Lazy Mom Perfected

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Fresh -N- Cold Snack Fruit

I have to admit I just love to grab the cold fresh ready to eat fruit at the grocery store. It's just tastes so much better than room temperature fruit, especially the watermelon! Yum! However, the prices are just crazy insane. I pay almost $5.00 for about 2 cups worth of cut fruit. I just can't justify paying that every time I want a refreshing fruit snack. So, I decided to make my own Fresh-N-Cold Snack fruits for my family and myself to enjoy.

As you can see in the photo I have those fruits stored in canning jars. To learn more about why, read my post here.

In the first jar I have cut pineapple slices and pre-washed, destemmed, green grapes in the second jar. Those are just two examples of fruit I keep in the fridge. I cut up all kinds of fruit and store for a ready eat option through out each week.

I have a, "Lazy Mom, Perfected" system to how I make my pre-ready snacks each week to simplify my life. To learn this easy system visit my post here and scroll down to the section that says, "How do I make this work for me?".

After I wash all the fruit I have set out I then cut up the fruit to use for the smoothies and also for these Fresh -N- Cold Snack Fruits. I don't worry about desteming the grapes until after I am ready to fill these jars.

Once I am ready I just fill each jar, put on the lids, and refrigerate. The cutting board and knife can go into the sink (or dishwasher). Just wipe the counter and move onto the next step of my system if you're following it and get ready to fill the cupboard canning jars.

Feel free to get creative and put different fruits together like a strawberry, grape, pineapple mix. I don't recommend putting banana in any of these jars as banana doesn't do well in once peeled and especially in refrigeration.

Want to know a trick on keeping apples from turning brown when cut and stored in these jars?
4 Ways on How to Prevent Sliced Fruit From Turning Brown

Squooshi Reusable Food Pouch Alternative

Many parent's have been buying these reusable pouches instead of the individual pouch servings options at the store. These open up at the bottom and parents can fill them, seal them, place in fridge, and kids can enjoy at their convenience.

Another reason parents have been using these pouches is due to the concerns with the store pre-filled disposable pouches. Read this post on Facebook. This GoGo squeeZ had mold inside and didn't expire until the following year. There's been a lot of complaints from other parents who also had this experience and many had their children hospitalized due to their children getting sick from the contents. This also includes juice boxes and other prefilled individual serving products. This growing concern from parents and the need to save money has sparked a new customer based for reusable pouches parents can fill. I even purchased these refillable pouches myself. However, I was not happy with them at all.

My reasons:

They hold so little. I maybe can fit 4 tablespoons of food in them.
Didn't work for beverages
They are a pain to fill with out making a mess.
They spill out when sealing them close.
They get gunk stuck inside the pouch where the zipper seal is at. It traps old food inside. No matter how much I hand-washed, soaked, used toothpicks, it was just not getting all the old food out.
Takes so much effort to attempt to clean properly. Sure they're dishwasher safe, but how that gunk needs hand-washing and how much residue is getting stuck in there too from the dishwasher.

I just got sick of them and came up with a much better solution. I purchased these 8oz vintage milk bottles. I love them and here's why:

They are so easy to clean. I handwash them using a baby bottle brush. They are easier to clean than baby bottles, in my experience.
They hold a lot!
They're easy to fill. Heck, I don't even use a funnel. I just pour everything right into the bottles.
Closing is easy and nothing spills out when I close them. It's a simple as putting a lid on.
Dishwasher safe and no worry that any residue will get trapped anywhere.
and many other wonderful reasons.....

We use them for all kinds of things:
Drinks, yogurts, apple sauce ( flavored or plain no sugar added), milk, etc... I can get so creative filling. Even do layers! Yes, layers. I can put strawberry smoothie on bottom and a blueberry smoothie on top. Then they drink that way and go from one flavor to the next as they drink, or just shake and make it a mixed smoothie.

My girls find these bottles so much fun that they drink from these everyday. This means they are choosing healthier options for snacks with out me having to encourage them to do so. And I never have to buy any of those sugary snacks just to have sweet snacks on hand my kids "will eat".

Here's a photo of a some I filled one day... The one with the white on top and the red on bottom is yogurt with fresh strawberries I blended; can even use frozen fruit. This is way healthier than the store bought fruit yogurts that contain added processed sugar and preservatives plus this is more affordable. My girls just shake the bottle to mix and then drink. Everything I fill in these bottles is organic.

*Tip: Don't fill to the top. Leaving some room at the top of the bottle empty helps allow the bottles to be shaken for mixing.

How is this a "Lazy Mom" idea? Well, I want my kids to eat healthy and I also let them snack all the time. In my own life experience eating small healthy snacks all day long and properly portioned sized meals is much better for us than just eating 3 large meals a day and then snacking here and there. However, I just don't want to have to keep making my girls these healthy snack options through out the week. I mean, really? Making a smoothie every time my kids wants one? Um, no thanks. So, then there's the prefilled store bought options: costly and risky.

How do I make this work for me?
After going shopping I come home and put away the groceries with the help of my family. I leave out all the food and drink items I need to fill the bottles. Then I set up the counter with the bottles, lids, a cutting board, a butter knife (to stir the yogurt for easy pouring), large cutting knife, and my blender.

I have a blender that can either do smaller potions with one of these cups or it uses the glass container for larger portions. I like that option because some days I won't make any smoothies but I need to blend a small amount of fruit mixture for the yogurts. Next I start with cutting up all the fruit I need so I don't have to cut fruit every step. I also cut fruit for another snack option I do after completing filling these bottles. Click here to learn more. After the fruit is cut I start making the applesauce. Making applesauce homemade using a blender is easy and much more affordable and healthier than store bought in the jar.

Here are some recipes and remember you don't have to use cinnamon or sugar. You can make modifications as needed. Such as adding slices of peach to make a peach applesauce. Just cut back on the sugar or don't use any at all. There's even the option to use honey and lemon juice instead of sugar for sugar-free plain applesauce. But, keep in mind that honey should not be fed to children 1 year and younger.:

Blender Quick Applesauce Recipe - Food.com: I do not recommend using splenda because it's just so unsafe to consume. But, that's just my thoughts.
HOW TO: Make a Cup of Simple Organic Applesauce in Your Blender: Just multiply the ingredients to make the amount you need. Pour the applesauce into the bottles. If there happens to be a little bit of applesauce left that won't fill another bottle, I just leave it in the blender and move onto the next step. Note: I don't add sugar to the applesauce I make at home.

Now's time for making the smoothie mix for smoothies and the yogurts. I put my fruit I need for the smoothie into the blender (with the applesauce, if any is left over). I blend it all up. If needed add a few tablespoons of water to help blend. Once fully blended I pour a small amount in some bottles that I will use for the yogurts. Then I fill the rest of the smoothie mixture into final bottles, approx 4-5 bottles. If there happens to be a little left over that is not enough for another bottle, I pour that into a cup and enjoy. :) Notice, yet again I do not add sweeteners, milk, yogurt, etc... it's just not needed as fruit is naturally sweetened. I just make sure to use fruits that compliment each other, if unsure - taste and add more sweeter fruits until made the way you like it. I also don't make smoothies with banana in them. Banana just doesn't do well premade into smoothies for this type of use.
*Tip: You can make extra smoothie mixture to make Frozen Smoothie Fruit Bars. Just pour the extra smoothie mixture into the popsicle makers now. I usually just make Frozen Fruit Juice Bars as explained in this next step.

If I want a variety of smoothies I will just repeat the steps to make another smoothie mixture.
Layered smoothies: Just pour the bottles half full of the first smoothie mixture made, then make another type of smoothie and fill the rest. If you wish to do triple layers, do the same and instead only fill 1/3 layers each time. Enjoy!

I now fill up the other bottles with any other snacks or drink options. While I already have the fruit juice open I also fill up our money saving freezer popsicle makers and make their Frozen Fruit Juice Bars. Once things are all filled I put the lids on each one of them and then put into the fridge and freezer (for popsicles) on a shelf my kids can reach. Viola, I am done with these and move onto the fruit jars, and filling the cupboard snack canning jars! My girls now have instant grab healthy snacks they enjoy. I don't have to worry about making them all week long! This only takes me about 45 mins to an hour to do these plus the other snacks I premake. That isn't much time when you consider how much time I just saved for the week. This includes not ever having to make my girls their cereal or clean up their cereal making messes. It's quite amazing how much healthier children will eat when they can do things for themselves and/or when it's made fun!

Just a note: When I ordered these they came in a pack of 6 or 12. I discovered 12 wasn't enough for my 2 girls. Yeah, they loved them that much. I bought 36 total. I now have plenty of options each week with out worrying about running out. Plus I put milk in some for them to easily pour their own milk into cereal, instead of juggling with the large milk container. And they will drink milk too, so it's already ready to drink for them. Makes things easier for this busy mom.

Here's an example break down: (per child, per week)
4 yogurts
2 smoothies
4 milks
4 applesauces
4 juices
= 18 yummy snack/drinks choices
times 2 kids = 36 bottles :)

Each family is different. So, base your total on your child/ren.

Tip: I use wet erase marker to put expiration dates on the lids for things that expire in a couple weeks to keep track as I replace the empty ones each week. This way they always finish before expiration dates because they know which ones to consume first.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake Recipe ("Lazy Mom" Version)

*Some Step by Step photos included at bottom
To find this recipe make from scratch go here.

TOTAL TIME

25min.

Servings 12

INGREDIENTS

8 Inch Premade Cheesecake (sliced or unsliced- unsliced is best)
Sara Lee All Butter Pound Cake
2 tablespoons water
7-8 oz Fresh strawberries
8 ozs cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup or 1 whole graham cracker (crumbed)
8 oz cool whip

STRAWBERRY PUREE

PREP TIME

5 mins.
COOK TIME
3-5 mins

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons water
12 oz Fresh strawberries

DIRECTIONS
Wash, dry, and stem berries
Put 3-4 strawberries aside and place in refrigerator for the cake topping decoration.

Turn stove on medium high. Add water. Wait until water starts to boil then add remaining strawberries (approx 10 oz). Let strawberries start to get a little softening on bottom of the pan. This happens pretty quickly, so keep a close eye on them. Once you see them softening use a metal potato masher and start pressing down on the strawberries. They will resist at first, but then they will press down pretty easily as they mash up into a lumpy puree mixture. Just keep pressing and turning the potato masher until all the strawberries are mostly pureed. There will be some slight bits of lumpiness.

Turn off heat and remove the pan from the heat. Set aside to cool. After the strawberry puree mixture has cooled, put into a small container, cover, and refrigerate.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
TOTAL TIME

15 mins

INGREDIENTS
8 ozs cream cheese (room temperature)

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Put cream cheese into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until smooth. Reduce speed to medium-low, and mix in sugar and vanilla. Raise speed to medium-high, and mix until fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes.

ASSEMBLY

Scoop all but about 1/4 cup of the cooled strawberry puree on top of the cheesecake leaving about 3/4 of an inch around the top edge of the cake uncovered.

Get the SaraLee All Butter Pound Cake and cut it in half using a flat sharp knife (non-serrated works best) going long ways down the middle of the cake.

Spread some of the cream cheese frosting on the top of one half of the pound cake. The cream cheese frosting will serve as a barrier to keep the strawberry puree from soaking into the pound cake when assembled. Cut about 1/4 of the pound cake lengthwise and set aside that smaller section.

Now place the frosted pound cake, frosted side down, on top of the cheesecake off center a little bit. Using the sharp flat knife trim around the pound cake carefully to round out the overlapped edges. Be careful to keep the pieces large and as one piece when you cut as you will need them to fill in the remainder of the spaces. Take the long piece cut from this pound cake half that was set aside and place it to the long side of the pound cake on top of the cheese cake. (View photo).

Using the other half of pound cake follow the same steps and use the smaller pieces to fill in the remaining spots on top of the cheesecake. Making sure to round off the edges.

Now that the pound cake has been assembled on top of the cheesecake and strawberry puree use the remainder of the cream cheese frosting to frost the cake, making sure NOT to frost the sides of the cheesecake. Use the cream cheese frosting to fill in the gap between the cheesecake and the pound cake to seal in the strawberry puree.

Topping:
Using the remaining amount of strawberry puree and spread it on top of the frosted cake making sure to leave about 1/2 inch untouched around the edge of the top of the cake. Now take the remaining strawberries and slice them lengthwise into 4 slices each. Place each sliced strawberry on the top of the cake.

Finally sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs on top of the cake.

Serve with a dollop or two of cool whip for best results!

**Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake Photos**

Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake Recipe (from scratch)

* Some Step by Step photos included at bottom
** To find this recipe "lazy mom" version that's not from scratch go here.

I love both Strawberry Shortcake and Cheesecake and saw a recipe that had them both together. I just wasn't savvy on the idea of the no-bake cheesecake. I am not a fan of those. So, I decided to look up recipes that had a cheesecake like this one. All I found were messy looking and not quite the cheesecake recipes I wanted. So, I decided to make up my own. I first decided to make a quick version where there was practically no cooking for the days that we just don't have all day to spend making this cake. I made that cake for a friend as a thank you gift and hoped it would be as wonderful as I planned. They absolutely loved it. My next goal was to make it from scratch and then create the recipes for others to enjoy and here they are.
* Serve with a dollop or two of whipped cream for best results!

PREP TIME

42 min.

TOTAL TIME

6hr. 55min.
If you have 2-9 inch springform pans than this will only take 5hr 55 min as you can make the cheesecake first than make the pound cake. That will save an hour of refrigeration time since it'll be in the fridge while the pound cake bakes.

Servings 12

MASTER INGREDIENT LIST:

3/4 cups butter, softened (no substitutions)
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

5 (8 oz. Each) and 1 ( 4 oz Each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

3 cups plus 3 Tbsp sugar

7 large eggs, room temp

2 3/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoons salt

1-3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons water
12 oz Fresh strawberries

PART 1:

POUND CAKE

PREP TIME
10 mins

TOTAL TIME
1 hr 10 mins

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cups butter, softened (no substitutions)

4 ounce cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs, room temp

3/4 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoons salt

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Generously grease one 9 inch springfoarm pan

In a bowl cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.

Add sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes (you MUST beat for at least 5 minutes this is an important step!).

Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.

Mix in vanilla.

With mixer on low add the flour and salt in two additions.

Immediately pour in batter into prepared pan.

Tap pans to eliminate any large air bubbles in the batter.

Bake 30-40 minutes, or until cake tests done.

Note: if the top begins to brown too quickly tent loosely with foil.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Turn out the cake then cool completely with the tops up on a wire rack. Once cooled Refrigerate
*If you don't have a second 9 inch springform pan then carefully take the pound cake off the springform pan bottom after it's cooled and place onto another flat plate.
** If you have a second 9 inch springform pan then while the pound cake is cooling you can start making the cheesecake recipe to save time.

PART 2:
CHEESECAKE

PREP TIME

20min.

TOTAL TIME

5hr. 15min.

INGREDIENTS

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 Tbsp. sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

4 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 eggs

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 325°F.

Mix graham crumbs, 3 Tbsp. sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.

Bake 55 min. or until center is almost set. Loosen cheesecake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate cheesecake 4 hours.

* do Part 3 while cheesecake bakes

PART 3:

Now is a good time to make the strawberry puree and cream cheese frosting while cheesecake is baking.
TOTAL TIME (for all of part 3)
25 mins

_______________

STRAWBERRY PUREE

PREP TIME

5 mins.
COOK TIME
3-5 mins

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons water
12 oz Fresh strawberries

DIRECTIONS
Wash, dry, and stem berries
Put 3-4 strawberries aside and place in refrigerator for the cake topping decoration.

15 mins

INGREDIENTS
8 ozs cream cheese (room temperature)

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

After Part 3 is done and the cheesecake has refrigerated for 4 hours we can move on to the completion of this yummy Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake.

Set out the cheesecake, pound cake, strawberry puree, cream cheese frosting (uncover and set aside to soften), remaining strawberries, and remaining graham cracker crumbs

To assemble:
Starting with the pound cake, place it in front of you then using a sharp thin long knife, cut the top off the cake so it is no longer rounded, make sure not to cut to much from the top. After the top has been removed and evened out, using about 1/4 of the cream cheese frosting, frost the top of the cake (not the sides) – not to thin and not to thick. This is important as it will serve as a barrier to keep the strawberry puree from soaking into the pound cake after assembled.

Put the frosted pound cake aside and place the cheesecake in front of you. Scoop about half of the strawberry puree onto the cheesecake leaving approx 1/2 inch of the top of the edges all the way around untouched by the strawberry puree. It's important to leave room for the puree to spread out when the pound cake is placed on top.

After the strawberry puree has been properly spread on top of the cheesecake, take the pound cake and turn it upside down (cream cheese frosting side facing down) and place on top of the cheesecake carefully. The bottom of the pound cake will now be the top of this strawberry shortcake cheesecake. Remove the springform pan bottom if still attached to the pound cake bottom.

Using the rest of the cream cheese frosting spread the frosting on the top and sides of the pound cake while also filling in the gap between the pound cake and cheese cake to help seal in the strawberry puree. If any has come out, use a flat knife to wipe it off before spreading the cream cheese frosting there. Do not spread any cream cheese frosting on the cheesecake sides.

Once the cake is frosted, take the remaining strawberry puree and scoop on to the top of the frosted cake making sure to leave about 1/2 inch untouched around the edge of the top of the cake. Now take the remaining strawberries and slice them lengthwise into 4 slices each. Place each sliced strawberry on the top of the cake about 3/4 inch in from the outer edge in a circle all the way around making sure to space them apart from each other. Then place a final strawberry in the center.

For the final touch, sprinkle the remaining graham cracker crumbs on the top of the cake, putting most of the graham cracker crumbs on the top edge of the cake where the strawberry puree wasn't spread.

Refrigerate for 30 mins for frosting to set.

*Serve with a dollop or two of Whipped Cream for best results!