
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
