Watermelon Sorbet

The other day, I came home from the grocery store with the biggest watermelon I have ever seen. I nearly had to abandon The Boy to get it in the car. Thinking that not even this family can eat that much watermelon, I went about searching for watermelon recipes.

Turns out there are an awful lot of them. I have never really used watermelon for anything but eating, so this opens up a whole new world for me.

This recipe comes from Rachael Ray. I hadn't been over to her site for quite some time, and I ended up spending way too much time surfing over there.

You need some watermelon puree. Cut the watermelon into cubes and put it into a blender. Hit puree. (Haha, Goonies reference!)

Zest one lime. This is the hardest part of the whole thing. It's kind of like eating lobster. Lots of work and not much to show for it.
Add one cup of your puree to the lime zest and a half a cup of sugar. Simmer this for a few minutes so the sugar gets good and dissolved.
Add three more cups of puree and a pinch of salt. Then whisk in a can of sweetened condensed milk.
Pour this into your ice cream freezer.
Follow your freezer's directions.
When that gets done, you are left with this...
I loved this. It is so refreshing and the lime comes through a lot more than I thought it would. The one teaspoon is all you need. The kids didn't like this as much as I did, but I think it was more because of the lime. Next time I am going to leave that out and see if they like that better.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Watermelon Sorbet
6 Cups chopped up seedless watermelon
1/4 Cup sugar
Grated peel of 1 lime
Pinch salt
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
Using a blender, puree the watermelon; you will need 4 cups watermelon puree.
In a large saucepan, bring 1 cup watermelon puree, the sugar and lime peel to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves; season with the salt. Pour in the remaining 3 cups watermelon puree, then whisk in the milk until incorporated. Pour the watermelon mixture into your ice cream freezer and follow it's instructions.

Blueberry Banana Cheese Pie

Nine years ago today, I became a mother. And so began my continual state of exhaustion, messy house and hugs and kisses.

And birthday parties.

My husband's family gets together for every birthday for cake and ice cream and Coors. There are nine grandkids, so add in everyone, and we have a family reunion about once a month. I am eternally grateful that my children's cousins are more like siblings.

As it works out this year, Jeff can't be here on The Girl's actual birthday, so we are having our get together on Saturday. Since she's old enough to know the difference, I didn't feel like we could just ignore the birthday rituals. So when Tina posted this pie, I knew this is what I had to make and save the cake for the weekend.

Prepare a package of Dream Whip with a half a cup of milk and a half teaspoon of vanilla. I had always heard of Dream Whip. I can remember seeing an ad for a huge, delicious looking chocolate pie. I always wanted my mom to try it, but for some reason she didn't seem to think it was necessary.

Whip this together just like you would whipping cream.
Until you get a nice thick mixture. Set this aside for just a minute.
In a separate bowl, cream together two blocks of cream cheese and a cup of sugar.
Then mix these to creams together.
Slice up a banana and layer it into the bottom of a graham cracker crust. I used a prepared one since we are working really hard to get The Girl's life wizard to grandmaster for her birthday and every second counts. But if you have extra time, you can make your own.
Add the cream mixture on top of the banana slices.
Then add a half a can of blueberry pie filling.
And top with a half carton of Cool-Whip.
After letting it chill in the refrigerator for a few hours, add the candles.
And dig in.
Then dig in again a little bit later when you hear it calling to you from the kitchen.

This was sooooo good. We had a hard time saving any for Jeff for when he got home. We will definitely be making this again. Probably next week for our back to school dinner. Then maybe again for the Jeff's birthday. And maybe with strawberry pie filling.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Blueberry Banana Cheese Pie

2 – 8oz pgs Philadelphia cream cheese, softened

1 - 1.3 oz packet dream whip (prepared according to package directions)

1 - cup granulated sugar

1 - 21 oz can blueberry pie filling

2 - bananas, sliced

2 - prepared graham cracker crusts

1 – 8oz container cool whip

1/2 - cup fresh blueberries for garnish

Prepare the dream whip according to packet directions and set aside. Cream the sugar and the cream cheese together until creamy and smooth. Add the prepared dream whip and mix until combined. Slice one banana for each pie and layer on the bottom of each graham cracker crust. Add cream cheese mixture on top of the bananas and spread evenly covering the bananas. Spread the blueberry pie filling on top of the cream cheese mixture. Spread the cool whip over the pie filling and garnish with fresh blueberries. Chill at least 3 hours and serve.

Recipe yields two pies, 16 servings. Each serving is worth 7 weight watchers points.