Frozen Chocolate Souffles

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups milk
1 pkg. (8-serving size) or 2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping
16 OREO Cookies, finely chopped (about 2 cups)
8 maraschino cherries

POUR milk into medium bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. Gently stir in whipped topping.

SPOON 2 Tbsp. of the chopped cookies into each of eight 8- to 9-oz. paper drinking cups. Cover evenly with half of the pudding mixture. Press gently with the back of a spoon to eliminate air pockets. Repeat layers. Cover with foil.

FREEZE 5 hours or until firm. Remove from freezer about 15 min. before serving. Let stand at room temperature to soften slightly. Peel away paper to unmold onto dessert plates. Top each with a cherry. Store leftovers in freezer.

Kraft Foods just make everything so fast and easy, no? So you can make something delicious without compromising the time with your family.

(Image/Source : Kraft Foods)

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Frozen Chocolate ‘Soufflés’

Mom and I did a Costco run this past weekend and she told me about a quick breakfast or desert that she has been making for herself. She takes frozen berries and adds yogurt to it them. The berries are very cold and make the yogurt sort of thicker and almost icy.

I tried it this morning with a mixture of one cup frozen strawberries and cherries. To the fruit, I added a half cup of  nonfat vanilla yogurt, then a teaspoon of honey, because … well, I love honey and I put it on everything. I topped it with a sprinkling of granola.  I loved it, very satisfying. 

Another good frozen treat - frozen grapes. Wash the grapes, pop them in the freezer and in a couple of hours you’ve got grape-sized popsicles. Yum!

Image credit: Michelle Smith

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Quick Berry Breakfast

The Living Desert is just that kind of attraction.

Founded in 1970, The Living Desert is a combination zoo and botanical garden based entirely on the desert eco-system.  It covers about 1,200 acres of land, and is a pioneer in environmental education and native wildlife rehabilitation.  It also has active captive breeding and plant propagation programs.  The organization sustains itself through admissions and an aggressive membership and volunteer program.

I’d recommend visiting in the morning, shortly after opening.  The weather is not yet hot and uncomfortable, and the animals are a lot more active.  If you’re lucky, you may even get to see some of them having breakfast.  Be sure to catch the giraffes being hand fed.  It’s amazing to get an up close look at these amazing gangly creatures.

I also love the meerkats (also called mongoose).  They live communally and are quite playful and mischievous.  I’d suggest watching them for an extended bit of time, rather than hurrying by, so you get a sense of their remarkable personalities.  And they are just so darned cute!

As you walk along the various pathways, you’ll see other wildlife as well as lots of plants and flowers native to the desert.  There’s more to the desert eco-system than just cactus, and I’m always surprised as what blooms here.

There’s a children’s play park and picnic area, so the little ones have room to blow off steam, and adults have a place to rest up, too.  Another child friendly attraction is the Petting Kraal – a petting zoo where both kids and adults can get up close and personal with African goats, Ankole cattle, Sicilian dwarf donkeys, Jacob’s sheep and Nubian goats – species that live in the African deserts.

The Living Desert is located at 47-900 Portola Avenue in Palm Desert, just a few minutes from Palm Springs and Indio.   Season hours are Daily 9 am – 5 pm (August 30th – June 15th).  Summer hours are Daily 9 am – 1:30 pm (June 16th – August 31st).

Admission: $12.50 for adults, $11 for seniors (62+) and military, $7.50 for children ages 3-12, and children under 3 are free.  Discounted admission is available during summer hours.

A couple of hours should allow you to see everything The Living Desert has to offer, and if you’re a real animal fan, allow yourself 3-4 hours. Bring your camera, wear comfortable walking shoes, and drink plenty of water. Remember, it’s a desert out there.

Photo credit: SXC

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Family Fun at The Living Desert

I’ve been a fan of Britney Spears ever since she danced down that school hallway in “Hit Me Baby, One More Time.” These day, when I go running, she’s singing about a “Womanizer” in my ears, helping me to run just a bit faster, feuled with righteous indignation on behalf of the womanized.

When she’s faltered, I’ve worried, because …. well, I’m a Mom and I tend to worry. It’s part of my job description.  (Perusing dailt to-do list ….worried about the troubled, the lost, the struggling …..check.)

Britney recently did an interview with Rolling Stone where she is described as “…shyer, more guarded, remote — like the old Britney but with the volume turned way down.”  I guess that’s what happens when a young star has such a public melt down – she learns to hold her cards closer to her chest.

In an excerpt from the magazine that I read here, Britney talks about her new lifestyle of hard-working days and turning-in-early nights.

And when she does find time to go on a date, Spears says the experience makes her wish she had just stayed home.

Oh, Britney, I so get this one. Have you ever had one of those dates where you just wished you were at home on the couch?  You finish the date and think, “Okay, I’m good, I did my duty. That’s the last one of those I have to do for the next six months.”

“Right when we got there, we just knew it was just bad,” Spears tells Rolling Stone of one recent bad date. “He looked like an older version of Harry Potter, but skinnier. … So I had to get dessert first.”

Harry Potter? Does she mean the actual wizard? Or the actor Daniel Radcliffe?  That kid is adorable.  I’ll go out with the older Harry Potter. What’s his number? She needed desert because he was skinny?  Oh, well, I look for any excuse to go for the desert, as well.

“And the other date I had, the guy was really, really tall and a lot older. … We’re trying to ask him questions, like, ‘OK, you’re into martial arts, so what kind of martial arts are you into?’ And he was like, ‘Oh, all kinds.’”

Who is this “we”? Who is going on these dates with her?  And why are they quizzing these men? I imagine it would be stressful enough to go on a date with an international superstar (who underwent a very public breakdown), but to then have to answer to her “panel” of……experts? very large bodyguards? giggling girlfriends? managerial team? dad? well, that would suck. (And probably put me off dating international superstars for awhile).

Why not wait until she is well enough to go out on her own?  And who is picking these men?  She obviously does not know them, is surprised by their Harry Potter-ness and lack of knowledge in the specific forms of the martial arts.  Maybe now is not the right time to date? How many different areas does she need to come-back in, at the same time? 

Dating requires a certain amount of time and attention to get it right. Otherwise you are just going through the motions. You are just eating another piece of cheesecake with yet another Harry Potter look-alike. Does a busy lady like Britney Spears have time to go through the motions? 

I say, take your time, Britney. The dating world isn’t going anywhere. Britney Spears will always be able to find a date if she seeks one. Pushing things will only skew your point of view and wouldn’t you rather your next boyfriend be a little more JT and a lot less KFed?  

Take a look at this and then tell me what you think – should Britney wait until she has the time and opportunity to date without the “we”?  Guys, would you date Britney Spears? 

 Britney image credit – Sephora.com

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Celebrity Dating – Britney Spears and the “We” Step Out