chimesblog

I got a brilliant idea for Mark’s birthday cake from Real Simple.  Of course, I had to modify the recipe, but the main idea is based on this recipe.

I asked Mark what kind of cake he wanted, and we talked a little about ice cream cakes and Better than Sex cake (for those of you who don’t know what that is, Google it!).  But I remembered flagging a page in Real Simple a couple months back with a way to make vanilla ice cream not so boring by adding layers of peanut butter cups and pretzels. I also remembered that Mark’s been bugging me to try Chubby Hubby by Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, and I think that pretzels in ice cream sounds gross.

So, I decided to create an ice cream cake of my own.

I used a pyrex bread pan and lined the bottom with a half inch of vanilla ice cream. The next layer was peanut butter pretzel sandwiches, then an inch of ice cream, then crumbled peanut butter cups, then more ice cream, a layer of chocolate/peanut butter ganache and more pretzels.

It was GLORIOUS. It’s not technically his birthday until tomorrow, but since we knew we were going to be out of town this weekend, we decided to cut into it a bit early …

Look at that giant hunk of chocolate at the top. om. nom. NOM.

Last Sunday, Mark, Barney and I went to Des Moines. I had a coffee table that was sitting out for me at work that I needed to pick up and I needed Mark’s car to retrieve it. So, we decided to take Barney so we could get him an ice cream cone at Snookies Malt Shop. For those of you who don’t know, Snookies is a really great malt shop in the Beaverdale neighborhood in Des Moines and they love dogs.  So, they hand out little doggie-sized ice cream cones along with people’s ice cream treats.

Barney was surprisingly good on the walk around the lake. He met a few other doggies and behaved himself. He also met a few little kids. So, all in all, he was very deserving of the ice cream cone he was going to get.

He was also a little apprehensive of the car ride. I’m guessing because every other time he’s been in a longer car ride the poor dog got dropped off at a new home.  I’m his 3rd home — 4th, if you count the brief stint with my parents (which I’m sure he does).  Anyway, he started enjoying it when I rolled down the window and let him hang out a bit (don’t worry guys, he had his harness on and I had a vice grip on both him and his leash).

We made it to the malt shop and Mark and I ordered.  I got Barney his cone and sat down with him.  To my surprise, he didn’t eat it all in one bite like my old dachshund* would have.  He licked it! Like a person!  He didn’t eat the cone part — apparently he didn’t consider that part food (this is coming from somebody who sometimes eats poo).

After he finished his cone, he sat around waiting patiently to see if there was going to be any more. Nope. Not sharing.  I got a brownie sundae with hot fudge and marshmallow, and Mark got a Heath not-sure-what-they-call-it-there-but-is-essentially-a-Blizzard (TM).

*side note — my old doxie (Jake the Snake) was famous for his eating feats. I don’t have all day to tell you the stories, but my favorite has to do with ice cream.  My mom was scooping ice cream for a birthday party or something, and it was a particularly frozen hard batch.  She scooped really hard, and the scoop of ice cream flew off the ice cream scooper. Jake just happened to be walking by and snatched the WHOLE SCOOP of ice cream on the way. It didn’t even hit the ground. It. Was. Epic. That dog ate EVERYTHING and lived to be almost 15.

In case you’re curious … since I got off on the tangent … here’s some pictures of Jake.

He was rather rotund here. I’m guessing this was when he was about twelve.

My papasan chair was one of his favorite places to snuggle up under a blanket. He would usually play musical beds/chairs all day long and find interesting places to nap.

For instance, on my pillow, covered up in my blanket. No joke. This dog did this on his own. This was actually the last time I saw him. I think I stayed for the weekend and I had folded my blanket up and set it next to my pillow. That dog crawled under the blanket and fell asleep like this.

Wow that is a cheesy title, but it’s true!

I finally took the plunge and tried to eat a banana a couple weeks ago for the first time in at least 10 years. When I was younger I couldn’t eat bananas because they made my stomach hurt — which is ironic because it’s one of the things doctors always tell you to eat when you can’t digest much else.

Anyway, after a dormant period without bananas, I’m totally crazy about all things banana! (well, not as much as my friend Niki I suppose).

My absolute favorite thing and new obsession is making frozen banana custard.  I found this “recipe” on Iowa Girl Eats’s blog.  This was actually what prompted me to try bananas again.  I have a huge ice cream obsession and a few weeks back had an issue with stress eating (ie. pints of ice cream) lead to an unhealthily quick weight gain. So, I thought, if I could replace the ice cream with something healthy (ie. frozen banana) then I would be set.

AND yay. It worked. Those 7 pounds gone in a flash (gained ‘em one week, lost ‘em the next). They say that bananas are bloat-fighters, and I must agree. Because I’m going to throw it out there and say that 5 of those 7 pounds I gained in a week HAD to be water weight. (right? right.)

Anyway, here is my cleverly disguised banana for the day:

I will say that the trick is to cut the naners into smaller pieces before freezing. Also, I’ve been doing mine in the blender and using the “ice crush” function to get it going. I add a little bit of soy milk and some vanilla to the mix to get things going. I’ve also thrown in some chocolate ovaltine for a chocolate version of my faux ice cream.

Another thing that’s awesome about the banana obsession (aside from the health benefits) is the fact that they’re way cheap. I can make 3 pints of frozen banana custard using 4-5 medium bananas.  That is roughly $1.50 for 3 pints. Compare that to the price of one pint of Ben and Jerry’s. Just try.

Hopefully I don’t get sick of bananas because so far they’ve been doing wonders for me and my pocket book!