Week 3 of my quest – 6 out of 7 – maybe I’m just an over-achiever?

June 25 – National Strawberry Parfait Day

2014-06-25 Strawberry parfait My favourite line in the movie Shrek is about layers.  Ogres have layers.  Onions have layers.  Parfaits have layers.  I haven’t ever intentionally made a parfait before this day, but I thought I’d try one.  So I made some strawberry jelly (from a packet), added some plain low-fat Greek yoghurt and fresh strawberries.  The family also added ice cream and custard to theirs, which I thought was more a trifle than a parfair – what makes a parfait rather than a trifle?  Any ideas?

 June 26 – National Chocolate Pudding Day

I love, love, love chocolate pudding.  My mother-in-law gave me a recipe (which she has graciously let me put on the website here) many years ago and it works every time (well, except when you forget to use self-raising flour rather than plain flour, like I did this time!).  Was still very tasty, but not quite how I would have preferred it to turn out! Chocolate sauce pudding

June 27 – National Indian Pudding Day

2014-06-27 Indian pudding  When I originally saw this Day, I wondered what type of pudding came from India, that Americans would be celebrating.  Then I clicked on the link, and realised it was a Native American Indian Pudding.  So I tried the recipe … kind of a cornmeal version of the classic bread & butter pudding.  Definitely needed the raisins to give it some texture.  Still not sure about it all, though … anyone else tried this with any success?

 June 28 – National Tapioca Day

I couldn’t think of any recipe to make for this day, and I didn’t really know where to get tapioca here in Australia, so I thought this would be a rest day for me!


June 29 – National Almond Butter Crunch Day

2014-06-29 Almond butter crunch For some reason, I thought Almond Butter Crunch required almond butter – quite expensive (but really yummy!).  But then I did a bit of research and found many recipes for almond butter crunch, which is basically an almond toffee with chocolate on top.  First time I’ve ever made toffee, and even without a candy thermometer, it worked really well.  I’m contemplating putting this recipe on my website – the guys in the office enjoyed it a lot!

 June 30 – National Ice Cream Soda Day

I’m not a big ice cream person any more, not sure why exactly, but I thought I’d make these ice cream sodas (or spiders as I’m used to calling them) just because it was The Day to do it!  And to make it a little different for you all, I used lime juice cordial and a lemon soda, kind of a lemon/lime ice cream soda.  Quite refreshing, and enjoyed by all the family! 2014-06-30 Ice cream soda

July 1 – National Gingersnap Day

Lebkuchen v2  This day gave me an opportunity to try making a ginger-bread cookie again after my big challenge from Grant.  I went back to the one recipe that Grant kept referring to as the closest-tasting one that he was after, but I failed dismally with making a dough that could be kneaded.  This time I added extra flour, and some ginger (to make it a gingersnap cookie) and it worked really well!  You can find the recipe here if you want to try it for yourselves!

Coming up next week:

  • July 2: National Anisette day
  • July 3: National Eat Beans day / National Chocolate Wafer day
  • July 4: National Barbequed Spare-ribs day / Caesar Salad day
  • July 5: National Apple Turnover day
  • July 6: National Fried Chicken day
  • July 7: National Strawberry Sundae day
  • July 8: National Chocolate with Almonds day / Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Omelette day

Stay tuned to see which ones I choose to make/eat and how successful (or not) I am!  This is going to be quite a challenge for me over the next few weeks as my family and I will be visiting my brother in Canada.  I should be able to continue the Quest, but it may not quite always be on the correct day!

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