Cooking: Cool Fruit Dip

It's officially summer time here in Texas, and it might as well have been since April. It's been roasty toasty for months, and I have been doing everything I can think of to keep cool.

Which, really, is kind of funny since I'm always so darn cold thanks to anemia.

But, I digress.

One thing we always do, here at our house, is have lots and lots of fresh fruit available. It's a great quick treat and snack for Fred. It's also a great way to keep him away from processed snacky foods (and us too, but we'll say it's all about him!).

Occasionally though, I like to make our everyday food just a little more... special.

Blame it on the sun, or on the sweet baby I'm currently gestating. I just like to make our everyday days... a little more special.

Lately, I've been doing just that, by making this refreshing fruit dip. My mother has made this dip for our family and friends for as long as I can remember. It's quick, easy, and keeps for a while in the fridge. The main ingredients are staples in my home (don't judge!), and are favorites of mine: cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, and an all-time family favorite... COOL WHIP Whipped Topping.

Recently, several friends have asked for the recipe, and I've been meaning to share it here for ages. So, here you go!

Ingredients:
8oz Cream Cheese (at room temperature)
14oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
2T Lemon Juice (freshly squeezed or from a bottle)
1t vanilla extract (optional)
8oz COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

Directions:
Using a stand mixer (or in a bowl with a hand mixer), whip the cream cheese until it is smooth and fluffy. Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix until they're incorporated together to a smooth consistency. Add the lemon juice and vanilla. The mixture will immediately start to thicken up.

Once everything is smoothly incorporated together, add the COOL WHIP and mix until incorporated.

Refrigerate the dip for at least 30 minutes, prior to serving.

I usually serve this dip with a variety of cut fruits. But, I'll admit to spreading it on cookies, cakes, and other desserts too - it's that good.

Sponsored posts are purely editorial content that we are pleased to have presented by a participating sponsor. Advertisers do not produce the content. I was compensated for this post as a member of Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all my own.

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Infant Kilt

Some good friends of mine are going to have a baby in September, and I wanted to give them something personal for the baby. So I decided to make a kilt for their baby. I didn't have a pattern or any real direction so it was all very trial error. Here I'll share with you how I did it and what I learned. 

I'm honestly not a great seamstress. It's something I dabble in, but I'm not enough of a perfectionist to be really good at it. With that said, you real seamstresses out there, may be appalled by my primitive techniques. 

The first thing I had to do was choose a fabric. I found a great plaid with lots of primary colors at Joann. It also happened to be very similar to the plaid the grandma-to-be suggested when we first started talking about me doing this. 

The fabric was just a simple cotton. I bought half a yard and roll of 3/4" elastic. I had white thread at home that I thought would look nice, so I didn't bother with any other stuff.

If I were to do this again I would have also purchased 1/2"-3/4" Velcro as well.  

I came home at a bit of a loss for how to get started.

I knew I didn't want to hem the bottom after I put in pleats. So, counter-intuitively, I started with hem. I folded the fabric twice, ironed it flat and hemmed the whole length. (I'm sure there's some great technical term for folding twice, but I've never been much for technical terms.) 

It took me a while to determine how long the kilt should be, but I settled on cutting it about 9 inches from the hem. I did this based on a baby skirt pattern I found online. I don't know how this length will work on the actual baby, but I have a feeling it may be too long.

Then I started making pleats because I knew I wanted all the seams on the top of the kilt to be on top of the pleats. 

I got my iron out for this part too obviously. 

It took me a while to figure out the easiest way to make this many pleats, but I discovered that I needed to stack them on top of one another rather than fold them under each other. I made the pleats an inch apart and folded about 1/4" under. I ironed and pinned each of them on the waist and hem. I left about 6" on the end for the front panel.

At this point I went ahead sewed across the waist to secure the pleats, took out my pins. I realize now that I probably should have left the bottom pins in so the pleats would stay sharp.

Then I set that part aside. I decided I wanted to make a separate waistband with elastic rather than adding elastic to the pleated part of the kilt. 

So, I made a waistband and attached it to the base of the kilt. I did this by cutting a strip that was 2" wide. (I would do 2 1/2" if I did this again. Then I sewed the edges right side together so it was inside out. I turned it right side out with a pen (a nifty trick I learned in 4-H as a kid), and put the elastic in.

I've never really learned how to work with elastic, so this part didn't come out quite how I envisioned it. If you are ignorant like me, you might seek out some help or internet tutorials on this. 

Front

I attached the waistband to the top of the kilt with a very small seam allowance. I didn't hem the top first or anything so there's a raw edge there. If I were to redo this part I might try a french seam there (thus the added width mentioned above), or just hem the top edge first. 

I did not attach the flat front panel to the waistband. I did a very small hem on the top of it and left it out. 

At this point, my sewing machine stopped working, so I hand basted the corner of the front flap to the bottom of the waistband. 

Back

If I were to do this again, I would have done this last part very differently. 

I would have used elastic in the entire top of the project and not closed it around the waist. Instead, for closure I would have installed Velcro on the front panel and front of the waist. This would make the kilt more adjustable and comfortable to fit the baby. 

That's how I would recommend someone wanting to try this do it. 

With all the trial and error, the finished product is pretty cute if I do say so myself.

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Homework Withdrawal: A Bizarre Sensation

Today I'm going to write about the weirdest sensation plaguing students this time of year, homework withdrawal.

I think you all know what I'm talking about.

H.W.W. plagues students every May as they attempt to cope with the dramatic life change that accompanies the final day of class.

Planking may occur in severe cases of H.W.W. If a student
you love resorts to planking as a result of H.W.W., please go
out and purchase a coloring book or jigsaw puzzle for them.

Symptoms include:

• sudden panic attacks over imaginary missed due dates
• chronically sensing that one is forgetting something
• boredom and excessive sleeping
• renewed interest in random old hobbies
• leaping out of bed at 9:15 before remembering you don't have class
• forgetting what day of the week it is

Other symptoms may also occur. (Feel free to comment additional symptoms below.)

I think what makes H.W.W. so severe in some instances is the abundance of studying, assignments and final projects leading up and throughout to finals week. During these final days of a semester the student's life is often utterly consumed with school. All-nighters are not uncommon, which lower the student's ability to retain long term memories. These elements combine to leave the student in a generally confused and disoriented state on the final day of class. This mode of existence sometimes takes weeks to recover from allowing the effects of H.W.W. to occur. 

Things that help with H.W.W.:

• vacation-leaving the setting associated with school work will help the student cope with the sudden change.
• spending time with someone who is not a student-This helps because that person can usually remind the student what day it is and help them feel some sense of normalcy about life.
• swimming, eating snow cones, and other summer activities-These activities help the student reconnect with reality outside of school.

This is not an exhaustive list of cures by any means. (This is another opportunity for you to include suggestions in the comments section.)

I would like to include that although H.W.W. is a bizarre sensation, it is not altogether unpleasant. Certainly the chronic feeling of paranoia about forgetting an assignment is uncomfortable, but it is not more uncomfortable than homework itself. The cure for H.W.W. is certainly more pleasant than doing homework, which is generally the cure for having homework.

If you suffer from H.W.W., remember you are not alone. 

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box of paper

So our anniversary came and went yesterday. It was such fun, and I'm so excited because I can finally share what I did.

I gave my husband a box of paper.

I thought and thought about what to get J, and hated every idea I came across.

I knew I wanted to make whatever I gave him myself, so I decided to just go to the craft store and try to get inspiration that way.

I was there for a long time. It seemed like hours but it may not have been. Then finally the idea donned on me.

EUREKA!

I purchased the following supplies:

1 unfinished wooden box with lid with a picture frame on top
2 tubes of paint, one white, one black
1 unfinished wooden heart
2 black wooden letters one J. for his name and one S. for my name
2 white wooden cutouts one of the word Imagine and one of the word dream.
1 paintbrush

I came home that day full of ideas and motivation and went right to work. First, I gathered the supplies I needed that I had around the house.

1 leftover engagement picture of us in black and white
1 bottle  of glue
scissors

Then I painted the base of the box white and the lid black and allowed those to dry. Once they were dry I diluted the paint a little and brushed white over the black and black over the white. I did the heart cutout this way as well, white first then black.

Finally, all of that was dry and I was able to glue on the wood pieces. I used a generous amount of Elmer's glue and they held very nicely. I cut our picture down to fit the frame in the lid and viola, my box was done.

Then I got on the phone. I called members of J's family, his friends, and some of my family he's close to. I asked each of them to write him a letter and mail it to me. I asked them to encourage him, tell him what they like about him and just be positive in general.

As the letters arrived I put them in the box, which I kept hidden.

I also wrote 2 letters myself. I attached one to the inside of the lid. It explained what the box was for and why I made it. The second was my letter of encouragement and praise for him and I nestled it in with the rest.

Another thing I put in the box was a Pez dispenser of his favorite childhood cartoon character and extra Pez. (He loves Pez.)

Finally, because someone had suggested origami and another suggested a kite (neither idea seemed the perfect fit for this year), I made an origami kite. (Well, I tried to. It came out pretty sad.) This kite had another silly little note on the inside.

So when the evening came I presented first the kite, then the box. He had a great time going through the letters.

And there's enough room still in it for him to use the box for other correspondence, or inspirations that come to him.

So all told, the box of paper was a success.

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