Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy

The title of this post is from the Bridge students that I work with this year. It's what they say with their teacher if something sound super easy. =) Love them!!

So a few weekends ago, I threw my parents a surprise birthday party. Besides stressing out, I ended up doing a lot of planning, forgetting, and baking. Brian's girlfriend Michelle and Mom's bff Paige came to the rescue and baked with me the night before from 830 at night to 1 in the morning. After the party was over, these were the most requested recipes. All of them, are "Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy."

No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

This is a Rachael Ray recipe that ended up being a favorite. I tripled this recipe for the party and had some left over filling. I also added some Cool Whip on the top of every cheesecake and left them in the freezer over night (at Paige's house. haha).

Ingredients

• 12 strawberries
• 12 ounces softened cream cheese, 1 1/2 (8-ounce) bricks
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 individual gram cracker crusts, available on baking aisle

Directions

Coarsely chop 6 berries and place in food processor. Add cream cheese, sour cream, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and process until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, fill pie tins. Garnish cheesecakes with slices of remaining berries.

Luscious Slush Punch

This recipe I found on AllRecipes. The link is to the recipe and it makes 2 punch bowls full. But I'll also copy it here for you. Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups white sugar
• 6 cups water
• 2 (3 ounce) packages strawberry flavored gelatin mix
• 1 (46 fluid ounce) can pineapple juice
• 2/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 quart orange juice
• 2 (2 liter) bottles lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage
• 
  
• Directions

1. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water, and strawberry flavored gelatin. Boil for 3 minutes. Stir in pineapple juice, lemon juice, and orange juice. Divide mixture in half, and freeze in 2 separate containers.
2. When ready to serve, place the frozen contents of one container in a punch bowl, and stir in 1 bottle of lemon-lime soda until slushy.