By the end of the month I will have hosted every group I belong to except quilting this month. I like to spread my hosting times out over the year instead of having them all close together because it then encourages us to keep the house straight and clean, but this month, I ended up trading with some people who couldn't host afterall. That means I have hosted at least one event each week. It has put a little bit more pressure on me to find dishes to make but fortunately I have lots of cookbooks.
Friday night we hosted the couples Bridge group. I served mainly snacky things (I'll be sharing the Lemony Avocado Dip later this week.) and of course dessert. I had copied the recipe for this Strawberry Cream Cheese Icebox Cake down on a notepad but didn't write down where the recipe was coming from. I made it the night before so that it had plenty of time to set up. The only problem was I was tired after going to our quilters' canasta group at Friend Fran's (remember I make the dessert for her whenever she hosts any of the groups at her house) that afternoon. I am using that as my excuse for not following the recipe completely. It turned out fine and no one missed the second layer of graham crackers, but I did forget to lay another layer of them. So I guess if you didn't want to use two packages of graham crackers, you know it will set up and come out nicely with just the bottom layer.
STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE ICEBOX CAKE
2 lbs fresh strawberries, sliced
2 packages graham crackers (or just one if you want to omit the second layer)
1 8 - ounce package cream cheese at room temperature (I used 1/3 less fat Neutchatel cheese pkg)
1 14 - ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 4 - serving size packages instant cheesecake pudding (I used sugar-free ones)
3 cups milk (I used skim milk)
1 12 - ounce carton whipped topping
Line bottom of a 9 x 13 - inch dish with a layer of crackers. (It took 8 - 1/2 crackers for me to cover my dish. I took what was left and crushed it to make crumbs for the top.)
Combine the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk and beat til smooth.
Add milk and the pudding mixes.
Mix on low 4 - 5 minutes or until mixture starts to thicken.
Fold in 2 cups of the whipped topping until smooth.
Pour half of the mixture over the cracker layer and spread out smoothly.
Place the strawberry slices to completely cover the mixture.
Top with another single layer of crackers (if you like - remember I forgot this layer and it worked fine).
Top with the rest of the cream cheese mixture and spread smoothly.
Finally top with the rest of the strawberries to cover completely.
Cover and refrigerate 6 to 8 hours.
Before serving top with the rest of the whipped topping. (What I did was a few hours before they were supposed to arrive, I took the dessert out of the refrigerator
and covered it with the rest of the whipped topping and then sprinkled the crumbs from that one cracker I had leftover from the bottom layer on top.)
Sprinkle crushed graham crackers over top.
Well, everyone loved it. (and I gave what we didn't eat to the boys next door. They were happy to get it.)
Ed has issues with dairy and so I made him an individual strawberry crisp that he told me was really, really good. (I didn't get to try it since I made it just for him, but I don't think he would have told me he really liked it if he hadn't. I plan to make it again soon for us - the full recipe, but I will go on and share the recipe later this week for you since I might not get it made for us this week.) Here is what it looked like--
Friday night we hosted the couples Bridge group. I served mainly snacky things (I'll be sharing the Lemony Avocado Dip later this week.) and of course dessert. I had copied the recipe for this Strawberry Cream Cheese Icebox Cake down on a notepad but didn't write down where the recipe was coming from. I made it the night before so that it had plenty of time to set up. The only problem was I was tired after going to our quilters' canasta group at Friend Fran's (remember I make the dessert for her whenever she hosts any of the groups at her house) that afternoon. I am using that as my excuse for not following the recipe completely. It turned out fine and no one missed the second layer of graham crackers, but I did forget to lay another layer of them. So I guess if you didn't want to use two packages of graham crackers, you know it will set up and come out nicely with just the bottom layer.
STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE ICEBOX CAKE
2 lbs fresh strawberries, sliced
2 packages graham crackers (or just one if you want to omit the second layer)
1 8 - ounce package cream cheese at room temperature (I used 1/3 less fat Neutchatel cheese pkg)
1 14 - ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 4 - serving size packages instant cheesecake pudding (I used sugar-free ones)
3 cups milk (I used skim milk)
1 12 - ounce carton whipped topping
Top with another single layer of crackers (if you like - remember I forgot this layer and it worked fine).
Well, everyone loved it. (and I gave what we didn't eat to the boys next door. They were happy to get it.)
Ed has issues with dairy and so I made him an individual strawberry crisp that he told me was really, really good. (I didn't get to try it since I made it just for him, but I don't think he would have told me he really liked it if he hadn't. I plan to make it again soon for us - the full recipe, but I will go on and share the recipe later this week for you since I might not get it made for us this week.) Here is what it looked like--
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