Dairy-Free Fudgesicles

I always buy a big bunch of bananas with the anticipation that we will eat them before they turn completely brown. Lately, they’ve been turning brown on me more often than not. So we cut up the sugary sweet & pretty mushy bananas, put them in a zip top bag & freeze them. I use them in smoothies instead of ice & to make dairy-free chocolate ice cream. 

I mixed things up a tiny bit & made a different rendition of my go-to dairy-free chocolate ice cream & made homemade fudgesicles. The best part is - they only require 3 ingredients (4 if you count water) & they take just minutes to mix up. There's no dairy or sugar involved. You can make them in the morning, pop them in the freezer & they’ll be ready for an after (or before) dinner treat.

Strawberry-Blueberry-Banana Pudding Tart

When given the option of a dessert I usually choose a fruity or some spicy cinnamon option. Chris will always choose chocolate. It’s not that I don’t like chocolate - I do - but I like it when it’s mixed with other things like hot molten chocolate cake with ice cream.  Whenever I say I’m going to make a dessert, Chris cheerfully asks, “chocolate chip cookies?” to which my usual response is “no I want to try this fruit thing.” Like the amazing husband that Chris is, he’ll eat it anyway, even if it wasn’t his first (or second) pick for a dessert.

During the summer months I try to eat as many of the ripe fruit that the season has to offer & in turn cook or bake with them too. My sister made a version of Magnolia’s Bakery Banana Pudding last year & I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Naturally, I needed to make it. After reading a bunch of different recipes & putting my own twist on things (the original calls for instant pudding mix & I opted to make my own) I came up with this strawberry, blueberry banana pudding tarte & as Chris put it “it’s pretty good for a non-chocolate dessert.”

If you’re making this for the fourth of July (because of all the pretty colors) I would definitely try freezing it over night so that it doesn’t melt in warmer temps while it’s out for display on the dessert table or traveling with you where ever you may be headed.

Simple Rice Pudding

In case you haven’t been watching the news because you live a warm sunny area & have been spending any of your free time outside & at the beach - it’s blizzarding in the northeast… again. Since I hit the grocery store on Sunday, our fridge & pantry were fully stocked & I headed straight home after work as opposed to standing on line to pick up some basics at the super market.

Fortunately, I stock up on basic things on a regular basis. For all those that don’t - this a practice I’ve adapted to in the past few years - so don’t worry if you’re not there yet.  Not too long ago I used the word “pantry” very loosely, as I used a bookshelf to store food in my 500 square foot little Italy apartment (man, that was a great apartment!). Said pantry also housed our silverware & other paper goods. Did I mention that it was actually a “street treasure” that I found on the side of the road & carried home with my sister - yeah I did & it was great.  Now that I’m (ahem) an adult, we have a pantry & it is built into the kitchen & I didn’t have to go out & hunt for it so now I try my best to keep it stocked.

Some easy things to stock up on are rice, quinoa, pastas, canned beans, raisins & other baking needs that don’t need to be refrigerated. I used some of these basics to whip up some rice pudding for dessert last night using this recipe. So grab some basics (milk, eggs, rice, raisins) on your next super market trip & try this recipe next time you are snowed in your house.