my birthday uncake and my unbirthday cake

...as gillian said. for my birthday i whipped up a fast no bake "chocolate eclair" dessert. the day after my birthday, travis' mom baked up this lovely cake pictured. i had an awesome birthday/birthday weekend.

2 individual packages graham crackers

2 (3 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix (i used 1 vanilla and 1 banana pudding mix)

3 cups milk

8 oz container whipped cream

1 (16 ounce) package prepared chocolate frosting

Directions

Line the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan with graham crackers. In a large bowl, combine pudding mix and milk. Stir well. Stir in whipped cream to pudding mixture. Spread half of mixture over graham cracker layer. Top with another layer of graham crackers and the remaining pudding. Top all with a final layer of graham crackers and frost with chocolate frosting. Refrigerate until serving.

variety of oatmeal thumbprint cookies

i baked a batch of oatmeal thumbprint cookies. i think the end total was about 3.5 dozen bite size cookies. the first dozen i baked followed the recipe minus the walnuts and i used peanut butter and strawberry preserves for the topping. the second dozen followed the recipe with the walnuts using prickly pear jelly melinda had made and the remainder of the cookies followed the recipe minus the walnuts, also with the prickly pear jelly. these cookies taste really buttery and i liked the way all the batches came out, but i think i enjoyed the original recipe with the walnuts the best.

1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 large egg, separated

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts

About 1 cup fruit jam

Preparation

1. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter, brown sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla until smooth. Stir or beat in flour and oats until well blended.

2. In a small bowl, beat egg white and 2 teaspoons water to blend. Put walnuts in a shallow bowl. Shape dough into 2-teaspoon-size balls and dip in egg white mixture; shake off excess, then roll in walnuts. Place 1 inch apart on buttered or cooking parchment-lined 12- by 15-inch baking sheets. Press your thumb into the center of each cookie to make a 1/2-inch-deep indentation.

3. Bake cookies in a 300° oven until lightly browned, about 15 minutes; if baking more than one pan at a time, switch pan positions halfway through baking.

4. Carefully fill each indentation with about 1 teaspoon jam (if indentations have disappeared, make them again with the rounded end of a wooden spoon). Return to oven and bake until cookies are golden brown and jam has melted, about 15 minutes longer. With a wide spatula, transfer cookies to racks to cool

banana nut ice cream pie

when i bake desserts, ryan says i usually put something in it that he can't eat so i finally decided to make a dessert for him. i altered this recipe a little from the original but it worked out fine. i used cookies n cream ice cream instead of butter pecan because supposedly he's allergic to pecans. i also made a graham cracker crust instead of using a vanilla wafer crust. i made a separate caramel pecan sauce for myself and just used regular caramel on his slices. the pie is really good and i'm sure u can use pretty much any flavor ice cream u want. when u cut into the pie, pull it out the freezer and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes because the frozen bananas make it very hard to cut into. also, wet your knife with hot water before cutting into the pie.

Ingredients

2 medium ripe bananas sliced

1 prepared vanilla wafer crust

6 c. Butter Pecan Ice Cream softened

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3 Tbsp. instant banana pudding mix (dry)

1/4 c. butter

3/4 c. caramel ice cream topping

½ tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. crushed pecans

Directions

Slice the bananas and place them evenly over the bottom of the prepared pie crust.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the softened ice cream, cinnamon, and banana pudding mix. Stir until all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Spread the ice cream mixture evenly into the crust. Freeze for 4-6 hours.

Immediately before serving, prepare the Warm Caramel Sauce. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over med-low heat. Add the caramel topping, vanilla extract, and crushed pecans. Stir until thoroughly combined and warmed through.

Remove the pie from the freezer. Cut into 8 slices and place on individual serving plates. Drizzle each slice with approx. 2 Tbsp. of the warm caramel sauce and serve immediately.

peach pie

i wanted to bake a dessert that was fast to make and fruity. this is a really simple recipe and it taste like u put more effort into it than u did.

Filling:

1 pre-made (10-inch) pie crust

10 medium size peaches (or 5 medium size peaches &5 medium size nectarines, or 1 large can peaches, or 2 bags frozen peaches)

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Toss peaches and nectarines with lemon juice. Mix in the dry ingredients. Put mixture in pastry shell, dot with butter. Bake for 4o minutes.

coconut fish curry

we have a ton of fish in our freezer so i've been trying to find new recipes to try on fish. i changed this recipe up a lot. i used tilapia and i baked it in the oven with a little but of salt and olive oil. i only used 1 teaspoon of curry, next time i'll use a little more because it did taste like something was missing, but ryan and i like our curry mild. i used 2 teaspoon of sriracha instead of actual red chiles, and i used 3 tbsp tomato paste instead of 2. also i served the fish filleted instead of flaked. i really enjoyed the way it came out and i will definitely be using this recipe again.

2 lb. firm fish (e.g. tuna, snapper, salmon)

Salt to taste

3 T vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 T curry powder

2 T tomato paste

1-2 red chilis or hot peppers

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 1/2 C coconut milk

preparation

Season fish with salt. Heat the oil in a pan and brown the fish. Set aside and keep warm. In the same oil, fry onion until brown.

Add the garlic and stir. Cook for 1 minute and then add curry powder, tomato paste, chilies, and lemon juice. Mix well and keep stirring so the mixture does not burn. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the coconut milk and stir until it boils. Turn the heat down and add the fish. Simmer for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to concentrate and the sauce to thicken to a creamy consistency. Serve hot with boiled rice.