Bear-y Sweet!

Happy Tuesday! We're on a mission to save the bears this week...

Honey bear bottles to be exact!
When the honey has be consumed,
clean the bottle and save it for another use.

Use it to serve sugar syrup for coffee and cocktails.
This assures you that there are no sugar crystals
at the bottom of the mug or glass!

To make sugar syrup, you will need: 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar. In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add the sugar and stir until it has dissolved. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Cool and transfer to honey bear bottle. Store in fridge.

Ain't it great that you can have Mr. Honey Bear with you day or night?
Wishing you a sweet day...see you tomorrow!

Honey Bears

Hello everyone! I hope the weekend has left you rejuvenated and excited for the new week. It's all about cute and cuddly on blah to Tada!. But you may be asking, "How can something cute and cuddly be a blah?"

Does this answer your question?
When a honey bear bottle has no honey anymore,
that qualifies as a blah!

Blah is now Tada! when we re-use the bottle.
Fill it with juice (cranberry, orange or grape are my picks)...

Make some shaved ice in your blender or food processor...

Drizzle juice on the shaved ice using Mr. Honey Bear and
Tada! -- instant snow cone!

This is great for parties or play dates where the kiddies can pick their favorite flavor and color. So remember, when the honey has run out, SAVE THE BEARS!

See you tomorrow for another Tada! idea.

Going Bananas

It's Friday and I'm going bananas!
I mean that both figuratively and literally:

I've got some ready for a blah to Tada! transformation.

I turned them into banana bread, baked in muffin tins.

Very easy to grab as a quick breakfast!

And yet another transformation -- my version of a banana trifle! I cubed up some banana bread, sliced some bananas and put these in a glass, topped it with ice cream and some dulce de leche (you can use caramel or chocolate syrup, too).

Tada! Instant dessert!

Have a fabulous long weekend everyone!

Ice Pops

It's all about cool & sweet this week when we turned plain old ice cream from blah to Tada!

Here's another idea using a recipe adapted from Gourmet magazine:

We'll turn vanilla ice cream into Strawberry-Vanilla Swirled Frozen Pops!

Here's what we'll need:
1 lb strawberries, hulled & halved
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 pints vanilla ice cream, room temperature
12 (1/3 cup) ice pop molds or 12 paper cups and 12 wooden sticks

Here's what we need to do: Mash strawberries in a large bowl with a potato masher or fork. Add the sugar and the lemon juice. Add in the vanilla ice cream and mix just enough to combine.

Spoon the mixture into molds or cups -- I used an ice cube tray.

Add the wooden sticks & return to the freezer until firm.

Tada! Pink popsicles with bits of juicy strawberries.
Go ahead and indulge!

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Are you Vanilla or Are you Chocolate?

If you can't decide, then why not be both?

This week on my blog, we're adding some Tada! to ice cream.

Scoop some vanilla ice cream on a parchment paper-lined tray. Allow the scoops to firm up in the freezer. As the ice cream freezes, melt some chocolate (milk or dark chocolate...it's all up to you) in a double boiler & allow to cool slightly.

Take out the ice cream from the freezer and pour the chocolate sauce on top using a ladle. Return to the freezer when the ice cream begins to melt or, if you work fast, when all the ice cream balls have been coated in chocolate. Freeze again to let both ice cream and chocolate to harden.

Tada! Vanilla ice cream enrobed in chocolate.
Can anything be more mouth-watering than that?

Little Icy Umbrellas

When summertime rolls in, I have this habit of hoarding fruits like berries, peaches and cantaloupes. And why not? They are at their sweetest and they're so cheap! I eat them for breakfast, some I freeze for later use and I also turn them into smoothies (add milk or yogurt to your choice of fruit and whiz in a blender):

Then I figured, what if I freeze this smoothie?

I poured them into tiny tart pans. You can do the same using little paper cups, sauce containers or mini muffin tins, then put them in the freezer.

After about 20 minutes, take the tins out of the freezer and insert some popsicle sticks. The smoothie will be firm enough to hold the sticks in place. Return to the freezer to fully solidify.

To unmold, dip the tin in hot water & apply some force to loosen.

Tada! A healthy snack using the season's best harvest.

I really like how they resemble small umbrellas.

Hope to see you again tomorrow!

I Scream for Ice Cream

Happy new week everybody!

I looked through my freezer this weekend and I found some neglected ice cream. Gasp! I know, I have no excuse for ignoring this heavenly dessert, but if sweets like lemon meringue pie, strawberry shortcake and banana pudding find their way to your fridge, you would forgive me if I allowed the ice cream to "chill" for a while.

So this week on my blog, I'm serving up some icy treats that turn plain ice cream from blah to Tada!

Ice cream + cookies

Tada! Ice cream sandwich!

It's an easy snack that both adults & kids will love.
See you tomorrow for another icy cold idea!