Elementary Chef

A few months ago I bought a Jello no back cheesecake mix because I had heard that these no bake mixes were pretty good. But when I bought it, I didn’t have a mixer. So it has set in the pantry waiting for the day I have a mixer.

This week I bought a new stand alone mixer and couldn’t wait to give it a try. Since I adore cheesecake, I thought making the cheesecake was the perfect way to finally test out the mix and to use my new mixer.

The Jello cheesecake takes 15 minutes to prepare but then you must let it sit in the refrigerator an hour. There are two parts to the cheesecake - the crust and the filling. Do the crust first which is basically adding sugar and melted butter to the crushed graham crackers. Then spread them along the bottom of your pie dish.

Then mix the filling with 1 2/3 cups of milk. Blend for a total of 3 minutes 30 seconds. Then pour filling into pie dish and spread it out. Put in fridge for 1 hour. Place pie dish in hot water for 30 seconds to help make it easier to cut the crust.

I must say that it takes delicious. The crust fell apart but it is still divine. This would make an excellent quick dessert for your family or to take to a get together. It’s definitely one I will buy again. It could be very useful in the summer when it’s too hot to heat up the kitchen by turning on the stove.

One of my favorite kitchen accessories is a silicone bundt baking pan. Not only can I use this in the oven but it’s microwave safe. I have made two cakes in the microwave using the silicone bundt.

The latest one I made was this week using a Jiffy yellow cake mix. I couldn’t pass up the 58 cent mix. I added a little extra water since my last cake dried out really fast. I set the microwave for 10 minutes and then waited.

The cake tasted OK at first but then was a little spongy. I think that since it was a smaller mix that I should have cooked it less. Since the yellow cake wasn’t that tasty, I probably will stick with the full sized cake mixes.

Baking a cake in microwave is a fast way to whip up a cake for any occasion. Plus it doesn’t heat up the house and the silicone pans are really easy to clean.

Dirt Cake is an easy dessert that is so much fun to make. It also gets quite the reaction from kids - although sometimes it might not be the reaction you were looking for! I made this one Christmas and just knew my nephews would love it. But they wouldn’t even try it and said it looked nasty. I didn’t take offense and was quite pleased that my dirt cake looked so authentic.

Here are the ingredients to make the cake -

1 cup sugar
1 stick of butter
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
3 1/2 cups milk
2 small packages instand vanilla pudding
1 twelve oz. container of whipped topping
1 large package of Oreo Cookies(crushed)

To make it more fun, you will need -

1 clean flower pot
Some fake flowers
A clean spade for serving
1 package of gummy worms
Cling wrap to line the flower pot

Leave the cream cheese on the counter until it becomes room temperature or at least soft enough to mix. Mix sugar, butter and cream cheese together. Use another bowl to mix milk, pudding and whipped topping together. Combine the two.

Now it’s time to put the cake together. First start with a layer of crushed cookies. Then add a layer of the mixture on top of that. Then add another layer of cookies. End with a layer of cookies. Wrap cling wrap around the bottom of flowers and place in the center of the dessert. Play gummy worms on top of the cake.

I crush my Oreo cookies using my electric chopper but you could use a blender or just break them up with your hands - although that may take a while. Using the chopper really made it look like dirt and not just crushed up Oreos - hence the reason my nephews thought it was nasty.

Eclairs are a delicious pastry that it always a treat to get at the bakery. There is an easy dessert that uses the same flavors that are in an eclair that is simply divine. I made this a lot around the holidays as it’s a good alternative to pies and cakes. Best of all it’s super easy. Here’s what you will need:

2 8 ounce tubs of Cool Whip
2 packages of instant vanilla pudding
4 cups of milk
1 can milk chocolate icing
1 box graham crackers

Begin by mixing together the vanilla pudding mix and milk. When it’s mixed well, fold in the Cool Whip. Now set this aside.

Take a 9 x 13 pan and line the bottom with a layer of graham crackers. Next take the mixture and spread in a layer of it. Then place a layer of graham crackers on top of it. Then place another layer. Continue until you have no more mixture.

Layer the top of the cake with graham crackers. Next take the milk chocolate icing and spread it on top of the graham crackers. You might want to soften up the icing a bit in the microwave for a few seconds to make it easier to spread.

Once you have added the chocolate icing. cover it and place it in the refrigerator. Let it get good and chilled before serving.

This is a crowd pleaser and calories can be saved by using 2% milk, lowfat graham crackers and sugar-free pudding.

This is easy to make and cleanup is simple as you really only have the mixing bowl and beaters.

It’s best to serve it with a spoon as the graham crackers soften up. For a different variation, use a different flavor of pudding like chocolate or mix it up by using both - alternating between layers.