Homemade Ice Cream Cake

Now that Summer is here in all of its glory, I find myself looking for anything to cool me down.  In my family pretty much all of our birthdays fall from the end of May through the beginning of August, so that equals a lot of birthday cake.  My parents both celebrated their birthdays recently and since I was on cake duty I wanted to do something different and "cool."  Enter the ice cream cake.  Its the best of both worlds... cake, but in ice cream form.  I browsed around for a few ideas from different recipes and then I put together what would work best for my family.  The great thing about ice cream cake is that they are totally customizable to what you like.  For my dad's birthday I went with a Reese's Pieces Ice Cream Cake and for my mom's we had a Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Cake.


Reese's Pieces Ice Cream Cake

what you need

1 carton Vanilla Bean ice cream (I used Breyer's)
1 container Cool Whip (I used fat free)
1 oreo pie crust
Assorted Candy (Reese's Pieces, Mini Chocolate Chips, Oreo crumbles, Mini Reese's Cups)
Chocolate Syrup

how to make it

Crumble Oreo pie crust into bottom of a spring form pan and press it down firmly to make the crust of the cake.  If you have difficulty getting it to hold together add some melted butter.

Mix softened ice cream and cool whip together until throughly incorporated.  

Layer half of the ice cream, cool whip mixture on top of the Oreo crust.

Top ice cream with assorted candies (I left out the Reese's Cups and used them only on top) and drizzle with chocolate syrup.  I will use melted chocolate next time, but use whatever you like best.

Layer the remaining ice cream mixture on top of the candies and cover with remaining candy pieces, this time adding Reese's Cups.  

Place in the freezer for a minimum of 4 hours, but overnight works much better.  I covered the top and bottom of my spring form pan with aluminum foil to fight off freezer burn. 

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Cake

what you need

1 carton Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream (I used the Food Lion brand)
1 container Cool Whip (Fat Free)
1 graham cracker pie crust
1/2 quart fresh strawberries

how to make it

You follow the same basic process for this cake.  The only difference is that instead of placing candy between the two ice cream layers you will layer fresh strawberries.  I also sprinkled some extra graham cracker crumbles on the top for decoration.  The final result was pretty amazing!

{Currently Craving}

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The temperatures are finally warming up and I am loving it!  Along with the spring temperatures, I am loving the spring colors and light and airy fabrics.  It is a birth month as of today, so maybe I will soon see a fews of my favorites in my closet.  Follow me on Pinterest for more of my favorites.

5000

Well guys, my blog has made it to the big times.  I officially have had over 5000 page views!  

Now I realize that many blogs get like 5000 a day, but for this girl I'll celebrate any milestone.  

Thanks to my readers for actually tuning in and seeing what's happening at The Married Life.  

Here's to 5000 more!

In other news, my idol, role model, and future best friend turned the big 3-1 yesterday!  That's right, Kate aka the Duchess of Cambridge celebrated her birthday on Wednesday.  I'm sure my lack of an invitation to her party was a simple oversight.  Never fear though, I will see if she wants to celebrate again in April when I cruise through her little town in Wales.  Happy Birthday Kate!

New Years

Happy 2013!  

I hope you all had a wonderful time bringing in the new year!  

Daniel and I certainly enjoyed it, surrounding ourselves with family & friends.  

Sadly we have no pictures from NYE, but we hosted my aunt's birthday party on New Years Day. 

We love having enough room to actually have people over.

I have a delicious recipe on the books for you guys.  Taco Soup... it simply devine.  Come back tomorrow!

Thanksgiving Recap

Oh is it Monday already?  My five days of pretending to be a stay-at-home wife were wonderful.  There was cooking, cleaning, shopping, and of course lots of eating.  But Sunday night rolled around and the reality of my decisions to play all week crashed down on me like a ton of bricks.  Lesson plans and grading were a harsh slap in the face to the reality that Monday held.

However, lets skip all that Negative Nancy stuff and get to the food.  Thanksgiving was amazing.  Like who doesn't love a holiday that is solely devoted to spending time with friends and family, eating delicious food, and sharing all that your thankful for?  Our Thanksgiving was so amazing that I managed to snap ONE picture.  It was of my food naturally.

Daniel and I have consumed more food in the last couple of days than we did the entire month of November.  We had lunch at my mom's Thursday, dinner at Daniel's parents, dinner again at my mom's friday night (leftovers), and then Friendsgiving at church on Sunday.  I have indulged in massive amounts of turkey, mashed potatoes, pineapple casserole, dressing, green bean casserole, mac&cheese, and tons of green veggies!

We also felt that no holiday would have been complete without a little trip to the hot and fresh sign.  Saturday night we hit up Krispy Kream (thanks to the hot & fresh sign app on my phone) and spent the evening watching Home Alone and Richie Rich.  I hope the next month moves at turtle speed, because I am LOVING all the holiday movies on ABC Family and the Hallmark channel!  

How was your holiday???  Did you join all the crazies on Black Friday???  Don't forget to tune in tomorrow for Traveling Tuesday!  Remember if you participate you can link up in the comments section below the post!

P.S. Special shout out to my grandma who had a birthday yesterday!  Happy Birthday Lo!

High Five For Friday

Hey Guys!  It's Friday again!  Short work weeks are the best and next week will be no exception with Thanksgiving on the horizon!!

Now its time for High Five for Friday!

1. I dusted off the tennis racket this week and it was awesome.  I've still got the magic... look out Wimbledon 2013 ;)

2. Veteran's Day was amazing... I got a day off and Olive Garden... Thank you veterans!

3. I got new pair of slipper/boot thingies. They rock.  Warmth + pink = awesomeness

4. In other news, hot chocolate has just been approved by the FDA as a new segment of the food pyramid.

5. Happy Birthday (tomorrow) to my beautiful sister-in-law!!  Welcome to the Quarter of a Century Club!

Happy Weekend Everyone!