Orange Cream Gelatin Dessert is an easy dessert that you can make from a few items in the pantry and freezer at any time of the year. It works well for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's Day, bridal or baby showers, etc. It is sweet and rich, yet somehow also seems light and refreshing. It is a rather nostalgic dessert as it reminds me a little of an orange push-up ice cream treat from my childhood. Plus, it is a molded gelatin dessert, which always reminds me of the past. As with other gelatin and fruit dishes, someone might call this a "Jello salad" in the United States. However, this recipe uses an entire quart of orange sherbert in addition to gelatin, so I can not bring myself … Continue Reading about Orange Cream Gelatin Dessert

Berry Smoothie: With and Without Dairy
There are so many different ways to make smoothies that appeal to different tastes that I debated whether I should write about we make smoothies at our house or just assume that the thousands of “recipes” out there are enough. As your reading this, you can see I finally decided to go with the former 🙂
I usually make a frozen smoothie using frozen fruit, thus no ice to water it down. My family’s favorite seems to be any that include berries…blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc.
No matter what other fruit I include, I add frozen bananas. It adds to the thickness, flavor, and coldness of the smoothie. The banana as a staple in a smoothie was an idea that I got after reading about a man who had started a pawpaw(or paw paw) tree farm because he found a market selling paw paw fruit puree to companies that commercially made smoothies.
Having grown up with a pawpaw tree in my backyard, I knew that it was referred to as the “West Virginia banana.” Despite not looking or tasting that much alike to me, I thought I should add a banana to the first smoothie I ever made because I didn’t have a pawpaw on hand. I liked it and have been using bananas in most of our smoothies ever since. In fact, my eight-year-old has started making her own smoothies and includes a frozen banana….just like mom 🙂
Recipe: Berry Smoothie (With Dairy)
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 to 2 frozen bananas
- 1 c. frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc)
- 1/2 to 1 Tbsp. honey (optional)
- 1/2 c. low fat yogurt
- 5 to 8 oz. apple juice
Instructions:
- Break the frozen bananas into halves or thirds and place in a blender.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender.
- Puree then blend until well mixed.
- Finished smoothie should be rather thick…add more juice if a thinner smoothie is desired.
Number of servings (yield): 2
Copyright © 2013.
Recipe by Paula, A Simple Home Cook.
Recipe: Berry Smoothie (Without Dairy)
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 to 2 frozen bananas
- 1 c. frozen berries
- 1/2 to 1 Tbsp. honey
- 3/4 c. vanilla almond milk
Instructions:
- Break bananas into halves or thirds and add to a blender.
- Add rest of ingredients to blender.
- Puree and blend until all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Final smoothie can be thicker or thinner dependent on how much almond milk used.
Number of servings (yield): 2
Copyright © 2013.
Recipe by Paula, A Simple Home Cook.


