No-bake cheesecake

I was craving cheesecake as any normal pregnant person should. And I had all the ingredients. in my house. at the same time. So I just needed an excuse and my excuse was our anniversary. 

His

2 packages of cream cheese (8oz each) - room temperature

1-2 tsp of vanilla extract

3/4 cup of sugar

1 (8 oz) cartoon of Cool Whip, Whipped Topping, etc.

Graham cracker crust 

Hers

With a kitchen aid mixer or hand mixer, whip together the first three ingredients. Scrape frequently to get it mixed well. 

Add about a third of the Cool Whip to the cream cheese mixture. Gently whip it until well mixed. 

Scoop half of that mixture into the graham cracker crust. Gently spread it evenly across the bottom of the crust. 

Add another third of the Cool Whip to the other half of the cream cheese/cool whip mixture. Gently whip this also, and then spread gently and evenly on the first layer. 

Top with remaining Cool Whip, spreading evenly across the 2 layer. I used the back of a spoon to make little swirls in the topping.  

Refrigerate. 

Our toppings- added right before serving- were strawberries for me and chocolate peanut butter sauce for him. 

Chocolate peanut butter sauce was just chocolate chips, peanut butter, butter and sugar melted together and mixed together. 

~You don't have to do this many steps or layer it this way, but I wanted to try it and well, my son was napping too~

Eat it up and Enjoy!!!

keeping cool...

In this heat wave, I am trying to have cool thoughts. I decided on popsicles. I have several keeping cool ideas but I'll just share this for now. you can use a popsicle tray or plastic cups and wooden popsicle sticks.
So here's my recipe:

Mango Pineapple Pops
1 Mango, peeled and sliced
6-8 chunks of pineapple (preferably fresh)
1 large scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
less than 1/4 cup of orange juice 
honey


Place first 3 ingredients in the blender. Use orange juice to help with movement in the blender (but not to much- you want it thick). If you have a sweet tooth use a squeeze of honey to sweeten the deal. Pour into tray (or cups) add tops (or popsicle sticks). Place in freezer.
Makes 6 small popsicles.

I used the leftovers with club soda and cranberry/pomegranate juice to make a sweet little drink for right now!

Other Ideas:
Gogurts- Pop them in the freezer instead of the frig. They make excellent popsicles and are a bit healthier than the sugar loaded popsicles you can buy in the freezer section.